Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

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

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

It’s the corruption, stupid.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

This fight is for everything.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

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

You can’t love your country only when you win.

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

Everybody saw this coming.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Readership Capture

Readership Capture

by | 125 Comments

This post is in: ,

I do have some substantive stuff I’d like to get up here, but my internal taskmaster says “no!” until the current chapter is done.

But this is something too good not to share:

For all of us cat lovers who secretly want a bit of doggitude in our lives…Heeeeerrrrre’s Marlin!

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  1. 1.

    Scout211

    That is such a sweet video. Thanks for sharing.

    Our cat doesn’t think he’s a dog, he thinks he’s a chicken.  He has palled around with our free range chickens since he came to live with us as a rescue at (possibly) a year old.  He spends his days following them around the property and lazing near them.  He has even elected himself their guardian and has thwarted several hawk attacks over the years.

    Cats are good people.

  2. 2.

    Rob

    That is a wonderful video!

    I don’t have pets, but I am a dog person. Marlin is clearly an honorary dog.

  4. 4.

    JWR

    An ex next door neighbor got a really young orange tabby, and he was such a joy! He’d do crazy flips and stretches and dash about the room like crazy. The older cat in the house could only stare in disbelief. Fun times, those early months of a kittycat’s life.

    ETA that I always had cats, and while I saw plenty of crazy behaviors in all the young cats I’ve known, I never saw anything like that little orange guy.

  7. 7.

    E.

    I wonder if this would explain some of my cat’s behavior. I got him as a stray. He follows me everywhere, trotting at my heels. He will go nearly a mile before faltering, at which point I have to carry him home. It can be a pain in the neck sometimes. He likes the chickens too. Spends all day with them.

  9. 9.

    apieceofpeace

    This might well evolve to become the daily first online sight beginning January 1 until December 1, 2024.

    Thanks for this survival assist, Tom.

  10. 10.

    NutmegAgain

    Wonderful. And, wow I want to live where they do! Dogs and water… so great. Also the occasional cat.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @trollhattan:

    I’ve known several cats who love being in water, but they have all been essentially tailless — either Manx or Japanese Bobtails. On this extremely limited data, I kind of thought it might be a genetic correlation. There was one JB that used to roam my dad’s neighbourhood and most days during warm weather he would jump up into the bird bath and stretch out in the water.

  12. 12.

    Josie

    I had a calico that hated everyone (people and other animals both) but me. She followed me everywhere and let me hold and pet her, but no one else could touch her. When I walked to the neighbor’s house to visit, she walked with me, waited outside the door for me, and then walked me home. When I went for a run, I had to lock her up, since it was hard running the second half holding a tired, fully grown cat. I still miss her after all these years.​
     ETA: Marlin is precious and the dogs are so sweet.

  13. 13.

    Dan B

    What a cat!  I’ve been owned by cats for several decades now.  They love figuring out how to train their hoomin(s).  I have little doubt that Merlin will be training those dogs soon.  My partner’s family had big wooden boats and always had a cat.  The first test was to throw it in the water.  The ones that didn’t need to be rescued git to be the boat cat.  (I don’t believe any had to be rescued.)

  17. 17.

    gene108

    You know what other cats are natural swimmers? Tigers!

    Wonder how much Tiger DNA Marlin has?

  18. 18.

    randy khan

    Cats and dogs living together!  Very sweet, if a little unnerving.

    At that age, they bond pretty fast, but some of that – the first part of the video where he’s chasing one of the dogs around – is pretty typical kitten behavior, more or less going after anything that moves.

  19. 19.

    Jackie

    @trollhattan: I used to have a cat who absolutely loved swimming! Garth was VERY possessive of me, and when I was floating out of reach on my air mattress, in the pool, he insisted on joining me – which meant swimming lol. Then he’d squeeze his wet body next to my dry body and hang out.

    He also insisted joining me in the shower. Crazy cat! He was one in a million, and I still miss him 20+ years later.

  20. 20.

    Jackie

    @Josie: My Garth was exactly like that! I often subbed for my kids, doing their paper routes, so they could do a sleepover with friends, and Garth would slink behind me unnoticed – until he decided I was going too far. Then he would announce his presence very vocally, and I’d stuff him in the newspaper bag. After that happened the third time, I’d lock him in the house. Lol

  21. 21.

    Jager

    @Dan B:

    A friend of mine lived on a 48-foot sailboat in FTL. He’d gotten 2 cats in his divorce proceedings. The cats lived on the boat with him. If he’d sail over to the Bahamas, down to the Keys, or anywhere, if the weather got rough the cats would disappear, he knew every nook and cranny on his boat and he could never figure out where they went. As soon as things calmed down the cats would magically appear.

  22. 22.

    MomSense

    I know a woman who often took her cat to the beach to swim.  Some tourists saw this and called animal welfare – needless to say her cat loved to swim.
    Anyway the stupid case went to trial and the jury was treated to lots of videos of cats and her cat swimming.

  23. 23.

    Yutsano

    Marlin is Some Cat! I wonder if there’s some Van Turkish in his gene pool. It would (partially) explain the water loving tendencies.

  24. 24.

    MomSense

    The whole fam is sitting on a tar patio in 90+ heat and humidity watching the kids’ band  play – too hot to dance but a lot of fun. At least the beer is cold!

  27. 27.

    Chris T.

    Dog software running on cat hardware!

    (As opposed to foxes, which are cat software running on dog hardware…)

  33. 33.

    Dan B

    Fishing cat: Prionailurus viviparis (sp?)  Native to SE Asia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka primarily.  Twice the size of housecats.  Males up to 35 pounds (think on that Steve!).

  34. 34.

    LeftCoastYankee

    I love that when he’s a kitten he’s at home with water but when he’s older he does that “what’s on my foot” back leg kick that cats do.

    My cat used to do that when she would do her yearly 60 second romp in the snow.  “Oooh cool stuff, I’m going to jump in it!  Hey what’s on my foot, and my other foot?  Hey I’m cold, I’m done. “

  36. 36.

    dmsilev

    @Spanky: Kind of amazing, even with the last minute warts (thanks, Senator Sinema! Hope you at least got a good price from the private equity folks). Now on to the House, and since Pelosi knows what she’s doing, should pass there quickly.

  39. 39.

    Jackie

    @Spanky: 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
    ANOTHER BIDEN BFD!!!

  40. 40.

    jonas

    Boo-yah! for Biden and the Dems. This bill was a bfd. Amazing that they all held together to get this done. Sinema got her .00002 oz. of flesh and killed the CI loophole bit, and Manchin got some gas pipeline for WV in there or something, but otherwise there was a whole shitload to like in this bill. The Medicare OoP rx cap is perhaps the biggest one. I know my retired parents, along with many others, will be doing backflips over that.

  43. 43.

    jonas

    @Steeplejack:

     

    The audience did laugh when Trump said it, so there is that.

    He was probably thinking “hey, what are they laughing at?” The guy has absolutely *zero* sense of humor that doesn’t involve mocking people he sees as inferior, so this can’t have been intended as a joke…

  45. 45.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Sigh. We haven’t had such great luck with bonding.
    We have an early picture of the two of them looking up from the dog bed they’re sharing, from the first month they were both adopted. (I think that’s the pic I submitted to the Pet Calendar)

    Fast forward 4 years, they’ll sniff noses when they pass and the cat seems to like hanging out on dog blankets, in the dog cage, etc. But only when the dog is not present. And sometimes out of the blue we’ll hear him barking at her and see her running full speed to escape. So I don’t know what the hell their relationship is.

    Previously we had a black female lab who seemed to think it was funny to dive at the cats. We had one tough old male who would always pretend to ignore Cinnamon till the last second, and then look royally pissed when she finally made him get up and move.​

  46. 46.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Does anyone have a good link to a summary of what ended up in the IRA?  (aside from Biden’s announcement)

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    @Spanky: Some good tweets from Igor Bobic (Huffington Post) and Grace Segers (New Republic) in the final hour:

        A fired up Joe Manchin storms on to the floor. “We’re ready to go. Let’s go,” he says to colleagues.

    @igorbobic

    Thune’s amendment was passed, and then Warner’s amendment changing the pay-for was passed. Vice President Harris was now in the  Senate chamber, ready to cast the deciding vote that passed the bill.

    Meanwhile rats were starting to desert to their sinking ships:

       The vote on the final passage is a bit chaotic. Republicans are not having a staid roll call vote, most just stormed the clerk’s desk to vote and then immediately GTFO….

    …leaving the field to the triumphant victors:

    Democrats are hugging, shaking hands, fist bumping and generally congratulating each other.

    This concludes your Sunday Senate ~vibe check~.

    @Grace_Segers 3:06pm Aug.7 2022

  51. 51.

    sixthdoctor

    @Mike in NC: Reminds me of Drew Carey’s joke about Art Modell. “I was glad when he had a heart attack. I don’t want him to die, but I want him to keep having heart attacks because I know they hurt.”

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    This is a big Biden deal! There are plenty of days on which I am fairly pessimistic about what lies ahead, but at least for now…. let us savor a hard-earned and important victory.

  53. 53.

    jonas

    @Geminid:Democrats are hugging, shaking hands, fist bumping

    And to think — it wasn’t for blocking a bill to fund healthcare for sick veterans!

  55. 55.

    bjacques

    And this bill caps an incredible week for side of light. Celebrate with the tipple of your choice!

  56. 56.

    Geminid

    @jonas: The pipeline Manchin was concerned about is the Mountain Valley Pipeline that runs ~300 miles  from West Virginia to 40 miles shy of the North Carolina coast. It’s mostly built but ran into permitting problems.

    With a diameter of 42″ the pipeline is almost certainly intended for gas exports. I think the owners want the pipeline built before they try to go for an LNG shipment facility on the coast, maybe near Morehead City.

  63. 63.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Suzanne:

    Between this and the voters of Kansas slapping down an anti-abortion amendment by 20%, my last two weeks have been made : )

  64. 64.

    jonas

    @Geminid: Building out fossil fuel infrastructure at this point isn’t generally something we want to encourage, but in the short term, we probably do need more LNG shipping facilities on the east coast to supply Europe going forward as they wean themselves off Russian gas. And if it got Manchin to say yes to a ton of other good stuff, I’m not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

  65. 65.

    Scout211

    @jeffreyw:

    👍

    ETA:  this nomination was put forward in November, so I assume this means that the new person is now in place?

    ETA #2:  No that happened in May 2022.

    So what does this mean?

  67. 67.

    Dan B

    @jeffreyw: Yay ! Pow¡! Fireworks 🎆  Bye bye Joy Suck!!!

    Now we could get Electric Postal trucks.  Our carrier’s truck is asthmatic and the new Amazon EV is very cool and very quiet.  Estimated savings of $9,000 in fuel based on 2021 gas prices and huge savings on maintenance.

  68. 68.

    jonas

    @jeffreyw:  Thank god. DeJoy was put there expressly to sabotage the USPS and privatize it, which would be a debacle few could imagine. Why this numbnuts Bloom was supporting it is just beyond me.

  70. 70.

    Dan B

    @Scout211: The board meets only four times per year.  This month will be the first meeting for the new board member.  November nomination then confirmation months later.

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    @Baud: So Schumer goes from Hapless Charlie Brown to Clever Chuck!

    The New Republic’s Grace Segers reports that Schumer was wearing his “lucky blue suit” at his press conference, where he said that Democrats are “elated” because this legislation will “change the world. Schumer was already looking ahead:

        Schumer said that Democrats will continue to work to pass the family-related provisions that weren’t included, such as the child tax credit and paid leave, and will take up the fight “with a vengeance” when the Senate returns in September.

    @Grace_Segars

    Segers is a young, good reporter and I’ve enjoyed following her this weekend. I was a little saddened, though, by the poignant tweet she sent out last night:

       Nothing is so subtly devastating as when the Chinese restaurant gives you two sets of chopsticks when you just ordered all that food for yourself.

  77. 77.

    Dan B

    @jonas: Bloom liked the idea of a leaner “modernized” Post Office.  He seems to be an adherent of ‘the free market does everything better than government’.  Purchasing new diesel trucks goes against what every private delivery business is doing. He didn’t seem to grok the free market.  Bloom seems to have blinders.

  78. 78.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Dan B:

    The one thing I am concerned about is all of the current members unanimously elected Bloom as Chairman. Did they include Biden’s noms? Would this imply that the Board would still support DeJoy?

  79. 79.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    It’s too much to be grateful toward Manchin, but he does prove yet again that the worst Dem is better than the best Republican.

  82. 82.

    pat

    In other good news, I vacuumed and mopped the whole house today.

    It’s been a while….

    And how about that new thread, huh???

  88. 88.

    Baud

    @Scout211:

    Until recently, I would have put Romney in that camp.  He’s taken some really bad votes in the last few weeks.  What gives?

  90. 90.

    Jackie

    @jeffreyw: Getting rid of DeJoy🤞🏻would add another layer of frosting to an already overloaded cake! August has turned into a celebratory month! And, it’s only a week in!

  91. 91.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    The post office is amazing.
    I just ordered some small parts from Switzerland and Holland and I received them in days. Days. Not weeks. And they send you texts and emails letting you track the progress. Just amazing. And they don’t toss packages on my porch like FedEx did yesterday (a package of small light bulbs and an electronic instrument!).

    And they’re understaffed. You go to the post office and it’s just two clerks working their asses off. I can see how customers can get frustrated because in today’s culture waiting 5 to 10 minutes in line is considered bad. But it’s not their fault.​

  92. 92.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: Romney sucks and the occasional flicker of awareness or insight on his part doesn’t change that.

    Same with Cheney, too, BTW.

  93. 93.

    pat

    @Baud:

    Well the only thing I have to worry about is cat tracks in the wet mopped floor.

    Just to hopefully kill this thread, even the floors (ceramic tile) that didn’t look dirty, suddenly seem to shine.

  96. 96.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: Eh. He doesn’t really have principles.

    Most of us who comment here are, at heart, good people who want to believe that the future can be better than the past, and so when we see someone do or say the right things, we think it’ll be the start of a pattern. We’re often disappointed. Romney sucks.

  97. 97.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Suzanne:

    Same with Cheney, too, BTW.

    Tell that to my parents. It seems like they’re always praising/recognizing her instead of the Dem members. I keep telling them she just wants to keep the quiet parts quiet and is probably fine with run of the mill voter suppression efforts, just not the chaotic violence of 1/6

  98. 98.

    Jackie

    “I would much rather serve with Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Chrissy Houlahan and Elissa Slotkin than Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, even though on substance certainly I have big disagreements with the Democratic women I just mentioned. But they love this country, they do their homework and they are people that are trying to do the right thing for the country.”

    — Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), quoted by the New York Times.

    Heh

  100. 100.

    Scout211

    The next USPS board of governors virtual meeting (open to the public) is tomorrow. The agenda item is the new vehicles.

    You can register for the zoom meeting.

    DeJoy is not on the agenda this month

    Virtual Public Hearing Open for Registration

    The United States Postal Service will host a virtual public hearing regarding intent to prepare a supplement to the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles Acquisitions Final Environmental Impact Statement.

  101. 101.

    pat

    Liz Cheney hates hates hates trump.  He is the antithesis of everything she believes should be the republican party.  She also has more brains than anyone else in her party.

    And I bet she wants to be president some day….

  102. 102.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Baud: ​
      Maybe it’s just my neck of the woods, but they’ve always been this efficient. They used to have 5 clerks at my local office. So cutting staff by 60% did make the lines longer. I can only conclude they wanted to undermine public confidence and good will in the Post Office.

  104. 104.

    Suzanne

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Liz Cheney lets people like your parents maintain the fiction that there is a place for people like them in the Republican Party.

    At this point, I am deeply suspicious of anyone who wants to fight to maintain a place for themselves in that party. Why bother? It’s not like it was a place of virtue and principles and quality governance before Trump showed up.

  105. 105.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Scout211:

    I wonder if it wouldn’t be worthwhile for public pressure campaigns on the Postal Board of Governors to eject DeJoy

  107. 107.

    pat

    Just one more word about Liz… she is a republican and therefore not in favor of anything that I would support.   But she is doing an important job, doing it well, on the j6 committee.

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    @pat: Yes, she is. And I would sleep more easily if she were the Republican candidate for president than if TFG or DeSatan was.

  110. 110.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud: Yes, that surprised me. I had really expected him to be supportive of the bill. Can’t figure Mittens out — sometimes he surprises and pleases me by doing the right thing; other times, just as I’m getting used to expecting him to do the right thing, he surprises me again by doing the wrong thing. If I could figure out some underlying philosophy to his positions, at least I’d understand even if I didn’t agree. But Romney’s votes just seem to be all over the map with no organising principle.

  111. 111.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: I forget which pundit (Tim Miller?) I saw predicting Liz Cheney was going to run a kamikaze primary against trump. That would be interesting. We’ve seen three times in recent history (if ’92 is still recent) what can happen when one candidate targets another rather than actually aiming for the presidency.

  113. 113.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: partisan loyalty, I would guess. Mitt is bound to Mitch by the conviction that the poor have it too easy and the rich have it too hard

  119. 119.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Suzanne:

    Agreed. Funny thing is, they’re both nominally Democrats, if on the more centrist side. They started paying attention to poltics in the late Clinton-early Bush II years. My mother especially can’t stand Trump. I think they just want to believe there’s some decent Republicans still around

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