Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are no moderate Republican – only extremists, and cowards.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Israel, don’t be dumb like we were in the US after 9/11!

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

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

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

How are Republicans going to find someone with more charisma and personal charm than Jim Jordan?

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

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

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson: the bland and smiling face of evil.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Friday Morning Open Thread: The Media Has ‘Discovered’ Elizabeth Warren

Friday Morning Open Thread: The Media Has ‘Discovered’ Elizabeth Warren

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She gave an absolutely bravura performance, and she’s earned all the media she’s getting. But I swear, some of the Media Village Idiots’ new improved attitude is just that they needed a new “star”. Crazy Bernie didn’t do anything he hasn’t been doing since forever, Uncle Joe was low-energy, they can’t bear to waste their highly-compensated talents on ‘no-hopers’ like Buttigieg and Klobuchar if the best those two deliver is a vinegary version of Midwestern ‘Nice’.

And I suspect, in their heart of hearts, they resent Mike Bloomberg’s Here’s a check, make it rain, peasants attitude. Sure, he lays out a nice buffet at his press avails… and there’s always the chance of winning some of those sweet Bloomberg bucks… but they can tell he doesn’t actually respect them. He won’t even pretend he loves them, and it’s not like he didn’t get his chances up there. Making Bernie wag his finger and yell is too easy to be ‘news’!

Speaking of prominent people whose feelings are very, very hurt… the Oval Office Occupant must’ve not-loved this:



LFG — you go, Liz!

It’s called ‘letting them know whose side you’re on’…

Reader Interactions

201Comments

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    MomSense,

     

    I came to the thread when it was dead..

    But, the scarves were beautiful ??

     

    Pearl looked gorgeous ?

     

    And, I saw the sweater you did for Henry ?

     

    You have talent ???

  4. 4.

    Quinerly

    Good Morning!

    I got a puppy! His name is Jo Jo. He’s black and brindle with the cutest Blue Heeler feet. 4 months old. 23 lbs. Cattledog/German Shepard/Pit mix, they think.

    Came in with a litter of 8 around Christmas to the Espanola Humane Society (New Mexico). He had a very badly broken left hind leg and the vet set it. (He’ll probably always have an odd gait) He was convalencing at the vet’s home until Mon when he was transferred to Sunrise Springs Resort and Spa’s “Puppy Patch.” (only in Santa Fe would someone come up with the idea of taking poverty stricken, underprivileged puppies and putting them at a high end resort; the spa also has a “Chicken Cuddling” area too. For those who know the area, Sunrise is owned by the Ojo Caliente folks).

    Sooo…. I met a friend for an over priced lunch at Sunrise on Monday…. And we checked out the Puppy Patch and met Joey (now Jo Jo). I went back for our second date on Tuesday and made the decision Tuesday night. Now here’s the funny part. I had a commitment to see friends in Moriarty, New Mexico Wed (hr away) and Mountainair, New Mexico Thurs (1.5 hrs away). Told them I would get Jo Jo Friday. No can do from Puppy Patch people… No hold on puppies and if a person staying at the resort or an employee wants him, they have first dibs as long as he is there. A Resort couple had played with him on Tuesday after I had left. “They seemed interested.” Outsiders can only adopt between 1 and 4. Sooo… Long story short, we spring into action… my friend rushes on Wed to pick him up then meets me at Lamy Station (where I have been hanging on Sun for live music, drinks, and the trains)…. convenient for drop off logistics wise re the spa, where my friend lives, where I was coming from. I get there a little early and am having a fine IPA at the bar with the locals. Jo Jo and Annie arrive through the train depot side. Welcoming Committee in place.?❤️? He’s a gentle soul and already getting quite socialized. And only in New Mexico could a puppy leave a spa and be delivered to a bar within an hr. Kidding aside, this is my first puppy since I have always had grown rescue dogs. Everyone who has met this puppy says he is the most laid back one they have seen. No accidents so far in the casita. Sleeps through the night. I’m in love! He just woke me up staring at me, he gave a deep sigh, back to sleep.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I had vowed to keep my powder dry for the general so that I could support the eventual DEM nominee to the max of my very limited capabilities but I have relented and sent her a little bit of cash. I have sent her money 3 or 4 times in the past because even if she can’t be my Senator, she’s still the Senator who fights hardest for what I believe.

    I was always going to vote for her in the primary, assuming she makes it that far, but I finally decided that if the above reasoning is enough to support her as a Senator it’s also enough to support her as a Presidential candidate.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    FYI. Grounds for jollification.

    Is coffee good for me?

    Yes. In moderation, coffee seems to be good for most people – that’s three to five cups, or up to 400 milligrams of caffeine.

    “The evidence is pretty consistent that coffee is associated with a lower risk of mortality,” said Erikka Loftfield, a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute in the US, who has studied the beverage.

    For years, coffee was believed to be a possible carcinogen, but the 2015 Dietary Guidelines helped to change perception. For the first time, moderate coffee drinking was included as part of a healthy diet. When researchers controlled for lifestyle factors, like how many heavy coffee drinkers also smoked, the data tipped in coffee’s favour.

    A large 2017 review on coffee consumption and human health in the British Medical Journal also found that most of the time, coffee was associated with a benefit, rather than a harm. In examining more than 200 reviews of previous studies, the authors observed that moderate coffee drinkers had less cardiovascular disease, and premature death from all causes, including heart attacks and stroke, than those skipping the beverage.

    In addition, experts say some of the strongest protective effects may be with Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and liver conditions such as cirrhosis, liver cancer and chronic liver disease. For example, having about five cups of coffee a day, instead of none, is correlated with a 30 per cent decreased risk of Type 2 diabetes, according to a meta-analysis of 30 studies. Source

  9. 9.

    Jinchi

    It would be poetic justice if Mike Bloomberg got into the race because he was afraid of a Warren Presidency and the sight of him next to her on the debate stage convinced Democrats to give her the nomination.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    Ah crap. Link fix.

    FYI. Grounds for jollification.

    Is coffee good for me?

    Yes. In moderation, coffee seems to be good for most people – that’s three to five cups, or up to 400 milligrams of caffeine.

    “The evidence is pretty consistent that coffee is associated with a lower risk of mortality,” said Erikka Loftfield, a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute in the US, who has studied the beverage.

    For years, coffee was believed to be a possible carcinogen, but the 2015 Dietary Guidelines helped to change perception. For the first time, moderate coffee drinking was included as part of a healthy diet. When researchers controlled for lifestyle factors, like how many heavy coffee drinkers also smoked, the data tipped in coffee’s favour.

    A large 2017 review on coffee consumption and human health in the British Medical Journal also found that most of the time, coffee was associated with a benefit, rather than a harm. In examining more than 200 reviews of previous studies, the authors observed that moderate coffee drinkers had less cardiovascular disease, and premature death from all causes, including heart attacks and stroke, than those skipping the beverage.

    In addition, experts say some of the strongest protective effects may be with Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and liver conditions such as cirrhosis, liver cancer and chronic liver disease. For example, having about five cups of coffee a day, instead of none, is correlated with a 30 per cent decreased risk of Type 2 diabetes, according to a meta-analysis of 30 studies. Source

  12. 12.

    debbie

    She will have one more vote in her column after I early vote this afternoon.

    I love the huge audience numbers, but wonder how long it will take Trump to claim the Russians are behind that lie.

  14. 14.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Unfortunately, the corporate media in NYC really does like Bloomberg.

    Remember how upset they were when Obama didn’t ask Bloomberg any questions about the economy.  Obama had a full staff of economic Ph.ds, plus his kitchen cabinet included the likes of Paul Krugman and Saul Alinsky; he didn’t need to ask anything of a former speculator.

    But the media likes him because they believe the rich people like themselves are better than regular people (look at how they despise de Blasio for not having any money).  They like him because Bloomberg would host these fancy dinner parties and media attendees felt part of Mike’s exclusive club.  They like him because Bloomberg throws money to their favorite charities.

    Sad.

  15. 15.

    Anne Laurie

    @Quinerly: CONGRATULATIONS!

    Jo Jo sounds like a darling!…

    Now, the warning (feel free to ignore if you already know):  Shelter puppies are like foster kids — even if he’s an angel right now, be prepared for some ‘testing the boundaries’ behavior as he gets to feel more secure with you.   You’ll need to reassure him that, yes, you’re his forever home & you love him *but* he still has to mind his manners!

    Second part, the biological bit:  All puppies, even neutered ones, tend to get a little ‘oppositional’ between the ages of approximately 10 months and two years.  They’re teenagers, with teenager issues… their bodies are changing, everything’s all weird, and why should they be all conventional just because you want them to?  With some even-tempered dogs (like Jo Jo seems to be) this may be no more serious than making you say everything twice, or lingering / lagging on walks when he knows you’re in a hurry.  But (my first dog was a puppy Bodhisattva, but *still* went thru some adolescent trauma)  it can be quite unnerving for an inexperienced owner when Mr. Perfect is suddenly Mr. You Are Not The Boss of ME…

    One thing you might consider, when you get home, is a puppy manners class or household-dog training group — in my experience, it’s fun for both of you, and (as with baby&me classes for human teams) useful to see how other dogs, and dog people, behave.

  20. 20.

    different-church-lady

    As I sit in this cafe reading this, the barista is doing a hard-sell of Warren to his co-worker. Warren gots the buzz.

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    @NotMax
    I really suck at typing immediately apres extended nap.

    The arc of the learning curve is long but it bends towards pleasure.

    :)

  25. 25.

    different-church-lady

    @Baud: From a media perspective, she’s stern mommy who makes you eat broccoli, and Trump is the crazy uncle who teaches you to crack your knuckles and lets you drive the car even though you’re nine years  old.

    In other words, they’re nine year olds.

  26. 26.

    Dan B

    @Quinerly: We got a new kitten after Xmas.  We had to put down a 3 year old kitten 2 days after Xmas and had put down a very old, almost 20 y o kitten in late summer, and then your Poco went.  So much wistfulness and emptiness.  Now we’ve got the most playful kitten ever and learning how to not be feral, because if you’re a very bright kitten you figure out how to train your hoomins fast.

    Sounds like your puppy is going to spin stories to carry us through whatever may come.  So glad your life is filling up again in all the too quiet places.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    In February 2017, I published a blog post about my experiences with sexual harassment and gender discrimination at Uber, where I had recently left my role as a software engineer. In it, I described a year of employment that began with a sexual proposition from my manager and only grew more demeaning and demoralizing from there. The post quickly went viral, tapping into a conversation about systemic discrimination throughout Silicon Valley.

    What I wrote changed the world, some said: for the first time, a woman had spoken up about mistreatment, the world listened to her, and she walked away unscathed. And, in those early days, it really did seem that I had turned the tables, and I started to wonder if most of my fears had been unfounded. It seemed too good to be true. And it was. I was soon jolted out of my daydream, and I awakened into a nightmare.

    It started with strange stories from my family, friends and acquaintances. Reporters had been contacting them from day one and asking for information about me, but now they were also being contacted by people who didn’t seem to be reporters at all, who asked questions about my personal life, questions about my past.
    ……………………………
    That was the first time I knew I was definitely being followed, and it wasn’t the last.

    I didn’t know who or what I was up against. I suspected it was Uber, though at the time I had no concrete evidence to back that up. Several security researchers offered to look into it, and came back with the names of various private investigation firms that Uber had hired in the past. Its most recent PI firm, I was told, was Ergo, an opposition research company run by former CIA operatives. This terrified me even more.

    I feared that Uber would send a private investigator to break into my home, either while I was there or while I was out. Another former employee, Morgan Richardson, described an intimidating incident with an investigator who entered her apartment without her permission (Uber denied that the man came inside). If they did it to her, what would stop them from doing it to me? What if, I wondered, someone had already come to my home and I just didn’t know?

    A deep, aching terror fell over me as I prepared for the worst parts of my life to become public. Meanwhile, I was growing increasingly isolated—I was working from home, and there were very few people I could talk to about the things that were happening; more than once, I confided in a friend, only to have our conversation parroted back to me by a reporter a few days later.

    I felt sick to my stomach every day and had trouble sleeping. I’d lie awake in the middle of the night, racking my brain for memories of every mean thing I’d ever said, every mistake I’d ever made, every wrong thing I’d ever done, every lie I’d ever told, every person I’d ever hurt. I was haunted by every fight, every angry text message, every mean word, every breakup. I went over and over in my head everything I’d said that could be misinterpreted, that could put me in a bad light and undermine the authority of my claims.

    At times, the anxiety, fear and horror of it got so bad that I would curl up into a ball on the floor and cry until I felt numb. Sometimes I would stand in the shower, turn on the water, cover my mouth with my hands and scream until my voice was hoarse. Part of what felt so scary was the randomness of it all: I never knew what to expect. One morbid thought gave me comfort, however, and it’s what I told myself every time I noticed someone following me, or whenever I was warned about possible threats against my life: if anything happened to me, if I was harmed or killed, everyone would know exactly who was responsible.

  29. 29.

    Quinerly

    @debbie: “Jojo was a puppy who thought he was a loner
    But he knew it wouldn’t last
    Jojo left his home in Espanola looking
    For some St. Louis grass.” ?

  36. 36.

    CliosFanboy

    Best comment ever!!!

    I’m receiving word that Elizabeth Warren is now strapping Mike Bloomberg into a fully functional Wicker Man. The harvest will be very fine this year.

  37. 37.

    Quinerly

    @Nicole: totally not the kind of looking dog that I have ever had. Always blonde dogs. I felt like it was time to change it up. Plus, huge ears!

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    It doesn’t really matter who the Dem candidate is if Putin is selecting the winner once again.

  45. 45.

    Quinerly

    @Anne Laurie: oh, I’m looking for all the advice I can get. Thanks. Definitely puppy classes when back home. In the meantime, I leave Santa Fe on 2/27 for Gallup and 4 Corners. Those AirBnB arrangements were made post Poco’s death, not doggy friendly (see, I really wasn’t planning on falling into a dog trap). Anyway, one of my gal pals out here who has had Blue Heelers for 40 plus years is going to take him while I’m on that leg of my trip. She will get a start on working with him, then formal classes in St. Louis in March when I get back. Thanks… Keep the advice coming… Much appreciated.

  47. 47.

    TS (the original)

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    A rather horrific event in my world where a man set alight (and killed) his wife & 3 children. The internets is full of excuses as to why he may have done this & one of the senior police involved said

    Is this an issue of a woman suffering significant domestic violence and her and her children perishing at the hands of her husband, or is this an instance of a husband being driven too far by issues that he’s suffered by certain circumstances into committing acts of this form?

    (Policeman has been stood down from the enquiry but still has his job).

    There can be NO excuse for what he did & the culture that allows women to be used and abused while excuses are made for the abuser is alive and well in our societies.

    Domestic Violence Shouldn’t be a Culture War

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    @Quinerly:

    Awe

    Congratulations ???

     

    JoJo is so lucky ??

     

    May you two have many travels together ??

     

    Poco and the tribe are happy for you. They would want you to share that big heart ❤️❤️

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    Praise Jeebus/FSM!

    If I down more than my usual one pot per day, does that mean I’ll live to be like 200? [Yeah, I saw the “in moderation” thing, but a boy can dream.]

  57. 57.

    WereBear

    @Dan B: SO glad a new life has joined yours.

    Our last three kittens were rescued ferals, which tells me something very significant: humane efforts are reaching even further afield, because they used to be simply written off.

    Our Bud and Lou are sheer delight.

    Also, got an adorable review on my book!

    A joy to read and discover.
    Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2020
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

    Pamela Merritt writes as if she were a cat in a previous life! She makes so much sense when you finally read the translation from cat to person.

  60. 60.

    Princess

    Evidently, including people who streamed it, 33 million people watched the debate. Good time for Warren to break out.

  62. 62.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: thanks. Funny story… All his siblings were adopted thru the Puppy Patch weeks ago. I asked for updates/pictures about them. All seem smart, well behaved. JoJo has gotten a late start because of the broken leg and living in the vet’s home. Apparently, JoJo’s brother, Bob, was rather famous at the Puppy Patch (and I agree, saw a picture, gorgeous) Anyway, two resort staying couples wanted him and almost came to blows over him. The chick at the shelter was telling me the story and they were starting on Wed to add “Remember Famous Bob? His brother is now available” byline to JoJo’s page. So I sez to the shelter chick, “Well, you know Mick Jagger has a brother. His name is Chris. And I’ve met him. He’s pretty cool, without all that baggage that goes with fame.” I laughed, shelter chick looked bewildered. JoJo smiled. ?

  65. 65.

    satby

    @TS (the original): I read that and WTF?? It might be understandable for a guy to murder his wife and small children by dousing them with has and setting the car on fire because “he was pushed too far”?!? Family anniilators are a well studied criminal type, there’s no excuse for that police official to have said that. He needs to be fired.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolia

    You’ve probably seen it but thought to mention to you that the BBC’s 2-parter of Crime and Punishment is on Prime.

    With the additional comment that it is a rather lackluster effort compared to their other adaptations.

  72. 72.

    Jay Essel

    @Quinerly: 

    Yay and congrats! I confess since losing my Dobby a little over a year ago that I keep coming here for my dog fixes, a new puppy is such happy news!

    I was in your same boat with Dobby, had always had adult rescues, so my best advice is to not freak out when he starts dropping teeth around the house :)

  73. 73.

    Quinerly

    @Cheryl Rofer: you are kidding me. This I haven’t heard. Cindy at Lamy Station made a huge deal and was going to put him on their pages since I have been hanging there every Sunday. She is reserving an area Sunday for my birthday party and JoJo’s coming out party. I have to find a paper. Do you have an online link? Thank you for telling me. ??❤️??

  74. 74.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax:

    No, I didn’t know. Looks terrible, but I’ll give it a try. My pet peeve is that no one ever seems to notice that Raskolnikov is supposed to be devastatingly handsome.

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The latest sign of the coming apocalypse?

    Donald Trump has taken a jab at the Oscars for awarding this year’s best picture honor to Parasite, because the film is South Korean.

    “How bad were the Academy Awards this year?” Trump asked a rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The crowd responded with loud boos.

    “The winner is a movie from South Korea, what the hell was that all about?” Trump asked. “We got enough problems with South Korea with trade and on top of it, they give them the best movie of the year.”

    Parasite made Oscars history as the first film not in English to win best picture. The capitalist satire also won awards for best director, best original screenplay and best international film.

    “Was it good? I don’t know. I’m looking for, like – can we get like Gone With The Wind back, please?” Trump said, to loud cheers.

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    ???

    The shamelessness of the “Bernie delegate plurality stuff” isn’t just that Bernie tried to use superdelegates to overturn a Clinton majority in 2016. Just *3 weeks ago* when he thought Biden would have a plurality, his people floated a “Let’s pool our delegates with Warren” plan— Marcus H. Johnson (@marcushjohnson) February 21, 2020

  84. 84.

    TS (the original)

    @satby:

    there’s no excuse for that police official to have said that.

    the Police have NEVER treated domestic violence as they treat any other type of violence – in the age of Trump (& our RW PM) it seems they keep saying the quiet parts out loud.

  86. 86.

    satby

    Time for me to go take my car in for a replacement windshield ?

    It’s a mile and a half walk back home in 15° weather, but the sun is out so it’ll be fine. Should be above freezing when I need to walk back to pick it up this afternoon. At least it’s exercise.

  91. 91.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Old Russian saying:

    It’s a long walk to the church, and the roads are icy.
    It’s a longer walk to the tavern, but I’ll be careful.

    :)

  92. 92.

    Chris Johnson

    @OzarkHillbilly: No kidding.

    I, for one, have been howling about the Russian interference in this primary election to a fault, and am so jittery about it that I see Russians all over the place. I gotta remember that while in general terms I’m right, my ability to spot specifics is limited. It sounds like we’ve had at least one and probably more (remember Jeb’s Brinks Trucks Of Cash, or some of the Berniebots? It’s not new) but as just a commenter, moreover a commenter who got conned by Bernie the first time, I’m no troll-sniffer.

    Which is just as well, I bet they smell like vodka and tears ;)

  96. 96.

    Quinerly

    @Jay Essel: thanks. Another person warned me too. It’s not like I’m puppy stupid. ? I just grew up around the philosophy that all puppies get homes, it’s the older dogs who had homes and lost theirs homes that are more in need. Honestly, I wanted a really socialized dog this time… One who would be raised to get along with other dogs. Leo and Poco were handfuls in other dog situations. This dog is going to learn how to play well with others.

  97. 97.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: I’ve never seen a movie or TV adaptation of Crime and Punishment, but it’s my favorite Dostoyevsky novel. Who would be your casting pick for Raskolnikov, if time was not a factor (i.e., not limited to today’s crop of younger actors)?

    An early 1990s-era Matt Dillon would make a fine Razumikhin, IMO. Also,  who could pull off a credible Katerina Ivanovna? A 40-something Streep could do it, but I’m having a hard time coming up with a present-day 40-something who could.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    @Princess:

    Good time for Warren to break out.

    Excellent. I also hope the few hits on Bernie landed, although I have lost hope that other people see the world like I do.

  102. 102.

    zhena gogolia

    @Betty Cracker:

    Wow, good question. All I know is — NOT John Hurt or Peter Lorre (who played him in other adaptations). He’s supposed to be tall, well-built, and with a remarkably handsome face and beautiful dark eyes. George Clooney isn’t quite right!

  104. 104.

    PsiFighter37

    AOC is creating a campaign group to primary Democrats from the left. I’m so, SO glad she has the best interests of the Democratic Party at heart. Proving herself to just be a DSA infiltrator who isn’t interested in the big tent at all.

  106. 106.

    Quinerly

    @rekoob: thanks! I believe he was the 47th puppy adopted from the Puppy Patch. Someone said over 100 kitties have been adopted. I think it’s pretty cool that Espanola pays people $10 to bring in their kitties for spay/neuter, plus the spay/neuter is free.

  107. 107.

    zhena gogolia

    @Betty Cracker:

    For some reason I keep coming back to young James Stewart as someone who could have pulled it off.

    Katerina Ivanovna is a harder one. Somebody who can be both crazy and lovable at the same time.

  109. 109.

    guachi

    I said last week I thought Warren’s campaign was delusional thinking it could raise the $7 million in ten days they were asking for but I gave her $50 anyway.

    Looks like I was really wrong. She needed a big nice and she got it. We’ll see if it turns into votes. I’ll give her another $50 so she can keep campaigning.

  111. 111.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @PsiFighter37:
    Proving herself to just be a DSA infiltrator who isn’t interested in the big tent at all.

    Interesting sentiment coming from one who would like to kick her out of the tent.

  112. 112.

    satby

    @JPL: and I have the cutest hat and scarf handmade by a lady at the market ?.

    @NotMax:  fortunately not icy or I would take a Lyft home. True story, I’ve mentioned my great-grandfather who lived to be 106. That’s what ultimately caused his death, stubborn old Irish farmer just had to walk into town every morning to have coffee and get his paper, even in winter after an ice storm. He fell and broke his hip, and never recovered, back in the day it was a long slow bed-ridden decline ending in death. This (getting older) lady doesn’t walk far in icy weather, even though we have much better medical care now.

  115. 115.

    Geminid

    @Chris Johnson:                                                Well, I’m not a troll. Really. But hey- do you know that I can see Russia from underneath my bridge?

  117. 117.

    Quinerly

    @Cheryl Rofer: I found it online. No picture. Just his bio. Looks like I snapped him up just in time! Any chance you can pop by Lamy on Sunday to meet him? Would be cool.

  118. 118.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t know if Marlon Brando was tall, but as a young man, he was well-built and remarkably handsome with beautiful dark eyes. He was also able to project a brooding menace and tortured soul quality that might work. But I don’t think he’d be quite right. Raskolnikov was a prickly, proud, would-be intellectual. Not sure Brando would be able to pull all of that off.

  122. 122.

    Quinerly

    @Nicole: he’s actually mostly black. Very large, speckled paws. Some brindle mixed in. He might have a little Boxer in him. Love brindle dogs, though.

  123. 123.

    rekoob

    @Quinerly: You may need to look through the series of pictures (there are 7 in the list). I believe JoJo is fifth — he’s one of the two dogs, of course.

    ETA: I see Sister Rail Gun of WH already tracked him down.

  131. 131.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker:

    A 40-something Streep could do it, but I’m having a hard time coming up with a present-day 40-something who could.

    Cate Blanchett? Olivia Colman? Charlize Theron? Tara Reid? The first three are more serious than the last, of course, but I also have no idea what you’re looking for re: skills.

    Apropos of nothing in particular, I was amazed to learn that Tilda Swinton is 59; I thought she was younger (even though I’ve known about her for almost 30 years).

  135. 135.

    Quinerly

    @Cheryl Rofer: would be cool. We have a nice group, plus my neighbors here at the rental. They were renting the larger house and are from MN. Just bought a house near Presbyterian Hospital and are moving to Santa Fe. Should be my chicks from Cerrillos too. Hope you can make it. Female business owner… She’s doing a great job out there. Still haven’t checked out The Legal Tender, though.

  137. 137.

    NotMax

    @rikyrah

    “I don’t have a family. I don’t have anything else. This is my life.”

    Says the guy who was married last weekend.

    BTW,

    An uncle of White House adviser Stephen Miller says that he will donate to a group that provides aid and assistance to refugees in honor of his nephew’s marriage to Katie Waldman, press secretary to Vice President Pence.
    [snip}
    “Protect the refugee and welcome the stranger. They built America,” he reportedly added. Source

  138. 138.

    Emma from FL

    @Quinerly: ohmigosh! I just went and looked… what a cutie! And he’s clever, too. You can tell by the way he’s looking at the photographer. Inquiring mind.

  139. 139.

    Betty Cracker

    @SFAW: Olivia Colman, hmmm, interesting. Suranne Jones maybe? I think she’s barely 40, but so was Katerina Ivanovna, IIRC.

  141. 141.

    mrmoshpotato

    @OzarkHillbilly: Wait a sec.  I need to check on something.

    Happy to report my Gone With The Wind 4-disc set is still on my bookshelf intact.  No need to get it back.

    ETA – Also, Dump is a Soviet shitpile mobster conman who’s a traitor to this country and has been sucking the Kremlin’s ass for 30+ years (but that’s common knowledge around these parts.)

  145. 145.

    CaseyL

    Congrats to Quinerly and DanB on their new furbabies!

    Looking forward to many stories about The Youngsters.

  146. 146.

    Ben Cisco

    @OzarkHillbilly: Gotta love the distributor’s response:

    In response to Trump’s comments, Neon, the independent film distributor behind Parasite, suggested Trump is only mocking the film because it has subtitles.

    “Understandable, he can’t read,” the distributor tweeted while sharing a clip of the rally.

  147. 147.

    RedDirtGirl

     

    @Quinerly: So cool. I believe I am a dog person trapped in a cat person’s body. Catless for the first time in 30 years, I am holding a dog-shaped space for my future buddy. Hope to work my way up to it through fostering first. Very nervous about doing it well. But it is part of my 2-4 year plan.

  148. 148.

    JPL

    @Quinerly: I went to the puppy patch website.    Does JoJo have a red collar

     

    nevermind..    I found him from the link the good Sister poster.    So cute.

  149. 149.

    Shalimar

    @PsiFighter37: Primary from the left means she is supporting Democrats by definition.  This isn’t a Sanders thing.  It is also how she herself was elected, and she has been more representative of her district than her predecessor was.  The organization that supported her lost with almost every other candidate they funded, so her group probably will have a low success rate too.  But there is nothing wrong with primary challenges.  Congress people need to be accountable to their constituents.

  150. 150.

    Xentik

    @PsiFighter37: This is only problematic if they attack democrats in purple/red districts. If, on the other hand, she’s aiming to primary the mediocre-white-guy brigade of Seths Moulton and Tims Ryan that sit in safely blue districts, I’m all for it.

  152. 152.

    Geminid

    @Xentik:    Don’t know about AOC’s current PAC, but her old outfit, Justice Democrats, is targeting African American Congresswomen Joyce Beatty (D-OH), and Yvette Clark (D-NY).

  153. 153.

    Quinerly

    @JPL: isn’t that cool about the Puppy Patch? I still laugh over this. These are puppies from Espanola. I’m not dissing Espanola. But anyone who has spent time here will get why I’m chuckling. These are very, very lucky puppies.

  155. 155.

    Shalimar

    @rikyrah:  Honestly, I would expect his new wife not to claim Stephen Miller as family, not for him to forget about the only woman on earth who will actually speak to him.

  157. 157.

    Quinerly

    @RedDirtGirl: jump in and do it. I had planned on taking about 6 months dogless. No one believed me. JoJo rode to Mountainair yesterday…  in what I call the Poco compartment of my Ford Escape. Black ears perked up in my rear view mirror. Life be good.

  159. 159.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Geminid: And I don’t know anything about Yvette Clark, but I do know Joyce Beatty and the Dem voters in C-bus.  Beatty will swat her challenger like a fly.

  161. 161.

    WaterGirl

    I talked with John about the ads at the top.  Apparently the ad guy is off on vacation skiing, so he will not be available for contact until Tuesday, which means we will have to live with the annoying ads until (probably) Wednesday.

    Just a reminder that in the meantime, you can always install an ad blocker and drop some money in the kitty (if you can afford it) to offset lost revenue for the blog.

  166. 166.

    MomSense

    @Quinerly:

    congratulations!  Welcome, Jo Jo!

    As mom of a border collie, German Shepherd, cattledog mix, you will be amazed at how smart they are and how much activity they need!  One weird trick the trainer taught us was to make feeding into a game. We use those spinning Kongs or put kibble in a muffin tin and cover it with tennis balls.  Frozen Kongs filled with peanut butter are great to keep on hand when you just need 30 minutes of chill time.

  167. 167.

    Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    @Quinerly: Congrats to you and JoJo!

    And I’m not sure I should tell you this, but the day we first took Iggy the Wonder Schnauzer home back in 2013, our neighbor said he was “the most laid-back dog I’ve ever seen.”  Now Iggy shrieks like a tornado siren at the mere thought of someone maybe possibly walking around somewhere outside.  But we love our furry little shriekmonster.

    Wishing you and JoJo many happy years together.

  168. 168.

    Xentik

    @Geminid:  Yeah, without a doubt the Justice Democrats are odious. They were also running a shakedown racket of their “supported candidates”

    https://medium.com/@investigator_21314/are-the-justice-democrats-a-money-scam-to-defraud-progressives-63abbcf71be2

    (this was the first link I found, I know it was more widely reported at the time around here and KOS)

    That said, she doesn’t seem to be tied to them directly anymore, having ditched her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti who was one of their leaders.

  173. 173.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly:   Wonderful news.  JoJo:  learn up some words.  You know you can do it.  For you:

    NY Times, Science section (totes worth a click):

    Whisky Knows Her Toys

    A Border collie in Norway learned the names and categories of her many, many toys, just by playing a game with her owners.

    … This dog’s name is Whisky. She is a Border collie <strike>that</strike> who! lives with her owners and almost 100 toys, so it seems like things are going pretty well for her. 

    … Whisky’s toys have names. Most are dog-appropriate like “the colorful rope” or “the small Frisbee.” However, her owner, Helge O. Svela said on Thursday that since the research was done, her toys have grown in number from 59 to 91, and he has had to give some toys “people” names, like Daisy or Wenger. “That’s for the plushy toys that resemble animals like ducks or elephants (because the names Duck and Elephant were already taken),” he said. During the research, Whisky proved in tests that she knew the names for at least 54 of her 59 toys.

    [Whisky’s skills were borne out by tests with an animal behavior researcher, Claudia Fugazza.]

    That alone makes Whisky part of a very select group, although not a champion. You may recall Chaser, another Border collie that knew the names of more than 1,000 objects and also knew words for categories of objects. And there are a few other dogs with shockingly large vocabularies, Dr. Fugazza said, including mixed breeds, and a Yorkie.

    These canine verbal prodigies are, however, few and far between. “It is really, really unusual, and it is really difficult to teach object names to dogs,” Dr. Fugazza said.

    Whisky learned the names of the objects in her cornucopia of fun by playing a game with her owners in which she would go fetch the toy they named. They played a lot. Dr. Fugazza and her colleague at the university, Adam Miklosi, wrote in the journal Scientific Reports that Whisky had 10 balls, seven rings, four ropes and four Frisbees. Since the names of the objects always included a specific adjective and general noun, like “small Frisbee,” Dr. Fugazza wanted to test if Whisky had gotten the idea of what a Frisbee was, and what a ball was, in a general, abstract way.
    The way the experiment worked was that Dr. Fugazza went to Whisky’s home. In initial tests Whisky fetched most of her toys successfully. Then, for the category test, Dr. Fugazza would try her on four new toys at a time, first letting her play with the new toys with her owners in one test, or just explore them herself, in another test. Then Dr. Fugazza set the group of new toys in one room while she and the dog’s owners waited in the kitchen. One of the owners would ask Whisky to bring “a ball” or “a rope.”

    She was successful about 50 percent of the time when she was given a chance to play with the new toys before the test. Given that she was choosing from four different items, that is much better than chance, Dr. Fugazza said.

    Her achievement meant not only that she could group objects in categories in her mind, but also that she knew the words for those categories. While Dr. Fugazza suggests that all dogs have the ability to think in categories, only a select few, either because of training, or natural ability, actually know words for categories. And she had learned all that “naturally, in a way that is actually a little bit similar to what happens to human children,” Dr. Fugazza said.

    Bring on the toys, Quinerly.

    Whisky’s owners say they had to take her outside to give her a break, because otherwise she wanted to fetch toys all day long.

  175. 175.

    Geminid

    @Xentik:           Cenk Uyger, one of Justice Democrat’s founders, was canned early on               for earlier mysogynist posts. Then his sidekick Kyle Kulinski quit, and AOC was made a board member even though she was their candidate for   NY-14.                                                                                      As when Sanders and the Justice Democrats flew her to Kansas to campaign against current freshman Congresswoman Sharice Davids (D-KS), AOC was being used.

  180. 180.

    Amir Khalid

    A question oder drei for musical jackals: should I get the free app MuseScore? If I do, how can a musical noob such as I make the best use of it?

    Finally getting around to memorising scale patterns along the fretboard. I’m working on the major and minor scales as well as both pentatonic scales. Should I also do the other major scale modes — Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Locrian? Absent any inclination to play jazz, should I also learn harmonic/melodic minor scales?

  181. 181.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @TS (the original):  I am so tired of people (especially police)  looking for reasons to excuse domestic abusers/killers.  There often seems to be a note of “What did she do to deserve it?”  followed by “Well, why didn’t she leave?”  Never cluing into the fact that women stand a higher chance of being killed if they DO leave, many women are systematically cut off from friends and family so they have no place to go for help.  And many abusers spend years convincing their friends and family that “b!tches be craaaazy”  so everyone thinks the woman is just nuts/paranoid/exaggerating.

    I do realize that men are abused too.  My brother was, mostly emotionally which was horrifying enough, but it happens and I don’t want to erase those victims. (Society has different ways of gas lighting male abuse victims)

  182. 182.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Elizabelle: My Jack Russell mix will do this!  He has about 5 or 6 favorite fetch toys and if we say , Go get BlueDog or Where is Beaver? He will go find them.  He doesn’t so much anymore as he is almost 14 and mostly wants to nap unless its walk time.

  184. 184.

    J R in WV

    @PsiFighter37:

    AOC is creating a campaign group to primary Democrats from the left. I’m so, SO glad she has the best interests of the Democratic Party at heart. Proving herself to just be a DSA infiltrator who isn’t interested in the big tent at all.

    You appear to despise AOC for attempting to move the Democratic party to the left via primary elections. Would you care to propose a different method for moving the party to the left?

    Would you prefer that the Democratic party be owned and operated by Mike Bloomberg or equivalent wealthy owner-class bastards? From your comment it would seem that perhaps you think 1984 Republican platform is right for today’s Democratic party!

    Seriously, if running progressive liberals for office offends you, why are you not moving to a nation that is already perfect, like Mother Russia? How else is an ambitious Congresswoman supposed to move her political party in her preferred direction other than helping people who share her beliefs run for office?

    ISN’T RUNNING FOR OFFICE HOW WE CHANGE THINGS?  What the hell is wrong with liberal democrats running for office against conservative democrats? People confuse the hell out of me some days. Maybe you just need a puppy? Maybe I should stop typing…

  185. 185.

    Geminid

    @Shalimar:       Agreed that there is nothing       inherently wrong with primaries. Representatives have to stay in touch with       their constituents. Caucus guidance to freshmen is to “be the mayor of your district.”     I follow Sharice Davids (KS) and Xochitl  Torres-Small (Las Cruces NM) through local media. They stay busy with town halls and other outreach, in addition to legislation benefitting their district. Torres-Small teamed up with NM Senators to get White Sands National Monument turned into a National Park.                       Both Davids and Torres-Small flipped red districts, and are at the top of the hit list for  Republicans trying to take back the House

  186. 186.

    Chris Johnson

    @Geminid: Your SPACING trolls me. I count the number of extra spaces you put in your posts to try and divine the secret messages you are sending to other Russian trolls in your cadre.

    Apparently you are telling them ‘fnudfruyegwu!’. WHAT TERRIBLE MESSAGE IS THIS. There’s also posters who ranDomly pUt soMe BasicAlly unmotivated capitalS into the text of their poSts.

    By God I will crack their code one day.

  191. 191.

    ziggy

    @RedDirtGirl:

    I got my first dog 7 years ago, before that it was always cats, multiple cats. It’s shocking to me how my whole mindset adjusted. I always thought of myself as a cat person and I did not really care for dogs (but wanted to try agility training). Now I have to admit that I am a dog person and know way too much about them. My dog was a stray and took a lot of work and understanding–I don’t recommend taking on a difficult dog like that! Dogs often need a lot more work and attention than cats, be prepared, but SO rewarding!

  193. 193.

    Geminid

    @Chris Johnson:    No secret messages. I an fairly new at this and am not as adept at messaging as I could be.                                                                                  PS: Did someone slip a pea under your mattress last night?

  194. 194.

    Chyron HR

    @J R in WV:

    liberal democrats running for office against conservative democrats?

    Translation: Sunshine Justice Democrats running for office against perfectly left-wing Democrats who haven’t bent the knee to Bernie.

  195. 195.

    TriassicSands

    Uncle Joe was low-energy,

    Low energy? Biden shouts all his answers to questions. It seems to me more like forced energy than low energy.

  196. 196.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Geminid:

    Cenk Uyger, one of Justice Democrat’s founders, was canned early on               for earlier mysogynist posts.

    There was an ad for him on the 11pm news here in LA last night, running for Katie Hill’s old seat(CA-25).

  197. 197.

    taumaturgo

    @Chyron HR: Like Henry Cuellar, a perfectly progressive democrat in name only who votes in Congress with Donald a majority of the time and is endorsed and supported by the highly progressive Koch brothers. By endorsing democrats like Cuellar the party accumulated a net loss of 1,042 state and federal Democratic posts, including congressional and state legislative seats, governorships and ultimately the presidency. All this centrist winning must be tiring.

  198. 198.

    Doug R

    @Betty Cracker: How about the stars of the new Addams Family movie, Oscar Issac and Charlize Theron? She might be a little tall, though.

    How about former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko or Scarlett Johansson or even Mila Kunis?

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