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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

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

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

This fight is for everything.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

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

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

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

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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Squirrel-Proof Feeder (Open Thread)

Squirrel-Proof Feeder (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  January 25, 201811:11 am| 269 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Nature, Open Threads, Women's Rights Are Human Rights

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[Hums “Mission Impossible” theme]

It’s just showing off now:

I love our miraculous white squirrel and hope it is never eaten by a cat, dog or hawk.

Margaret Atwood wrote a lovely tribute to Ursula Le Guin in The Post. Here’s an excerpt:

We lost Ursula Le Guin when we needed her most

When I heard that [Le Guin had died], I had an absurd vision based on the scene in her haunting fantasy novel “A Wizard of Earthsea,” in which the mage Ged tries to summon the spirit of a child back from the land of the dead. There was Ursula, moving calmly away down a hill of whispering sand under the unchanging stars; and there was me, distraught and running after her and calling: “No! Come back! We need you here and now!”

Especially now, in the land of normalized p—y-grabbing, the rollback of women’s rights on so many fronts but especially in health care and contraception, and the effort to squeeze women out of the workplace by those who, having failed to compete through skill and intellectual superiority, have weaponized their penises…

We can’t call Ursula K. Le Guin back from the land of the unchanging stars, but happily she left us her multifaceted work, her hard-earned wisdom and her fundamental optimism. Her sane, smart, crafty and lyrical voice is more necessary now than ever.

For it, and for her, we should be thankful.

To paraphrase something Cole said of Justice Ginsburg, I’m willing to serve as human bubble-wrap for Margaret Atwood for the next few years, if that would keep her safe. We need Atwood too.

Open thread!

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Reader Interactions

269Comments

  1. 1.

    randy khan

    January 25, 2018 at 11:14 am

    I’ve become convinced that the only squirrel-proof feeder is an empty feeder.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    January 25, 2018 at 11:17 am

    Trump would let that squirrel into the country.

  3. 3.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    January 25, 2018 at 11:18 am

    @randy khan: This is completely true. Also too, the white squirrel is both adorable and clever. Not to mention that the rose color is an excellent choice for maximizing cuteness.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    January 25, 2018 at 11:21 am

    @Baud: Tucker Carlson would interview it on his show!

  5. 5.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 25, 2018 at 11:21 am

    I had a wonderful squirrel feeder attached to the side of a tree in NC and I loved it. It contained two dried corn cobs either side and a box of seed and peanuts in the middle. The top of the seed feeder used to lift up so I could fill it and the seed would fall down onto the bottom. While I was out working in the garden I would hear this “thunk” sound that I couldn’t quite figure out until I watched the feeder and realized that the squirrels were bypassing the seed that had fallen out of the bottom of the feeder and were lifting up the lid to get the stuff they wanted from out of the top. The “thunk” sound was the lid of the feeder slamming down again after they had helped themselves to whatever the squirrel wanted from the top. No matter how many times I heard it when I was working in the garden it always made me smile. Basically they were stealing food from their own feeder. It tickled me to death.

  6. 6.

    Phylllis

    January 25, 2018 at 11:24 am

    We have the roller feeder & it is squirrel-proof. They don’t even jump on it anymore.

  7. 7.

    randy khan

    January 25, 2018 at 11:24 am

    Tagging onto a comment I made in one of last night’s open threads: Apparently the reason that my father is not listed in the national military cemetery database is that he died too soon. The database includes only burials since 1997.

    That seems kind of strange to me – there are a lot more people from pre-1997 than post-, and the earlier burials would be of great interest to the genealogy crowd. Anyway, at least I know he hasn’t gone missing.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    January 25, 2018 at 11:24 am

    First Poco, now Erik Loomis

    Eating at Smitty’s Tenderloin in Des Moines. Obviously I’m laying the groundwork for my 2020 run for the Democratic nomination. pic.twitter.com/6mWsODhZpo

    — Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) January 24, 2018

    Everyone is trespassing on my turf!

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 25, 2018 at 11:25 am

    Squirrel-Proof Feeder

    FAKE NEWS!!

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 25, 2018 at 11:28 am

    Atwood is wonderful. I’ve been privileged to hear her speak on three different occasions. If you ever see that she’s going to do a reading or public presentation anywhere near you, do make the attempt to go. You won’t regret it!

  11. 11.

    SteveinSC

    January 25, 2018 at 11:29 am

    Chris Hayes spotted it dead on last night: Trump has now embraced his obstruction of justice by claiming that what others are calling obstruction was merely his fighting back, hard. I think that is remarkable. He is no longer denying obstruction, he is, as he has in the past, frequently morphed his excuses into a new construct when he thinks he’s caught. Unhappily for him this is not some dodge he can pass on to Sarah Fuckabooboo for dissembling, It is a plain admission from him (in trump-speak) that they have his ass on obstruction.

  12. 12.

    sacrablue

    January 25, 2018 at 11:30 am

    Help! I need advice from the BJ experts. One of my 14 year old cats was diagnosed with lymphoma yesterday. It is already in his intestines, abdomen and lymph nodes. He has stopped losing weight and he is eating and drinking with gusto, but we have persistent diarrhea and some vomiting. Does anyone have any advice on whether to try chemo or should we just let him go when he is ready?

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 11:31 am

    @Baud: Of course he would, it’s white! I’m pretty sure the squirrel parents would be allowed, also. As an exception to the rule that those people have to follow, of course.

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    January 25, 2018 at 11:31 am

    Just finished reading “A Nation of Nations” last night – what a great book! It covers both the history of immigration to the U.S. (especially in the 20th and 21st centuries) and provides an eye-opening look at how that history, especially since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, impacted Fairfax County, VA (aka, the Center of the Universe ;)

    Lots of great detail from LBJ’s political maneuvering to the backgrounds and rise to power of several NoVA politicos. Highly recommended!

  15. 15.

    Miss Bianca

    January 25, 2018 at 11:33 am

    @sacrablue: I’d say poor kitty sounds pretty far gone for chemo to do any good. But IANAV.

  16. 16.

    Ohio Mom

    January 25, 2018 at 11:33 am

    Since this is an own thread: someone gave me a copy of Hillbilly Elegy. She loved it — I suspect she hadn’t read much about the life of any American living in poverty before, and that aspect of the book was an eye-opener for her.

    Can I throw it out? Up until now, I have made sure that every book I was done with was donated somewhere, that it went on to another home.

    Purposely destroying a book seems very wrong to me. But I don’t want to be responsible for someone reading that propaganda and falling for it.

    I think I answered my own question. To the landfill!

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    January 25, 2018 at 11:34 am

    @randy khan:
    A squirrel would steal food, stash it in the empty feeder then raid that feeder.

    Friend who owns a ranch in the foothills related hauling half a dozen wheelbarrow loads of acorns from the wall of his barn, where flickers had been busy–very busy evidently–stashing them via a hole they had drilled.

  18. 18.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 11:36 am

    @Ohio Mom: You could “accidentally” leave the book out in the elements; then you would have no choice but to throw it out. I, too, was raised to have total respect for books, but I say dump it.

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    January 25, 2018 at 11:36 am

    On another note, glad to see the pushback on Nunes (not just here from Rubin but in many places). Unfortunately, I don’t see how the current strategy keeps it from devolving into a “Rs say, Ds say, both-sides” bullshit fest.

    Dems should consider stepping up and holding a national news conference or presser to lay down some markers. “We are not going to accept attempts by anyone or any party to interfere with – including lying to the American public about – a legitimate investigation into a matter of utmost importance to our national security. If positions were reversed, Republicans would be howling – and they’d be right. That Russian interference into our elections happened is beyond question. Anyone attempting to cover it up, or cover for those who may have abetted that interference, is obstructing justice and betraying their oaths of office. We will follow the rule of law in this country, and we will respect our law enforcement agencies as they do their duty to keep us safe.” Etc etc. Bright lines, people!

  20. 20.

    trollhattan

    January 25, 2018 at 11:37 am

    @Baud:
    You can one-up his …visits an American grave series with Baud cruises an American strip mall, Part ## series. Or nanobrewers, your choice. Get goin’!

  21. 21.

    Baud

    January 25, 2018 at 11:38 am

    @trollhattan:

    Would American strip clubs work instead?

  22. 22.

    charluckles

    January 25, 2018 at 11:39 am

    A rat in an Armani sweater is still a rat.

  23. 23.

    trollhattan

    January 25, 2018 at 11:39 am

    @Jeffro:
    Main editorial in the local paper shellacs Nunes, calling him “Trump’s stooge” in the title. This is the only way a stupid person can get attention (e.g., see Johnson, Ron).

  24. 24.

    Domestic Short Hair Tabby fka...

    January 25, 2018 at 11:40 am

    @Ohio Mom: Rip the covers off, then you can at least recycle the text block

  25. 25.

    trollhattan

    January 25, 2018 at 11:41 am

    @Baud:
    Moar better! Also, too, Baud surveys America’s chain Brestaurants.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    January 25, 2018 at 11:42 am

    @trollhattan:

    Excellent! But first, off to print some NDAs and raise some hush money.

  27. 27.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 11:42 am

    @Baud: Of course, its a skilled Norwegian squirrel.

  28. 28.

    MattF

    January 25, 2018 at 11:44 am

    @Ohio Mom: I’ll toss a book if I can say to myself, without fear of contradiction, that I will never voluntarily pick it up and read it.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 11:47 am

    @sacrablue: I presume your kitty is past the point where it can be treated with a steroid like pred? I am pretty sure that only works if they catch it early, but it might be worth asking. There is a test, I think, that can be determined whether the form of lymphoma is the one that responds to pred.

    A dog I loved as if she were my own got lymphoma (though she didn’t have symptoms yet) and the vets at our university vet school encouraged my friend to go with chemo and said the rates for positive results were sky high. Maybe 80%, I don’t recall the number. Rather than go with pred, they went for the cure with chemo. Days 1 and 2 were fine, on day 3 she was vomiting constantly and violently, and by day 4 we were at the vet school having her put down. I’m sure that doesn’t happen all the time, but it was beyond heartbreaking, and it haunts us to this day.

    You might also check with raven if you see him on a thread – I think he went the chemo route with one of his beloved pets and he might be wiling to share his thoughts.

    Have you asked the vet what the success rate might be with chemo in your kitty? I am not a vet but I would be surprised if the odds were very high. But you don’t know unless you ask.

    I came home from a meeting a few years ago and found my dog – who was perfectly fine when I left – not in good shape when I got home. We did an ultrasound and found that he had an aggressive cancer spread throughout all his internal organs. It was a heartbreaking decision, but we gave him fluids and he perked up, we had a lovely last night together and all the people he loved came over to hang out and say goodbye. The next day I let him go. Heartbreaking and heart wrenching, but I have no regrets.

    I don’t know if any of that is helpful, but it’s all I’ve got. Other than good wishes and tears for you and your kitty.

  30. 30.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 11:48 am

    @Ohio Mom: Recycle it with your paper waste.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 11:49 am

    @MattF: Now that’s heresy!!!

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 11:50 am

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t know about that one – the recycler person might put it back into circulation, or read it himself/herself.

  33. 33.

    AliceBlue

    January 25, 2018 at 11:50 am

    @sacrablue:
    Don’t put your kitty through chemo. Just keep him as comfortable as possible until the time comes.

  34. 34.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    January 25, 2018 at 11:51 am

    @Ohio Mom: Toss it. I toss books all the time if I don’t want anyone else to read them and my excuse is usually just that the writing is crappy.

  35. 35.

    MattF

    January 25, 2018 at 11:51 am

    @WaterGirl: It’s a criterion of last resort. I have waaaay too many books lying around, piled up into teetering crenellated towers.

  36. 36.

    tobie

    January 25, 2018 at 11:51 am

    As this is an open thread, I thought I would mention that Josh Marshall has a good post up about how Trump & Co have moved the immigration debate so far to the right that any compromise with the administration would represent a major defeat. As he notes, it used to be that one sought some kind of trade off between border security and a path to legality for the 10-12 million undocumented immigrants. Now, there’s no talk of any undocumented group except the Dreamers, and even there he wants to curtail their rights by ending the family unification policy, which they’ve maligned by calling it “chain migration.” As the daughter of immigrants and wife of an immigrant, I find this whole debate by turns infuriating and terrifying.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 11:53 am

    @MattF: then donate the books to the library! Assuming they aren’t like the book we are discussing. :-)

  38. 38.

    oatler.

    January 25, 2018 at 11:54 am

    Always thought LeGuin’s Earthsea “afterlife” was pretty grim. And yes, I worshipped her. You’d think PBS would reair its “Lathe of Heaven” program but…

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    January 25, 2018 at 11:55 am

    Mark Warner stepping up to the plate (per what I mentioned in #19 above): Warner to Directly Refute Nunes Memo

    Something remarkable is happening in our politics right now. On multiple fronts, it has fallen to Democratic elected officials to step up and defend the integrity and basic functionings of our government — against Republican efforts to pervert and manipulate them in service of the goal of shielding President Trump from accountability.

    At the same time, in some cases Democrats have escalated their tactics in a kind of guerrilla operation designed to smuggle as much basic information about this great GOP abdication out to the public as possible.

    Today, I’m told, Sen. Mark Warner (Va.) — the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee — will publicly say that classified information debunks the arguments reportedly made in the now-notorious secret memo by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), which bolsters the idea that the Russia investigation is a Deep-State Coup against Trump. Nunes has made this memo available to members of Congress, in what Democrats charge is a selective cherry-picking of intelligence designed to arm Republicans with talking points to discredit the Russia probe.

  40. 40.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 11:57 am

    @sacrablue: If lymphoma in kittehs is as responsive to lymphoma in humans to chemo, then you definitely should consider it. But I am not a doctor or a vet.

  41. 41.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 25, 2018 at 11:59 am

    @Domestic Short Hair Tabby fka…: @Ohio Mom: Rip the covers off, then you can at least recycle the text block

    I like this idea. Then ritually burn the cover under a dark night sky while reading a copy of Obama’s Osawatomie speech. From a tablet or with a candle, as you like.

  42. 42.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 25, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Recycle in my area takes paperback and hardbound books.

  43. 43.

    Ohio Mom

    January 25, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    Thanks for all the validation — glad to know I am not the only one who is squeamish about destroying a book, and glad to have been given permission.

  44. 44.

    sacrablue

    January 25, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    @WaterGirl: I’m trying to decide whether to see an oncologist or not. My vet was not willing to make any prognosis. From what I’ve read, cats do better than dogs with chemo. I think I’m willing to try prednisone and some form of chemo if it is the small cell lymphoma. Fortunately it hasn’t spread to his liver or kidneys. His behavior is normal, not trying to hide, doesn’t seem to be in pain. I don’t want to put him through anything that will make him miserable. We just lost his sister to renal failure in October and I’m just not willing to say goodbye again if I can do anything reasonable to keep him with us as long as he is still happy.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    January 25, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    Speaking of books

    Michael Wolff’s book on the Trump presidency Fire and Fury has everything: from Bannon mouthing off against Trump’s son to claims that Trump was despondent when he won the election. But some dodgy, unofficial versions of the book contain an extra-special bonus: malware.

    To be absolutely clear: Malware is not affecting the ordinary, retail copy of Fire and Fury, but files linked to a PDF version circulating online. The dangerous types are the pirated PDFs you’d find in Google searches and on torrent sites, but not ones on traditional ebook retailers like Apple Books or Amazon.

  46. 46.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    @sacrablue: Yeah that sounds like a plan. Take him to the oncologist, see what he says and then decide. Good luck and {{ }} to both you and the kitteh. May he feel better soon.

  47. 47.

    No Drought No More

    January 25, 2018 at 12:06 pm

    Another wise and sharing soul was inclined to cite a great truth about those who have left us. He noted, “We march on a road of bones”.

    Or rather, that’s how I remembered it. But I googled the quote after writing that, I ran across another variation might be gloomier, but that I like better. Hunter Thompson wrote: “Some will march on a road of bones, and others will be nailed up on telephone poles. That is the way it works”.

  48. 48.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    January 25, 2018 at 12:07 pm

    I’m listening to Chris Hayes from last night. I love the way he calls Fox “Trump News.”

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    January 25, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    @tobie: As Marshall notes, the GOP is going after LEGAL immigration now in demanding an end to family reunification and diversity programs. Kinda invalidates their go-to excuse whenever someone observes that they sure seem to want to keep non-whites out: “I’m in favor of LEGAL immigration!” Turns out that’s bullshit…as we suspected.

  50. 50.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    BC I love your Florida squirrels, they are so dainty not like the fat grey ones running around here.

  51. 51.

    Heidi Mom

    January 25, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Donate it. Maybe future readers will have the same reaction I had: Well-written, compelling personal story (I empathized with the author’s arrival at Ohio State and his joyous discovery of others like himself), unflinching look at the culture he grew up in (in his 20s and out in the world, he still wants to (but doesn’t) get into it with a driver who cut him off? jeez), but how he gets from there to believing that conservative Republicans have the solutions is absolutely beyond me.

  52. 52.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    @Betty Cracker: They should be asked to defend their position, why is a drastic cut in immigration necessary. Will any journalist ask this question?

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    @sacrablue: In the situation I described with my own dog (not the one with lymphoma) my vet thought I should put him down, saying he was 80% sure it was probably cancer. I wasn’t willing to do that without verifying the situation, so I took him to the vet school for the ultrasound (which my vet didn’t have the equipment to do).

    Sure, it cost money, but having the information that it was definitely cancer and had definitely spread through all his internal organs made the decision very clear to me. It’s never easy, but it was clear, which is what I needed. That’s how I could let him go, with no regrets or self-guessing.

    So I would encourage you to take your kitty to the oncologist. Is money the issue? If so, let us know. I and others here would surely pitch in to cover the visit to get the information that will help you make the best decision for your kitty.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    @Baud: I think we predicted that here within about a minute of finding out that WikiLeaks had posted a .pdf version on-line. Evil through and through.

  55. 55.

    dww44

    January 25, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    @Jeffro: I so agree with you! Can you make this happen, please?

  56. 56.

    sacrablue

    January 25, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    @WaterGirl: Money is not the issue, but I appreciate the generosity of so many juicers. We got the diagnosis yesterday from the traveling ultrasound vet, so it just a decision of whether chemo will help him or if it is too late. I think I will commit to a visit with an oncologist ASAP. Thanks for your advice. Schrodingers_cat and AliceBlue, as well.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    Noah Rothman
    ‏Verified account
    @NoahCRothman
    23h23 hours ago
    More
    I’ve done two conservative radio shows today playing a generally adversarial role in defense of the FBI. The grassroots is eating up the notion Trump is a victim of systemic corruption in law enforcement.

    Conservatives really have to get their shit together on their slavish devotion to law enforcement and how it conflicts with what happens when any of them break the law.

    I don’t ask for a LOT of consistency but these people run around screaming “lock her up” constantly. Pick a position and stick with it, you fucking shameless hacks.

  58. 58.

    tobie

    January 25, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I always wonder with Trump’s older base who they think is going to pay for their Medicare and Social Security. We’re an aging society. We desperately need young workers who pay FICA taxes. I know, I know…I’m overthinking this. As we’ve seen too often, hate trumps reason.

  59. 59.

    Betty Cracker

    January 25, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Did I tell you about the first time I went to Boston Common? I saw a squirrel and thought, my god, that is a massive squirrel! And then, OMG, that one is huge too! And that one! And that one! Wait a minute — they’re all gargantuan!

    I had no idea I’d been looking at puny squirrels all my life. :)

  60. 60.

    randy khan

    January 25, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    @sacrablue:

    IANAV, either, but we had a cat with lymphoma who lasted a very long time (a couple of years, IIRC) on chemo, and generally was happy until the very end. This was years ago, but the doses they give to cats are much lower on a per-pound basis than what they give people, and so the side effects are much less significant. (The vet told me once that he’d looked at a protocol for human chemo and that owners wouldn’t tolerate the kinds of side effects in their pets that people would accept when their own lives were at stake.) The biggest effect our cat experienced was that his fur became much finer and softer.

    IIRC, he also had prednisone in addition to the chemo, and occasionally we had to give him subcutaneous fluids (which was semi-comical, although he was a trouper).

    My bottom line is that if the vet says that chemo will give your cat more quality time and you can afford it, it’s definitely worth considering.

  61. 61.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 25, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:
    Probably not. Most journalist are from privlidged backgrounds and live and work in monocultures.

  62. 62.

    tobie

    January 25, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    @Kay: This is scary. Fox, AM radio, and now GOP members of Congress (!) are whipping the Republican base up into a frenzy. It feels like 30% of the country is completely unreachable.

  63. 63.

    The Moar You Know

    January 25, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    Trump would let that squirrel into the country.

    @Baud: Of course he would, the squirrel’s white. None of those shithole brown squirrels, though.

  64. 64.

    AliceBlue

    January 25, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    @sacrablue:
    I think it’s a good decision to see the oncologist before making a decision (despite my comment above). Hugs and good thoughts to you.

  65. 65.

    Di

    January 25, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    @sacrablue: Delurking to offer my sympathy and experience. My 16 year old cat was diagnosed with lymphoma in May 2016. She had tumors everywhere. The vet said because it had spread so far and so fast, chemo wasn’t a good option. She prescribed steroids and advised me to consider the remaining time we had together as “sacred time.” I took her advice. My cat died just over 5 weeks later. She had a lot of good days in that 5 week span. If you haven’t already, ask your vet about steroids. They can make a huge difference, if not in outcome, at least in quality of life. It’s hard making a choice over another being’s life and death, and it’s so hard to let go, but I was ultimately okay with not putting her through chemo. Whatever you decide, I wish you and your cat the best.

  66. 66.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 25, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    @Kay:
    You won’t get consistency. These people pine for the ultimate power fantasy of being able to play judge, jury, and executioner, while being except from the same set of rules. They want to have their cake and eat it too. It’s very demented.

  67. 67.

    The Moar You Know

    January 25, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    One of my 14 year old cats was diagnosed with lymphoma yesterday. It is already in his intestines, abdomen and lymph nodes. He has stopped losing weight and he is eating and drinking with gusto, but we have persistent diarrhea and some vomiting. Does anyone have any advice on whether to try chemo or should we just let him go when he is ready?

    @sacrablue: After watching two grandparents go through chemo, there is no way in hell I would do that to myself or my pets. But that is a call you have to make.

    I, personally, am a big proponent of putting them down while there is still some quality of life. I do not let my pets die of “natural causes”. That’s usually horrible.

    Don’t intend to let myself go out that way either.

    I wish you all the strength and positivity I can. These decisions are not easy.

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    January 25, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    @tobie: I didnt think anything from Fox News had the power to shock me any more, but they are ginning up a torch mob 24/7. Trumpism is a cult.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 12:33 pm

    @tobie:

    I’m not panicking about it but what happens if they manage to immunize Trump from any oversight at all? What happens if they do the same thing with law enforcement they’ve done with media, where they claim it’s all fake?

    Forget “the base”, what about the rest of us? This is REAL dictator shit, much worse than their stupid War On Media. This means Dear Leader cannot be questioned because no one has the authority to do so. It gets serious when it’s not just CNN but instead any federal law enforcement or police action. That’s a much worse marker we’ve reached here, and no one is calling it. Instead it’s just part of the disinformation campaign. This is what ACTUAL authoritarian regimes do- they claim no one can judge Dear Leader because no has more moral authority than Dear Leader

  70. 70.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 25, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    @Kay:
    What happens in that case? Probably civil war.

  71. 71.

    smintheus

    January 25, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    Can anybody tell me where I can pick up a soccer referee’s red and yellow cards?

    I just took some students on an overseas course and several of them just ignored or defied pretty much every instruction I gave them. I’ve never seen behavior like this before from students (in classroom settings), and over and over I was on the verge of blowing up in their faces. In the future I’d like to have a simple way of sending a “knock it the F off” signal to specific @##h0les without intimidating the good students who are playing by the rules.

  72. 72.

    Rugosa

    January 25, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    @Betty Cracker: The Boston Common squirrels are shameless beggars who pose and perform for food. In their defense, they do need a good layer of fat to get through the winter, when there are fewer people tossing them peanuts.

  73. 73.

    Cermet

    January 25, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    Truly a great writer but also someone who deeply cared about addressing critical social issues. Her lost to bot society and science fiction are significant.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 12:38 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    My husband was speculating that the threat might have changed. They went after Mueller thinking he was the threat but maybe there’s another one, having to do with an investigation by the FBI,m apart from any special “Russia” focus- just ordinary sleaze and corruption and criminality.

  75. 75.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    @Phylllis:

    We have the roller feeder & it is squirrel-proof.

    We have three of them, but the fuckers are expensive, and not really squirrel proof as they come out of the box. We had to hang them from a pretty high pole, take ALL the counterweights out of the bottom, and install baffles above and below.
    There’s at least one squirrel (vermin!) that was able to balance itself on the four corners and hold on while eating.
    We also have to keep the chipmunks out.

  76. 76.

    smintheus

    January 25, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    @The Moar You Know: We let one of our dogs with cancer struggle on for as long as he could walk, and years later I still beat myself up over the decision. It was horrible. Put a pet down while they still have some enjoyment in life.

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    @smintheus: Interesting idea! Without significant, enforceable consequences, the cards would be a joke. I’m sure you’ve thought through. What will the consequences be if they get a red card? Would you have to inform students and parents of all this, and have the parents sign off on the consequences, before they can go on the trip?

  78. 78.

    Cermet

    January 25, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: But as a famous science fiction writer once said – yous can have your cake and eat it too, but you can’t eat your cake and have it. Never understood why the former is common usage but the later is the logical meaning.

  79. 79.

    Jeffro

    January 25, 2018 at 12:42 pm

    @Kay: @tobie: As the evidence continues to mount and Mueller continues to close in, the base has to turn to these wild conspiracy theories. Because the alternative is that they’ve been totally ‘had’, totally wrong, totally supportive of a corrupt and shameless charlatan.

    And that’s just folks who aren’t personally in cahoots with Trumpov and the Russians. For Nunes??

  80. 80.

    bemused

    January 25, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    That’s hilarious. I didn’t know the south had small squirrels too. We don’t grow the big ones here either, 70 miles south of Canada.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    Because it seems like something set them off. Rolling out a senator with tales of a secret anti-Trump cabal seems…extreme.

    It doesn’t HAVE to be Mueller’s investigation or “Russia”. It could just be ordinary Trump family criminality that was (eventually) exposed. It’s not like possible Russia collusion excludes the possibility of unrelated crimes.

  82. 82.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 25, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    @Kay:
    As others have speculated, there are many explanations for why Republicans are going to bat for Trump so hard: tribalism/authoritarianism, destroying the ability of law enforcement to go after them for run-of-the-mill corruption (like you mentioned), or the GOP is implicated in the Russia stuff and are fighting for their own survival. If Trump goes down, most them will too.

  83. 83.

    The Moar You Know

    January 25, 2018 at 12:48 pm

    I just took some students on an overseas course and several of them just ignored or defied pretty much every instruction I gave them. I’ve never seen behavior like this before from students (in classroom settings), and over and over I was on the verge of blowing up in their faces. In the future I’d like to have a simple way of sending a “knock it the F off” signal to specific @##h0les without intimidating the good students who are playing by the rules.

    @smintheus: My wife did this for her high school students – not overseas but NYC – and it was fine for a couple of years and then it went bad. Just the behavior you describe. Some class years are just full of bad kids. So she stopped the program and let everyone know which of their peers were responsible.

    Problem was, the kids kept getting worse, to the point where she’s bailed out of HS teaching entirely and gone down to junior high. She’s much happier. It’s our local area, too much money and too many entitled parents, and that breeds monsters – they hit high school and it just goes bad. The educators got a really good contract a few years back and are being paid exceptionally well…and they can’t keep teachers. They hit that first year of retirement eligibility and they are out the door.

  84. 84.

    smintheus

    January 25, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    @WaterGirl: The threat is to send students home. I never dropped it this trip because it was my first trip; because I was struggling with a host of logistical and medical crises and didn’t have much time to deal with the trouble students; and because the students seemed to calculate just how close they could walk up to the line that would get them sent home. One or two red cards means you get sent home, and it would also mean that the rest of the students got to see exactly what the consequences were for screwing around.

  85. 85.

    Immanentize

    January 25, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @smintheus: High school students or college students? Different carrot/stick systems for each…. At the college I work at, we now require two people (at least one faculty member) to go with students on any foreign study trip sponsored by the school. Experience tells us that some teachers are as bad as the kids….

  86. 86.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    POLITICO Europe‏Verified account
    What’s surprised many in Davos is how much they’ve learned to live with — and sometimes enjoy — Trump

    You really have to admit elites made their own bed. They’re horrible. It’s easy to blame Trump voters and we should but that doesn’t excuse the fact that we have horrible, greedy, self-centered elites who care only about their own personal well-being.

    I’m rooting for injuries.

  87. 87.

    tobie

    January 25, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @Betty Cracker: @Kay: @Jeffro: It is a weird thing indeed to have become a defender of the FBI as an independent law enforcement agency. Never in my life would I have expected that we would lurch this close to a full-scale govt takeover by deeply undemocratic elements.

  88. 88.

    smintheus

    January 25, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @The Moar You Know: That’s just a sad commentary. These were college students. I anticipated a lot of potential problems and gave explicit instructions to them about they must and must never do. I even read the riot act to several of them who had previous on-campus violations on their records. But the administration wanted as many students as possible to go, and vouched for the kids I suspected would be trouble…exactly the ones who turned out to be trouble.

    Next year I’m going to filter in advance. Make them write a short essay explaining why they’d like to apply for the trip. And then interview them. Anyone who looks remotely like trouble won’t make the cut. Most of these troublemakers struck me in advance as very obviously dishonest and manipulative.

  89. 89.

    The Moar You Know

    January 25, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    We let one of our dogs with cancer struggle on for as long as he could walk, and years later I still beat myself up over the decision. It was horrible. Put a pet down while they still have some enjoyment in life.

    @smintheus: I get not being able to let go. When my dog – who, thankfully, is still a youngster and hopefully will be around a good long time – goes, I will be a fucking basket case. And I will be tempted. He loves me more than anything I have ever experienced in my life. But I know better. So yeah, put ’em down before their lives become miserable. I feel really bad for sacrablue. There are no good options, just less awful ones. I have been there. I will be there again.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    January 25, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @smintheus: Was there any sort of ‘code of conduct’ review and sign-off required of parents and students prior to the trip? One that outlined the consequences?

  91. 91.

    smintheus

    January 25, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @Immanentize: My wife and I went; college students. Very first night one student got totally drunk, wandered home alone in middle of night, got in a fight with a mugger, got badly injured, and we spent the first week trying to get him the medical treatment he was entitled to. By that point the barn door was wide open.

  92. 92.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Did I tell you about the first time I went to Boston Common?

    City park squirrels have adapted very differently than backyard/suburban/rural squirrels.
    The city squirrels have no fear of anything, will ignore the large bipeds except literally to jump on them for food. Country squirrels retain their fear – as soon as we open the back door, they scatter.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    @tobie:

    I don’t have to defend the FBI. The FBI has all kinds of well-documented problems and also massive fuck ups, but my saying that doesn’t mean I endorse the President sending his ridiculous goons out to discredit anyone who looks funny at Dear Leader.

    If Trump and The Goons manage to discredit the FBI who exactly will be left to investigate Trump and The Goons? Mueller, but Mueller has a specific job and it’s time limited.

    It’s worse than discrediting CNN because CNN is not the domestic federal law enforcement agency and the FBI is. They’re going full-on dictatorship here and it’s being treated as just another delighful Trump eccentricity.

  94. 94.

    raven

    January 25, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    @sacrablue: Damn, I just found a limp on the leg of my 13 year old pup Bohdi. I’m taking hi for a needle aspiration in a while and then we’ll see. We’ve had insurance on him for 10 years since we went through a lengthy bout with cancer with Raven. We have told ourselves we wouldn’t do the full surgery/chemo/ radiation to an animal again even thought Raven recovered and lived 2.5 years after the treatment. It’s awful and the poor critters can’t tell you one way or the other.

  95. 95.

    Jeffro

    January 25, 2018 at 1:01 pm

    @Kay: Why wouldn’t they enjoy him – no matter how horrible these elites might be (morally, ethically, any standard you choose) he’s worse. No matter how uncouth (or even criminal) they might be in some aspect of their lives, he’s worse. He makes them look good just by existing – they don’t even have to do anything.

    It must be quite a relief to know that one can be kinda horrible, go bankrupt a couple times, lie almost relentlessly, assault (only) a half dozen people, launder some money…and you’ll still not be the bottom of the barrel.

  96. 96.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 25, 2018 at 1:01 pm

    @Kay:
    I’m not sure what else could have set them off except fear of exposure by the ongoing counterintelligence investigation being performed by Mueller. I have trouble accepting that mere partisan loyalty, even fear of Trump supporters and subsequent electoral defeat if GOP congressional leadership ever crossed them, would compel them to such outlandish conspiracy theories.

    Have there been any recent polls or anything on the effectiveness of these conspiracy theories?

  97. 97.

    raven

    January 25, 2018 at 1:01 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I saw the Allman Brothers with Duane there!

  98. 98.

    eemom

    January 25, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    A different perspective on Atwood.

  99. 99.

    zhena gogolia

    January 25, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    @sacrablue:

    Good luck to you. We just went through having to put both cats to sleep, and none of the decisions were easy. One vet said that chemo for cats is not really a cure but just an attempt to give them some more time, and that seemed worth it. But ours was too far gone for that.

  100. 100.

    Jeffro

    January 25, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: As the evidence continues to mount and Mueller continues to close in, the base has to turn to these wild conspiracy theories. Because the alternative is that they’ve been totally ‘had’, totally wrong, totally supportive of a corrupt and shameless charlatan.

  101. 101.

    zhena gogolia

    January 25, 2018 at 1:05 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    You mean “Judge Judy and executioner” (Hot Fuzz). Sorry, I’m just conditioned that way.

  102. 102.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    @smintheus:

    I just took some students on an overseas course and several of them just ignored or defied pretty much every instruction I gave them. I’ve never seen behavior like this before from students

    When my daughter was in high school (mid-90s) several kids (not her) got into trouble on a European orchestra tour for drinking, carousing, breaking curfew, missing buses and like that, so much so that they had to be sent home early. These were the “good kids”, by definition.
    Before the next tour, the normally mild-mannered band director gave a ten-minute rant at the parents’ meeting. Nut graf: ” I’m not going to lose my job because some of you failed to teach your kids proper behavior away from school and home.”
    There’s something about being away that gives some kids free rein to misbehave.

  103. 103.

    smintheus

    January 25, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    @Jeffro: Yes, the study abroad office and dean met with the students to tell them their responsibilities. I didn’t attend that, but I should have to make sure that the official message had been received. I certainly sent the message multiple times to all of them as well as to specific individuals. They weren’t in any actual doubt about the rules or the supposed consequences.

    To give a typical if trivial example, we had train reservations. One student decided he wanted to sit in a seat not reserved for us so he could talk to his troublemaker friend. I told him he had to move to a reserved seat. He argued with me at length (‘nobody else is sitting here’). I insisted, finally at close to the top of my voice. He relented, started to move, and then went right back the moment I turned my back.

    One of our university’s unwritten rules is that you don’t punch students in the face.

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    @raven: Cockers tend to get what they call fatty tumors. We had a couple removed because they got pretty big, but otherwise they don’t cause any harm.

    I hope it’s just something like that.

  105. 105.

    tybee

    January 25, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    @Ohio Mom: actually, passing the book along insures that at least one more person doesn’t buy a copy and enrich the author.

  106. 106.

    Immanentize

    January 25, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    @smintheus: I am not sure if this would be helpful, but here is a link to my university’s study abroad pages. I can getmore specific forms from both the College and the Business School if they would help. Like I said, we were down this road before you — four years ago when I was in Central Admin….

  107. 107.

    Timurid

    January 25, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    @Kay:

    There’s a sizable subset of the Davos crowd that wants global government and politics to move in a more authoritarian direction. An authoritarian turn in the US would be essential to that process. Trump wouldn’t have been their first… or even their hundredth… choice for the task of neutering American democracy, but he’s the only guy who volunteered for the job. They know that they may never get another shot at this, so they’re going to let it ride…

  108. 108.

    smintheus

    January 25, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    @The Moar You Know: It’s that fear which keeps us from getting another dog. I choke up whenever I mow the grass over his grave.

  109. 109.

    zhena gogolia

    January 25, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Bohdi isn’t the cocker. Prayers for Bohdi!

  110. 110.

    sacrablue

    January 25, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @raven: Damn is right!. Hopefully, Bohdi’s lump is just a fatty tumor and easy to remove. I scheduled an appointment with the oncologist for tomorrow at 9 am. Better to know my options quickly. From everything I have read, cats seem to tolerate some forms of chemo better than dogs. I won’t put my cat through anything I wouldn’t put myself through. He is still happy sleeping out on the deck waiting for sunshine to arrive (not going to happen today). I’ll figure out what to do tomorrow.

  111. 111.

    Raven

    January 25, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    @WaterGirl: The Bohdi is the white guy.

  112. 112.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    But why would it be limited to Mueller? Say there were no Russia investigation and Donald Trump was in the White House. If that were true and he were going after the FBI you would think he was discrediting them for a reason, and the reason would be to protect himself. It doesn’t have to be “Russia” and it could easily be “Russia plus a whole bunch of other shit” or “no Russian collusion but whoo, boy, look at all this money laundering!”

    That’s what my husband is saying. That when you don’t know you have to keep the realm of possibilities open :)

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Absolutely.

    I think other dogs can get the fatty tumors, too. The rule of thumb with fatty tumors is that you can sort of grab them in your hands. If it seems like they are kind of glued down, that’s not so good. My sister’s dog got the not-so-good kind, and they had a couple removed over a few years before they had to let him go.

    Hoping for the best, I love your guys. (Doggie prayers, also.)

    edited

  114. 114.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @sacrablue:

    I’m sorry to say it, but you should probably let him go rather than do chemo. Chemo for cats does not have a very good track record because their kidneys are pretty fragile.

    What our vet told us when our cat Natasha’s cancer spread to her lungs was that as long as she still had her bodily functions (peeing, pooping, eating, drinking) and wanted to be around us, we didn’t have to rush to euthanize her. Ask your vet if there’s a mobile vet that will come to your house to minimize the stress on everyone when the time comes.

  115. 115.

    trollhattan

    January 25, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @smintheus:
    Overseas? Short of putting them on an early flight home it’s hard to guess what consequences you can wield away from home. I feel for you, having a kid in high school some of the behaviors emerging from her once-polite and nice peers are constantly boggling my mind. Anecdotally, some of her teachers establish and maintain civil behavior from the start while others seem like instant pinatas. And this is an honors track. Hard to know what the difference may be.

  116. 116.

    different-church-lady

    January 25, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @Kay:

    What’s surprised many in Davos is how much they’ve learned to live with — and sometimes enjoy — Trump

    The rich are different from you and me…

  117. 117.

    smintheus

    January 25, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @Immanentize: A friend at another college nearby tells me that she had heard from a colleague that students from our university are prone to behave like this on study abroad trips. Last winter I went to the same area with students from her college and even though there were a few I didn’t particularly like, nobody on that trip behaved remotely like the half dozen who nearly ruined this trip.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    @Timurid:

    That part of it fascinates me because it’s terrifying. It hasn’t escaped my notice either that all of these formerly principled resisters to Trump came around quick when he cut their taxes. “He’s not so bad! HUGE liar and rabid racist but lower tax rates and no regulation? Sign me up”.

  119. 119.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    @Jeffro:

    “That’s why I took the form of a 45-year-old white man. I can only fail up.”

  120. 120.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 1:18 pm

    @smintheus:

    One of our university’s unwritten rules is that you don’t punch students in the face.

    Alas

  121. 121.

    Gravenstone

    January 25, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    @sacrablue: Have a serious discussion with your vet about your cat’s anticipated quality of life while on the chemo, and what a reasonable estimate of added life following a successful regimen might be. At 14, how does that compare to the breed’s normal expected lifespan. Only you can make the decision whether the challenges of chemo might be offset by having more time together.

  122. 122.

    Jeffro

    January 25, 2018 at 1:20 pm

    @smintheus:

    One of our university’s unwritten rules is that you don’t punch students in the face.

    What?!? How can they tie your hands like that? =)

  123. 123.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    Also, too, I’ve always assumed that half the point of the “squirrel-proof feeder” is the hours of entertainment it provides for the humans as the squirrels figure it out, and then pointing and laughing at the contortions the squirrels go through. I never thought it was to completely prevent them from getting food, just make them work a lot harder for it. ?

  124. 124.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 1:23 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    “learned to live with”. Because nothing changes for them. They’ve sadly accepted that others will have to make sacrifices and gamely shouldered the moral burden that comes with backing that. So brave!

    Trump, being one of them, understood that. He knew they’d come around.

  125. 125.

    rikyrah

    January 25, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @Jeffro:

    On another note, glad to see the pushback on Nunes (not just here from Rubin but in many places). Unfortunately, I don’t see how the current strategy keeps it from devolving into a “Rs say, Ds say, both-sides” bullshit fest.

    I think that the Dems have come up with a strategy. It’s the ‘ let’s publish everything in reference to the Nunes cherry picks.’
    They are talking about releasing transcripts of this testimony and that testimony, including Dolt45 Jr’s testimony.
    I think this is the way to go.

  126. 126.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @smintheus:

    I’m trying to think back to when I was that age and wondering if a little collective punishment would help. As in, “If X happens, Y will not happen and we’ll all spend the day at the hotel staring at each other,” and then follow through if X happens. That might encourage the rest of the group to sit on the troublemakers.

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

    January 25, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    @tobie:

    As the daughter of immigrants and wife of an immigrant, I find this whole debate by turns infuriating and terrifying.

    But, this is who they always were. The rabid racists who want to END non-White immigration to this country.

  128. 128.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    @smintheus:

    Also, probably the only way to have solved that problem was to sit in the disputed seat yourself, which I realize would not solve the problem of it not being a reserved seat. But sometimes you have to take steps to physically separate the troublemakers from each other.

  129. 129.

    Lyrebird

    January 25, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    @Betty Cracker: They need more fat and more fur up here. Classmate of mine from Fla had the same reaction on seeing Northern squirrels, and found some photos (pre Google) to show me what she meant. ETA: I thought the Fla. squirrels had just come through an attack that removed half their tail fluff.

  130. 130.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 1:31 pm

    @Mnemosyne: You must not have bird feeders. Not one person I know who feeds birds enjoys anything about the squirrels antics in stealing the bird food.

  131. 131.

    catclub

    January 25, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    @trollhattan:

    local paper shellacs Nunes, calling him “Trump’s stooge” in the title.

    Unfortunately, Nunes considers that a win.

  132. 132.

    rikyrah

    January 25, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    @Kay:

    Conservatives really have to get their shit together on their slavish devotion to law enforcement and how it conflicts with what happens when any of them break the law.

    I don’t ask for a LOT of consistency but these people run around screaming “lock her up” constantly. Pick a position and stick with it, you fucking shameless hacks.

    Kay….
    come on, now.
    They don’t care about consistency.

  133. 133.

    rikyrah

    January 25, 2018 at 1:36 pm

    @tobie:

    @Kay: This is scary. Fox, AM radio, and now GOP members of Congress (!) are whipping the Republican base up into a frenzy. It feels like 30% of the country is completely unreachable.

    Phuck ’em.

  134. 134.

    rikyrah

    January 25, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @Kay:

    I’m not panicking about it but what happens if they manage to immunize Trump from any oversight at all? What happens if they do the same thing with law enforcement they’ve done with media, where they claim it’s all fake?

    They won’t Kay. They will try, but not succeed. Let them go down with him.
    They should punished for their TREASON

  135. 135.

    Mike in DC

    January 25, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @rikyrah:
    Which is why family migration, diversity lottery and the overall number of green cards issued per year should be off the table. If there’s a concession to make to get the Dream Act, it should be strictly limited to partial funding for the stupid racist wall.

  136. 136.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    @catclub:

    Unfortunately, Nunes considers that a win.

    Earlier in the year, weren’t some of you Californicators pretty sure that there were viable Dem opponents for Nunes and some of the the Republicriminals (the arsonist Issa having baIled)

  137. 137.

    Lyrebird

    January 25, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @sacrablue: I am not a vet, & the only sick cat I’ve taken care of had diabetes. I am sending you good wishes of clear and helpful info from the kitty oncologist and lots of days near a sunny window with the kitty.

  138. 138.

    Betty Cracker

    January 25, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    @Mnemosyne: It is for me. I also have an undefended feeder they can use if they don’t feel like testing their skills against the “squirrel-proof” feeder. I like squirrels.

  139. 139.

    bemused

    January 25, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    @Kay:

    Imagine if the human race consisted solely of rightwingers and those self-servers who aid and abet them, our species would have been wiped out ages ago. They should really be thankful the rest of human race are their checks and balances.

  140. 140.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 25, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    @The Moar You Know: My beloved dog Sox suddenly lost all control over her back end. She had a break in her spine (totally spontaneous and not related to any injury) I was unwilling to let her go and vowed to get her a wheelchair, but even after that she was miserable, she couldn’t negotiate the house, the back steps and the garden and she hated it. I eventually hated myself because I would not let her go and when she died, quietly in her sleep thank the FSM, I was so grateful. There are times that you just have to say goodbye and remember that it is what is good for the pet and not what is good for YOU.

  141. 141.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I like squirrels.

    Love you Betty, but they’re vermin.

    Fuckem

  142. 142.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    @rikyrah:

    I feel like an (ostensibly) normal senator launching the campaign is a new and dangerous low. They may just be literally immunizing Trump from any oversight at all, because if no one is credible to investigate him then he can’t be investigated.

    This isn’t like “if the Democrats take the House they will conduct a with hunt!” This is “no one in law enforcement can credibly investigate Donald Trump” That’s convenient, right? We’ll just have to take the fucking pathological liars word on everything, then? Okey doke.

  143. 143.

    Jeffro

    January 25, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    Oh well, since this is an Open Thread: gah! Always have a spotter with you!

    Skeleton found in wall of home being renovated.

    This is why I don’t do home improvements, or go up into my attic(!)

  144. 144.

    ruemara

    January 25, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    I’m rather upset. The little boy kitten is not feeling good. Moving,climbed his tower, but not eating with good appetite and was very low key compared to his normal self. I had to go to work and leave him with the roommate but I’m fretting.

  145. 145.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    @bemused:

    Well, a lot of you are more generous than I am because my days of trying to convince Republican Medicaid recipients I think they probably need Medicaid are over. This is a kind of conceit they’re allowed to have. They’re allowed to look down on everyone else and go on and on about how everyone’s lazy, secure in the knowlege that some poor much-maligned Lefty will be pleading for their fucking Medicaid funding. No more of that for me. Labor unions call this behavior “free riding” and they’re right.

  146. 146.

    Joey Maloney

    January 25, 2018 at 1:56 pm

    One of the most resented quotations came from the civil rights movement: “The only place for a woman in the Movement is on her back.”

    The quote is usually rendered as “the only position for women in SNCC is prone” (which, btw, means on your stomach – on your back is supine) by Stokely Carmichael. The argument continues over whether he was speaking tongue-in-cheek or not.

  147. 147.

    SenyorDave

    January 25, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    Donald Trump controversially observed that he could shoot an individual on a widely trafficked New York City street and not “lose one voter.”

    I think this should be changed to:

    Trump could stand in 5th avenue with a male Trump supporter, and in front of the man, shoot his disabled 6 year old son, sell his twin sister into prostitution, rape his wife and not lose his support.

  148. 148.

    MattF

    January 25, 2018 at 2:02 pm

    @Jeffro: How do you renovate a skeleton?

  149. 149.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    @Kay:

    They may just be literally immunizing Trump from any oversight at all

    Kay, you repeat this over and over like a mantra. It’s not gonna’ happen. They’ll try, sure. There are too many investigators, too many potential felonies (connected to the campaign or not), too many indictments to drop. Even if the asshole himself is protected for a while, when all his aides and confidantes start falling away he can’t do anything by himsef.
    Your statement posits 1) a Robert Ludlum level conspiracy and 2) That it actually works. They have no control over Mueller’s team, the NYAG team, most of the courts…..

  150. 150.

    Timurid

    January 25, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    @Joey Maloney:

    Did he mean this prone position?

  151. 151.

    Mary G

    January 25, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    @efgoldman: One of his Democratic opponents already has a billboard up, showing Nunes and Trump as toddlers on kiddie leashes, complete with teddy bears being held by Vlad and the caption is “You have been a good boy, Devin.”

    I am in the minority, but it’s a heavily Latino district where the Latinos don’t usually vote, and I think with some good GOTV and a nice wave, he might get picked off.

  152. 152.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    @Kay:

    my days of trying to convince Republican Medicaid recipients I think they probably need Medicaid are over. This is a kind of conceit they’re allowed to have. They’re allowed to look down on everyone else and go on and on about how everyone’s lazy

    Don’t blame you, and thanks for all your effort.
    They’re the majority in your immediate orbit, but not in a lot of the rest of the country. Remember Orange Asshole lost by three million popular votes.

  153. 153.

    Just One More Canuck

    January 25, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    @smintheus:

    One of our university’s unwritten rules is that you don’t punch students in the face.

    Sounds like it’s really only a suggestion

  154. 154.

    Origuy

    January 25, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    @efgoldman: There are six Democratic challengers to Nunes registered for the primary. How viable they are, I have no idea.

    A Public Policy Polling survey conducted in January 2018 on behalf of the campaign of attorney Andrew Janz (D) found Nunes leading a generic Democratic candidate 50-45.

  155. 155.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    @Origuy:

    How viable they are, I have no idea.

    “Jungle” primary, right? So likely outcome is Nunes against a Dem. In a wave year, if (maybe he’s clearly under investigation by November)

  156. 156.

    Daoud bin Daoud

    January 25, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    Ursula Le Guin is my all-time favorite author. About 10 years ago, I wrote to her twice – the only fan letters I’ve ever written in my life. She replied to me both times. I will miss her terribly.

  157. 157.

    Phylllis

    January 25, 2018 at 2:22 pm

    @efgoldman: Oh my. Have to give a squirrel that determined props tho. It’s worked great for us. We’ll be moving in about 4-5 months and the hubby is already worried about ‘abandoning’ his birds. I told him they’ll probably follow the moving truck to the new house.

  158. 158.

    Amaranthine RBG

    January 25, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    Okay, since this is an open thread ….

    I comment regularly on a number of hunting oriented websites. The general political tilt is about what you would expect but in the past moderators have never deleted any of my posts based on content.

    But on two different, unrelated websites, moderators mass deleted posts of mine from the past couple of days about Nunes/the fake British memo/the FBI secret society. Poof. just gone.

    I know that Mr. Silverman talks about penetration at all levels, but unless this is some weird coincidence, this is deep penetration indeed. Very weird.

  159. 159.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    @ruemara:

    Weirdly, I think cats are having their own cold and flu season. Charlotte was sneezing and her paw pads felt hot, plus she was extra clingy. But it may be worth a trip to the vet just to be sure.

  160. 160.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    @Phylllis:

    hubby is already worried about ‘abandoning’ his birds.

    Somehow they made it before you moved in; they’ll probably be OK

  161. 161.

    Ridnik Chrome

    January 25, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    @rikyrah:

    They should punished for their TREASON

    I would also like to see the Republicans punished somehow for their practice of governing in bad faith; I’m thinking in particular of people like the asswipe who’s running the EPA right now, and the other asswipe who’s running the CFPB and just submitted a budget request for zero (that’s right, zero) dollars, but there are numerous other examples. Republicans have been putting foxes in charge of hen houses ever since Reagan made James G. Watt his secretary of the interior, and it’s long past time we put a stop to it.

  162. 162.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    @efgoldman: And he still wants to change long standing immigration laws of 50 years with virtually no push back from the media. No cries of what about bipartisanship, like they used to when the President was a D.

  163. 163.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Aww poor Charlotte. Tuck her in and make her some hot catnip tea.

  164. 164.

    Immanentize

    January 25, 2018 at 2:36 pm

    @efgoldman: This was up at Brad Delong’s place as a reminder to himself:

    180.8 million people are represented by the 49 senators who caucus with the Democrats.
    141.7 million people are represented by the 51 senators who caucus with the Republicans.
    65.9 million people voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tim Kaine to be their president and vice president
    63.0 million people voted for Donald Trump and Mike Pence to be their president and vice president.

    Always good to re-perspectivize.

  165. 165.

    rikyrah

    January 25, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    Trump Wants to Turn Our Schools Into War Zones
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    January 25, 2018

    The first month of 2018 isn’t over and already there have been 11 school shootings this year that left five people dead. The ignorant bully who currently occupies the White House explained his response to U.S. mayors yesterday.

    I’ll have a hard time explaining how angry this makes me. But perhaps we can start with the fact that the program he is referring to, the Pentagon’s Law Enforcement Support Office, supplies local law enforcement agencies with grenade launchers, high-caliber firearms, camouflage gear, and armored personnel carriers. Trump might be the only person in the country to not have heard why the Obama administration ended the program. It happened when law enforcement used that kind of equipment to turn communities into war zones in response to protests over police shootings of unarmed black men.

    Trump has, of course, reinstated the program, which is bad enough. But to suggest that turning schools into war zones with grenade launchers and armored personnel carriers will keep our children safe leaves me at a loss for words. It is utterly insane.

    There is some truth to the idea that Trump says these kinds of things precisely because it gets that kind of response from liberals. That is exactly what people like Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopolous have been banking on for a while now. So if Trump were nothing more than a grifter trying to make a buck off of liberal outrage, I’d give him a pass just like to do with the other grifters. But this is the President of the United States suggesting that we turn our schools into war zones—and providing local law enforcement with the equipment to do so. I simply can’t ignore that.

  166. 166.

    cosima

    January 25, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    Our red squirrels are the cutest! They are not vermin! I would love to have some come to a feeder at our house, but they are far too shy. If I catch a glimpse of one I feel quite lucky to have done so. Gorgeous!

    There was a naked squirrel at the park near our house in Denver. It was so strange to see that squirrel with its distinctive squirrel mannerisms, and not a single hair on its body, around all of the other squirrels. I don’t know how it survived the cold Denver winters. It was definitely ostracised by the others.

    I’ve recently seen headlines that say that the ‘secret society’ story is now gone as a talking point for the idiots on the hill. What will the rubes say? I noticed that it was a big thing on twitter (thank you Russian bots) but could not stomach reading any of the twitter threads promoting it, not even to point & laugh. It is too tragic that the US has descended into such a pitiful state. I can’t find any comedy in it.

  167. 167.

    rikyrah

    January 25, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    An Obstruction of Justice Case Won’t Be Enough to Remove Trump
    by Martin Longman
    January 25, 2018

    Ryan Goodman of the New York Times lays things out in such a way that it’s easy to see the outlines of a fairly slam-dunk case of obstruction of justice in the Russia probe. In addition to the already verified false statements made by Michael Flynn and George Papadapoulos, for which they have both been indicted, he identifies false statements that were made to Congress or on government forms by Jeff Sessions, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and K.T. McFarland. This is in addition to a long list of false statements that were made to the public, including by the president, insisting that there had been absolutely no contact between members of the campaign and Russians. For Goodman, these public lies are so intertwined with their overall defense that it’s impossible to believe that they were honest in private when speaking to federal investigators.

    The original conspiracy to hide Russian contacts has unraveled. We now know that Flynn, Papadapolos, and Sam Clovis are cooperating with the Mueller investigation, while there is reason to believe that Rick Gates may soon join them. Many others have given testimony, either to the grand jury or to the special counsel’s investigators. Some, like Hope Hicks and the president’s White House lawyer Don McGahn are still in Trump’s employ, but others like Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, and Steve Bannon (who is scheduled to testify soon) are not. Only the most guilty have any interest in lying to the feds, so it’s safe to say that Mueller has decimated the original unity of Trump’s team and is now getting to the bottom of how these lies were coordinated. And maybe that’s why it appears that he’ll spend his time talking to the president by focusing on issues related to obstruction of justice rather than the underlying crime.

    Trump may have signaled yesterday that he’s knows he’s in trouble on obstruction. He’s been denying he colluded with the Russians but on Wednesday he added a denial that he’s obstructed the investigation, too.

  168. 168.

    Amaranthine RBG

    January 25, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    @rikyrah:
    Yes, this is the scenario I fear. Well, one of the ones I fear, anyway.

  169. 169.

    rikyrah

    January 25, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    How Spooked Are Republicans About the Mueller Investigation?
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    January 25, 2018

    Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) sounded an awful lot like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones during an appearance this week on Fox News.

    Let’s break that down, shall we? Johnson said that an informant told him that there was a “secret society” of FBI agents who were meeting off site. The inference everyone took is that they were plotting to destroy the Trump presidency. He tied that to corruption at the highest levels of the FBI and suggested that since Mueller had once led that agency, he is in no position to do an investigation.

    But Johnson’s story changed dramatically when he was questioned about it by someone who is not a reporter on Fox News.

    Johnson: “I’ve heard from an individual that there were FBI agents … management of the FBI, holding meetings off-site.”
    My Q: Off-site to do what, exactly?
    Johnson: “I don’t know. …(The texts) raise an awful lot of questions; it is my responsibility to try and get answers.”

    — Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 24, 2018

  170. 170.

    J R in WV

    January 25, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    We have had, over the past 45 years, nearly 20 cats and 7 dogs. Right now we have 2 cats and 2 dogs, with several more neighbor dogs that come here when their people go to work.

    A couple of times we have waited too long to put down an ill dog or cat. A few have taken things out of our hands by going into the woods alone near their end. At least a couple have gone on their standard tour up to the ridge and died unexpectedly, seeming completely healthy, although a little elderly.

    Others have stayed close and purred and cuddled til very near their death. I think the decision depends upon both the person and the pet involved. We try hard to keep our fellows from suffering. When they seem either too frail or in pain or not having a pleasant life any more, then you know it is time. If they can barely get up and walk from their bed in the kitchen to their bed in the bedroom, well…

    Our first dog was a German Shepherd that my cousin had until his divorce and related crazyness led him to leave the dog with our Grandma. Pretty soon after that the dog needed more attention than an 80-y-o could easily provide and she asked me to take over. She soon became incontinent – that wasn’t a deal breaker in the summer when she preferred being outside most of the time, with us. It took lots of cleaning up, but we could do that, back then.

    Taking your first dog, even in such odd circumstances, to your vet for that last trip, was really hard on me. The last time we took a dog, Boomer (a 90 pound WV brown dog with a booming bark – very protective and affectionate) to the vet was both sad and releasing. Our clinic has an examining room where no one is examined, and we sat on the floor on quilts with Boomer in our laps. They gave him a mild sedative to help him be calm, which I don’t think he really needed much, he was pretty much greatest at calm. Then 20 or 30 minutes later they came in and deftly gave him his release.

    It’s hard on the vet and assistant too, they are in that line of work because they love animals. And they knew Boomer after 10 years of seeing him every few months. I wish I could attach his picture, which is of pink nose and tongue with eyes way back there almost out of sight. He was a fine boy.

    There are so many of us with pets that it is normal for some one of us to always be going through this. We all feel your pain, really. Best of luck, everyone. And take care.

  171. 171.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I think we had this discussion the first time you put up a picture of a dainty squirrel from Florida.

    ETA: I remember asking you whether it was a baby squirrel (kitten ? cub?)

  172. 172.

    cosima

    January 25, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @rikyrah: I’ve shared that link with my daughter to add to her book-of-faces page. Love that the positive story happened at the R McNair school – the McNair StoryCorps video makes me laugh and cry *every time.*

  173. 173.

    rikyrah

    January 25, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @Immanentize:

    WE are the majority

  174. 174.

    bemused

    January 25, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    @Kay:

    I hear ya. I’m in despair every day over the inhumanity and cruelty of the ignorant and greedy ghouls. Still we’ll continue to fight for a just, fair and decent world for our kids and grandkids, friends and family who are not clueless assholes and if the rest benefit from those efforts, so will all of us.

    I have a cartoon on my fridge of a climate summit. Speaker’s poster sign lists the goals of energy independence, clean, water, air, healthy children, etc. Cranky audience member says, What if it’s a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?

  175. 175.

    HeleninEire

    January 25, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    WOO HOO. The Irish Dail has just passed a law making drinking on Good Friday legal. Everyone is THRILLED.

  176. 176.

    Baud

    January 25, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    @HeleninEire: Tomorrow is going to be crazy!

  177. 177.

    Mike in DC

    January 25, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    @rikyrah:
    The thing is, if I’m Bob Mueller, and the President is a target of my investigation, then I’m well aware that impeachment is a political act. I would wait until I’ve run down every lead, proven every element and established every claim solidly before I send a true bill to Rosenstein/House Judiciary. I might even be mindful of which party controls Congress now, and how that might be different next year. I don’t expect an impeachment referral (if any) before next year.

  178. 178.

    Baud

    January 25, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    @rikyrah: WE are also better looking FWIW.

  179. 179.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    @rikyrah: Yes we are and we have the truth on our side. You cannot outpace the truth forever. In the end, truth always wins.

  180. 180.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Sadly, no — our apartment doesn’t have an outdoor space for one. ?

    We do hear an urban owl outside sometimes, which is pretty cool. It hoots at dusk and we can hear it if we have the windows open.

  181. 181.

    Leto

    January 25, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    @Just One More Canuck: Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

  182. 182.

    bemused

    January 25, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    @Baud:

    Also, well developed sense of humor.

  183. 183.

    debbie

    January 25, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    There are a few white squirrels in my neighborhood, but they’re more weather worn. With its nice fluffy tail, yours must be someone’s pet!

  184. 184.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    January 25, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    Totally OT, but does Jeff Sessions have no cartilage in his damn ears? They sag like they’re made of old silicone.

  185. 185.

    raven

    January 25, 2018 at 3:02 pm

    Just a fatty tumor for the Bohdi.

  186. 186.

    Baud

    January 25, 2018 at 3:02 pm

    @raven: Good.

  187. 187.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    January 25, 2018 at 3:03 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    Put the bastard in a sack dress and he’d look like Kreature the house elf.

  188. 188.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    @raven: That’s good. *sigh of relief*

  189. 189.

    NotMax

    January 25, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    @HeleninEire

    From Good Friday to Better Friday in one stroke.

    Remnant of the missionary days, it’s a state holiday in Hawaii.

  190. 190.

    HeleninEire

    January 25, 2018 at 3:11 pm

    @Baud: Always!!

  191. 191.

    sacrablue

    January 25, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    @raven: yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  192. 192.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    January 25, 2018 at 3:13 pm

    @Ohio Mom: I’d cut the pages loose with a box cutter and recycle them – it’s the glue that’s the problem. Then pitch the cover.

  193. 193.

    HeleninEire

    January 25, 2018 at 3:13 pm

    @raven: Did I miss a Bohdi post? Good cuz it woulda hurt my feelings. Glad he’s OK.

  194. 194.

    trollhattan

    January 25, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    @efgoldman:
    Nunes has trounced his last three opponents but…his district, CA-22, has a Hispanic plurality and I suppose is theoretically flippable. Trump carried it 52.1–42.6 and interestingly, Harris also did 52.7–47.3. Weird, huh?

    Thing is, I don’t know how being framed as Vlad’s rent boy generates any interest in a suburban/rural poor agricultural district. If Trump keeps fvcking with immigration that could generate the Hispanic backlash necessary to give ol’ Devin the boot. Nunes is Portuguese FWIW, and rather gentry in the San Joaquin Valley social strata.

  195. 195.

    Tenar Arha

    January 25, 2018 at 3:16 pm

    @oatler.: You need to read one of her more recent Earthsea books. Maybe it’s The Other Wind, or it could be Tehanu. (You’ll be glad you did). ETA check Tales from Earthsea too

  196. 196.

    HeleninEire

    January 25, 2018 at 3:19 pm

    @NotMax: When I first moved here I didn’t get it. You can drink on Easter Sunday and not on Good Friday. My (not lapsed Catholic) father explained to me, (the MEGA lapsed Catholic) about how the death is so much more important than the resurrection. WHO KNEW?? I would a thought it was the opposite.

  197. 197.

    Ohio Mom

    January 25, 2018 at 3:19 pm

    @tybee: hmmm…hadn’t thought of that.

    Of course my whole attitude that I don’t want to inadvertently create a Hillbilly Elegy fan is pretty cynical. Maybe the next reader would see through the bootstraps shtick.

  198. 198.

    geg6

    January 25, 2018 at 3:31 pm

    @raven:

    Oh, good news!

  199. 199.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    @Ridnik Chrome:

    I would also like to see the Republicans punished somehow for their practice of governing in bad faith

    Really, unless they committed actual crimes (as opposed to doing stupid fucking things we hate but aren’t criminal) the only remedy is the ballot box.

  200. 200.

    Matt McIrvin

    January 25, 2018 at 3:36 pm

    @HeleninEire: Evangelical Protestants say the opposite.

  201. 201.

    FlipYrWhig

    January 25, 2018 at 3:38 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): @raven: I love the inadvertent call and response between these two consecutive posts.

    Also, great news, raven!

  202. 202.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 3:39 pm

    @NotMax:

    it’s a state holiday in Hawaii.

    And for reasons that nobody remembers and make no sense, it’s a stock market holiday. Since it’s usually near the end of tax season, those of us who chose to work (with the phones off – huzzah) got double time and a half and a chance to catch up.

  203. 203.

    Mary G

    January 25, 2018 at 3:39 pm

    @raven: Thank Dog.

  204. 204.

    catclub

    January 25, 2018 at 3:40 pm

    @HeleninEire: Being from the States, I am opposed to the State regulating how certain members of certain faiths behave on their holy days – and even more so regulating how everybody behaves on those days – based on how one religion views those days.

    OTOH: I think (as a Christian) that it is just as important to observe the solemn days with solemnity as to observe the celebratory days with celebration.
    I am also of the view that Easter is much more important – but that you (we, somebody) have to go through what happens on Good Friday to get to Easter.

    I guess that means that even if I could go out drinking on GF, I might not.

  205. 205.

    Tenar Arha

    January 25, 2018 at 3:41 pm

    @oatler.: Addendum: IIRC chronologically, the story I cannot remember the name of, comes after the story “Dragonfly”

  206. 206.

    tesslibrarian

    January 25, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @sacrablue: My experience losing three cats in two years is that they tend to let you know when they are done. Some are more explicit than others; the first one had taken to hiding when I was supposed to give her medication, and I finally said to her, “I won’t do that anymore. I won’t keep you here.” She had the most amazing last afternoon–after not really moving off our bed except to hide for the past two days, she came out, walked around, gazed out all the windows, sniffed all the corners, stared at the fishtank, sat in her favorite place on the sofa…it was so clear she was saying goodbye to her territory. She even let me take pictures of her before the vet arrived that evening to set her free from her obvious pain. It was the hardest thing ever, but once her quality of life was gone, there was only one option.

    Trust your kitty. She’ll let you know (or someone–I was very ill when the next cat’s fibrosarcoma finally won out–we’d realized she’d never handle the stress of radiation treatment–and she wouldn’t tell me, but she told my husband) –there is a look in their eyes; you sometimes need to let them know it’s okay to let go to see it. (It doesn’t feel okay, but it’s our last act of love.)

    The only warning I’d give is that vet schools and specialists are often far more enthusiastic about dramatic treatment than the animal can handle. So, weigh that. They gave our second fibrosarcoma cat 6 weeks; he lived 6 months before he was in pain. Palliative care can be best the option, and last longer than they predict.

  207. 207.

    catclub

    January 25, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @NotMax:

    Remnant of the missionary days, it’s a state holiday in Hawaii.

    In the part of NC I grew up in, Easter Monday is the holiday for people who got up before dawn for sunrise services the previous day.
    I am not sure how official it actually is. But it is a thing.

  208. 208.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    January 25, 2018 at 3:50 pm

    @raven: Great to hear.

  209. 209.

    raven

    January 25, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    @HeleninEire: It just happened that there was a conversation with sacrablue about pet cancer just when I was abut to take the boy in. I found the lump last night and figured I better check it out. If it hadn’t had been for the discussion I probably wouldn’t have brought it up.

  210. 210.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 25, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Based on my (admittedly Catholic) understanding of the scriptures, Christ’s death is what was supposed to bring salvation, and his resurrection was just like a nice thing to do.

  211. 211.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 25, 2018 at 3:54 pm

    @catclub: I was the publicly schooled child first generation Irish Americans. We got less and less churchy as my dad got more into golf and my mom lost her muscle on Sunday mornings. One year, maybe fifth grade, late 70s, my CCD teacher told us to remember we had to stay inside and sit quietly on Good Friday afternoon, because that was when Jesus was dying on the cross. I don’t think “What the fuck?” was part of our vocabulary back then, but that was our attitude. My parents confirmed it was once a thing.

    ETA: and were the stations of the cross just for Good Friay? Or any time during Lent? If I’m wrong about all this… Christ may forgive, but my dead grandmothers are sore as hell right now

  212. 212.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 3:55 pm

    @HeleninEire:

    IIRC from my CCD days, it’s because Good Friday is still part of Lent, and Easter Sunday is the day we all return to normal life, including alcohol.

  213. 213.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 25, 2018 at 3:56 pm

    Also I think this is the exact model of bird feeder that we see a raccoon get into in an episode of Planet Earth 2.

  214. 214.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    It’s Lent vs normal life — Good Friday is the last Friday of Lent, so sacrifices are still being made. I think Helen’s dad was daydreaming during catechism class. ?

  215. 215.

    J R in WV

    January 25, 2018 at 3:58 pm

    Up in NE Ohio, where I have some more distant cousins (2nd and 3rd) and have visited long ago with parent more closely related, they have black squirrels, as black as coal dust. Evidently they are expanding their range and push out the less strong gray squirrels as they go. Perhaps they won’t get very far south, but condors are black in the tropical mountains of Mexico.

    The complete opposite of the cute white squirrel in your photo post. Still cute, though.

  216. 216.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    It’s designed so creatures with thumbs can get into it, so …

  217. 217.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    Republican U.S. Senate candidate for Missouri Courtland Sykes blasted “women’s rights” this week.
    In a statement posted to Facebook on Tuesday, Sykes said that he had been asked if he “supports women’s rights.”
    “I want to come home to a home cooked dinner every night at six,” Sykes said, referring to demands he makes of his girlfriend. “One that she fixes and one that I expect one day to have daughters learn to fix after they become traditional homemakers and family wives.”

    What is a “family wife”? Doesn’t that sound like an odd sub-category, like “sister wives”?

  218. 218.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 25, 2018 at 4:01 pm

    Josh Kraushaar@ HotlineJosh
    Competitive House seat in UTAH –>
    @ Politics1com
    UT CD-4 (Salt Lake Trib/U of Utah): Cong Mia Love (R) 47%, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams (D) 42%

  219. 219.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I’m a Vatican II kid, and the Stations of the Cross were really only used for Good Friday. You can contemplate them at any time through the year, but the full processional through all of them is on Good Friday.

  220. 220.

    sheila in nc

    January 25, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    @HeleninEire:

    When I first moved here I didn’t get it. You can drink on Easter Sunday and not on Good Friday. My (not lapsed Catholic) father explained to me, (the MEGA lapsed Catholic) about how the death is so much more important than the resurrection. WHO KNEW?? I would a thought it was the opposite.

    Makes total sense to (non-Catholic) me. The resurrection is an event of joy and celebration. But the death is a death.

  221. 221.

    ruemara

    January 25, 2018 at 4:03 pm

    @Mnemosyne: The housemate just sent me video proof of him being frolicsome a bit and generally interacting with his “dad”. Says he’s sniffely and sneezy and slept a lot this morning (how can you tell?) but doesn’t seem ill beyond that. I’m lucky. I have 4 former veterinary behaviour interns, 3 of whom have gone on to get their Phds in either veterinary care or animal cognitive learning ( have to get 3 really nice gifts shipped to 3 parts of the globe this summer) and one of my friend’s dad is a 40 year veterinary practitioner on large & small animals with an international veterinary charity. I have no end of brains to pick on behaviour & care. I’ll keep an eye on the little bugger who bloody well knocked over my violet Ms. Pink and probably concussed hisself.

  222. 222.

    Mike in DC

    January 25, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I shudder to think the seat may be competitive because Love had the temerity to criticize Trump for calling Haiti a shithole.

  223. 223.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    @efgoldman:

    I bet that it is/was either a NY state holiday or an NYC holiday. Workers in Chicago were pissed when Good Friday got taken away as a city holiday and they got floating holidays instead.

    Some public schools out here observe Jewish holidays and there will be days off around (I think) Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.

  224. 224.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 25, 2018 at 4:07 pm

    @Mike in DC: may be part of it, as I recall, Love took that seat from a Dem who won it in the ’06 wave

  225. 225.

    J R in WV

    January 25, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    CCD? Charge-Coupled Detector? Device?

    Catechism something something I guess…not something I know about from personal experience. Sunday school at First Presby, graduated to Unitarianism… took a comparative religion class in college (1st time) but it was mostly non-Christian religions, Hindu, Buddha (several types) Shinto, and the like.

  226. 226.

    Aleta

    January 25, 2018 at 4:09 pm

    @sacrablue: Sorry to hear about your cat. With anything that’s affecting a cat’s intestines (FIV, cancer, nerves) I’ve had good luck with “limited ingredient diets,” esp the 3 ingredient ones.

    The idea is that inflammation of the lining for any reason makes it harder for the digestion to work. That may cause of diarr, or vomiting or just less absorption of nutrients, when they eat but waste away. Having a lots of ingredients in a cat food is said to be harder to digest than just a few. Also some ingredients are naturally harder to absorb and on their own cause inflammation. So the cat may get more nourishment to feel better longer w limited ingredients.

    Probiotics might help because inflammation or diar.. wipes out the useful bacteria and then the gut becomes even less able to work right. Some 3-ingredient foods have probiotics added. There are liquid probs. Or I opened capsules and mixed the powder in.

  227. 227.

    Ridnik Chrome

    January 25, 2018 at 4:10 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Really, unless they committed actual crimes (as opposed to doing stupid fucking things we hate but aren’t criminal) the only remedy is the ballot box.

    Unfortunately that’s probably true. But whenever our side gets back in power we need to at least pass some stronger conflict-of-interest laws. People shouldn’t be allowed to get away with the kind of gross, deliberate misgovernment that’s become the norm for Republican administrations at all levels these days. I’m thinking of guys like Walker and Brownback, too.

  228. 228.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 4:10 pm

    @ruemara:

    Yep, that sounds like what Charlotte was doing. She was a little mopey and snugly for a few days and now she’s fine. The reason I thought it might be a cold/kitty flu was that her paw pads seemed unusually warm, but they were back to normal today.

  229. 229.

    sheila in nc

    January 25, 2018 at 4:11 pm

    @Kay:

    “I want to come home to a home cooked dinner every night at six,” Sykes said, referring to demands he makes of his girlfriend.

    Umm, just my opinion, but I think his candidacy is toast. And I don’t even want to go there with “demands he makes of his girlfriend.” Who is she and why does she put up with this?

  230. 230.

    trollhattan

    January 25, 2018 at 4:12 pm

    Somebody go buy the Guggenheim a beer. They earned it!

    President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump asked the Guggenheim Museum to loan them a Van Gogh painting for the White House residence, said the Washington Post on Thursday. However, the museum offered the first couple a consolation prize: A solid gold toilet called “America.”

    The White House reportedly asked the famous art museum if the Trumps could “borrow” Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “Landscape with Snow.”

    In an email, museum curator Nancy Spector said the Guggenheim could not accommodate the White House’s request. “The curator’s alternative: an 18-karat, fully functioning, solid gold toilet – an interactive work entitled ‘America’ that critics have described as pointed satire aimed at the excess of wealth in this country,” said the Post.

    That is one goddamn fine piece of trolling.

  231. 231.

    Just One More Canuck

    January 25, 2018 at 4:13 pm

    @Kay: He seems nice

  232. 232.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 25, 2018 at 4:13 pm

    @J R in WV: Catholic Catechism and Doctrine, as I recall. My siblings and I had to go through it long enough for our grandmothers to see us confirmed (8th grade). By the time I, the youngest, went through it, we weren’t even bothering with Xmas and Easter mass anymore.

  233. 233.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 4:13 pm

    @J R in WV:

    You made me look it up: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

  234. 234.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 4:14 pm

    Trump, who hasn’t done a non-Fox TV interview since May, will sit for two in Davos: Piers Morgan and CNBC’s Joe Kernen.

    Oh, those will be tough! What a joke this whole thing is. It’s a reality tv show. Not even a good one. You’ll learn more from Real Housewives and you won’t have to look at Donald Trump.

  235. 235.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    January 25, 2018 at 4:14 pm

    @Kay: How odd. I’d like to come home to a cooked meal every night too.

  236. 236.

    Gravenstone

    January 25, 2018 at 4:16 pm

    @smintheus: The neck isn’t the face … technically.

  237. 237.

    Aleta

    January 25, 2018 at 4:16 pm

    @Mnemosyne: yeah I think my dog got a flu (unusually hot ears paws nose etc) or maybe a cold that the cats had.

  238. 238.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 4:18 pm

    @sheila in nc:

    It always strikes me how fucking weird they are- how they can’t talk like normal people. He has to bring his girlfriend into this? I don’t even want to know about his gross dinner demands and that wasn’t the question anyway.

    FOCUS, spit-flecked crazy person. Just answer the question.

  239. 239.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 25, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    @raven: we’ve had goldens with those. No big deal at all. I have a couple of small ones on my own arm. Sawbones said not a problem for me either. I’m just like a golden!

  240. 240.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 25, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    I have trouble accepting that mere partisan loyalty, even fear of Trump supporters and subsequent electoral defeat if GOP congressional leadership ever crossed them, would compel them to such outlandish conspiracy theories.

    They’re in an existential war for the future of the White Race. The situation is bleak. At this point, they hold the levers of power solely because of massively rigging the system, and they know it. Letting a Republican president be impeached, even if he’s an anchor around their necks, is unthinkable. They cannot afford to give a single inch, anymore. A black man became president. You know how we felt about ACA repeal? They feel that way about all of politics, all the time, and how the whole society is going. The demographic timer is real and visceral and terrifying to them in a way that liberals cannot imagine.

  241. 241.

    Kay

    January 25, 2018 at 4:25 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):

    My mother used to say “really, I’d be fine with an orange and some crackers” – sort of wistfully.

    She thought this whole “dinner” hoopla was over-rated :)

  242. 242.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 25, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    @Kay: When I watch those Downton Abbey type shows, I think how weird it would be to share your home with employees, but damn would I like someone to light a fire every (cold) morning and put (good) cooked food in front of me, and never see another dirty dish

  243. 243.

    ruemara

    January 25, 2018 at 4:33 pm

    @trollhattan: Ha! Degenerate artists have a history of resistance.

  244. 244.

    efgoldman

    January 25, 2018 at 4:35 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Some public schools out here observe Jewish holidays and there will be days off around (I think) Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.

    Many in metro NYC and the suburbs and many in suburban Boston. In the Boston burb where I grew up, it wasn’t then, but has been for years. Some other metro areas, I’m sure.

  245. 245.

    Barney

    January 25, 2018 at 4:53 pm

    Squirrels and Mission Impossible, you say?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsuVLsDyln4

    (By the BBC, from 2 or 3 decades ago. I think it may have started off as a programme on “how to build a squirrel-proof bird feeder”, and ended up as “this is what they can do when challenged”. And then came the beer ad homage:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY9GBl7UmVs

  246. 246.

    Origuy

    January 25, 2018 at 4:54 pm

    @catclub:

    In the part of NC I grew up in, Easter Monday is the holiday for people who got up before dawn for sunrise services the previous day.

    Wikipedia sez:

    The Easter Monday holiday in North Carolina stemmed from the tradition in the early 20th century of state government workers taking the day off to attend the annual baseball game between North Carolina State College (Now North Carolina State University) and the once nearby Wake Forest College (now Wake Forest University and moved to Winston-Salem, NC).

    Bizarre. I would have thought it started it colonial days, since it’s a bank holiday in the UK.

  247. 247.

    Mike in NC

    January 25, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    @trollhattan: Given Trump’s history of cheating and fleecing, the museum must have known anything he “borrowed” would never be returned.

  248. 248.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    January 25, 2018 at 4:58 pm

    @Mike in NC: Sort of like letting Putin wear your Superbowl ring.

  249. 249.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2018 at 4:58 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Very smart of the Guggenheim. I suspect that any “loans” the Trumps get for the White House will magically vanish to Trump Tower and never be seen again.

  250. 250.

    JoeyJoeJoe Junior Shabadoo

    January 25, 2018 at 4:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Jim Matheson; he first won back in 2000 when the district (then numbered UT-2) was just part of Salt Lake County. His predecessor was Republican Merrill Cook, who I believe was once thrown out of RNC hq for verbally assaulting staff there

  251. 251.

    HeleninEire

    January 25, 2018 at 5:04 pm

    @Baud: LOL they are already organizing pub crawls. This place is MAD. It’s also home.

  252. 252.

    trollhattan

    January 25, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    @Mike in NC: @Mnemosyne:
    GMTA. Trump doubtless wants to emulate Vlad’s stealing Robert Kraft’s Superbowl ring–a ballsy act I’m still conflicted about given the two players.

    Van Gogh? More like Van Gone.

  253. 253.

    louc

    January 25, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    @sacrablue: We did chemo when our late tuxedo cat Moo was diagnosed with lymphoma. It isn’t worth the expense and the cat’s pain. She revived after the first treatment, but didn’t mend well afterward.

    A 14-pound cat (much joking by the vet about how she was a Katherine Hepburn cat because she was large-boned for a girl) dwindled to five. The cat who would cry incessantly all the way to the vet suddenly became stone silent every trip. We took her one last time and the vet said she was too far gone to even make it home one last time. It was rough and I cry every time I think that we could have ended her pain sooner.

  254. 254.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 5:45 pm

    @ruemara: I would be fretting, too. It would be hard to leave for work, but at least he’s with the roommate. I hope he’s okay. Is he the one with the mostly white body and the interesting colored face? That’s the one I have a crush on.

    (I do not know my kitty descriptors, such as calico, etc.)

  255. 255.

    The Lodger

    January 25, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Aren’t there already gold toilets in Trump Tower? It would be easy to hide the Guggenheim fixture among the others.

  256. 256.

    catclub

    January 25, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    @Origuy: Thanks! I learned something.

  257. 257.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    @Baud: Not to mention that we are able to spell and make clever signs for rallies.

  258. 258.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    @raven: Yay!!! So happy to hear it. Since we’re friends, I won’t send you the bill for my internet diagnosis. -) I am being flip, but I an very relieved.

  259. 259.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    @HeleninEire:

    WHO KNEW??

    I did, I did!

    Signed,

    8 years of Catholic school

  260. 260.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Stations of the Cross are just Good Friday.

  261. 261.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I went to catholic school. Only the heathens who went to regular school had to go to catechism. We, of course, looked down on them. In a very christian-like way, of course.

  262. 262.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @Kay: Never heard the term before, but I am sure a “family” wife is one who stays home and takes care of her family instead of going off to work every day.

  263. 263.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 6:16 pm

    Wow! I have been known to talk to myself at the end of a thread that I didn’t realize was dead, but 6? I believe that’s double my previous high of 3. Go me?

  264. 264.

    JeanneT

    January 25, 2018 at 7:01 pm

    @WaterGirl: Hey, I’m just now reading the thread, so it’s not COMPLETELY dead!

  265. 265.

    J R in WV

    January 25, 2018 at 7:34 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    No surprises, then.

    From google search for CCD technology;

    A sensor that converts light into electrical charges. The image sensor employed by most digital cameras is a charge coupled device (CCD). Some cameras use complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology instead.

    CCDs were first used on Telescopes, to replace glass negative technology. As a photog with a telescope you can see where my confusion came from. ;-)

    Water Girl, you can’t ever come close to me for talking to myself on a dead thread (actually, several of them!) at 2 am. Really! ;-)

  266. 266.

    WaterGirl

    January 25, 2018 at 7:44 pm

    @J R in WV:

    Water Girl, you can’t ever come close to me for talking to myself on a dead thread (actually, several of them!) at 2 am. Really! ;-)

    You’re just trying to bait me into writing a reply that will make me the last comment on the thread again. (Just kidding.)

    Glad to hear I am not the only one this happens to. I did feel a bit foolish when I saw that there were 6 comments!

  267. 267.

    J R in WV

    January 25, 2018 at 9:28 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I’ve done 4 or 5 pretty often by reading and commenting through a thread posted 12 hours ago.

    It was nice to hear that Raven’s Bhodi isn’t really sick !!!

  268. 268.

    Larryb

    January 25, 2018 at 11:37 pm

    This feeder is completely squirrel-proof. No s**t.

  269. 269.

    SWMBO

    January 28, 2018 at 1:14 am

    @sacrablue:
    @sacrablue: We had a dachshund that was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer not lymphoma. The vet told us if we wanted to do chemo he would last 2-3 months. If we did nothing, he would last 1-2 months. The cancer had already grown through his skull (which was the tipoff something was wrong). We decided to go with quality of life (the chemo was guaranteed to make him really sick) and the vet gave us every prescription with possible side effects and maximum dosage. Sparky still ran to the front door every time my husband came home. He loved being picked up and cuddled. He enjoyed his food even though he couldn’t chew very well (the cancer grew into his right jaw and we had to feed him doggie pate diet for dogs recovering from surgery. We also gave him warm soft butter and soft scrambled eggs). He lasted exactly 4 weeks and we took him in having grand mal seizures and screaming in pain. He was happy and feeling ok until the last couple of hours. I have no regrets about not going with chemo and having him lucid and happy. YMMV

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