Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

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

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Let there be snark.

We still have time to mess this up!

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

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.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Monday Morning Open Thread: A New Week, A New Start

Monday Morning Open Thread: A New Week, A New Start

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Mom’s at the front door — get him outta there before she finds out we locked him in!

Our ginger boy Rocket is a wiz at opening latched doors — mostly the kitchen cupboards, even the ones with ‘childproof’ bolt-ons. He also opens dresser drawers, by climbing inside the dresser and shoving the drawer out from behind. Then he pulls out the contents (socks, tee shirts, dish towels, nylon sponges… ) and chews holes in them. Depraved appetite used to be the veterinary term…

Rocky would also stand in for Cat #3, below — his gift is cunning, not grace:

Also… I’ll get slanged for this, but I have a sentimental attachment to the ERA that will not be deterred:

Reader Interactions

81Comments

  6. 6.

    Baud

    President Joe Biden is wasting no time establishing his vision for the Affordable Care Act and reversing many Trump-era measures aimed at weakening it.

    In his first two months in office, Biden has taken several steps to bolster the landmark health reform law, which marks its 11th anniversary on Tuesday, and to embed it even more firmly in the nation’s health care system. Former President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak Monday about how the Affordable Care Act has benefited Americans and how the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion relief package, which Biden signed into law earlier this month, has strengthened the law

  7. 7.

    mali muso

    Good morning! Time to go wake up the kiddo and wrangle her through the morning routine. Odd how she has no problem popping awake early on weekends but can’t find that same motivation on Monday. Lol

  8. 8.

    Baud

    Politico has this garbage headline which is sure to get retweeted by the usual suspects.

    Biden Brings Back Family Separation—This Time in Mexico

    It’s false. Deep in the article is this explanation.

    The door to the U.S. has been shut tight to asylum seekers since last March, about the time when Janiana first arrived in Tijuana, when the Trump administration issued an order at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic that every migrant — child or adult — would be immediately “expelled” back to Mexico or their home country if they attempted to cross the border, without even a chance to make a case that the persecution they face qualifies them to stay. After he took office this year, Joe Biden kept the policy largely in place, but began to admit unaccompanied minors even while continuing to expel both adults and children who enter with families. Since the shift in policy, some parents and guardians have made the devastating decision, calculated only out of desperation, to send their children off ahead of them, alone, to cross the border.

    The result is a new form of family separation — but instead of happening at the hands of federal agents in American government facilities, it’s taking place, family by family, in camps like the one Janiana lives in. The fact that minors won’t be expelled like everyone else has rapidly spread by word of mouth across the length of the border. And while many families choose to stick together, the pressure to separate weighs heaviest on the most vulnerable — families who fear death, whether from persecutors who have followed them to the border, or from extreme hunger.

    You are forewarned.

  9. 9.

    RedDirtGirl

    Funny Twitter thread about a bobcat that was dropped on its head by a hawk, and as a result does not know it’s a bobcat. Scroll to the link 3rd from the bottom of the linked post.

  10. 10.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: ​
     Politico is a dumpster fire on days that end in -day. Never change Politico! Oh wait – launch yourselves into the Sun.

  12. 12.

    oldster

    Great news about the downfall of Tom Reed. He was growing to be a major player in Republican politics, and he would have made the world a worse place.

    He does not have the charisma to win national elections — in fact, I doubt he would have won the NYS governorship, even against a wounded Cuomo.

    But he is smart, ruthless, and thoroughly immoral, in the Mitch Mcconnell mode. Mitch did not rise through his charisma and good looks, either. But he is cunning and vicious, and wins victories for his party.

    That’s where Reed was headed, and now he’ll have to do it as a lobbyist or apparatchik, not as an elected official.

    Why did he jump? Why did he not just brazen it out? We can rule out the workings of conscience or morals — he has none. But, when there’s one case, you can bet there’s more. And, I am sure that the GOP leadership was leaning on him not to take pressure off Cuomo. They want to pretend to care about sexual assault for the purpose of attacking Cuomo. They wanted Cuomo out more than they wanted Reed in.

    He’ll remember that, and knife a fellow Republican when he can one day. But otherwise, he’ll be a loyal foot soldier for the GOP, and be rewarded for it.

    Fine. F*** him. Better that he is out of office.

  13. 13.

    mrmoshpotato

    @RedDirtGirl: ​ Not there, and what trash did you just spam us with. :) Oh, and fuck Jimmy Fallon.​ 

    ETA – Apologies, I see, but still fuck Jimmy Fallon.​

  15. 15.

    prostratedragon

    @RedDirtGirl:  Head injuries are strange. Once heard of a young man who had one from an accident. After some time he began to recover speech and so forth, and became very eager to advance his rehabillitation even beyond the expectations of his caregivers. He said he felt an obligation to do this because of all the people who relied on him, Matthew McConnaghey, to complete his contracts. (I think after some more time he did recover his own identity.)

  17. 17.

    Matt McIrvin

    Most of the parade of horribles we were warned about as potential consequences of the Equal Rights Amendment are things many people would now argue are completely OK, or that have already happened anyway. (One was same-sex marriage, if I recall correctly.) But I’m sure it’ll all come down to more fearmongering about public restrooms, because it always does.

  21. 21.

    RSA

    On the second video: My wife and I used to live in a second-floor garden apartment, with our front door opening up on a tiny brick patio and postage-stamp-sized patch of grass. We weren’t in the habit of locking our front door when we were at home. That changed when the neighbor’s cat decided he wanted to come into our place whenever he felt like it…

  26. 26.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m getting my morning outrage from Dr. Ronnie Jackson saying that Biden “hiding” from the public is a bad sign of physical and/or mental deterioration. I’m also adding caffeine, just to be sure I’m ready for the day.

  30. 30.

    RedDirtGirl

    I met a woman yesterday who pilots Marine One. She said the orange-hued shitgibbon always looked a bit unnerved when she was at the controls. Hah hah, muther phucker!

  32. 32.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: ​
     I’m not sure how the camera distorts how close they were, but I found it damn impressive (and insane) that they were all “Oh, there’s an erupting volcano right behind us.”

  33. 33.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @RedDirtGirl: Wow. Cool encounter.

    I believe helicopters can be tricky to fly. My brother was an army doctor. As part of his training, he had to learn to fly a helicopter in case something happened to the pilot while they were doing evacs. He did all right in the air, but scared the crap out of everyone when he tried to land.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    Song for spring. And in hopes of yet still sporadic rains tapering off.

    2 a.m. right now — high 50s and overcast with brisk window-rattling wind gusts, which marks some improvement over same time last night of high 40s and steady downpour.

  35. 35.

    John S.

    @Baud: As luck would have it, I was last in Volcanoes National Park one month before the 2018 eruption of Kilauea. We went at night and it was spectacular.

  36. 36.

    brendancalling

    Busy morning.
    Yesterday, I had a flat repaired/wheel remounted, and ordered new tires. Went to bed early because i had a substitute teaching shift this AM. I wrote “had” because when I left the house, the tire was flat again, and now I’m waiting on AAA.

  39. 39.

    John S.

    @Baud: It’s not just Politico. It would seem all of the media is united this morning in breathlessly talking about Biden’s “crisis” at the border.

    It really is amazing how willingly they allow themselves to be manipulated by Republicans. And Republicans knew if they threw enough shit at the wall something would stick.

    Anything to distract from how awful Republicans are or from anyone talking about Democrats doing a good job for the American people.

  40. 40.

    RedDirtGirl

    @mrmoshpotato: no apologies needed (although always appreciated ?). Should have had a trigger warning. But at least the JF link shows him for the spineless ball-sack that he is!

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    @mrmoshpotato

    Trivia: Astronomer William Herschel not only thought all the then known planets in the solar system were populated, but the Sun as well, with the inhabitants living inside its ‘surface.’

    And as for sunspots, well….

  43. 43.

    Tony Jay

    It must be Moody Moderator Monday at the Fucking POS Guardian again, since they’ve just binned yet another commentating account without so much as a fare thee well for violating one of their gaslit ‘Comment Is Free’ guidelines.

    1) Thou Shalt Not mention media bias or misinformation when discussing coverage of British History’s Greatest Monster or Britain’s Greatest Peacetime Prime Minister

    2) Though Shalt Not mention that the BBC simply transcribes talking-points from Conservative Central Office in place of News reports.

    3) Though Shalt Not gently mock long-running sockpuppet commentators for overt hypocrisy and projection.

    4) Thou Shalt Not comment on the horrendously inept and openly mendacious clusterfuck that is the leadership of the Labour Party with reference to certain reptilian policy advisors and their distain for democracy.

    It’s modern Britain in a nutshell. The Death Eaters have well and truly taken over the Ministry and the scribes at the Daily Prophet are anxious to show how loyal they are to the Powers That Be. Fuckem, I’m watching some Falcon and the Winter Soldier instead.

    Rant Over

  44. 44.

    Kathleen

    @John S.: They’re not unwitting and hapless victims. They’re willing enablers in disseminating Russian misinformation and fascist propaganda to undermine Democrats.

  47. 47.

    SFAW

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I’m getting my morning outrage from Dr. Ronnie Jackson saying that Biden “hiding” from the public is a bad sign of physical and/or mental deterioration.

    Interesting that Dr. Quackson did not opine similarly re: his former “client,” i.e., TFG.

  50. 50.

    Soprano2

    From what I’ve been able to glean, all the coverage of the border is based on bullshit Republican talking points. I heard someone on NPR this morning say that the increase in minors coming into the country happened right after the election. Well, evidently the reason for that is not because of the election, it’s because the Trump administration was forced to start following the law by the courts! Of course, they didn’t mention that little tidbit. Minors coming into the U.S. have been going up for the past 9 months, which means it started in August, but you wouldn’t know that from most of the coverage of the issue. They also don’t talk about the huge spike in people coming to the border in 2019, which was covered very little by the press. I heard them say, again on NPR, that Republicans claim that Biden’s policy changes made this problem much worse, then they cited things like “removed the Muslim ban”, which of course has nothing to do with the border with Mexico!! I think they’re addicted to the “chaos” model of news reporting, and this fits that template, so they’ve seized on it because it feels comfortable and familiar. Also, they can bolster their “bothsides” cred by covering this as if Joe Biden’s immigration policy is worse than Trump’s.

  57. 57.

    hueyplong

    @WereBear: It’s awfully close, but at the end of the day you have to go with professional wrestling as the one that most closely approaches legitimacy.

  60. 60.

    Low Key Swagger

    Morning all.  Slow thread, so I thought I’d share that I learned something watching “The Last Blockbuster”.  I think most people assumed Netflix and streaming put them out, but, apparently they were well positioned to stamp Netflix out of existence before the crash of 08.  In the end, debt killed them rather than market forces.

  68. 68.

    waratah

    Politico has not been happy because they could not find anything to get their teeth in on The President.  Great ratings for him and all their favorite Republicans acting like idiots. The president should have been prepared for this
    in less than two months while the Republicans were holding up the nomination to lead Homeland. Republicans gave them something.
    I haven’t seen Sam Stein smile once since he moved to Politico. He used to smile bef didn’t he?

  69. 69.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I’m very excited to announce that a couple of days ago I was awarded an OAH [*]. It’s quite an honor.

    [*] Order of Acceptable Humans. The cat, who is totally smitten with my wife but mostly ignores me, decided to come over to the sofa where I was reading and go to sleep on me.

  70. 70.

    citizen dave

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Congrats to you!  Our lone current model (black male) prefers my wife and tolerates me; looks forward to my pets when he’s on his tree.  He has yet in 8.5 years to walk to me on the sofa and sit down.  He only started getting on my wife on the sofa in the last couple of months.  He’s light on certain cat genes.

  71. 71.

    germy

    I got my first pfizer vaccine this a.m., but I see the pharmacy schedule my second shot 28 days from now.

    I thought the standard was 21 days after the first pfizer shot?

  74. 74.

    Ken

    @Baud: Plus, wrestling has better writers and is more consistent than political journalism.  Heel turns are a big deal in wrestling; the political equivalent is ignored, sometimes nearly to the “we have always been at war with Eastasia” point (where it’s “Senator Cotten has always been concerned about the deficit”).

  75. 75.

    James E Powell

    @John S.:

    It really is amazing how willingly they allow themselves to be manipulated by Republicans.

    This ‘media manipulated by Republicans’ line is like the ‘media don’t know how to handle Trump’ line: total bullshit.

    They are doing what they always do and it’s exactly what they want to do. It’s ‘a Democrat is getting popular. Get some negative stories.’

    The lying Republicans who promoted the insurrection not only own the Sunday shows, it’s like they had nothing to do with the insurrection.

  76. 76.

    Abnormal Hiker

    @NotMax: Herschel also named the planet he discovered ‘Georgium Sidus’ after George III.  Unfortunately the name didn’t stick and it became known as Uranus.

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @germy:

    @JeanneT:

    I was told by the VA that the max for Pfizer was 21 days between shots but I could go as much as a week sooner. I’m not sure all the info we get told is absolutely correct. I’d bet there is a window of time around 21 days, as I’m hearing a lot about spacing out the second shot, I believe in the hopes of getting a larger number of people with some protection, in order to build herd immunity.

  79. 79.

    J R in WV

    Our second Moderna shot was one day shy of 28 days, first on Friday, second on Thursday 4 weeks later.

    They started doing a drive thru once spring sprang, the first shot in February was during/after that ice storm, no power in the whole county, but the clinic was operating just fine on emergency diesel generators running on a big natural gas feed. Was really pretty day the second shot, esp compared to the first one. Very professionally done.

  81. 81.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: My cat Ayla was very shy with my husband for the first year or so we had her.  She would flirt with him but not let him actually touch her, while she was a total love cat with me.  Then I took a trip with a girlfriend to Greece and was gone for 3 weeks. Ayla underwent a “cold turkey pets deficit” and she and my husband became an item. She’s still my special cat but Joel has mos def been added to her special humans list ever since

    ETA: ah well, dead thread.

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