From beloved-for-good-reason commentor Satby:
We’re growing a fine crop of kittens. Some are real heartbreakers they’re so cute.
In a perfect world, I’d be claiming the fuzzy little smoky tabby philosopher, and as many of the coal-black sweeties as hadn’t already been snapped up. (In this one, we already have two 15lb boy-cats who barely get along with each other, and three neurotic rescue dogs who go into meltdown mode whenever the composition of the household changes.)
Apart from sweet daydreams, what’s on the agenda for the day?
SiubhanDuinne
Oh. Dear. God. Are. Those. Ever. Cute.
I can’t deal with all the cutitude, and am going back to bed.
satby
Thanks AL! I love the black kitties, never met a single one that wasn’t a complete love-bug. And our little all white, blue-eyed deaf kitten has stolen my heart. I’m still hoping we find a good special needs home for him, because mine really isn’t with all the other goofballs.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ? ??
rikyrah
That is a lot of kitten cuteness ???
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning rikyrah ?!
If you count carefully, the bottom kitten pile pic is all of Turtle’s babies, the five she had plus the three newborns she adopted when the mom was killed. She turned out to be a very good mom. We need to find a good home for her too, once she’s spayed.
NotMax
Managed, with some ingenuity, to finagle enough space to store the food processor attachments conveniently. (Inside the oval crock pot counts as storage space, right? Because that’s where the juicer bowl and juicer head now reside.)
But that’s it. Borders of the kitchen are now closed to new arrivals.
As if.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby:
A puddle of pettin’s
My neighbor had a dumped cat arrive at her door last week, about a year old and already had her first litter. All sweetness and love. She took her to the vet for an initial physical. She had feline leukemia. Had to put her down. Sometimes you just can’t believe how shitty humans can be. And then we have our Satbys to remind us of how good people can be.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Kay
Why do Democrats obsess over the Russia investigation so much?
Baud
Kittens are lucky in finding such a good mom.
Kay
They know they’re perceived as mean-spirited assholes and they care about that, a lot. It’s just that they’re bad at dispelling the perception because a “sports and fitness day” can’t erase what they do and say every day. But being bad at it doesn’t mean they don’t worry about it- they do. The fact that they’re mean-spirited assholes is a vulnerability and they know it. I don’t think we should accept this media theme that they “don’t care” whether or not half the country loathes them, because that makes them seem stronger than they are.
They try, the same as every other group of politicians, to be liked. They fail at it, but that doesn’t mean they “don’t care”. It means they can’t overcome the perception that they’re a nasty group of people who are 99% negative and lashing out.
Baud
@Kay: Now that’s a funny tweet.
p.a.
@Kay: Even George Costanza figured out, briefly, that doing the opposite of his natural instincts yielded positive results.
Kay
@Baud:
I love conservative books because you don’t have to read them. Both the argument and the conclusion are always in the title.
Mueller is so far inside Donald Trump’s head that everything else Trump says is basically distracted rambling. Every minute of every day he stews over this investigation. Political media look at this, they read these tweets, they invite Guiliani on their shows, every single day one or another Trumpster is screeching about this, these people are CLEARLY freaking out, and their conclusion?
Democrats are obsessed over the Russia investigation. Trump “doesn’t care” what people think. He seems to care! I think talking about something constantly is a pretty good indicator he cares!
They’ve given him this mantle of invulnerability and to do it they have to ignore 90% of what he says.
NotMax
@Kay
Difference is they don’t want to be liked, they want to be worshiped. And anything less is blasphemy.
Baud
@Kay: It’s always projection with these folks.
Kay
@p.a.:
I think it’s damaging to accept the “they don’t care” line because it makes them immune to public pressure or disapproval, and they’re not. They’re ordinary political actors. They want to be perceived as hopeful and positive. It bothers them every day that they’re disliked, which is why they whine about it being unfair that people dislike them every day.
Ivanka’s entire fucking life is an exercise in marketing. That she’s FAILED in becoming “likeable” doesn’t mean she doesn’t try.
They’re not immune from criticism and they can be beaten, politically. It’s not at all a waste of time to criticize them or call out the constant lying. They didn’t change the entire landscape of human perception. Sales is still sales.
Skepticat
Was waiting to see wither the weather to know whether I’ll return to the States today, and now we are a go in a few hours.
However, this is what I’ll be returning to, so I’m in no screaming rush.
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/05/30/police-school-threat-from-rockland-man-who-lives-across-street-from-elementary-school/
Lots of squeeing over the kitten pix. i’ll be leaving the sixty cats my friend and I feed every day and the potcake puppies I help foster, which makes it difficult to leave. However, three of those cats are going with me, and it makes the drive from Florida to Maine … interesting.
Baud
@Kay: Also a waste of time to say nothing he does will make a difference with his supporters. We don’t need universal consensus.
debbie
@satby:
I’d stroke out with all that cuteness and sweetness surrounding me!
@NotMax:
My oven is my go-to storage cabinet. Lots of clanking when I empty it out to actually cook something.
gene108
@Kay:
Trump’s mantle of invulnerability is because he’s getting away with shit that would normally kill another politician’s career dead, from his open self-dealing to the sexual assaults to having a scam university. And yet most Republicans approve of him. Republicans are running on a platform of being Trump’s potential bestest ally in Congress. It’s hard to figure out, what sort of scandal would sink his support.
The man ran through a field of 16 Republicans to win the nomination, on what convential wisdom figured would be a platform that should disqualify him, because it was so openly racist.
It is bizarre he won and still has support, if you, like the MSM, built a narrative that people voted for Republicans because they like “smaller government”, turning Medicare into a voucher program, etc., rather than that people voted Republican because of racism.
But Trump also exposes how shallow the Right is in what it wants from a politician, but the media cannot fully embrace this reality, and so Trump is mysteriously invulnerable.
debbie
@Kay:
But despite their best efforts, that mantle is very quickly fraying.
Kay
@Baud:
Yup. Media don’t have to call them “liars” either. If they consistently and doggedly point out the lies, “liar” attaches naturally.
People who tell lies constantly are liars. That’s a connection people will make without even thinking about it. When you cross examine someone you don’t point out the inconsistency and then follow up with “and…you are a LIAR”. Point it out enough times and the person is discredited. You don’t have to supply the ultimate conclusion. The point is to get someone else to reach it, on their own steam. People already believe Trump is dishonest. They got there because he lies all the time.
gene108
I always wonder, why nature has made it so baby mammals, whether kittens, puppies, human kids, are so much more playful and energetic than adult mammals. I wonder what the advantage of this playfulness and energy is.
OzarkHillbilly
“While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”.
Gave me a giggle.
Baud
Today show just showed the kid who asked Sarah Sanders about how to protect kids from gun violence. I have to admit, I was impressed when Sanders immediately handed the kid a handgun.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
At the Y yesterday morning, every single person in the old people aerobics class was horrified by Trump. In the YMCA. In a group of older mostly white people. In Waterloo, Iowa.
I don’t know what to make of this, given that the state went for Trump. I admit the class was small.
MomSense
Black kitties are the sweetest although those tufts of fur in the tabby’s ears make me want to scoop that little baby up for myself.
Good work, Satby and Turtle.
Baud
@Kay: We need to just keep pressing and not get discouraged by all the people who are looking to discourage us.
Basically, we need to learn the lessons of 2016.
debbie
@gene108:
Their cuteness endears them to their adult and ensures they’ll continue to be cared for.
NotMax
@gene108
It manifests as play but it is learning. Learning under controlled conditions, building and reinforcing pathways in the brain.
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108: It’s a learning strategy?
Baud
@debbie: And not eaten.
debbie
@Baud:
Did she actually choke up, or is that RWNJ B.S.?
debbie
@MomSense:
Feeling better?
debbie
@Baud:
Yes, that is also very helpful!
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
Liberals are fitness nits.
Kay
@gene108:
He beat the 16 Republicans because no one actually likes the GOP economic platform, especially white working class, who are all on some kind of government assistance. All. You show me a low income rural working person and I will show you the government program. If they’re older they’re on 3 or 4 because they have no retirement savings and Social Security isn’t enough. They need (and get) home heating, rent subsidies, food stamps, and Medicaid. I’m for assistance so I’m not judging, but this is fact.
That’s why they run on racism and resentment. Because they tried the other way, with Mitt Romney, running on conservative economic dogma, and white working class didn’t come out. This was an actual battle after 2012- how to get the white working class out to vote for Republicans although all white working class depend on Democratic social programs. Trump won it. The answer is “racism and resentment”.
They’re pissed that gas prices are going up. They don’t give a shit about markets. They want cheap gas. If Trump gave them a gas voucher the line would out the fucking door. He probably will.
Baud
@debbie:
She choked up. Whether out of sympathy or discomfort, I won’t venture to guess.
Patricia Kayden
@Kay: Voting out Republicans is the only viable way to get stuff done. They have been immune to public criticism and polling on the gun legislation issue and are now ignoring the fact that the ACA is popular among the majority of polled Americans.
JPL
@Baud: She’s complicit because she works at the WH. Nothing will be done, and she knows that.
NotMax
@Baud
Crocodile tears.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: How will a handgun protect a kid from a rampaging idiot with an AK-47?
Cheryl Rofer
The latest from the White House. As Kay noted upthread, when he’s quoting stuff like this, it’s hard to make the case he doesn’t care about the Mueller investigation. And, btw, he’s wrong. Counterintelligence investigations don’t work like this. Even Obama didn’t know.
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
I get this weird sheepishness from Republican lawyers – nearly all lawyers here are Republicans, as are 100% of the judges.
I get what they’re doing- it’s a kind of peace offering- but it’s deeply unsatisfying to me so I won’t give them response they want. I just don’t feel generous toward them. One of my regular magistrates is a woman, she knows my politics, and she’ll offer up disapproval of Trump and I cannot let her off the hook. I just let it pass. I don’t say anything.
I feel like they don’t get both things and it’s outrageous to ask me for it- they don’t get to both back this asshole and then insist I draw some distinction that sets them apart from him. I won’t give them that.
It’s weird because they used to tease me about politics all the time and it was fun. I don’t mind being the underdog or the minority opinion – on some level I like to fight- I enjoy that back and forth. Now I won’t play because it feels like giving them something and I’m not ready to give them anything.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Did she explain to the kid how a handgun would protect him against an idiot with an AK-47?
Baud
@JPL:
@NotMax:
Doesn’t matter to me even if she had a moment of humanity. My standards are higher than that.
debbie
@Baud:
Just heard her. I think it was genuine, if only because she knows nothing will be done.
Patricia Kayden
@Cheryl Rofer: Limbaugh is conveniently ignoring the fact that Donny Jr. met with Russians in an attempt to secure dirt on Secretary Clinton. He’s also conveniently ignoring the fact that several operatives in the Trump campaign met and communicated with Russian operatives to help Trump’s election efforts. His campaign actively sought out help from the Russians. That is not something that the FBI has to warn Trump about. You don’t warn criminals about their activities.
Baud
@Kay:
Find a large American flag pin and start wearing it. Get a few Russian ones to hand out if your GOP friends comment on yours.
Cheryl Rofer
@Patricia Kayden: The Republicans are desperately trying to spin that spies were infiltrated into Trump’s campaign, that the FBI was out to get him, and other fantasies. Even Fox is having a hard time choking it down.
JPL
@Patricia Kayden: Limbaugh also didn’t mention that both campaigns were notified that Russia wanted to interfere with the election. After notification, Trump’s team continued trying to meet with foreign governments.
drdavechemist
Our local shelter had a kitten “socializing” and play event yesterday. $20 for 20 minutes of play time with proceeds benefiting the shelter operations. There was a litter of six kittens, none very cuddly and some of them very shy, but the three all black kittens were playful (though two of them eventually retreated to their carrier for a nap) and my son eventually coaxed gray and white Princess to chase after a toy, so we got our kitten fix for a while.
Betty Cracker
@gene108: You’re right about the media’s failure to embrace reality. Will they ever get around to acknowledging that Trump and his cult are racist pricks to the core? I mean, he’s out there conflating immigrants with vicious gangs and calling people “animals” — he’s not being subtle about it.
It does seem that the Beltway press has finally caught on to the fact that Trump is a bald-faced liar, even if they don’t want to use that term. I forget what it was that triggered them — probably something to do with a media figure. Or maybe ref-working is finally bearing fruit. In any case, it’s a fairly recent development. Maybe they’ll grok the racism thing by 2020.
Kay
@Cheryl Rofer:
It’s just amazing to me that the President is launching a political marketing campaign to avoid or survive impeachment and the dominant media theme is he’s invulnerable.
This is defense. It’s crafted to defend. It’s classic defense too, they’re using the “court of public opinion” because they’re worried that they’ll be losing in a real court. Guiliani isn’t negotiating with Mueller. He’s sitting on Fox saying things about Mueller hoping to insulate the President and his sleazy crew from whatever charges are brought. That isn’t a position of strength. It’s the weakest position a lawyer can be in. They can’t operate in the real justice system so they chose a friendly forum- media. But the real justice system exists and it’s chugging along no matter what they say.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh, that is heartbreaking.
At such times, I remind myself that this ending is better than the one she would have gotten without rescue intervention.
Butch
Well, so I mentioned here on this site last week that we had found two kittens cowering by the side of our rural road and ended up adopting them. They are doing great – I thought it would be a matter of months to get Boxer to get over his fear of people but it happened it days – he’s now the total people kitty – and Shadow is the ruler of the house. They both have little Buddha bellies now and love to play. It’s been nice to see the transition from abandoned kittens to loved pets.
The other cats, of course, are disgusted, and the dogs are aggrieved. It will all get better with time.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
They are mean-spirited assholes and are happy to stay that way. What bothers them is that people know that.
NotMax
@Kay
Consistently dropping the y in bully pulpit, as a matter of course.
Cheryl Rofer
The wounded ego:
OzarkHillbilly
@Cheryl Rofer: I seem to remember the FBI actually talking to them about being wary of Russian contacts.
HeleninEire
Morning, morning crew. Yet another sunny, warm day in Dublin. So glad I cancelled my NY trip. Enjoying my city in the same way I did my first year here. Just walking around, spending 2 hours at lunch and dinner each, reading, relaxing.
Headed to London tomorrow. Just a skip across the pond for a few days. And then back to work on Tuesday. SHHHHHH, who said that?
Betty Cracker
@Cheryl Rofer: It still amazes me that this petulant cockwaffle is the POTUS. I guess I’ll never get over the amazement.
Kay
@Cheryl Rofer:
I was reading Roseanne’s twitter. She has them all riled up. It ain’t over. They were never, ever going to let this pass without the requisite attention to their hurt feelings.
WereBear
And from what I see, they resent it, and love the Republican lies that it’s those pointy-headed liberals keeping them down.
Steeplejack
@Kay:
Where is that from?
Cheryl Rofer
@OzarkHillbilly: Yes, both campaigns were warned, but nothing was said (appropriately) about the ongoing CT investigation.
I’m gonna re-up this from last night. I think it’s important. I try to withdraw a bit every day to keep sane. Sorta meditation, although I’ve never been good at the full-up practice. Look for beauty, appreciate friends, good things. Kitties are always good.
And here’s a photo from my trip last year. I’ve had my computer wallpaper rotating through the photos I took in Yellowstone last year. I didn’t even recall this one, but I liked it when I saw it yesterday.
Kay
@Steeplejack:
Trump’s twitter. For such an invulnerable master of the universe he sure does a lot of defense on the Russia allegations. He’s…Teflon!
Immanentize
What Kay says. They care a lot about their images as Good people.
Trump needs adoration. That’s why they arrange these rallies for him, to keep him stable.
But it’s the others around Trump — Kelly, Sessions, Nielson, Jared, Ivanka…. Kay’s right, they hate being thought of as bad people. Kelly with his “women are sacred” bullshit, Sessions with his “Honor,” Nielson got yelled at by meany boss Trump! And people ask Ivanka question that aren’t about how cute her kids are and how well she presents. But they do reveal themselves every day in what they actually do. I actually think they are surprised when people notice because their own self imaage is so constructed they are surprised and offended when people point out they are intrinsically the opposite.
JPL
Why does Trump act like a toddler?
@Immanentize: How’s it going?
Kay
@Immanentize:
And nice Democrats have been winning. Decent people. Or people who seem to be decent (I don’t know them of course). They’re not running on “Trump is mean and I’m a decent person” but that’s their demeanor (which may be because they are nice people). They don’t have to run on that. The comparison is there, and people are making it.
I don’t know, this gets very Zen-like, what you resist persists typa thing, but maybe responding to Trump using normal tactics, all those war metaphors, take the gloves off, guns and knife fights, is not the way to go.
We know one thing. We know that’s all he’s got. He’s got “nasty” and not much else. But we have some other approaches. I’d just like to think of this a little differently. He’s a one-off, right? That would seem to call for a new approach.
germy
Interesting reader clapback at WaPo:
link
OzarkHillbilly
@Cheryl Rofer: Every morning I sit on my front porch watching and listening to my woods turnover from night critters to day critters as the slow creep of the sun takes over the dark. It helps.
JPL
Trump a few minutes ago
Alternative facts!
Immanentize
@JPL: going OK. My son’s last Junior year final today. He is quite happy….
Immanentize
@germy: Elite writers hate readers.
germy
Kay
@Immanentize:
It’s too bad because OBAMA would actually be great against Trump. He has that calm that will be required to disarm the nastiness and use it against Trump. The key, I think, is to not get offended because then Trump knows he’s hit on somethng he can exploit. Donald Trump has a very narrow range. It seems like someone with a broader range, more and different tools they can call on, could use that advantage. If the nasty stops working what does Trump call on? We get half-ass amatuer attempts at ordinary politics, led by the vapid and boring Ivanka because that’s all he’s got is nasty.
germy
@Immanentize:
“Contempt for the audience. That’s what killed Dennis Day.”
Immanentize
@Kay: I saw a short article at TPM about Obama just after the election. Only one line stood out, Obama was musing about whether he was wrong about what America was/wanted and said something g like, “Well, they want a cartoon”. Such the perfect word — cartoon. That is what we got. Not a funny one, however, but mean cartoon villains with huge fee-fees always needing tending.
Immanentize
@JPL: That right there is truly an odd tweet. He must know that conclusion is coming at him like a freight train.
sherparick
@Kay: I see Jarrett is joining in the grift to separate old rich asshole white people from their money (I speak as an Old Rich White Asshole, but a Woke one.)
germy
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s the way to live. You got the right idea.
I focus on nature. The sudden deep greenness of summer. Hummingbirds on my wife’s bee balm flowers. The smell of cedar mulch.
Aleta
BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44313905
Kay
I’m teaching my youngest to drive. I love to drive so I didn’t realize it but I’ve been calling out driving situations- “your first thunderstorm while driving! First journey down state rt 15!” (one of my faves) I realize I am an actual driving enthusiast.
He pointed this out last night. “These are not milestones, so stop it” but they are. After 50 hours I turn him over to the pros for finishing.
sherparick
@germy: and dont’ forget that perennial favorite “Lock her up, lock her up” and getting them to chant “animals, animals” about Hispanic Asylum seekers (because that is what they are), at our border. Gosh, what a giant prick (only metamorphically) this guy is. More and more I feel like Steve McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges character) in Airplane.
MomSense
@debbie:
Every day a little better. How are things in your little corner of the world?
Baud
@Immanentize:
I’ll say again, a lesser person would have simply joined the Hillary Hate parade. Very proud he’s one of us, and that we are not Trump.
chris
Satby, your house must be a three ring circus of cute right now. What fun!
Today’s LOL is this Golden noodle fiend. Better every loop.
MomSense
@Skepticat:
Oh boy. That’s scary.
satby
@chris: I can’t take credit, our board president Becky and her long-suffering husband Alex are the ones fostering all these kittens! I just catch ferals and foster occasionally.
Peale
@Kay: Aww. The first time you have to tell a passenger to be quiet and that his or her comments are distractions…
Kay
@Peale:
Hah! So true. I never shut up during these sessions. “People like 34, as the crow flies, more direct, but they’re wrong- you can’t pass on that road!”
He can’t wear his headphones either.
El Caganer
@Kay: Screw it. Why didn’t they go straight to Strength Through Joy day?
chopper
@Betty Cracker:
every. single. day.
germy
Here’s something I found interesting: A candidates’ debate in a conservative area of upstate NY. Debate hosted by an organization called “The Pine Tree Rifle Club.”
All candidates (republican and democratic) are in favor of repealing the Safe Act. They assured the audience the 2nd amendment is an important priority. But then there was this:
link
Kay
Ohio Democrats are aggressively running on Medicaid expansion, which I’m pleased about.
People love public health programs and it’s time everyone stopped pretending they don’t. Democrats should be (rightly) proud of Medicaid. It’s tricky for Ohio Republicans because Kasich put in Obama’s program and they all had to lie that it was horrible during their primary. If you had no health insurance, and they didn’t, Medicaid is wonderful. The only people who think it isn’t is people who had health insurance.
Miss Bianca
Aww, da cute! In a perfect world whilst AL was snatching up the fuzzy tabby and the coal-black kitties, I would be after the little grey tabby and the tuxie! Such sweeties!
SiubhanDuinne
The latest tweet:
He is D’Mented.
HeleninEire
@SiubhanDuinne: Just came here to post that. JFC.
rikyrah
@Kay:
They are loathesome human beings. Period.
El Caganer
@Cheryl Rofer: The proper response is, “Your comparison is off-base. While we can apologize to the American people for helping to foist you on to them, unfortunately we lack the power to fire you.”
El Caganer
@SiubhanDuinne: Another indication (in case we needed one) of the tiny world he inhabits. How many people in the United States actually know who D’Souza is?
MomSense
@Kay:
Going nasty is definitely not the way to go. It has never worked for Democrats. The pattern I notice is the presidential pendulum. We keep choosing the person who is the opposite of the previous president. HW – aristocrat, reserved, unable to emote, then hillBilly I feel your pain Clinton who also happened to be highly intelligent yet naughty, to W who was stupid, impulsive and barely able to speak in complete sentences but wrapped himself in Christianity and compassion, to Obama who was intelligent, thoughtful, measured, ethical, inclusive, devoted family man, no drama, an extraordinary orator, to a dumbass seat of his pants, nasty, chaotic, unprepared, philandering, lying, cheating criminal.
This is why I am looking at the potential Dem nominees and looking for the opposite of trump. Right now Sally Yates is at the top of my list.
Ruckus
@gene108:
Does he have huge support or are republicans just vain touchy people because they know that their policies hurt people? They seem to think that’s what life is, hurting other people that they don’t approve of. Which of course is people that don’t look and act like them and dislike that they are hurting people. They want us to like them for hurting people, because it’s for their own good. I used to hear that when I was a kid, this (bullshit) is for your own good, you’ll understand when you are an adult. I’m an adult and I still don’t see the good part.
As always, it’s projection with conservatives. They are bad people, they know it, and they think that everyone is like them.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Right, but they want you to like them, and there’s power in that. I know I’m beating this to death, as is my practice, but saying they don’t care what the public thinks means the public has no power. They’re beatable. They’re not invulnerable. That’s bullshit and we can tell it’s bullshit by their constant fucking whining about how no one likes them.
That they can’t get it doesn’t mean they don’t want it. With these people it means they want it more.
JPL
@El Caganer: It’s a message to Mueller and Michael Cohen. I help out my friends and screw my enemies.
He just imposed tariffs on the EU, Canada and Mexico. I hope the market tanks.
LAO
Holy Shit! Every morning I wake up and somehow, Trump and his ilk are worse. WTF Dinesh D’Souza! Could Trump send a bigger, keep your mouth shut signal, to his stooges? I think not.
ETA: Oh and, Satby – I meant to say you are a good person. I really admire your dedication to rescue.
japa21
@JPL: Not tanking, but definitely dropping. He definitely believes in the theory that one should hurt one’s friends and cuddle up to one’s enemies. This isn’t going to make Europe want to help him in regard to Iran sanctions. Wonder who talked to him last night about this.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
ETA: I see Siubhan Duinne beat me to it.
Kay
@MomSense:
I think we have to avoid the Jeb Bush approach, where he was all injured ego and affronted. That was just the worst possible approach. “Nice” could go that way, and I think that’s how people see Michelle Obama’s “go high” but it doesn’t have to be “I am so good and he is so bad, so I’m offended”. In a way saying it does is buying into their worldview, where it’s all a war and the nastiest people win. If you believe decency is strength them act like it. We say we do but we don’t really mean it if we’re buying their approach.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: So true, they want to be liked. Our friend who supposedly reluctantly voted for T because he couldn’t stand HRC, for example. After our blazing row over T and his immigration policies, our friend spent rest of the two days telling us (me, husband kitteh and his wife) just how much he loves India.
(Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani: My heart is still Indian). He does have a soft corner for India, that’s true but he was trying too hard IMO.
MisterForkbeard
@El Caganer: Well, now we have another example in the “Trump is so corrupt” file. Trump is so corrupt he’ll pardon only Republicans for cheating on election campaigns.
Of course, Republicans like that.
schrodingers_cat
I ar dead from the cuteness of the kittehs!
schrodingers_cat
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): I wish all these grifty Indian born Rs would just disappear. They are pathetic.
Kay
I keep waiting for the first Democrat to run on fighting white collar crime. This would be popular and my God, there are endless examples. It’s punching UP.
Imagine a Willie Horton type ad but it’s white collar criminals being released to offend again.
Obviously they weren’t prosecuted so it’s a dramatic reenactment but there’s no visual for “not prosecuted” :)
You would have sufficient material with just the Trump hires, but you could throw in Wells Fargo, whatever.
WaterGirl
@Baud: It’s very sad that I truly have no idea whether Sanders actually handed a kid a gun or not. I was away from my computer yesterday so I really have no idea. Truth really is stranger than fiction.
SiubhanDuinne
@El Caganer:
Very few, but this pardon isn’t a message to his base. It’s a message to people like Manafort and Cohen and anyone else who might be tempted to flip on him.
ETA: What JPL and LAO said.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Yeah. I think that’s a great idea. And have some hellacious fines for the ill-gotten gains.
Our institutions are failing because of corruption and crime. Strengthen them by prosecuting crime more fulsomely.
GregB
Trump is making conservative Republicans above the law.
I assume he will be weaponizing the organs of state to start prosecuting his political enemies once he is done showing that Republicans are untouchable.
LAO
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Ever hopeful, I checked for cockwaffle in the on-line dictionary. So sad that it wasn’t in there. How awesome would it be if that could be added as a new word this year.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: I think it’s also intended to demoralize those who oppose him. Which it does, but use that anger to do something to resist.
I emailed off to postcards to voters website but have not heard a word. Gonna look for some more stuff I can do from home, in 5-10 minutes.
Kay
Just a reminder:
That’s what D’Sousa said about Obama. This is admired and nurtured on the Right. They’re ashamed of Roseanne but they’re exactly the same, in better suits. I hope she sticks around. They deserve her. Maybe she’ll do another rendition of the national anthem.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: Wasn’t he also singing praises of the British Empire? It was because of the erstwhile Dinesh D’Souzas that the British ruled India for as many years as they did.
beused
@Kay:
I’ve noticed that so many rightwingers have trouble catching on to social cues. They don’t realize they are being offensive, just don’t get it combined with not caring or thinking they are funny. An old white male wingnut came upon two people who just had lost their business and building with a few apartments in a fire, burned to the ground. One’s daughter lived in an apartment, lost everything and still has nightmares several years later. The two business owners were heartbroken watching the debris being taken away when this stupid, oblivious guy stopped to chat with them making clueless comments. One woman repeatedly told him to stop and warned him she would deck him if he didn’t shut up. He just didn’t seem to notice they were seriously angry with him. One last comment and the woman hit him hard in his arm. He was totally shocked. Most people would have caught on that their comments were inappropriate in the circumstances, apologized and shut up.
I just read about Virginia Republican Senator who was at a Medicare expansion meeting and when asked about the people who wouldn’t have health care and replied, “When you’re time is up, you’re going to die”.
Lots of empathy gene damage going on with these types of people.
J R in WV
Hay Satby, Really nice kitten photos! Good job all around, exp with the little grey and white one on the log, so cute! So fuzzy!
Thanks for the rescue work!!! You’re a star!
rikyrah
@Kay:
Go Kay, Go!!
I’ve said it before, and will continue to say it..
NEVER will they be forgiven for making Dolt45 possible.
NEVER.
rikyrah
@Kay:
It’s over, Kay.
They can whine and bytch, but it’s done.
catclub
@MomSense:
Tell that to Lyndon.
rikyrah
@germy:
folks bringing receipts on them..
BRAVO
catclub
@Miss Bianca: we have the orange stripey, but now eleven years old and large. He is great.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Congratulations to Little Imma.
Hope that he has a good summer :)
J R in WV
@Steeplejack:
Just reading it carefully tells me it’s a presidential* tweet. Specifically the Phony News stuff.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
We don’t have to be nasty.
What we need to be IS:
NO NONSENSE
NO BULLSHYT
I’ll continue to say it…
Democrats should adopt the attitudes of
Ted Lieu
or
Maxine Waters
Waters with Hayes the other day talking about the KKKeebler Elf, was absolute perfection.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
I love the way Lieu and Waters handle it. Adam Schiff has a different style but I think it’s appropriate for his role as ranking member of house intel. He’s communicating like a prosecutor. I do think whoever is going to run for President needs to be careful not to be the voice of the resistance. That person will have to come in sort of apart from the drama and the back and forth and project competence and stability. Not the fighter role – more the only adult in the room role. It’s going to take many people filling many times to do this right.
Mel
@satby: They are all so perfect, but Oh! that last photo!! Such beautiful kitties!
That little orange guy in the first photo is pretty darned adorable, as well. Even his toes are cute!
Thank you, thank you a thousand times for helping these little ones. I can’t help but think of all the love and happiness each of those babies is going to bring into their persons’ lives in the future.