Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This blog will pay for itself.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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

This really is a full service blog.

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

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

In my day, never was longer.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Monday Evening Respite Open Thread: Dance Fever

Monday Evening Respite Open Thread: Dance Fever

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Someone needs to overdub the ‘Staying Alive’ theme here…

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112Comments

  1. 1.

    Major Major Major Major

    Aww, who’s a good doge! Bird article also very cool, thanks.

    First full week at work after my vacation. So far so good. They released new ‘levels’ at work for engineers, but it sorta looks like they just split the highest two into four, which doesn’t affect me, so whatever.

  5. 5.

    HumboldtBlue

    Trying to find the clip of an Aussie kid being tormented by a magpie while riding his scooter. Until I find it here’s this.

    From Reddit — Trump is the father of five kids from three different women living in public housing.

  6. 6.

    Leto

    The Northern Lights Will Be Visible Over the U.S. Tonight. Here’s How to See It.

    The map above, issued by the SWPC, reveals the potential southern reach of the aurora. It can be a little tricky to find your city on a map that small, but during the G1 alert periods, you’re looking as far south as the green line. During the G2 alert, you’re looking for the aurora to reach as far south as the yellow line. (See below for a breakdown of the timing.)

    That area north of the yellow line includes northern Idaho, northern Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, in addition to all of Alaska and Canada. Though, the northern lights aren’t exactly a rare occurrence in Alaska and northern Canada.

  8. 8.

    raven

    It turns out Lil Bit’s issue was not the antibiotics. She has a highly elevated liver enzyme count and is now in the UGA animal hospital. X-rays tonight and full ultrasound in the am. It’s going to be costly and we hope it may be worth it for the little punkin.

  9. 9.

    Jeffro

    @Leto: I’m excited for folks who’ll see this, but a little bummed that I’ll be missing this by just a few days.

    Supposedly it’ll be visible from Skyline Drive, and we’re going up there on Thursday ☹️

    (But hopefully we’ll get a great view of the Milky Way!!)

  10. 10.

    Jeffro

    Also, I know this is a respite thread but Scott “Herd Immunity” Atlas is firing off on the director. Of. The. CDC. And he just jumped to the top of my um ‘scores to settle’ list.

    These people, I swear

  11. 11.

    Leto

    @Jeffro:  We’re just outside the visible area. One day when we can travel again, we’ll do it. Hopefully some of our fellow Jackals can enjoy the light show :)

  14. 14.

    Yutsano

    My respite right now is this endorsement of Joe Biden by the Washington Post. I wonder if I can gift the blog a subscription so we don’t have to worry about number of clicks anymore.

    EDIT: after this nap I am about to take.

  16. 16.

    raven

    @Leto: Thanks, we’re wrestling with the “quality of life” thing. She’s been a tough little bugger and we don’t want her to suffer.  “What’s the best case scenario” is our first question.

  21. 21.

    Anya

    I am watching the Comey series. Lisa Page doesn’t come off well. She comes off as an abrasive douche. I wonder if this is how Comey saw her or did the script writers make some creative licensing? Also, Loretta Lynch comes off as ineffectual.

  28. 28.

    Yutsano

    @Litlebritdifrnt:  I think the pre-nup protects her, but in reverse. It dictates what exact money she keeps out of his hands that she has, what properties she’s entitled to, etc. It’s not a traditional pre-nup, it’s her protection from his creditors.

    EDIT: the nephews are outside now. Maybe now I can catch a few of the Z type things.

  30. 30.

    Anya

    @Litlebritdifrnt: according to her ex. friend’s book, Melania renegotiated her pre-nup by refusing to move to DC until Trump agreed to some changes. I guess she’ll get a big share of the debt.

  31. 31.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It’s what you do for a pet; they’re family. My cat has had diabetes since 2012 and requires insulin every 12 hrs. That means my parents and I had to forego several vacations as a family because we didn’t trust anybody else to do it right

  32. 32.

    soga98

    Long-delayed obituary:

    Those of us who have benefited from the Free Cat Delivery Service know that its operation can be erratic, as would be expected of an organization run by and for the cats themselves. In cities it’s fairly reliable, but out in the piney woods, where we moved years ago, it takes time. It was years before a young female long-haired calico showed up at our door. She was eager for human company, but something had spooked her. When I called her, she ran forward but then skidded to a halt and ran away. A few days later I saw her again and called with the same result. Thinking it might decrease intimidation, I sat in a lawn chair and called again. She came near and presented herself to be picked up. A few strokes on her jaws had her purring. I set her down while I got her something to eat. She went right at it. Then I discovered what a communicator she was. Going about my chores, I felt a blow on my shin. She had struck me with her paw, claws retracted. When she saw she had my attention, she walked over to the dish I had fed her from and stuck her nose into it. It was empty.
    That set the pattern for years of cat-human communication: draw the Fogies’ attention to a situation and expect them to see the need to corrrect it. That could be as simple as a rasping tongue-scrape on the bottom of a stainless feed dish, but it could involve explicit demonstration as well. Once during a long spell of rain we neglected her water dish for some days since she had taken to drinking rainwater from a bucket that had been left in the yard. One day she led me to that bucket, rested one forepaw on its rim and swished the other along the water surface, looking intently at me all the while. She could not have said, “Look at this,” more clearly than that if she could speak. Sure enough, it was covered with leaves and needles and drowned bugs. I emptied the bucket and cleaned and filled her water dish.
    She got her name from her distinctive gait. She would run back and forth bouncing like one of the little sailboats they rent at beaches. She became Hobie Cat. Other names she acquired were Lady Blotchfurd and Maharani of Loudhpur.
    Hobie Cat made distinctions that we never understood except in general terms. As we saw her categories, she divided animals into friends, enemies, prey, predators and the zoo. The category of friends included every human she met after taking up residence with us. The few times we had to board her during a trip, she was always returned to us with comments about how friendly she was. Enemies included every other cat. Prey included mice, rats, moles, lizards and small snakes. (I saw her chasing a black racer. She’s lucky she didn’t catch it.) Predators included dogs and raccoons. She didn’t run from them. She gave them the same treatment she gave enemies: a cold stare. If one got too close she uttered a feline war cry, as if to say, “Back off! You will get hurt!” Over time she developed what we might call a “standoff vivendi” with the raccoons. The zoo included anything else that moved. Armadillos, of course, and possums and tortoises, but surprising others as well. She didn’t prey on squirrels. Negative evidence is that she never gave us a squirrel she had killed. (She didn’t give us these presents directly. We think her first owners must have punished her for bringing them presents. She put them on the porch five or ten feet from the entrance and left them for us to find.) Positive evidence is that she and I prowling together came across a baby squirrel that had fallen from a tree. It was doomed. It could not climb the tree, I could not climb the tree, and the squirrels who could climb it had no way of rescuing it. Curious, I watched Hobie Cat. She sniffed at it gingerly, poked it with her paw, looked at me quizzically. She tried to give it a nose kiss but it just sat there. I decided the least unkind thing would be just to walk away, and we did.
    We later concluded that furry animals smaller than her but bigger than rats were a sort of honorary kitten. She gave a striking demonstration of that when she showed up at the door carrying a baby rabbit in her mouth. It wasn’t dead—it was tharn. She hadn’t injured it at all. She had been trying to play with it and it couldn’t play kitten-fashion. It could only run away and she could easily catch it every time. It finally collapsed and she brought it to the Fogies: “Fix this little guy so he can play with me.” We brought her indoors for a snack and a nap, leaving the baby rabbit outside, and an hour later it was gone without trace.
    She was not destined for the indoor cat’s endlife of arthritis, kidney failure, restricted diet and meds, ending in euthanasia. On the night of the solstitial eclipse, about the time it would have been starting, Hobie Cat was taken by a great horned owl. We have nothing against that owl, just as we would not resent a river if she had drowned in it. Owls and cats are part of the great chain of being, as are humans and jellyfish and paramecia. The microbes that eventually end the Fogies’ lives will be far less handsome creatures than an owl. Still, we wish it could have found a rabbit or a raccoon or some other prey. She was a good friend. We miss her.

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    Total respite from things political…. Another example of what a special human being the late actor Chadwick (Black Panther) Boseman was.

    Sienna Miller has revealed that Chadwick Boseman took money out of his own salary from 21 Bridges to boost her pay on the film.

    Miller starred alongside Boseman in thriller 21 Bridges last year, and as a producer on the film, he played a big role in getting her to sign up….

    “This was a pretty big budget film, and I know that everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to. And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, ‘I’ll do it if I’m compensated in the right way.’

    “And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.”

    “It was about the most astounding thing that I’ve experienced,” she continued. “That kind of thing just doesn’t happen. He said, ‘You’re getting paid what you deserve, and what you’re worth.’

     

  43. 43.

    JoyceH

    I’ve had the news on most of the day, and I’ve seen that Lincoln Project “Trump is not well” ad run several times. Did they spend money to run it wide, or are they running it in the DC market to drive Trump nuts? Anyone outside the DC television region seeing it?

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    Sorry, this isn’t a open post but.
    My friend who lives in Santa Rosa in NorCal had to evacuate due to a fire that is right on the edge of her subdivision with one house not far from her already destroyed. I’ve called but heard nothing back. Yesterday the fire was relatively far away and wasn’t that big a deal. It is now. The whole of eastern Santa Rosa CA is in danger. The last fire 2-3 yrs ago came from the north and while she had to evacuate, the fire didn’t get all that close. I wrote about this yesterday and it wasn’t all that big a deal for her to worry about. Now that’s all changed. Called the Glass fire. 11,000 acres, 0% containment.

  51. 51.

    Jay

    Donald Trump is so poor, he can’t even own the libs.

    Debate question for Trump: By paying no taxes, aren’t you defunding the police?

    Just some of the burns going round twitter,…..

  54. 54.

    Raven

    Well, as good as it will get tonight. No severe issues on the X-rays so the ultrasound will tell the tale. We let the ER vet know we would not subject her to invasive cancer treatment and she was good with that.

  61. 61.

    Sab

    @Leto: So of course it is raining in Ohio.

    Northern lights are on my bucket list. I figure I could park myself in Finland, Scotland or Canada for a couple of years and not see them. Just luck of the draw.

  65. 65.

    cain

    @Leto:

    MF.. this is why I will never get to see the damn northern lights.. when this shit is over I’m booking a flight to iceland.

  68. 68.

    Patricia Kayden

    Strong Pawnee vibes at White House this morning as a raccoon attacked multiple news crews on North Lawn. ? allegedly grabbed pant leg of a photographer & then a corespondent before being fended off. (WH ?? ? pictured here in more peaceful times.) pic.twitter.com/o5VbTUHxBR— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) September 28, 2020

  69. 69.

    Argiope

    @Ruckus: Based on your post, I went to google, found the Glass fire map, and realized the home of dear friends is right in the middle of it.  Report is that they are safely evacuated, but don’t expect their home to survive.  Several close calls over the past 3 years, but it looks like this time it’s likely gone.  They moved to this dream home from Ohio, leveraging everything they could to buy it and have been so careful to protect it.  A beautiful little A-frame in the middle of gorgeousness, custom wood everywhere.  2020 has a lot to answer for.

  70. 70.

    Anya

    I keep thinking Trump will drop out of the debate. He’s gonna say everyone is being unfair to him and b/c Biden refused the drug test he won’t do it. But then I think he might think this is his chance to set the record straight b/c he believes in his own superior debating skills.

  71. 71.

    Leto

    @Ruckus: I’m glad that your friend, and her pup, are ok. I’m sure it’s a tremendous weight off your mind. Keep us updated on the fire.

  75. 75.

    Argiope

    @Mary G: Yes.  The near-misses alone have been terrifying.  The evacuations and then the awful wait to find out, then some survivor’s guilt if your house makes it but your neighbors’ doesn’t.  And that’s assuming no loss of life.  And that’s the best case scenario.  “YOU get a therapist, and YOU get a therapist, and YOU get a therapist….”

  76. 76.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    Healing light and loving thoughts to your Li’l Bit. You show her so much love, and she surely knows that. May that awareness give her strength — and you, too, for whatever lies ahead.

  77. 77.

    Sab

    In re Steve in Atl and a pedantry bickerage we had a couple of years back. Timothy Snyder, the “Badlands” guy calls himself “an historian” not “a historian.”  He is a better historian than either Steve or I could ever be, so I feel vindicated.

  78. 78.

    Anya

    The best thing about the Comey series is that it depicts Trump flunkies as bunch of light weights who are obsessed with the Obama admin.

    I am curious about why they chose Rosenstein as a narrative guide of the series. He’s the first person we meet. He’s so weaselly and comes off as jealous but at times in awe of Comey.

    Trump looks like a caricature but the real one is a caricature so…

  79. 79.

    Sab

    @raven: I wish you and her well. We just lost our lovely rottmix, and the house is spooky quiet now.

    Hard choices.  I waited too long on some, and jumped the gun on one.  My thoughts are with you all.

  81. 81.

    Jay

    It’s not the TV show COPS. It’s Brad Parscale hitting the pavement. Zero sympathy my friends. After attacking America & gleefully harming so many innocent ppl, panicky behavior from ppl like Barr, Caputo & Parscale is spreading. 2021 is payback time. Promises made, Promises kept pic.twitter.com/FiBGs3d0bU— Tom Joseph (@TomJChicago) September 28, 2020

  82. 82.

    dmsilev

    @Anya: I really doubt he’ll bail on the debates. He seemingly has convinced himself that Biden is senile/on drugs/whatever, and of course he himself is a “very stable genius”, so _of course_ he’ll win the debate no matter what.

    Also, he’s behind in the polls both nationally and in the swing states and has to do something to close the gap. And, as the tax story makes clear, losing the protection of “I am the President” is going to be really bad for him, so he’s desperate.

  85. 85.

    Anya

    @dmsilev: You’re right. No doubt they are freaking out. Don Jr. is basically losing it. His last appearance seemed to me like he really knows they’re losing. My fear is that they’re super desperate so what are they gonna do now?

  86. 86.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Sab:

    Of course. It’s always overcast during meteor showers too lol. Anyway, I don’t think Ohioans could see the aurora borealis this far south

  87. 87.

    Aleta

    @raven:  Good to get more information from the ultrasound. Hoping the answers are simple.  One of mine had elevated liver enzyme in old age from a dental problem.

  91. 91.

    Amir Khalid

    @Yutsano:

    I have heard some educated Americans (although never an educated Briton) say ‘istorian rather than historian. I have never heard an educated person from anywhere say ‘istory.

  93. 93.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid:  I confess it’s entirely possible that I hadn’t paid attention previously. It did seem to cross my notice only very recently. So either I had accepted it previously and my brain is only rejecting it now or I’m having my own Berenstain Bears moment.

  97. 97.

    JoyceH

    @dmsilev: @Anya: I really doubt he’ll bail on the debates. He seemingly has convinced himself that Biden is senile/on drugs/whatever, and of course he himself is a “very stable genius”, so _of course_ he’ll win the debate no matter what.

    It’s never wise to bet on Trump displaying the wisdom to avoid a stage, microphone and TV camera. I’m sure his handlers wish he would, but he’s addicted. He’s going to be bummed when he learns that the social-distanced audience will number something like 60. And will blame his poor debate performance on that.

  100. 100.

    J R in WV

    @soga98:

    What a great story, and a good kitty. Lucky she found you. We have Barred Owls up on the ridge, large enough to take a yard bird back when we had chickens. We lost a too bold kitten some years ago, but the current kitties appear to be careful and sneaky enough to get by.

    RIP Hobie Cat. At least big owls take their prey pretty much instantly. Best wishes for another RFD kitty!

  101. 101.

    J R in WV

    @raven:

    Best of luck. Our Clyde lost movement in his hind quarters, wife took off to a big vet hospital in Columbus, where an MRI showed adhesions with his spinal cord, probably from a fall somewhere on the place.

    Superstar neurosurgeon lady teased the scar tissue off his spine, and he recovered for years more Step Aside Clyde on the farm. The smartest dog we’ve ever met. Still miss him. He disappeared up on the ridge one day, having a great doggy day in the deep woods.

    Cheap at any price to save a loved one. Best of luck!! Keep us posted, please.

  106. 106.

    prostratedragon

    To Hobie, the Maharani of Loudpur(ting!)

     

    On the radar map, Chicagoland out past Rockford is enveloped in a green blob of much-needed rain. I, however, am looking out at dry streets and pavement, and have an unobstructed view of a waxing gibbous moon. Hmmmm.

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