Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

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

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

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

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

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

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

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Archives for 2020

Late Night Open Thread: Butterflies!

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The color of the dress is a coincidence, but you can see why Warren supporters are liking this tweet!

That’s Billy Porter at the Critics Choice Awards, per Vogue:

Billy Porter knows how to make an entrance. Since his dramatic arrival at last year’s Met Gala, the Pose star has continued to dominate the red carpet in theatrical fashion—making his 2020 award season debut in a suit-gown hybrid with a white feathered train at the Golden Globes last week. Keeping up the momentum, the Tony Award-winning actor took the blue carpet at the Critics’ Choice Awards tonight in a seafoam green Hogan McLaughlin jumpsuit with a flurry of hand-painted butterflies adorning his chest and arms.

“Billy’s intention [was] to embrace freedom,” explained groomer and the artist behind the designs, Anna Bernabe. “Butterflies represent a personal metamorphosis. The multiple butterflies [all over his body symbolize] the numerous transformations and rebirths one goes through during a lifetime.” According to the pro, the application to Porter’s neck, chest, and back took over an hour…

And that reminded me about the most interesting toy I saw written up from this year’s CES, in the Washington Post:

Temporary tattoo printer: Prinker
Temporary tattoo technology hasn’t changed much in recent years. You can buy them, order custom designs online or print your own on special paper at home. But a new device called the Prinker makes temporary tattoos mobile for spontaneous people who don’t want to commit to forever ink. The handheld printer can apply cosmetic-grade ink to the skin in black or color just by quickly passing it once over the chosen body part. Images are selected from a companion app, or you can add your own. It can only print graphics up to an inch wide, so a full tattoo sleeve would take a while, but the only limit on the length of a tattoo is the length of your body. While the final product doesn’t smudge or fade much, it does wash off easily with soap and water.
Cost is $269, available in mid-2020.

At that price point, there’s gonna be a Prinker in every strip-mall nail salon by the 2020 holiday season. (And probably in a lot of middle schools / afterschool enrichment programs, too, as a ‘learn to code’ gimmick to keep kids interested.)

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Dear WaterGirl: When is the Best Time for Pie?

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Dear Watergirl,

Is it wrong to use the Pie Filter?  Does it make me a bad person?

Dear Of Course It’s Not Wrong,

Why would you even think that?   Of course it’s not wrong to use the pie filter.  There’s only so much time in a day. There’s nothing wrong with using the pie filter for commenters whose comments you don’t want to read, unless that feels wrong to you, or it goes against your principles.

Even if it goes against your principles to pie commenters that you simply don’t care for, or whose comments aren’t of interest to you, there’s absolutely no reason to feel bad about pie-ing some whose primary goal is trolling or what I call “shit-stirring”.  Use the pie filter for them!

Dear WaterGirl,

I tried the pie filter, just for a minute, so I could see the pie images and the quotes.  Now I’m hooked, and I’m tempted to use the pie filter just for fun.

Dear Oh My Goodness, Please Don’t Worry about That!

I mean, seriously, have you seen CatCake?  Who could resist CatCake?  Or the dessert-related quotes… I spent a lot of time looking for the quotes and those images!  Just think of using the pie filter as a kindness, so I know they are appreciated.

If that’s not enough to help you feel good about it, think about John.  He paid good money for the pie filter programming.  With updates!  You now have a choice of images, quotes, or nothing, plus it’s super easy to pie, and to un-pie, and to change the settings.  And if you’re up for a really bold move, you can use the pie filter just because it’s a day ending in ‘Y’!

Dear WaterGirl,

I know i shouldn’t engage with trolls, and I tell myself I won’t make that mistake the next time; I will just ignore them!  But then I do it anyway.  I get pulled in, thinking that I can change their mind, or that it’s important to refute what they say, so it doesn’t just hang there like the lie they just said is true.  I’m doing a service for all of us, and that’s a good thing, right?

Dear I’m Really Sorry to Have to be the One to Tell You,

We all understand the instinct, but engaging isn’t helpful.  It just encourages them, and derails the threads.  The pie filter can help!  You can pie the shit-stirrers and trolls, and reduce the temptation to engage with them.  Plus, it will save you money on meds, because it will help keep your blood pressure down!  Then you can treat yourself to some real live dessert, just for being so good!

Dear WaterGirl,

Some of the regular commenters don’t seem to be posting anymore.  It makes me sad and I feel so frustrated, isn’t there anything I can do?

Dear That Bothers Me Too,

I wish I had a better answer, but the only thing I know how to do is to make sure that I’m not personally involved in turning what would otherwise be a good thread into a steaming pile of you-know-what, or scorched earth.  At Balloon Juice, we are not the enemy. Well, except for the people who are here to stir shit and sow discord.  As far as I’m concerned, we owe nothing to those people; they are not actually part of the BJ community.

What I know is that we have to preserve our collective sanity for the Big Fight of 2020: Saving Our Democracy.  Like it or not, that’s the fight we are in,.  One part of that fight is making sure we’re not driving good people away with our infighting.  One tiny part of that can be using the pie filter, if that’s what it takes to not get sucked into the vortex of people who are on Balloon Juice – not for the politics and pets and food and garden chats or to share our favorite mysteries – but to do harm.

I don’t know that we have to Be Best.  But I do think we need to Be Smart.

***

Discuss:

What has the pie filter done for you lately?

Why is the pie filter worse than Satan?

Why you love CatCake almost as much as I do.

Dear WaterGirl: Did You Know That...

 

Dear WaterGirl: When is the Best Time for Pie?Post + Comments (310)

Guest Post: WereBear Updates on Bud and Lou

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WereBear is back with an update on Bud and Lou and to answer your burning cat questions.

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Guest Post: WereBear Updates on Bud and Lou

Bud undercover

New year, new discoveries. Like them or not, we all need to keep developing by acting on our continuing realizations. This goes for cats, too.

I shook up the household by adopting pair-bonded kittens. It didn’t take them long to charm most other beings. Still, even though fall has turned into winter, we still have two Isolationist Cats who refuse to enter Kitten Country.

And that’s okay. As I shared in a recent post:

The kitten brain is like a butterfly house. Beautiful to look at, always in motion.

Guest Post: WereBear Updates on Bud and Lou 1

Lou and Bud with a puzzlebox

Kittens can be disconcerting to cats who are happiest with a sense of orderly scheduling. But there’s also another element, a psychological one. Just as intense contact with children reminds us of our own childhoods, so it is with cats.

The two Isolationist Cats had a rocky beginning, as rescues often do. Olwyn adjusted readily to baby Mithrandir, whose Gamma meekness and ability to self-play kept him unobtrusive.

Bud and Lou are the opposite. They approach other cats and invite play. They will flank with mirror moves like an Impossible Mission Force. They are Alphas, so their friendship is bold and assertive. This makes shy cats like Mithrandir feel pressured. It makes bossy cats like Olwyn feel one-upped.

Guest Post: WereBear Updates on Bud and Lou 2

Lou enjoying his kingdom

So, while Mithrandir will come to the door and ring the temple bells for entry, he has yet to come in. Olwyn is happy spending time in the bedroom with Mr WayofCats, who is still recovering from a serious setback from a year ago.

I’ve often seen how a well-adjusted cat will seem to regress when presented with a kitten. I decided it was more than uncertainty about this new little being. I think it’s also about what the little being helps them remember about their own kittenhood.

While RJ was held as evidence in an abuse case, it hasn’t affected his big muffiny heart, or his social outlook. He adores kittens, and giving him two at once has put him on a kitten-wrangling career high.

Guest Post: WereBear Updates on Bud and Lou 3

Tristan getting some adoration

On the other hand, Olwyn is a tortoiseshell cat with abundant Tortitude. She maintains she was never really a kitten, and arrived ready for World Domination. While Mithy’s feral caution and Gamma shyness keeps him unready to make a decision: and cross a threshold.

At three weeks old, Tristan had several bad hours after his abandoned mother abandoned him. (Three weeks later she abandoned his sister, who also got a home.) But since then, he’s been Prince of the City.

His main problem with the kittens was about being invited to play when he hadn’t studied them yet. We replaced an aging cat tree with a new one, just for him. He can sit on it and watch the kittens work all their toys and race up and down their own cat tree.

Once he had a strategy, he thawed. Now, they gazelle-leap over him on the regular. If he doesn’t feel like playing, he has places to go. Though when I told him I saw him playing with the kittens, I got a press release pointing out they were chasing him, and he was letting them.

Which doesn’t necessarily mean he is actually playing with them. They are, after all, clueless beanheads. My frequent reminders that “they have no sense” soothes Tristan. They are supposed to be puzzling, and after all, he likes puzzles.

As I told him, Bud and Lou will be delightful sidekicks who want to play Cat Tree Games. I got them for him.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Discover the Way of Cats:  BLOG  My book: Way of Cats: How to use their instincts to train, understand, and love them   Get the latest kitten pics on Twitter.

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In my cat world, after a year and 2 months, Gabe seems to have finally decided to become his own cat. He demands his place on the bed now, which is often sprawled (how is he sooo long?) from my hip to my shoulders, with a paw touching my cheek. This has sparked a bit of jealously with Zander, who will now take that spot when available. I let that go on for a few minutes with each and then send them on their way because it’s impossible to sleep like that. They are still best friends. Emma tolerates him and Gabe has stopped trying to win her over and is satisfied to know she won’t kill him in his sleep.

The cutest thing, I believe he has a crush on Scout. I often find him lying next to her on the bed (brave, because Danes are not known for their spatial awareness) and wherever she is, he is close by.

I have a few BJ pet pix to post this week, and I’m happy to post yours. Send them my way.

How are everyone else’s critters doing?

Respite open thread

 

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Grifters Gonna Grift Open Thread: Trump Publicly Offers to Rent Out American Troops

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… which is the most generous possible framing here. Perhaps he hasn’t actually sold American soldiers’ lives to his Saudi bankers — yet. Trump says a lot of stuff that’s ‘just marketing’, after all. Maybe he’s just doing a little advertising, in case anybody in the area’s looking for some well-equipped military muscle…

Elsewhere…

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Factionalism (Open Thread)

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Welp:

Prediction: Bernie will not reconsider.

Question for those of y’all who’ve done a lot of canvassing: is this sort of “overcoming objections to the sale” script common? I’ve never seen one like that, but I mostly volunteer to register voters or do data entry because I hate canvassing and suck at it. That said, I did canvass for Obama and Clinton, and no one gave me a script.

PS: Kudos to that reporter for retyping the script to protect the source.

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Creating Their Own Reality

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The Bushies claimed they could “create their own reality” through their actions. That was arrogant. Their political heirs are creating their own reality by believing Commander Bananapants’ off-the-cuff lies. That’s delusional:

I’m no national security expert, but wouldn’t the Secretary of Defense be the person who’d present the evidence to Trump if it exists? Or at least be privy to that classified information, particularly if, as Esper claims, he’s the one who’s deploying troops to counter the alleged threats?

It’s all bullshit. President Brainworms made this shit up on the fly during a Fox News appearance to justify his irresponsible decision to escalate the confrontation with Iran.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that when Trump, Esper and sundry Trump apologists talk about Iranian attacks on U.S. troops, they’re mostly talking about Iranian actions early in the Iraq War. The Obama administration had that threat contained with the JCPOA.

Trump tore up that agreement because he claimed he could get a “better deal.” Looks like that’s working out about as well as Trump’s other negotiations.

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