Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Let’s finish the job.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

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

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

People are complicated. Love is not.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Everybody saw this coming.

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

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Fur Buddies Open Thread

Fur Buddies Open Thread

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I’ve had a couple of requests for a reprieve from the madness, so here are two of the seven feathered and furry friends who make my day better:

Not the best quality, but I had to grab it with my cell phone before they stopped with this cuteness and moved on to different cuteness.

I know I’ve been remiss on Scout updates – you can find more photos of her here and here  And if you haven’t seen Lucas the Spider – his video is here – I must tell you that Scout LOVES him and sits on my lap and wags her tail while she watches. She is definitely a tv watching pup. And her lap sitting days are quickly coming to an end. :-(

I do have a recipe post planned for tomorrow and if I can get my act together, I should have a Bear and Scout 14 week (!) photo for you, too.

I hope those two cuddling help you get through at least the next hour…

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

70Comments

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    Scout and his big brother are so friggin’ cute.
    And, I’m not one that likes big dogs, but i smile at their pictures.

    PS-how are the ducks?

  10. 10.

    The Moar You Know

    My golden, who is the opposite of every golden stereotype that exists (he is aloof, more angsty than a teenager and has occasional temper tantrums) is finally learning how to be affectionate. It is not innate in him, but he does dearly love his family, and we have been slowly teaching him to cuddle and hold still for pets, etc. He lay down and put his cheek on my face last night for a minute. He got up on the couch with my wife and I and put his head in her lap last night, mine night before last. He’s learning.

    To answer the inevitable: he’s not a rescue. He was from Guide Dogs, and failed out. He’s been like this from day one. They were reluctant to place him with anyone as they thought nobody was going to be able to deal with him. Well, they didn’t know my wife and I too well. We raised him, we knew we could handle him and help him. He just successfully passed therapy dog training and although I don’t think he’ll be very good at the traditional therapy dog things (I’m not bringing him to an Alzheimer’s home or hospital wards), he does like kids and so we’re going to do the reading dog thing, which he can deal with.

  12. 12.

    CaseyL

    @The Moar You Know:

    He lay down and put his cheek on my face last night for a minute.

    My dear departed cat Ariel used to do that, fall asleep with her head pillowed on my cheek. Reduced me to a bowl of mush, it did.

    Your golden sounds like he’d be one of those tough-love therapy dogs: “So you’re dying; so are we are, just maybe not as fast as you are. Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Go sniff someone’s butt, that’ll make you feel better!

  17. 17.

    chris

    Walking with my boys.

    Steve looked like he was going to ambush Bert but he was actually resting. We were a mile and a half into the walk and it’s hard to keep up with those short legs and a couple extra pounds. But he does, he’s a trooper.

  19. 19.

    TaMara (HFG)

    I love seeing all your pet pix!

    @rikyrah: The ducks are doing pretty well. Scout decided to chase them yesterday and when I yelled at her, she promptly came in the house and put herself in timeout.

    I moved their mini-pools in front of my window today so I could watch them play in water. My heart needed that.

  27. 27.

    Chet Murthy

    It seems that (as we all suspected) the US was the prime mover behind the ridic ISDS and copyright provisions of the TPP. Now that the US is out, the TPP is going thru, without us. Our elites failed us on this. Decided they needed to wet their beaks more than they cared about our country.

    TPP 2.0: The Deal Without the US

    When Trump withdrew from the TPP he also withdrew two of the most controversial provisions for which the United States had been advocating. One of the most ridiculed provisions in the TPP, the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision, has been scaled back while a government’s right to regulate its markets has been afforded increased protections. This was only possible after the United States withdrew from the deal: U.S. companies are the most frequent users of the measure, which allows companies to sue foreign governments over arduous regulations.

    Another key provision the United States pushed for that has fallen to the side is the extension of copyright, or intellectual property, protections. Washington had negotiated for copyright to exist for the author’s lifetime plus an additional 70 years. While this is standard in the United States, it is not in the other TPP members, and with Washington out of the deal, copyright lengths will be shorter.

    The removal of these two provisions highlights what happens when the United States is not involved in regional affairs: the region moves on without it. The United States under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama was the prime advocate for the two heavily unpopular provisions. Under President Trump, the remaining 11 members of the TPP were able to cast off policies they considered harmful to their economies and governments.

  30. 30.

    Big Ole Hound

    @The Moar You Know: My golden /setter mix is exactly like that. He is 6 now and he has never crawled up on any furniture and a tiny single lick is the only kiss. He has been walked 10k miles on every kind of leash rig imaginable and yet the first mile of every walk is plunge and pull of the 85 lb wonder. Yet he is the most attentive dog we have ever owned and I’m 75 and have had 6 real good ones.

  34. 34.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    Anyone know where I can get a house trained 8 week old yellow lab puppy that can be left at home and chill out calmly alone when necessary? ; ) I am getting closer to getting my brain in the right place to adopt one. I need need a dog. As does the wife and young spawn.

  36. 36.

    Betty Cracker

    The other pictures haven’t conveyed the size difference between them as well as this one does! So cute!

  38. 38.

    Chet Murthy

    @Baud: I’m sure not happy Trump won. But both things can be true: that the TPP was important and valuable, AND that our elites decided it was a chance to wet their beaks *again*. It’s a form of hostage-taking — larding up a necessary international accord with bennies for the rich ….. again.

  39. 39.

    Gretchen

    Since its an open thread, I’d like to raise two points about the Elizabeth Warren “controversy” that I never see mentioned. Before it was a state, Oklahoma was called “Indian Territory”. That’s where all the Indians were sent when their lands in the east were stolen. The population of Native Americans in Oklahoma is 8.9%. It would actually be surprising if someone whose famiy has been there since the 1800s didn’t have any Indian ancestry. Also, everyone’s heard of light-skinned black people “passing for white” to avoid discrimination. Native Americans were also discriminated against, and some of those who could manage it also passed for white, rather than registering with the tribe and calling attention to their heritage. So it makes perfect sense that there would be no paperwork to back up the family stories.

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m annoyed with our crew right now because Charlotte trapped Keaton in the bedroom closet yesterday and he pooped in there. ? So we shut her up in the bedroom by herself most of the evening and of course she was super clingy once we let her out.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gretchen:

    There is kind of a tricky legal distinction between having American Indian ancestry and being an enrolled member of a tribe. Anyone can have the ancestry, but only people who are enrolled are allowed to call themselves American Indians and receive the benefits that go along with that legal status (minuscule as those benefits usually are).

    It seems that Warren has the ancestry, but no one in her family ever enrolled with a tribe, so she cannot claim the legal status of an American Indian.

    If she does decide to turn her focus on Native American/American Indian issues, I hope that some tribe adopts her just to shut the haters up. But she will probably need to do a few years of good-faith work on those issues before anyone is willing to do it.

  45. 45.

    The Moar You Know

    Anyone know where I can get a house trained 8 week old yellow lab puppy that can be left at home and chill out calmly alone when necessary?

    @Old Dan and Little Anne: You need a stuffed animal for those requirements.

    I gotta say, after raising our golden I feel like raising something much less challenging, like a lion cub or a howler monkey. That damn dog in two years has turned me completely grey.

  48. 48.

    Chet Murthy

    @Major Major Major Major: Quite the opposite, I was excited that it had passed, that China wasn’t a signatory, and that b/c the US wasn’t a signatory, the ISDS & IP provisions were made less elite-friendly.

  49. 49.

    J R in WV

    @Ohio Mom:

    It’s 70 degrees outside and sun shining here in lower SW West Virginia. The weather right now smells like the gulf coast bayous … strange!!!

  50. 50.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Chet Murthy: thanks for clarifying. Going just from your link, this seems like an improvement over the status quo currently, though I can’t say if it’s an improvement over the original agreement since the US cutting a deal with everybody but China was a key security/international relations purpose.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @J R in WV

    Raining like the dickens here at the moment. 68 degrees, high winds. Supposed to be series of thunderstorms passing through today and Friday.

  52. 52.

    Yutsano

    SCOUTPUPPEH!!!
    BIXBYPUPPEH!!!
    Gawd my desire to get a big dog is itching again. I know a basenji would be better for my living situation but…if I could swing a Newfie…or get me a Dane.

  55. 55.

    Chet Murthy

    @Major Major Major Major: From the article, China’s not a signatory, and the author claims that to get China to sign on, would require major changes. So maybe it’s good. Would be better if the US had signed-on. But not at the price of further gutting of what protections we have for our society, environment, and workers.

  56. 56.

    No Drought No More

    It can fairly be said this woman hit the walk-off of all walk-offs. Hers makes Bobby Thompson’s shot heard ’round the world look like a bloop single.

    Per the NY Times:

    “President Trump’s inaugural committee filed tax documents which revealed, among other things, that it had paid nearly $26 million to an event planning firm connected to a Melania Trump advisor, according to a New York Times report.

    The advisor, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, personally netted $1.62 million, an unnamed inaugural committee source told the Times..”.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: I guess that’s what happens when we get older.

    Watched your Rose Bowl parade! Loved the environmental float and so many more. Amazing, really. You were sitting so close! Who were the angels and who were the people in black who were walking with them?

    It was awesome to watch a parade and get to fast forward through the bands. That’s always my least favorite part of parades.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: I wondered about the Japan band when I saw it. How nice to get the thank yous!

    edit: So the angels are symbolic because the organization is helping kids? Or are the kids the angels? (too lazy to do a bunch of reading to find out for myself.)

  64. 64.

    Gretchen

    @Mnemosyne: The right is claiming that Warren is an affirmative action hire. She’s not. She never claimed to be a member of a tribe or get benefits because of the Indian ancestry. She just repeated family stories that she believed to be true. Later, Harvard sent around a survey that asked if you had any of this or that. She said yes to the Native American thing, with the thought that if there were any Native American students from, say, Oklahoma, she could be a mentor. She never dreamed that anyone would demand inalienable proof of it. It was just an information thing.
    As for Ancestry, that wouldn’t be a sure thing. For one thing, they probably don’t have enough Native Americans in their database to be a sure thing.

  66. 66.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: There also was the Marching Koala’s. When I read their listing it said they first marched in the 84 parade and I went back and looked at my program from that year and sure enough. We didn’t go to parade in 84 but we did go see the Illini get shellacked.

  69. 69.

    MoxieM

    @MomSense: Gonna get another one called Calais? That would be a lot of cat, though.

    My goodness the little Scout is all kinds of cute. When does her brindle “settle” or whatever the word is? (that is, when do the spots merge??). Bixby must be about the most tolerant Big Brother dog around.

    I’d give anything to bring home another rescued Newf, but Murphy the Magical Wonder Dog (being 85% or so Pyr) will not have any one else on her turf. I did not know before that Pyrs have been known to fight each other to the death (yikes!); not common, but dog fighting is a breed characteristic. Unlike my mighty Newfs of whom, “sweetness of temperament is the hallmark of the breed,” or so I always told my dogs. Murpho is sweet, just with me, not other canines.

  70. 70.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: Okay, then I saw that one! I was gonna be bummed if I had missed real koalas and go back and watch it again. I have a soft spot for koalas. My uncle fell in love with an Australian girl when he was over there during the war. He came home from the war and then went back and married her and lived in Australia.

    Over the years friends of theirs would come to the states and would always visit us, and each one brought a koala bear (stuffed) for the baby of the family (me). i think my mom threw the whole collection out when I was away at college. :-(

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