Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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

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

I really should read my own blog.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

He really is that stupid.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

People are complicated. Love is not.

The words do not have to be perfect.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Battle won, war still ongoing.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Tuesday Mid-Day Open Thread

Tuesday Mid-Day Open Thread

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The dogs are confined to the front porch while a man installs a new hot water heater. Badger isn’t taking the confinement well:

According to multiple media alerts on my phone, AG Barr just told Congress he’ll release a redacted Mueller report “within a week.” Bold prediction: It won’t change any minds, but it might club the Beltway press into a new narrative.

Democrats are also set to grill Trump’s T-Man Mnuchin about Der Gropenfuhrer’s tax returns later today. During the campaign, Trump said he’d release his returns about a dozen times. Let’s see a lie reel on every network except Fox News (would violate their contract).

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  3. 3.

    Professor Bigfoot (formerly Ivan Ivanovich Renko)

    Is anyone watching the congressional hearing on white nationalism?

  4. 4.

    MattF

    Barr has the hottest of hot potatoes– literally– on his desk. Kevin Drum has noted that Trump has stopped claiming ‘complete exoneration’.

  5. 5.

    randy khan

    Barr really has played the Mueller report badly. First the letter was so obviously hedged that even the mainstream press picked up on it. Second, the long wait for the report to be released has increased speculation. And now, knowing he’d be asked about the report at this hearing, he doesn’t have it ready to release right away, leading to as much as another week of speculation about why it’s taking so long and what’s in it. The Dems must be thrilled that he’s keeping it in the news so long.

  6. 6.

    Olivia

    Grandson adopted a dog recently and sometimes during the day he brings it to my house for dog sitting. It is a sweet beautiful dog about 50 pounds but it is extremely anxious. I walk him and play with him and he is fine but the minute we settle down he starts whimpering and pacing.
    Yesterday I found a video on Youtube for anxious dogs – there are several with different kinds of music. The video is just photos and they are nice but the dog doesn’t really care about the photos.
    The wonderful thing is that the music is fantastic. The minute it started playing the dog just sat there, no whimpering. Then he laid down and put his head down, which he has never done in my house. He laid there for at least a half hour and his eyes started closing. When he got up, he came to me and put his head on my lap.
    The music on this particular video appears to lower my blood pressure as well as calm the dog. I don’t have the dog today but the video is playing.

  8. 8.

    catclub

    AG Barr just told Congress he’ll release a redacted Mueller report “within a week.”

    … after we accidentally lose it.
    … after never.

    Of course, the redactions are likely to be wholesale.

  12. 12.

    ThresherK

    Badger has that “get me out of here” look, like he should be holding a phone, behind four inches of bulletproof glass, talking to a visitor, in a prison.

  13. 13.

    catclub

    @randy khan:

    Barr really has played the Mueller report badly.

    I don’t see it that way at all. every delay of a week is a win. At some point they will say that releasing it during the campaign will be too divisive.
    Kind of like voting for a SC judge during an election year.

  15. 15.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I remember an old Mad Magazine bit on quoting a terrible movie review but selective replacing words with “…” so that what was left sounded like praise. Also thinking of the famous Far Side cartoon where all the dog hears from “Bad dog, Ginger! Bad Ginger!” is “… Ginger… Ginger”

    I’m thinking the Barr will follow that redaction procedure.

    “Although Trump has been temporarily very successful at hiding the most egregious of his federal crimes, the overwhelming volume of them began to turn up a terrific stench…”

    “… Trump has been… very successful… terrific…”

  16. 16.

    The Dangerman

    Badger isn’t taking the confinement well.

    Fortunately, dog paws only have four digits and, thusly, there is no middle one.

  17. 17.

    zhena gogolia

    @germy:

    WHY SHOULD THEIR REPUTATIONS BE PROTECTED? THEY’RE SELLING OUT THEIR OWN COUNTRY.

    I saw someone say, “Yes, let’s protect their reputations the way we protected the reputations of Strzok and Page.”

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    Badger has the same look our kitty Keaton does when he realizes that a room with the door closed is just another kind of cage, maaaaaaannnn!

    (Yes, Keaton is part hippie.)

    We still haven’t gotten Annie’s test results and we’re kind of afraid to call and ask. Her appetite is much better now that we started giving her wet food for both breakfast and dinner, but she’s still underweight.

  21. 21.

    dww44

    This was posted in a dead thread last nigh: I, too, am a fan of Abrams, but, alas, Erick Erickson, who writes frequent op-eds in the local paper is not. His piece in yesterday’s paper was anger inducing. . If the guy had guts enough to publish his email address as does the other local guy who writes a piece on occasion, I’d encourage you to email him. The nerve of this so called rational conservative. Anyways, the smear machine is in full force against Stacey,

    And for those who support a Senate candidacy for her, there’s another female Dem candidate, Teresa Tinkubsibm who has all but declared. She’s the former Mayor of Columbus, Ga. We actually do have some viable females within the Democratic party here.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    @catclub: This bunch certainly doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt, and if Barr had been vague about when he was going to release the report, I would agree. But he said he was going to release it within a week. If he fails to do so, that’s going to blow up in his face. I think he’ll release a heavily redacted version within a week, then the fight will shift to the redactions.

  23. 23.

    dww44

    This was posted in a dead thread last nigh: I, too, am a fan of Abrams, but, alas, Erick Erickson, who writes frequent op-eds in the local paper is not. His piece in yesterday’s paper was anger inducing. . If the guy had guts enough to publish his email address as does the other local guy who writes a piece on occasion, I’d encourage you to email him. The nerve of this so called rational conservative. Anyways, the smear machine is in full force against Stacey,

    And for those who support a Senate candidacy for her, there’s another female Dem candidate, Teresa Tomlinson, who has all but declared. She’s the former Mayor of Columbus, Ga. We actually do have some viable female candidates within the Democratic party here.

  28. 28.

    germy

    @dww44:

    “Abrams is trying to burn it all down so that she can rise triumphantly in the ashes”

    Actually, that’s Bannon’s and Trump’s plan.

    (It’s always projection with these people)

  29. 29.

    Neldob

    I thought Barr was legally obliged to give the full report to the house Intel committee. Am I wrong? Hopeful? Deluded?
    Also, Badger reminded me of Vanunu as he was being carted away, writing ‘help’ on the van’s window.

  30. 30.

    germy

    BARR refuses to say whether the White House has been briefed on any aspect of the Mueller report. "I’ve said what I’m going to say about the report today."— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 9, 2019

  31. 31.

    rikyrah

    LOWEY: “I just hope that we as members of Congress are going to have the complete report.”

    BARR: “You mean the unredacted report? No.”

    Congress WILL NOT be given unredacted copies of Mueller’s full report. They’ll see exactly what Barr wants them to see. That’s unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/Eksqo9MVut

    — CAP Action (@CAPAction) April 9, 2019

  33. 33.

    plato

    The sheer arrogance.

    Under questioning from Rep. Cartwright about whether he had considered the consequences of DOJ's position on Obamacare for Americans who'd lose their health coverage, Barr gives quite a response: "If you think it’s such an outrageous position, you have nothing to worry about." pic.twitter.com/nfPh0igLYr— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 9, 2019

  35. 35.

    bemused

    Barr cockiness makes me gag but all of these people are supremely cocky and disdainful. They are special.

  38. 38.

    germy

    For fuck's sake: Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America, testifying at House judiciary hearing on white nationalism, calls New Zealand shooter a "left-wing" terrorist.— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) April 9, 2019

  39. 39.

    oatler.

    Listening to the white nationalism hearings now; apparently it’s the white nationalists testifying at this time…

  40. 40.

    catclub

    @germy: actually, it is rise triumphantly FROM the ashes.

    Doesn’t ‘rise triumphantly in the ashes’ sound stupid, now?

    the classics students recognize ‘rise triumphantly, phoenix-like, from the ashes’

  44. 44.

    catclub

    @bemused:

    Barr cockiness makes me gag but all of these people are supremely cocky and disdainful.

    why shouldn’t they be cocky?, they got away with all of this before at the end of Iran-Contra.

  46. 46.

    LivinginExile

    @Betty Cracker: My significant other always makes fun of me when I call a water heater a hot water heater. She says “Doesn’t a water heater heat cold water?” There always has to be a smartass.

  47. 47.

    oldgold

    Barr is not going to be able to deny the Intelligence Committees of Congress the entire Mueller Report. Federal Criminal Rule 6(e) provides at subsection 6(e)(3)(D), as follows:

    “3.Exceptions.

    Disclosure of a grand-jury matter—other than the grand jury’s deliberations or any grand juror’s vote—may be made to:

    (D) ….. An attorney for the government may also disclose any grand-jury matter involving, within the United States or elsewhere, a threat of attack or other grave hostile acts of a foreign power or its agent, a threat of domestic or international sabotage or terrorism, or clandestine intelligence gathering activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by its agent, to any appropriate federal, state, state subdivision, Indian tribal, or foreign government official, for the purpose of preventing or responding to such threat or activities.”

  48. 48.

    randy khan

    @catclub:

    The longer he holds it back, the more the press will want it. That’s not helpful to them.

    This isn’t like the tax returns in 2016, which should have been of great interest to the press but for some reason weren’t. They really want to know what’s in the report.

  52. 52.

    randy khan

    @sukabi:

    That is hilariously stupid. If the story on the suit is remotely accurate (and that’s the kind of thing the NYT gets right), there literally is nothing in the article suggesting Nunes was involved – there’s even language saying that there’s no indication he was there. It’s like the opposite of defamation.

  53. 53.

    germy

    thread:

    Fox News has now deleted the copy of the complaint it posted, but this makes it sound like Rep. Nunes is suing a newspaper for $150m for writng true things but not in the order he would have liked, which was a conspiracy to derail his Russia investigation. https://t.co/FQQ0uTtNH1— Brad Heath (@bradheath) April 9, 2019

  54. 54.

    randy khan

    @sukabi:

    the longer he holds it back the more likely it is to be released to the Congress and the public in full.

    Absolutely. One more reason holding it back is bad politics.

  56. 56.

    jc

    I’ll believe anyone will see the full Mueller report … when it actually happens. Barr will release it, with two-thirds of the info redacted. And then there will be a looooong fight to see the rest.

    Trump could shoot someone on 5th Ave. and convince *himself* that he was innocent. And then he’d abuse his power to avoid any accountability while trying to con the rest of the world that he had lived an otherwise blameless life.

  57. 57.

    gvg

    this site is currently showing I could edit 3 comments in this thread that I did not make. #47 germy, #48 Rikyrah & #51germy……which makes no sense

  59. 59.

    bemused

    @catclub:

    You have a point but even when they haven’t “won”, they never lose their arrogance. From as long as I have been an adult and long before that, they just keep on keeping on believing they are supremely right and they will prevail.

  61. 61.

    West of the Rockies

    Lots of photos of Barr online this morning… He sure is an unhealthy looking dude: bloated and gray and reeking of coffee-breath and cigarettes.

  62. 62.

    Mart

    Last night Fox had Geraldo Rivera on with some anchor feeding leading loaded questions about Trump taxes and fairness – if they can do it to Trump, they can do it to you. Why would Trump give to his worst critics who will tear it apart looking for any bad thing. Etc. Nothing about the letter of the law that the IRS is required to turn over. I doubt there will be an unredacted Mueller report, or any tax forms handed over from this gang of thieves and their enabling courts.

  64. 64.

    dww44

    @randy khan: Well, actually, I think, thus far, the politics is in Barr’s favor. This segment from last night’s Maddow show with Dan Rather is pretty much on the money.

    Upshot, Barr is banking on the fact that the longer the report is not out there, the more likely it is the public and the media will tire of the Mueller Report and stop pressing for its release. Rather said that it is a crucial time for the country and the rule of law. We can’t let the media and others win by telling us “to put it behind us and move forward”.

  66. 66.

    Olivia

    I can’t get the link to post but do a google search for “youtube music for anxious dogs” or something similar and there are many choices.
    The one I prefer is called “9 Hours of Deep Separation Anxiety For Dog Relaxation(tested)”

  75. 75.

    trollhattan

    @MattF:
    I’m guessing everything but articles and adjectives will be blotted from view. Even the page numbers.

    Pro tip for you Acrobat users: After you mark for redaction you must then apply the redactions. People have skipped step 2 and published classified material. Oopsie.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    Aaron Rupar
    ‏Verified account
    @atrupar
    2h2 hours ago
    More
    Barr bizarrely suggests Democrats shouldn’t be so worried about the DOJ’s position on the ACA because the lawsuit they support to strike it down isn’t likely to succeed anyway

    Pay attention to the arrogance of the lawyers on the public payroll. Barr, who is HUGELY secure in his own health care access, simply does not understand why anyone would be worried that he and Trump keep threatening to take it away.

    The cavalier arrogance on display in this particular category of elite lawyers is disgusting.

    Stop threatening people with your stupid politically motivated litigation, Mr. Barr. How about that? Then they’ll stop worrying. Stop suing to take away their healthcare. Leave them alone and find something productive to do with your work day.

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    @catclub:
    You may be right. The concrete has hardened on “The Mueller Report: total Democrat failure!” and it will take jackhammers aplenty to budge both Trumpers and Russia-curious Uberlibs from that narrative. Not putting my money on the Pass line.

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Pay attention to the arrogance of the lawyers on the public payroll. Barr, who is HUGELY secure in his own health care access, simply does not understand why anyone would be worried that he and Trump keep threatening to take it away.

    The cavalier arrogance on display in this particular category of elite lawyers is disgusting.

    Stop threatening people with your stupid politically motivated litigation, Mr. Barr. How about that?

    CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @bemused:

    Barr cockiness makes me gag but all of these people are supremely cocky and disdainful. They are special.

    He’s awful. Smug and arrogant. Oh, well. He’ll get his. If Trump’s political gambits don’t work Trump will publicly humiliate him and throw him under the bus. Another eager bootlicker gets shown the door. There’s not a lot of SELF RESPECT in these ranks. A lot of arrogance but no real self respect.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    How many times are they planning on threatening tens of millions of people? They’ll do this forever? You can’t go a single fucking month without one of these useless coddled suits suing to take away your health care?

    The country would be better off if Mr. Barr didn’t come to work. Can we pay him to stay home and stop harming us?

  85. 85.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:
    The Daily Beast story gives absolutely no clue about whether the rumour of an affair between William and the Marchionness of Cholmondeley (pronounced “Chumley”) is true. So, shrug.

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    @Amir Khalid:

    @rikyrah:
    The Daily Beast story gives absolutely no clue about whether the rumour of an affair between William and the Marchionness of Cholmondeley (pronounced “Chumley”) is true. So, shrug.

    The gossip branch of the vile UK media are certainly piling on William now. I guess the attacks on Harry and his wife were not salacious enough.

    And “Cholmondeley” translates into “Chumley”. Funny. Who knew?

  88. 88.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @catclub:

    How about this? Those public harassment campaigns apparently worked well against Nielson, so why couldn’t they work agianst Barr? There wasn’t any public harassment of these odious officials during Iran-Contra

  90. 90.

    Kay

    Katherine Faulders
    ‏Verified account
    @KFaulders
    37m37 minutes ago
    More
    Trump tells @jonkarl he is not looking to restart child separation. He first ignored the question three times and said Obama was the one who built cages and separated children.

    It’s a lie about Obama, but it reveals that they think this policy they put in and enthusiastically enforced is politically damaging to them. It could harm their careers.

    If they didn’t think that they wouldn’t lie about it- they’d brag about it. It isn’t a strength. It’s a weakness.

  93. 93.

    J R in WV

    @dww44:

    Erick Erickson… The nerve of this so called rational conservative.

    Nothing rational about Ewick Ewicksen, not at all~!!~

    And is there a tiny shred of truth about his allegations about Democrats and Stacy Abrams and voting problems in GA? Because I doubt it strongly – after all, the Sec of State was the Republican Racist candidate!!!

    Imagine the coincidence — most all the voters blocked were voters registered by Abrams’s campaign, so it was all Stacy’s fault, right? Rational indeed~!!~

  94. 94.

    catclub

    @sukabi: Now THAT cold be interesting. But iI suspect any public good coming from Felix Sater
    is purely by accident.

  96. 96.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    How many times are they planning on threatening tens of millions of people? They’ll do this forever? You can’t go a single fucking month without one of these useless coddled suits suing to take away your health care?

    Literally ONE out of TWO people in this country HAS A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION.

    And, you don’t think people don’t get that?
    That they are tired of living in fear?
    That they are angry and get a pit in their stomach everytime they hear about someone threatening their healthcare?

  99. 99.

    Tazj

    @Kay: Yes, they’re scared and they should be because that policy is evil and they know most Americans agree that it is evil now, and the policy has had horrible and deadly consequences for children. Sadly, however, I will not be the least be surprised if some members of the press respond to his lie about Obama by trying to explain the ways that Trump was not entirely wrong. It just seems that they’re just not comfortable saying he was just bald facing lying without saying something bad about the other side.

  101. 101.

    J R in WV

    OK, on this “water heater” versus “Hot water heater” thing.

    When the water first enters a water heater, it is cold. Then it gets hot. Then the Hot Water Heater kicks on again, to keep the hot water hot. Over and over, the Hot Water Heater starts up, even in the middle of the night, to keep the hot water hot.

    This is why on-demand water heaters save energy, they don’t keep the hot water hot, they only heat cold water, when you need a shower. Or to wash dishes. There are water heaters that only heat cold water, they’re called on-demand water heaters. All the others are Hot Water Heaters, mostly.

    My take on the thing obviously. And OT, but for the open thread part of the system here at B-J.

    ETA to fix spelilng error ;-)

  103. 103.

    NotMax

    @J R in WV

    Then there’s those of us who keep the circuit breaker for it in the off position unless we’re going to be needing hot water for something, and immediately turn it off again afterward.

  104. 104.

    Brachiator

    @Immanentize:

    Tagliaferro = Toliver

    Interesting. There was a San Francisco radio personality, Ray Taliaferro. I guess the “g” was silent. He pronounced his name “Talya ferro.”

  106. 106.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    There is no hard “g” in Italian, so a name or word with “gli” is pronounced more like a “y.” See also, “tagliatelle.”

  107. 107.

    mrmoshpotato

    BADGER!

    ?
    Badger, badger, badger
    Badger, badger, badger
    Badger, badger, badger
    Badger, badger, badger
    Mushroom, mushroom
    ?

  109. 109.

    catclub

    @NotMax: I liked the response to someone who states that ‘sugar’ is one of the few words that turn that
    ‘su’ into an ‘sh’ sound, unlike surgery, suffering and superman. Are you sure?

  110. 110.

    WaterGirl

    @catclub: That made me laugh, but it’s not true of my kitties at all. They love to hear their names. In fact, if I say to Mr. Bear “where’s your lazy sister?” she makes a sound to tell me exactly where she is. It’s not a purr, it’s much louder and a completely different sound, but I’m not exactly sure how to describe it.

    I would never insult my kitties by calling them as I do my pups, but they always come running when I say “Where’s Willow, or Miss Willow, where are you? Or “where’s the Bear?”

  112. 112.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    I know everyone is off on another thread, but I had to stop by to tell Betty that Badger made me laugh out loud. And that’s pretty impressive given that I spent the morning at the dentist!

  113. 113.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Brachiator:

    And “Cholmondeley” translates into “Chumley”. Funny. Who knew?

    Most Brits actually. And Featherstonehaugh is pronounced Farquhar and Cogenhoe is pronounced Cooknow.

    A language cunningly designed to seem simple while still providing plenty of opportunities to trip up foreigners.

  117. 117.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Brachiator: Which is how it’s properly pronounced in Italian, where it means “iron-cutter” – which in Germany is “Eisenhower.” Keep in mind that the British are world-famous for folding, spindling & mutilating any term from another language (Jerez => “sherry”) as well as their own (Worcestershire => “Woostersheer”).

  118. 118.

    TomatoQueen

    @CapnMubbers: Oxford appears in DLS, but the setting is not Magdalene, but rather the fictional Shrewsbury College, modeled on DLS’ own Somerville. Lord Peter is of Balliol.

  120. 120.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    There is no hard “g” in Italian, so a name or word with “gli” is pronounced more like a “y.” See also, “tagliatelle.”

    I knew this. I was just making a little joke. A bagatelle.

    @Sloane Ranger:

    And “Cholmondeley” translates into “Chumley”. Funny. Who knew?

    Most Brits actually. And Featherstonehaugh is pronounced Farquhar and Cogenhoe is pronounced Cooknow.

    Wait. What? I figure that Brits just don’t know how to spell the words in their own language.

    More seriously, between the incursions of various peoples, and natural changes in language (vowel shifts, etc), I guess this makes a certain sense.

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Which is how it’s properly pronounced in Italian, where it means “iron-cutter” – which in Germany is “Eisenhower.” Keep in mind that the British are world-famous for folding, spindling & mutilating any term from another language (Jerez => “sherry”) as well as their own (Worcestershire => “Woostersheer”)

    There’s a joke where this comes out as “What’s this here sauce?”

  121. 121.

    CapnMubbers

    @TomatoQueen: Could be Josephine Tey, years-old memory and my collections of both authors went up in smoke (Paradise) or I would be down that rabbit-hole for who knows how long. The plot involved an American assuming a false identity and the pronunciation tripped him up, IIRC.

  123. 123.

    soga98

    @Brachiator:
    There once was a bridegroom named Cholmondely
    Whose bride was so lissome and colmondely
    That the best man, Colquhoun
    An inane young bolqufoun
    Could only stand still and stare dolmondely

  124. 124.

    low-tech cyclist

    Dropping in a day late just to say: Betty, I’ve got one of those exact same gate-leg tables!

    I think I bought it in 1986 – it was my first ‘real’ dining table back in my apartment-dwelling days. These days, it’s our emergency backup table in case we need to seat a dozen people all of a sudden; right now, it’s folded up and fits easily along one side of the living room coat closet.

  125. 125.

    click here

    Your style is so unique compared to other folks I have read stuff from.
    Thank you for posting when you have the opportunity,
    Guess I will just book mark this blog.

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