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How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

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

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

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

Battle won, war still ongoing.

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The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

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You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / I Feel Personally Attacked

I Feel Personally Attacked

by | 66 Comments

This post is in: 

By the title “Cold, wet, and no energy.” That is all.

In a post the other day, someone asked if Steve was still using the wool cat cave, the round ball with a hole for him to climb into. All I can say is he still loves it and is all over it.

I Feel Personally Attacked

I mean I will call him an idiot, but the dude pays no bills, always has the best seat in the house, eats when he demands, grooms himself but if he doesn’t get it done well enough gets a free spa trip, and shits in a box and it magically disappears, so who is really the idiot in this relationship.

I’m watching a show on Hulu called Y: The Last Man, the premise of which is every male of every species dies except one dude, which sounds like a dream until when you realize you are the only person with any sperm, you’re not on the top of the world, you’re a commodity. I’m only three episodes in, hear it has already been cancelled, but am going to finish it anyway. The Agent is a top notch character.

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  3. 3.

    RedDirtGirl

    Funny you should say that, because when I saw that post title I assumed you had written it, John.

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    If you can track it down, John, get hold of a copy of The Disappearance by Philip Wylie. It’s decades old, and I haven’t read it since probably the mid-1960s so I’m not sure how well it’s held up, but I remember it as a really fascinating book. The premise is that in one sudden instant, all the males in the world are stranded in their own masculine universe, and all the females are in their own parallel universe. Even women who were pregnant with boy-children suddenly become unpregnant in that flash-moment. Anyway, if you enjoy that kind of speculation, you might enjoy checking it out.

  6. 6.

    Leto

    The graphic novel series that Y: The Last Man is based on is pretty good. I’m sure they’re collected in some omnibus collection, so if you get a chance you should check it out

    Edit: Y: The Last Man Omnibus from Amazon. It’s a little pricey ($100) but it’s 60 issues collected into a single volume, so it’s the entire series run in one place.

    It’s currently raining, and has been since about 7pm. I’m sitting in our sunroom with some of the windows open, the screen door open, just listening to it. So amazingly calm and soothing.

  8. 8.

    Winston

    Almost Famous  Prime Video. 2000

    The early 1970s. William Miller is 15-years old and an aspiring rock journalist. He gets a job writing for Rolling Stone magazine. His first assignment: tour with the band Stillwater and write about the experience. Miller will get to see what goes on behind the scenes in a famous band, including the moments when things fall apart. Moreover, for him, it will be a period of new experiences and finding himself.

    Tag line: If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age fifty, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken

    This is the Pirate version; 160 minutes.

  11. 11.

    satby

    @RedDirtGirl: ? I thought John had written it too. And I have to eat some crow (nomnomnom) because I said some of my circle of  frozen northerners engage in a competition to see who can hold out the longest before finally turning on the heat. I thought I’d make it to November again this year, but three days of rainy 40°s as a high and I folded last night when it hit 59° in the house.

    I know it’s dumb, but we do it every year.

  12. 12.

    CaseyL

    @SiubhanDuinne:  The Disappearance has not held up particularly well in some ways, but remains one of my favorite novels ever – because some of its insights are eerily, scarily accurate even now. (And also because I first read it when I was pretty young, so the novel had that much more of an impact on me.)

  13. 13.

    FlyingToaster

    The Hulu series sounds like Harlan Ellison’s A Boy and his Dog, and of course, the movie starring Don Johnson as the Boy.

  15. 15.

    Martin

    Apparently the Facebook earnings call was a complete shitshow. The sense from someone I know who listened in is that beyond the bad PR which they are not equipped to address, there are serious financial issues looming from the loss of revenue due to iOS security changes that they are unwilling to explain. I think they are completely dependent on the market collusion with Google and know it can’t hold, and there’s no plan B.

    My prediction is that the whistleblowing increases. Facebook is in the spotlight. They can’t retaliate.

  17. 17.

    Ohio Mom

    @satby: I only turned on the heat last week, and it’s not because I was waiting for a specific date, I hate, hate, hate being cold. It was just that warm around here (admittedly I am south of you).

    The leaves are almost all still green, only some have just started to turn. In previous years, they’ve been at least half gone by Halloween. 

  18. 18.

    Gravenstone

    I’m watching a show on Hulu called Y: The Last Man, the premise of which is every male of every species dies except one dude, which sounds like a dream until when you realize you are the only person with any sperm, you’re not on the top of the world, you’re a commodity.

    So, you’re already set for World’s End Harem, assuming it actually airs this January. Since it already got pushed back from what supposed to have been an October start. Not the first time a streaming service/network has gotten an anime that turned out to be spicier then they expected, and ended up bailing on it.

  19. 19.

    Suzanne

    “Cold, wet, and no energy.”

    Like your mom.

    Steve is such a marvelous floof. Is he affectionate? My dearly departed Nico, who was half Maine Coon, was the type of cat who would snuggle next to you, but would never actually sit on you.

  22. 22.

    Anonymous At Work

    Zach Levi spent a few years trying to get Y: The Last Man made (starring him) and was constantly reading the Trade Paperbacks in CHUCK for that reason.  So sad that they couldn’t make it work.

  23. 23.

    Ken

    So if you’re thinking of new cat toys, you might try setting a world record at the same time. Assuming you have enough space, and floor joists that can take the weight…

    (and of course after all that work, the cat will ignore it)

  24. 24.

    gwangung

    A friend of mine is in Y: The Last Man as Dr. Mann; she was part of an Asian Canadian sketch group we performed with (and both of us constantly criss crossed the border to appear in each other’s shows). Thrilled at her appearance, bummed that the show got cancelled; she’s got major league chops that should have taken off.

  25. 25.

    Lyrebird

    @RedDirtGirl: ​
     

    Funny you should say that, because when I saw that post title I assumed you had written it, John.

    Yeah me too.

    I’m feeling personally attacked but that’s because one of my kids is depressed and lashing out verbally. So I am being verbally attacked. But I am the parent and I am supposed to have some sort of mature response.

    FK FK FK FK FK FK FK FK.

    There is my response.

    I have to sign off again but thanks for letting me rant.

  27. 27.

    Leto

    @Martin: Kara Swisher is on Brian Williams show right now saying it’s worse than we know and that a ton more leaks/doc releases are on the way.

  28. 28.

    Kelly

    @mrmoshpotato:

    So my parents’ laptop got infected with ransomware.  Hooray!

    I have my Mom on a Chromebook. Cheap and seems very resistant to malware. She only uses it for email and online forms.

  30. 30.

    Czar Chasm

    To go back to the show:  The comic it was based of (now completed) was written by Brian K. Vaughn, who is also writing an epic space opera of a series called (appropriately enough) Saga, which is only halfway through its planned run.

     

    In addition to the printed books, the entire series is available on DC Infinite, DC Comic’s online comic book service.  $9 a month for tens of thousands of books, if that’s your jam.

  31. 31.

    Ms. Deranged in AZ

    Since discussion on this thread is all over the map I thought I would add my two cents. Yesterday we spread the ashes of my ex-husband and my son who is now 11 sometimes going on 30 felt like he needed to lighten the mood a little bit. Note this is his own father. So as he was scattering the ashes a little bit floated upward and he said out loud for everyone to hear “I’ve got Dad on my shirt.”  We all bust out laughing and told him that his father would have laughed at that too. Bless his little heart.

    And another covid related story…. So one of my 11 yr olds friend’s mother contacted me yesterday and asked if we would like to get together and play outside of school.  I said yes maybe this coming weekend. Then when my son got home from school today I asked him if so and so was in school and my son said no he’s out on quarantine. So I’m wondering if this woman is just a complete idiot or doesn’t care about other human beings and if she knew that my son’s father had just died of covid, why the hell would she expose us to it.   I just can’t even fathom what this woman is thinking!! And what about her son he knew what happened to my son’s dad even if his mother didn’t. I’m almost too shocked to be angry. I was going to text her back, but I’m not quite sure what to say. Any advice beyond what the ever loving f*** were you thinking?!

  32. 32.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Ms. Deranged in AZ: Oh geez.  [tryin’ to keep this family-friendly]  I’m so sorry for your and your son’s loss.  Whatever you do, please take care of yourselves first, and especially be kind to yourselves.

    As for this covidiot: I don’t have anything positive to suggest.  I just avoid those types completely, b/c there’s no teaching some people: they’ll just dig in all the more fiercely.

    Again, I’m so sorry for your loss.  Stay safe, and get thru this with the rest of your loved ones and friends intact.

  33. 33.

    John Revolta

    @Martin: Man. I read a CNN story today about how FB is and has been extremely lax in policing human trafficking content even after they’ve been made aware of the problem. Women are being recruited and groomed from the Philippines and many other countries and sold in Dubai as “domestic servants” and massage parlor workers and internal documents show they’ve known about it since at least 2018 and done very little to stop it. Horrible. https://www.ketv.com/article/facebook-has-known-it-has-a-human-trafficking-problem-for-years-it-still-hasn-t-fully-fixed-it/38051500

  35. 35.

    trollhattan

    @Ms. Deranged in AZ: ​
     Your son is wonderful and amazing. So sorry for the loss you both experienced.

    I’m not particularly confrontational. I’d simply cancel and if “Why?” is asked, state the family rule is no socializing with anybody not vaccinated, as was the case before the boy’s FATHER DIED OF COVID.

    Limits, I have them.

  37. 37.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kelly: HP laptop running Windows 10.  Dad went to e-trade’s site, and then madness.

    Good on ya, Hiren’s PE CD (though put on a USB drive)!

  38. 38.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Yay, Steve pic! Good to know he still uses the cave. I’ve been considering getting Pearl one.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    @Winston

    One little oddity of that movie is that the production went on an extended hiatus. When they eventually resumed filming the kid had shot up something like six inches.

  41. 41.

    dmsilev

    @Martin: One fundamental problem Facebook has is that nobody can tell Zuckerberg ‘no’. And since he …is who he is, the company isn’t going to make the systemic changes that they really need to be making.

  42. 42.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @trollhattan: this sounds fair.

    and if you don’t want to say that, just say you’re still in mourning. Used to be people got at least a year to turn down social events based just on being in mourning. Use any excuse you like IMHO

  44. 44.

    Chetan Murthy

    @NotMax: The young (and Kaep is young to me) …. they are so impressive.  I don’t remember anybody as impressive as them, in my generation.

  47. 47.

    Chris T.

    I too had to check the author of “Cold Wet and No Energy” because I too thought it was a Cole post at first.

  50. 50.

    DavidG

    There was a novel in the 1970s I believe called, the White Plague. Its premise was a mad scientist developed a drug out of misogynist madness that killed all women on planet Earth.  The plot follows those few women that are still alive because they got to a sterile environment in time. The upshot is a metaphorical question: if women were rare would they be more equal or the opposite: just commodities to be valued for their wombs?

  51. 51.

    frosty

    @Ms. Deranged in AZ:  You try to be solemn scattering ashes but there’s always a good likelihood of some glitch. Having seen The Big Lebowski, when we hired a boat to take us into the Chesapeake to scatter my parents’ ashes, I got online and bought some biodegradable bags for me and my sibs. I tell people that I tossed my P’s overboard.

    When we scattered my SIL’s ashes in the Yough I made the comment that I didn’t think we’d gotten the NPDES Discharge Permit for it.

    ETA: on rereading this I appear to be the non-solemn one, eh?

  52. 52.

    sab

    @Ms. Deranged in AZ: Covid deniers are covid deniers. We have some in our neighborhood. I don’t completely understand what goes on in their tiny brains, but Covid denial is important to them. It keeps them safe in their tiny brains. Which completely fails you in your pain.

  53. 53.

    sab

    We turned on the heat last night because it was 58 degrees in  the house and the elderly cocker spaniel’s teeth were chattering. 6 hours later the power went out and the backup generator kicked in and ran for the next four hours. Deaf cocker slept through it all. The cats were horrified because that generator is loud. Pitbull likes loud because it is interesting. And warm, in this case.

  55. 55.

    opiejeanne

    @frosty: I went with my cousins to spread their mother’s ashes in Colorado near South Park. They did not get a permit (which kind of bothered me), but they also didn’t check which way the wind was blowing and both of them got a face-full of my aunt.

  56. 56.

    opiejeanne

    @Ms. Deranged in AZ: I remember you mentioning that he had covid a while ago, didn’t realize your ex had died. I’m sorry for your and your son’s loss.

    As to the Covidiot, I am shocked. I don’t think I’d have anything nice to say to her, especially considering what you’ve just gone through.  You’ll probably be more gracious than I would, and others here have given you decent advice, cancelling the playdate without comment unless she asks.

  57. 57.

    Central Planning

    @Ms. Deranged in AZ: One of my friends had to quarantine because he got a false-positive covid test – one of the antibody ones. His PCR test was negative so he can upload that to the state to be clear of quarantine.

    Maybe just ask the mom why the kid had to quarantine instead of assuming the worst (although you might very well be right they are covidiots)

  58. 58.

    Central Planning

    @satby: We play that game. The house has gotten down to 63. I asked my wife about it last night because I was waiting for her to turn on the heat. Turns out she was waiting for me to turn in the heat.

    I’m going for November 1, but this week is supposed to be cold and rainy (and I work from home) so I might break.

  59. 59.

    JWR

    Wee hour politics, anyone? From Monday afternoon’s Background Briefing:

    The Red State Secession to Create a Permanent Tyranny of the Minority
    With Sean Wilentz

    Sunday morning’s show was excellent as well:

    How Facebook Turns Conservatives Into Extremists
    with Lawrence Lessig

    Will Delivering on Biden’s Promises Lead to Victory in the Midterms?
    with Lincoln Mitchell

    Again The Supreme Court Refuses to block Extreme Texas Abortion Law
    with Carol Sanger

  61. 61.

    lowtechcyclist

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​
     

    I read that book sometime in the late 1960s, it was on one of my parents’ bookshelves, the title sounded interesting, and I was a voracious reader.

    Aside from the exploration of the book’s premise, based on my dim recollections, I think re-reading it would mostly remind me of the extent to which the past really is a foreign country.

  62. 62.

    satby

    @JWR: Bookmarked that site, thanks.

    @Central Planning: It took three days in a row of gray, overcast, rainy days below 50ish° before the house temp dropped to 59, which is where I fold, but we’re supposed to have sunny 60s for the end of this week. Figures. I only keep my house at about 64° all winter unless it’s really windy, because I get great solar gain from these tall, turn of the last century windows.

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @Jackie:

     

    I just learned your son in in quarantine – maybe when he’s been cleared?

    I just learned your son in in quarantine – maybe when he’s been cleared?   Maybe when hell freezes over?

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