Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

This fight is for everything.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Everybody saw this coming.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

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

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

In after Baud. Damn.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

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

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Finney Explores His New Home

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Finney Explores His New Home

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From commentor and rescue-angel Aleta:

Debit suggested I send pics of Finney, in case it’s useful for “blog morale.”

You’re right about orange and white boi cats. He’s driving us hard.

Finney’s fascinated by the dog (who’s used to cats).

After 3-day surveillance from every side, he went deeper undercover.

Disguised as couch cushion.

Establishing rapport with subject.

(Supervised in all pics. He gradually oozed onto an arm that was already resting against the dog.)

Reader Interactions

174Comments

  1. 1.

    spudgun

    That. Is. So. SWEET! ? Look at his sweet little face…aww, Finney.

    Thank you for the pix, Aleta! Definitely a wonderful pick-me-up after a particularly crappy week.

    (oof, am I the only insomniac around here tonight?)

  2. 2.

    Jay

    Pretty Kitty, looks like our Mellow, who’s not mellow,

    But I like the fluffy dog pillow too.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Officers of a suburban county on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon, received a dispatch on 9 April from a man staying at his nephew’s house who heard the noises and the closing of the bathroom door. Believing there was a potential burglar present, he called the police. A few minutes later, police arrived and surrounded the house, requesting a canine assist. Inside, officers reported hearing “rustling” from the bathroom. After about 10 minutes of calling out for the suspect to surrender and only hearing the “rustling” get louder, the officers breached the bathroom ……

    The entire incident in Washington county was captured on the officer’s body camera. Posted footage showed the abridged incident, including audio of the dispatch and body cam videos. The tense moments before the confrontation show the police yelling throughout the house: “Last chance … come out now or you’re going to get bit!” Guns drawn, the officers entered the bathroom. But all of the suspicion quickly turned to laughter when the culprit was spotted: a Roomba, still hard at work cleaning. One officer exclaimed: “There’s the bad guy!”

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jay: Here in Misery, Real Men ™ don’t call cops for nefarious Roombas, that’s what 30 round magazines are for.

  17. 17.

    Jay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Here in Canuckistan, real men use vacumes, brooms and mops.

    Sometimes a Swiffer.

    5 round clips are used for scaring away bears and wolf packs.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jay: Out here? There’s Walmart. “Good” damn near anything and Walmart don’t belong in the same sentence.

  23. 23.

    Jay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    There’s this thing called the intertubes,

    I buy my cofeffe from an independent coffefe shop

    They are always confused that I don’t want it ground.

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Texas woman jailed for alleged theft of $1 – and being unable to post $12,000 bail

    A Texas woman is in jail after being accused of stealing one dollar from a customer at a food truck – and then being unable to post $12,000 bail.

    Gina Dianne Guidry, 52, is charged with theft from the person, an offense treated as a state jail felony in Texas, according to an affidavit in the case.

    A customer was waiting for food she had bought from a food truck earlier this week in Cedar Park, on the outskirts of the state capital, Austin, when a woman – later identified as Guidry – approached her and demanded money. When the customer refused, Guidry got close to her and was yelling in her face, according to the affidavit, as reported in the Austin American Statesman. The customer received two dollars in change from the food truck operator, but Guidry snatched the money and walked away, prompting the customer to call the Austin police and report a robbery, the report said.

    As officers interviewed the customer at the scene, she pointed at Guidry, who was still close by, and told police, “She was the one that took my money.” When the customer said two dollars was stolen, Guidry interjected and told police she only took $1, the affidavit said. She also told police she still had the dollar in her possession.

    Bail was set at $12,000, but Guidry was unable to make such a high figure and was in the Travis county jail on Friday.

    Guidry obviously is in need of some intensive socialization training, and looking at her picture I’m not even sure she is housebroke, but still, $12,000 bail seems a little excessive.

  31. 31.

    satby

    @Jay: side effect of sitting there overnight would be sobering up from whatever she was on. After they wouldn’t do any evaluation, cause Texas anyway, but isn’t the bond 10% of the bail? So she’s got to come up with $1,200?

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:

    So she’s got to come up with $1,200?

    I suspect that for somebody in her situation, $1200 is as far away as the moon.

  35. 35.

    Jay

    @satby:

    In the Assange thread, with Amir, I pointed out that Nordic Laws and Courts, try really hard, not to “create” criminals.

    Things that are felonies in the the US and much of the West, are Civil offenses, like in some places, parking tickets. In some parts of the West, however, Parking Tickets are the equivalent of a felony.

    Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, Treason Tribbles sister.

    The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. Anatole France (16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924)

  37. 37.

    Jay

    @satby:

    Yup, from someone who stole $1 out of desperation.

    Blog post I recently saw, Banks made over $30,000,000,000 in profits, off of overdraft charges.

    $30 billion dollars off of people who have no money.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Fox mentions Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for 42 days running – 3,181 times

    Living inside their heads, rent free.

    They’re starting now so that the progressives of Generation BB are primed to hate her as a neoliberal sellout.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:

    admittedly, I have only been arrested in blue states,

    HA! That made me laugh. I’ve only been arrested in red states so I can’t comment on any differences, but the only thing I could say for certain is they didn’t really care about anything other than $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. (last time was….. 20 years ago? Monteagle TN)

    the incense from Mexico

    Copal… Not yet. I try not to buy things on the internet unless I absolutely have to. $13 for shipping a $2.50 item is not very cost efficient. My wife has Amazon prime but I am trying to avoid them as best I can. I should be able to find an outlet in STL, then maybe I can get some the next time I head that way.

  41. 41.

    Raven

    I posted this last night. After the cops left he kept banging shit a screaming until well after midnight. I went out just now and there is broken stuff all over his yard.

    So I get home from the conference and I’m watching the Masters and one of my neighbors comes to the door and says the guy next door is standing on his front porch naked and yelling. The dude has a history of bizarre behavior but, in 20 years, I’ve never felt threatened ( I did one tell him after a particularly drunken verbal assault on me that he’d better never do anything like that to me again) I thought it over for a second an went over and said “Hey man, you OK? You can’t just stand out here naked, someone is going to call the cops”> He went right back in the house and closed his door. Ten minutes later he was back out there doing the same shit. I ruminated for a minute and decided to call the non-emergency police number. I talked with them for a while and neighbor kept going in and out doing the same stuff. I was very clear that I saw no threatening behavior or weapons involved but I was at a loss as what else I could do. They sent a couple of squads and they talked to him for quite a while but didn’t arrest him. I’d walked to the eatery down the street and about 10 minutes later here he came with no shoes or shirt, pants falling off and fly wide open. He sat down a one of the outdoor tables and began chatting away with them. I strolled over and asked him how he was doing and he said “Oh I’m great, everything is fine”. I said, “man, you are scaring people with this and you can’t be jumping around with no clothes on with kids and shit up and down the street. “Oh, it was only for 10 minutes or so and there were no kids around” I talked to him for a bit and he finally split. We’ve worried about him for years and don’t really know what to do short of calling the cops again and I really don’t want to. I’m thinking about catching him when he’s better and seriously trying to get him to tell me what’s going on. It seems like acid but I really don’t know and some times think he’s schizophrenic.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:

    We just don’t do that in this country.

    No we don’t, we seem to think that a $200/day (??) punishment that will last for years is more efficient than $300/day (??) treatment lasting 4 weeks with $50/week (??) maintenance after for one year.

    ??- I have no idea of actual costs but if this country cared enough to invest we could easily bring the cost per person down to more reasonable levels.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven: It’s tough to know the right thing to do in those situations. Over the years I’ve had a neighbor or 2 who exhibited erratic behaviors (not quite as stark as yours) and just minded my own business, polite but otherwise keeping my distance. As a renter it was the path of least resistance.

  50. 50.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: When I am forced to to turn to the evil and all encompassing lord of internet commerce, I just use her account.

    @Jay: My point. And it could be even cheaper if we took it seriously.

  52. 52.

    Raven

    @Jay: I know his parents live quite a distance away and his wife is a strange case. She’s worked at the university library for years and never talks at all unless she’s drinking. I have the sense that she wasn’t there but don’t really know. The house is a disaster with a nearly shot roof rotted soffits and he lets the kudzu take the place over during the summer. He and I get along pretty well and, of course, he loves the boss lady. This shit was way over the line and when he’s back in shape we will have a talk.

  54. 54.

    Mary G

    I don’t know about the blog, but Finney pictures with bonus puppeh certainly improves my morale! Thanks for sending them, Aleta.

  58. 58.

    Raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: yes, my thing is a bit different. His house is about 20 ft from mine and I’m sort of the go-to guy for these kinds of issues with some of the younger family people.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven: The first rule of city living is MYOB and it’s a lot easier to do that if one can just pick up and move away from a problem should things get bad enough. When I finally bought a house, I found myself getting (as minimally as possible) involved in neighborhood bullshit I would have kept my distance from previously.

    Unfortunately, like it or not, this is your business. Sucks to be you.

    For whatever it’s worth, you have my sympathies.

  60. 60.

    debit

    When Finney was here he just oozed confidence and personality, so I’m not surprised he’s settling in so well. It’s his house now, Aleta. You just live there.

  64. 64.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I have a friend who manages a well known hotel franchise. A few nights ago she had a older white male guest stay for a night. Ofcourse he wanted a freebie(one of those frequent flyer free nights) but the computer said his free night was already used up but it was too late at night to call the call center so – no big deal – she told him he would be charged if the freebie didn’t go through. Next morning, guy walks downstairs in his red MAGA hat and tells this white blonde blue eyed middle aged staff person ‘this is the worst service I’ve ever received and that woman there should be put in Auschwitz.’ The woman he was talking about is a white younger eastern European woman who is learning english. My friend says she is a really good worker but obviously a little slow with customer interaction because of her language issues. Anyhow,, that’s now pro Jewish your MAGA assholes are.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Noname: Yes, reminiscent of Catholic funereal ceremony. Too much is… too much tho. I would never burn it inside my house (or any other incense for that matter, my wife is migraine sensitive to strong odors) but outside, sitting in my garden, it would be quite pleasant.

  69. 69.

    satby

    @Noname: church incense is usually frankincense and myrrh, which are also resins. Copal is a resin from a different plant, to me it’s different but very reminiscent.

  71. 71.

    Skepticat

    So happy for Finney–and you. Cats and dogs living together warms my heart. I’d just like to see people succeed at it.

  73. 73.

    tobie

    Morning, All. I’m so impressed with all of you who get your dogs and cats to behave. It’s like peace treaties all around.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    Inside Ivanka’s Dreamworld
    The “first daughter” spent years rigorously cultivating her image. But she wasn’t prepared for scrutiny.

    I read this thinking “inside her dream world- interesting- maybe she’s different than she appears”.
    Her “dream world” is the commercial brand she’s been carefully cultivating since she was 11 years old- the product is herself- and it’s bland and boring as hell. “Prove smart is sexy,” “Seize the moments as they come,” “‘Now’ is the new ‘later.’”
    You wouldn’t even have to create this brand. It’s nothing. It’s the absence of anything objectionable or controversial. It’s what’s left after you take everything real out.

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    “Prove smart is sexy,”

    First, one has to actually be smart.

    ETA: ivanka trump: BBB- blond, bland, and boring

  76. 76.

    debit

    @tobie: My cats will pile on a dog if the dog will allow it. I posted a video of Julian and then Dani cuddling up with Ellie, and you’ll see both of them warily eyeing Ellie while doing so. Not because they’re afraid of her, but because if they wake her up, she’ll get up to give them the chair.

    And then there’s possibly my favorite Dani pic of all time, her curled up in Kelpie’s front legs.

  77. 77.

    Immanentize

    Happy Saturday, All.

    I made my first cheesecake last night — Graham cracker crust, water bath and all. It had to set overnight — just had the first slice and it is really good….

    And I wonder why I can’t shake those few extra pounds.

  78. 78.

    Raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: Fuck it, I can deal. It’s easier than the Marine Sniper who was harassing women at White Tiger. Talking him down gave me the pucker factor,

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: You have a stronger stomach than I. I couldn’t get past,

    You could tell by his eyes, the way they popped and gleamed and fixed on someone behind me. Only one person gets that kind of look from Donald Trump. “Oh!” the president said. “Ivanka!”

    Ivanka Trump lifted her hands, astonished. “I forgot you guys were meeting—I was just coming by!” she said. “Uh-oh!”

    The first daughter (though not the only daughter), wearing a fitted black mockneck and black pants, her golden hair fastened in a low twist, glided across the Oval Office. It was a Tuesday afternoon, and it was apparently vital to inform Trump, at that very moment, that Siemens had pledged to expand its education and training opportunities to more workers as part of Ivanka’s workforce-development initiative. She also wanted to remind him that tomorrow would be the inaugural session of the program’s advisory board, and that Tim Cook would be joining the meeting.

    “She loves doing it,” Trump said, presumably to me but while looking at Ivanka. “And she wants no credit. Just like me, she wants no credit.” They both started laughing.

    Aaaaccckkk, gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacckkkkkkkkkkkkkkk, puke!

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The story is boring. This was entirely unplanned, for example :

    The first daughter (though not the only daughter), wearing a fitted black mockneck and black pants, her golden hair fastened in a low twist, glided across the Oval Office. It was a Tuesday afternoon, and it was apparently vital to inform Trump, at that very moment, that Siemens had pledged to expand its education and training opportunities to more workers as part of Ivanka’s workforce-development initiative. She also wanted to remind him that tomorrow would be the inaugural session of the program’s advisory board, and that Tim Cook would be joining the meeting.

    This is why I think 99% of what they do is motivated by personal greed and self interest- they’re not interested enough in anything or anyone to work on a global political revolution. That would require some…passion or…thought. The personal brand she chose is like a generic version corporate brand. It’s not even unique to a product.

  85. 85.

    Emma

    @OzarkHillbilly: Not puke. This is Pennywise level of creepy. This is a full house of GoT characters creepy. This is barf your internal organs level of creepy.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Not that this correction is necessary at this point but it’s a lie. The jobs claim is a lie. They dutifully debunk it every time she and her father say it, and they do so, again, in this article. She spent the last year creating a stage set to promote this jobs lie. That’s her work. Tim Cook should be embarrassed, but I imagine it’s a gross quid pro quo of some kind.

  94. 94.

    Chyron HR

    @Kay:

    “Prove smart is sexy,” “Seize the moments as they come,” “‘Now’ is the new ‘later.’”

    “Think up, not down.”
    “Children are the new pets.”
    “You took a shortcut, and gained everything.”

  95. 95.

    NotMax

    @Chyron HR

    “Where there’s smoke, there’s salmon.”

    :)

    Or the Trump family motto:

    “If you’re not part of the problem, you’re in the wrong business.”

  96. 96.

    Kay

    @Chyron HR:

    Her brother says she was widely loved before she took the nepotism job, but I must be in the wrong demo because I literally never gave her a thought. I actually feel justified in criticizing her because she made it impossible for me to continue to completely ignore her. I have zero problem ignoring Tiffany, for example.

  97. 97.

    Chyron HR

    @NotMax:

    “Shopping is a feeling. Sometimes I get a wobbly feeling. I have a commercial feeling! Be sexy in business–be successful at night!”

  98. 98.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Having been married to a pathological liar I can say that at a certain level they so desperately want their lies to be true that to them, their manufactured reality is the real world, the lie is just the vehicle necessary to communicate that deeper truth buried beneath “normal” perceptions of reality. If only we had their vision, we too could see it.

    Cognitive dissonance is normal for them, it’s absence is a void they can not tolerate.

  101. 101.

    Kay

    We had a magistrate who is running for judge come to seek out Democratic votes last night. She’s a good magistrate and the most qualified and there won’t be endorsements because judicial races are “nonpartisan” but she’ll have to run in the GOP primary and there will be one and she’s the moderate. Anyway, it was nice to be asked. She doesn’t need D votes- it’s a 60% R county- but I think about this with Democrats running- that it’s nice to be asked. I mean, one can take a firm line and say “I’m not talking to these people at all” but moderate local Republicans still solicit D votes, and so we end up with more qualified moderates and fewer unqualified nutjobs, and it’s a very positive thing to be on the receiving end of that. Just as a person.

  102. 102.

    NotMax

    @Chyron HR

    Ivanka’s credo: “Whenever I feel like considering the needs or feelings of another person I lie down until the feeling goes away.”

  103. 103.

    Kay

    And it’s different for judges because she’s mostly talking about administration- how things run- trial judges are supposed to be fact-based and this one is – one case at a time- so you get less “philosophy” and I obviously I don’t know if Democratic candidates meeting with moderate Republicans would go as well as this did, but you hate to leave votes on the table :)

    Anyway. The people there were pleased and kind of flattered she went to the effort and no one “compromised” anything or had some profound “co-option” or anything. They were joking that they won’t vote in the primary because then they’d have to pull a GOP ballot and she was laughing along. This works a little differently on the personal level.

  104. 104.

    chris

    Bert decided that it was warm enough to swim yesterday, first time since late October. Better man than I, that water is mostly melted snow.

  105. 105.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: I knew that silly TV show they had was popular, I guess I’m just that out of touch with pop culture that I underestimated what that means. I’ve seen a thing on twitter recently about “NeverThroners”, people who have never seen game of thrones, don’t want to, and are baffled/annoyed at all the attention. I love GoT but I get how they feel when I hear people talk about Lost or that one where the beloved father died in a fire, or those reality/talent shows. Names and references seep into your consciousness, especially if you’re extremely on-line, and twitter is online X 1000.
    I knew he had a show where he said “you’re fired”, and Joan Rivers was on it a lot as part of her twenty year attempt to make her daughter a celebrity, and at some point Ivanka and one of his sons came on. It never occurred to me that millions of people thought they were watching the inner workings of a major American corporation, and Ivanka was a Major Executive.
    FWIW, I think that’s a big reason for hiding the tax returns, he made a lot more money from that TV show than he did from “building” and “deals”. That NYer (I think) article said that he and the producer (Burnett?) have each made hundreds of millions, which astounds me, but I suspect that he’s made almost as much from the show as he has from his father’s company, which is the Big Secret. That and massive debt to Deutsche Bank and maybe the Bank of Cyprus.

  106. 106.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @Raven: I’m impressed that the cops came when you dialed the non-emergency number. I had some rental neighbors for years who would play loud music during their 3 am pot parties. The police never came until I called the emergency number, said I heard bottles being smashed (which was true) and that I was scared for my life (not true). Then the police came but did nothing. Nothing stopped the neighbors (they had one party Christmas Eve) until their female companions were describing sex and masturbation over their cell outside, so I heard everything. Constant repetition of their words shut them up — they also quickly moved.

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Shall never, never be able to comprehend people who subsume their own lives to the flickering images dancing across TV screens, willingly surrendering the temporal to the temporary.

  112. 112.

    TomatoQueen

    So many sweet pet views this morning, lovely to see them all. TOON won yesterday afternoon, too.

  113. 113.

    Miss Bianca

    @Immanentize: She’s coming in the house now! I credit a combination of rotisserie chicken bits and crazy Colorado spring storms. Gonna all go out on a walk soon. : )

  114. 114.

    Immanentize

    @Miss Bianca: I am not a religious person but there are some things that happen that seem so timely and wonderful that maybe they could be considered mini-miracles. I keep wondering if Luna somehow contacted Roxy, perhaps on the astral plain, and sent her to you.

  115. 115.

    Miss Bianca

    @Immanentize: Aww, now I’m weepy again. I have come to love Roxy the Wolf-Girl, but damn…I miss Luna so much. But maybe it was her time to go for reasons that remain a mystery to me. And since I am convinced that Watson was sent to us by Stella, so maybe the Roxy-Luna connection as well. It is a comfort to think so, anyway. (Normally I am a firm enemy of Woo, but apparently not when it comes to my dogs.)

  117. 117.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:
    Their lives are empty and they need to fill them up. And as they have nothing else, they fill them up with bullshit.

  118. 118.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Her brother says she was widely loved before she took the nepotism job, but I must be in the wrong demo because I literally never gave her a thought.

    Bullshit. She’s always been laughed at, even when she was safely sheltered on her father’s lap.

  121. 121.

    Chyron HR

    @NotMax:

    To quote Bender Bending Rodriguez from Futurama, “Oh, wait, you were serious? Let me laugh even harder.”

  122. 122.

    Immanentize

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: So, I will do the second one a bit differently. I made it from the Bitman recipe. But the crust was a bit too thick (so only a 1 and 1/2 Graham cracker crust recipe for the bottom instead of the two X in the recipe) and a bit too lemony (so zest of 1/2 lemon instead of whole). Next one should be perfect we’ll see

  123. 123.

    Michael Cain

    @OzarkHillbilly: This past week, the Colorado legislature voted unanimously to get rid of monetary bail bonds for traffic and other petty offenses. Little steps…

  124. 124.

    MomSense

    Awww, Finney looks so content. Well done, Aleta, Debit, and all the jackal matchmakers.

    The weather is getting warmer here but gray and unpleasant somehow. I have so many chores to do and zero energy for doing them.

  125. 125.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I knew he had a show where he said “you’re fired”, and Joan Rivers was on it a lot as part of her twenty year attempt to make her daughter a celebrity, and at some point Ivanka and one of his sons came on. It never occurred to me that millions of people thought they were watching the inner workings of a major American corporation, and Ivanka was a Major Executive.

    They’re good at keying into things because (IMO) they’re so empty. They’re like mirrors- glossy and hard. Except now they’re going to get people killed so it isn’t amusing anymore. Have gotten people killed. Those little kids wouldn’t have died if they hadn’t been in the inept, incompetent custody of Donald Trump. I think that Minnesota House member they’re targeting by calling out the crazies is in real danger. I’m worried about her. There’s already been, what, 3 incidents where the terrorists cited Trump-following as their religion?

    He’s markedly worse than he was right when he was elected. He’s gotten worse every month. You could draw a line on a graph. It won’t get better.

  128. 128.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Well, it is her father and brother saying these things. See: nepotism. Although not all families are like this- mine isn’t. We don’t generally gush about how great each of us is, not that anyone would ask us to. I always marvel at the media people who are charmed that Trump speaks about his daughter like this. It’s fucked up. Putting it in the “loving father” basket says more about the observer than Trump.

  129. 129.

    Michael Cain

    @Jay:

    Studies generally show that treatment is a fraction, ( less than 25%) of incarceration.

    One of the depressing things I learned when I was on the budget staff for my state legislature is just how un-fungible money can be. Especially the many different types of federal dollars that come in. One session I got a call from the Dept of Labor staff in Washington telling me that our main appropriations bill didn’t include enough assurances that one particular type of money wasn’t being spent outside the allowed purposes. It took a week of back-and-forth between me, them, and the state Dept of Labor to get a paragraph that made them happy.

  130. 130.

    Michael Cain

    I have known a number of cats who were suspicious of the dog until, some cold winter morning, they discovered that dogs are warm. Finney looks like he may be one of those.

  132. 132.

    Sab

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: My little city had two refugee resettlement organizations. Since Trump, one of them had to close due to lack of refugees.

    They started settling Vietnamese. Later they settled various Yugoslavs. Lately they have settled Bhutanese.

    We’ll take the South Americans. My little city is so much better off with its refugees.

  134. 134.

    Sab

    My niece gave me some of her ramps last year, and much to her consternation, instead of eating rhem I planted them in my garden.

    The ramps survived the winter! Someday I will eat them!

  135. 135.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    My mom butters the pan and then dusts it with bread crumbs. It’s actually really good. Sometimes she does the same but with vanilla wafers. Her cheese cake mix is 24 oz cream cheese, 4 stiff egg whites, 1 cup sugar mixed with the 4 egg yolks, and a teaspoon of vanilla. It would be boring except she makes a topping of 2 cups sour cream 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. She takes the cheesecake out just before it’s finished turns the oven up to 475 then puts the sour cream topping on. Then back in the oven for 5 minutes. The topping sets, no visible cracks on the top of the cheesecake, and just enough sour to counter the richness of the cheesecake. It’s so good.

  136. 136.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    And more encouraging news. The CA National Guard won’t abide by the transgender troop ban.

    California Natl.Guard says 'Fuck You' to Trump! Maj.Gen. Beevers says he will not discharge transgender soldiers from its ranks! “As long as you fight,we don’t care what gender you are … Nobody's going to kick you out”https://t.co/uKuo79tEhb— 4mvp (@44mmvvpp) April 13, 2019

  137. 137.

    Spanky

    @MomSense:

    I have so many chores to do and zero energy for doing them.

    And here I sit in front of this time-sucking machine. And this morning’s rain has turned into puffy light clouds, too.

  138. 138.

    Kay

    @Amir Khalid:

    I wasn’t aware of her as loved or mocked. I just didn’t see her at all.

    I sort of hate the whole genre of “women posing with their children” that is popular as a brand. I hate expressive, public-facing parenthood online – I think they’re ruining it for normal, non-celebrity people. Devaluing and cheapening what is actually a profound, complicated relationship.

  139. 139.

    laura

    Happy Record Store Day!
    I’m hoping to get a newly released Marvin Gaye, John Coltrane and a reissued Dream Syndicate.

  142. 142.

    Mandalay

    @Kay:

    I sort of hate the whole genre of “women posing with their children” that is popular as a brand.

    Well here’s a child who’s not taking it….

    Gwyneth Paltrow’s teenage daughter has criticised her mother for posting a picture of her online without her consent, a reaction experts say will become more common as a generation that has been snapped since their birth grows up.

    Paltrow posted a photo to Instagram earlier in the week of herself with Apple Martin, her 14-year-old daughter with Coldplay singer Chris Martin, at a ski field. Apple’s face is largely covered by goggles.

    Apple commented on the post: “Mom we have discussed this. You may not post anything without my consent.”

    Paltrow replied: “You can’t even see your face!”

    Actually I’m so cynical about “celebrities” that I wouldn’t be surprised if Paltrow had asked/told her daughter to post the comment to generate extra publicity. Paltrow makes Trump seem publicity shy by comparison.

  143. 143.

    trollhattan

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:
    I think under new Trump policies this means he’s busing all the gheys to California or something. It will be fabulous!

    I don’t understand the asylum city busing thing. Is he saying they will bus people around the country in lieu of “locking them up”? Where would they otherwise be? What if the host/target cities hand out bus vouchers and say “Have a nice life”? We don’t (yet) have an Interior Minister who hands out transit visas to control internal travel.

  144. 144.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    Thank you debit and Aleta for Finney and AL for showing us the pictures.

    @MomSense: That sounds like a great topping, though I’d mix almond/vanilla extract 3:1 for the extract, or add orange extract 2:1:1. Which would be cumbersome, of course, but I am odd that way.

  146. 146.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Gwendoline Christie: ‘Playing Brienne of Tarth changed my life. I feel emotional’.

    A very interesting woman who has had a very interesting career path, not to mention life.

    Really liked her character in Game of Thrones. She didn’t have much to do in the new Star Wars movies.

  147. 147.

    Ruckus

    @Mandalay:
    Doesn’t some of the appeal of actors center upon their popularity? How popular they are can help generate larger audiences/returns on the investment. Most of us have to sell ourselves to get a job, IOW produce in some way. And an actor is only going to fit in so many roles, Paltrow is never going to play Capone for example.
    Of course a lot of people take this a step or twelve hundred steps too far. Like your example.

  148. 148.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @trollhattan: If this happens, which I think unlikely, I would hope the target cities organize with non-profits to help these refugees, the way they’ve helped others. It makes me sick that Trump sees this as a terrible threat that will unmask liberal hypocrisy.

  151. 151.

    trollhattan

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:
    Trump’s drinking his own Kool-Ade and actually believes (or has been convinced by S. Miller) that they’d be busing monsters into enemy territory where they can re-create “Escape from New York,” only in Spanish. Win-Win! Their brains aren’t functioning fully and what function is there, is Abby Something.

  152. 152.

    NotMax

    @MomSense

    I hear that. Would that my postage stamp kitchen contained enough space to let it reside permanently on the counter, that’s how often I use it (i.e., a lot).

    ;)

  154. 154.

    J R in WV

    @Sab:

    I’ve been buying ramps from roadside sellers for years.

    I cook some, and plant some, spreading them out in the woods outside the front door. Now we have large patches of thriving ramps, enough to cook with without taking more than will propagate. They spread via underground runners, so you should plant them somewhat widely separated. They also set seed in the fall, but the germination rate is really low, while the runners are 100% successful.

    Had baked pork loin ribs last night, will make baked beans with left over pork AND ramps. Neighbors moved here from upper midwest, have never had ramps yet, after 40 years of being local. But locally, the ramps were made extinct by total harvesting back in the days of subsistence farming when the subsistence was pretty poor. I plant right by the house to discourage walkers from taking them all right off my own farm.

  155. 155.

    dww44

    @Kay:

    He’s markedly worse than he was right when he was elected. He’s gotten worse every month. You could draw a line on a graph. It won’t get better.

    Actually, at this point, impeachment should be very much on the table, not off of it. We’re fast reaching a point where it cannot be avoided, not if we want to keep a functioning government based on the rule of law. As it is, it’s gonna take a long long time to rebuild the justice department and the diplomatic corp, not to even mention DHS..

    In this vein, if you’ve not read this Booman piece from yesterday, I cannot recommend it highly enough: Presidential Moral Leadership Really Matters

  156. 156.

    WereBear

    A) Oh, makes me want a creamsicle cat!

    B) This whole Trump thing reminds me of the Sumner Caning Incident: it polarized the country in a remarkably short time and probably fomented the Civil War. Making something screaming obvious…

  157. 157.

    Ruckus

    @dww44:
    You are technically correct that impeachment is necessary.
    However.
    Politically it is impossible and because of that it would be worse than waiting him out and actually electing a human being to run the place.
    I predict that impeachment will never be used again because of the political fallout. It’s a perfectly workable solution as long as both sides of the political spectrum are actually trying to govern. At this point half the political spectrum is trying to steal everything not bolted down, which includes the rights of everyone but themselves so until that changes impeachment is unworkable.

  158. 158.

    Aleta

    My partner made an early morning vet trip with the dog, who’d been very uncomfortable in the night and was breathing differently. Vet did a lung xray w/ mixed results. Said other things were normal.

    When he got home, he said
    “Release the kraken!” (Meaning Finney.)

    Lately Finney sleeps in my partner’s room, in the spot Finn loves best, the dog’s bed. The older cat roams the rest of the house and the dog sleeps on the couch …

    Eventually my brain turned on and I thought to check the dog’s ear (he used to get yeast infections in his left ear, which made him curl up in discomfort), and I realized he had a ball of hard wax , maybe around a seed, and a hair mat that were all pulling at the top of his ear lobe. There was a front passing in the night which with ear problems sometimes disturbs the pup’s equilibrium.

  160. 160.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: He’s markedly worse than he was right when he was elected. He’s gotten worse every month. You could draw a line on a graph. It won’t get better.

    I keep thinking of what Michelle Obama used to say, the Presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are.

  161. 161.

    dww44

    @Ruckus: You are likely to be more correct than I in this matter, but it seems to me that proceeding with impeachment even if it doesn’t result in his removal, is the morally required action. There was a great discussion along these lines over at LGM yesterday. I agree with this commenter:

    Derelict gorillagogo • 20 hours ago :
    “When I did political consulting 15 years ago, I found Democrats absolutely infuriating to work with because I could never get a candidate to take a stand on anything. Even the most anodyne issues were too fraught to take a stand on. So the Democrat always came across as not believing in anything, and not having the guts to stand for anything.

    So here we are today. Can’t impeach the most openly lawless president in American history because he wouldn’t be convicted by his equally criminal cronies in the Senate. So, why even take a stand? There’s just no point in standing up for law or the Constitution or anything at all–not when you’re not guaranteed a slam-dunk 100% win”.

  162. 162.

    Aleta

    @debbie: I never thought of that! Good question. This dog here has some allergies and sensitivities. He used to get a very small piece of cheese once in awhile and when we stopped that, his ear yeast infections stopped. But he did make off with a hunk of cheese on the counter a couple weeks ago. Maybe it set off the yeast again.

  163. 163.

    debit

    @Aleta: Until my vet pointed out, ages ago, that pets can have food allergies too I used to just assume it was normal for them to have gross, gunky ears. Once I switched over to limited ingredient food they all have clean pink smoochable ears. Not treating them with people food was harder, and they ALL have a weakness for cheese.

    Hope your sweet guy feels better soon.

  165. 165.

    debit

    @Steeplejack: All of my pets get the same brand, Nutro, and specifically the Chicken and Brown Rice dry. The cats also get the Nutro chicken wet food.

  166. 166.

    Steeplejack

    @debit:

    Thanks. The housecat is old (almost 19), and I keep trying different things to make sure she eats enough. Lately I’ve put Gerber’s baby food (chicken and turkey) into the rotation every day or so.

  167. 167.

    Ruckus

    @dww44:
    It is what it is.
    We can’t change the reality by wishing or even doing the right thing. Republicans do not care if they are doing the wrong thing, they don’t give 2 shits about it. They do this because they think it benefits them. Short term it might, long term it is a total failure. That doesn’t make the situation better, there is no good way to make this situation better except time.

  168. 168.

    LivinginExile

    @debit: I have had really good luck with probiotics for any kind of yeast or fungal problems with dogs or cats. Ears,skin, etc.

  169. 169.

    Aleta

    @debit: Our older female came here anxious and would lash out after a few minutes’ petting. She’d been abused, so for years I thought it was all anxiety.

    She was also twitchy. Also, she had starved for awhile and was up for eating anything. From the start she thought the trash was where to get food, and she’d come running at the sight of a pizza box.

    After the dog came, w/digestive probs., after awhile we switched him to limited ingredient food. Big change. So we tried a cat food with fewer ingredients, and found that when she didn’t eat certain things the other cats loved (like sprinkled nutritional yeast), she began to seek out touch and cuddle up. She no longer hissed or lashed out after a few minutes of petting or when picked up.

    After about 8 years of her living here, you could have knocked me over with a feather. Huge difference. When she got into the wrong food, the reactiveness and irritability would come back.

    I realized her skin was sensitive to some ingredients, but we had interpreted all of it as early stress or a difficult personality.

  171. 171.

    LivinginExile

    @Aleta:VetriScience from Amazon is the one I have used the most. Those are capsules. Now I’m using PetUltimates, which is a powder that comes with a !little scoop. It is as good or maybe better than the vetri.

  172. 172.

    laura

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: yep! I ended up with Rough Mix (Pete Townsend Ronnie Lane) Absolute Beginner’s soundtrack and the choice record of the day was a Chet Baker with Steve Gadd, Bob James, Jack DeJohnette, Paul Desmond and Gil Evans.

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