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Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

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You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Cats Seldom Disappoint

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Cats Seldom Disappoint

by Anne Laurie|  March 2, 20237:10 am| 133 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Something Good Open Thread

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https://t.co/FkmYGvssPX pic.twitter.com/fZX75p7JTD

— poorly drawn cats (@poorlycatdraw) February 26, 2023

It’s been a miserable grinding couple of weeks, and now the fekkers have blocked the ERA, again.

But at least there are cats, and the people who love them.

Sandal was upset at the vet yesterday, because nothing bad has ever happened to him so he thinks being weighed is a war crime, and the technician kept trying to soothe him by saying " awww, pobrecita chancleta" (literally, "poor little flip-flop"). he's never living this down pic.twitter.com/LgPNC1ObI3

— Dave Wagner (@Dbwagner104) February 25, 2023


if the cat knows how to use knives, i am selecting the cat as my weapon https://t.co/BTZxo6WsJ0

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) March 1, 2023

ITS CHOW TIME BABY pic.twitter.com/nv2ONFrklS

— cats being weird little guys (@weirdlilguys) February 28, 2023

come back in 8 minutes pic.twitter.com/yQ6SdCBV81

— Dont Show Your Cat (@DontShowYourCat) February 25, 2023

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Reader Interactions

133Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 7:14 am

    There was a deadly train crash in Greece.  I wonder if Europeans will now argue they should be more like the U.S. when it comes to train safety.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 7:18 am

    Cats Seldom Disappoint

    But are often disappointed.

  3. 3.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 2, 2023 at 7:20 am

    In a bit of good news, BJP was defeated in its stronghold in the heart of Pune, in a by-election. A seat it has held for almost 30 years.

    This was a state assembly election.

    The winner is a member of the Indian National Congress but all the major opposition parties were in a coalition. BJP is not invincible and can be defeated.

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    March 2, 2023 at 7:22 am

    Like a full semester of classic film study rolled into one day on TCM Friday, March 3rd. All times Eastern.

    4:00 a.m. – Crossfire
    8:00 a.m. – Ninotchka
    10:00 a.m. – Adam’s Rib
    11:45 a.m. – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
    2:00 p.m. – Harvey
    4:00 p.m. – Born Yesterday
    5:45 p.m. – Some Like It Hot
    8:00 p.m. – Tom Jones
    .

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    March 2, 2023 at 7:22 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊

  6. 6.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 7:24 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 7:25 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Wow.

  8. 8.

    satby

    March 2, 2023 at 7:32 am

    @rikyrah: good morning! Big snow coming again, we’re supposed to get 4-8 inches tomorrow.

    Love the cat kneading tweet. Serendipity strikes when you least expect it.

  9. 9.

    Anyway

    March 2, 2023 at 7:34 am

    OT. GM and a pre-emptive Fuck John Roberts. Oh and Fuck you, Alito.

  10. 10.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 2, 2023 at 7:34 am

    It’s been a miserable grinding couple of weeks, and now the fekkers have blocked the ERA, again.

    Given the multiple issues around the validity of the ERA (not just the legitimacy of the deadline, but the question about states that have revoked their ratification), my attitude for decades now has been, “just fucking start over.”  What they’re trying now is just another One Weird Trick.

  11. 11.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 7:38 am

    NYTimes has yet another “existantial threat of wokeness in the Ivy League” essays – in this one they don’t reveal that the author is a conservative activist and operative, as are some of the people quoted who claim they went hard Right because of wokedy-woke-woke.

    Jonathan M. Katz may or may not be notable
    @KatzOnEarth
    Probably late to this, but today’s viral guest essay in
    @nytopinion
    was built around an easily disprovable lie.
    That recent alum who “arrived at Princeton as a self-described moderate” only to be forced into supporting Trump? She pulled the exact same grift in high school.

  12. 12.

    prostratedragon

    March 2, 2023 at 7:39 am

    @NotMax:  They’re doing the Oscar thing, yes? So A-list fare for the month.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    March 2, 2023 at 7:39 am

    @satby

    March came in like a sea lion on Maui. Forecast for the next seven days more of the same.

    Actually, all of February was pretty crappy, weatherwise.

  14. 14.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 7:40 am

    Asheesh Siddique
    @AsheeshKSi
    ·43m
    I don’t know if people realize this, but the paper has a reporter whose entire “beat” is to cover the fabricated issue of campus wokeness. In case you needed a reason to cancel your subscription.

    I didn’t know it but now the weekly woke panic essays and articles make more sense- they’re paying the woke panic reporter at least 100k a year – gotta churn out some shit.

  15. 15.

    prostratedragon

    March 2, 2023 at 7:40 am

    @rikyrah:  Wave-wave.

  16. 16.

    Princess

    March 2, 2023 at 7:41 am

    @Kay: They must know this when they print this stuff, right? They must do the barest due diligence to figure out who their writers are, and they just don’t care it’s all fake.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 7:42 am

    @rikyrah:

    What did you think about Tuesday’s Chicago primary result?

  18. 18.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 7:42 am

    @Kay:

    I don’t read the NYT.  I assume they feature an equal number of op-eds from Cole-like people who went hard left because of people like Trump and DeSantis.  Surely that would also be news that’s fit to print.

    Of course, in Cole’s case, the transformation was not a lie.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 7:44 am

    @Princess:

    Didn’t the NYT confirm that they don’t review op-eds from right wing authors in the wake of the Cotton “give no quarter” piece?

  20. 20.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 7:46 am

    @Princess:

    This one is amazing though, because not only is the author an activist and operative, but so are the people quoted in the piece. I agree it can’t be accidental.

    Nate
    @nateffo

    Why didn’t @nytopinion mention the author is Editor-in-Chief of the Princeton Tory, the campus conservative magazine?

  21. 21.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 2, 2023 at 7:47 am

    @Kay:  That’s fucking crazy.  I’m sure the FTFNYT says plenty of times that they just don’t have the resources to cover everything, but they can afford to have a reporter whose full-time job it is to cover the ephemeral (at best) issue of campus wokeness.

    How about a reporter full time on climate change?  Voting rights? The rise of an authoritatian, seditious movement in the U.S.?

    Plenty of important shit that doesn’t get a regular beat, but they can put a guy full time on campus wokeness.  Fuck ’em indeed.

  22. 22.

    Layer8Problem

    March 2, 2023 at 7:47 am

    @schrodingers_cat:  That is really good to hear.  Does BJP have a habit of screaming “Election Fraud!” when they lose?

  23. 23.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 7:48 am

    @Baud:

    Well, they wouldn’t have picked up Cole’s conversion because it didn’t occur at Princeton, Harvard or Yale – America’s only colleges.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 7:49 am

    @Kay:

    I called the NYT garbage before it was cool.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 7:50 am

    @Kay:

    Princeton, Harvard or Yale – America’s only colleges.

     
    Heh. Morning Joe had a clip this morning about how all the top GOP right wingers are Ivy graduates.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 7:53 am

    @Kay:

    I’ve criticized the domestic political desk for their anti-Dem spin, but they are allowed to spin.

    This just seems journalistically unethical.

  27. 27.

    Anyway

    March 2, 2023 at 7:57 am

    @Baud:

    Nope. Got you beat.  I stopped visiting their website “but their news articles and  cooking sections are solo Good! And the crosswords” after Judith Miller’s Chalabi scam reporting. FTFNYT.

    Sigh. Not even 8 am local time and I am Fuck this and Fuck that… it’s been a week.

  28. 28.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 2, 2023 at 7:58 am

    @Layer8Problem: They haven’t AFAIK. There were two by-elections. They lost one and they won the other.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    March 2, 2023 at 7:58 am

    @Kay: It’s like that NY Post hack (can’t remember her name) who does “man/woman on the street” drive-by interviews in flyover country, and darn it, every single time the rando she interviews just happens to be a local Repub operative.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 7:59 am

    @Baud:

    When my youngest was in high school he had an acquaintance who wanted to be a Right wing media star, so had social media accounts as “conservative teen” but he was sort of low key and polite so it didn’t take off- also it’s not that unusual to be a conservative teen in a 75% Trump county.

    I was interested in this at the time because it’s so nuts- that he set out to do this as a high school job, like, instead of working at Wendys. I would now tell him to pretend to be a liberal offended by “wokeness” who converted to the hard Right. The NYTimes will print whatever shit he produces, no questions asked.

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    March 2, 2023 at 7:59 am

    Now that’s something you don’t see every day.

    Flipped on an episode of a lighter slanted French series on MHz Choice (Alter Ego) and there’s the lead female gendarme detective showing up at a crime scene wearing a sweatshirt with, in all caps giant lettering, the words “Fuck the police” (in English).

  32. 32.

    eclare

    March 2, 2023 at 8:01 am

    Love the video of the kitty kneading along with the baker!

  33. 33.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 8:01 am

    @Kay:

    I would now tell him to pretend to be a liberal offended by “wokeness” who converted to the hard Right

     

    Tell it to your youngest. He could make bank and retire early in Denmark (with his brother?)

  34. 34.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 8:02 am

    @NotMax:

    Heh. That’s amusing.

  35. 35.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 8:05 am

    @Baud:

    I used to worry about that with him because he was so far Left and I think the horseshoe thing is real – although not a large group or lots of people- but he’s become less political so will probably end up more of a normie liberal.

  36. 36.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 2, 2023 at 8:06 am

    Something good open thread?  I have been trying to figure out which of two books I should write next, the steampunk MG Becky Blackcinder and the End of Progress, or the YA eldritch comedy Younger Things.

    I thought steampunk might be more accessible as I agent hunt again, but last night I went to my monthly writers’ group.  I read the beginning of Younger Things, and god damn.  They were howling with laughter.  My excerpts are always well received, but I’ve never gotten a reaction this intense.

    @schrodingers_cat:

    This is excellent news!  May we continue to get more like it!

    @Baud:

    Sure.  The point of Ivy Leagues isn’t an education, it’s social networking with other born aristocrats so that you’re guaranteed a lucrative job despite being a mediocre white man.

  37. 37.

    Benw

    March 2, 2023 at 8:06 am

    @Baud:

    But are often disappointed.

    Hudson has a series of expressions that I call “when bad things happen to good dogs” that he uses for war crimes like “showering before feeding him” and “no more cheese, I’ve already given you 3 pieces”

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    March 2, 2023 at 8:08 am

    @satby: The kneading tweet is fantastic! Love Sandal too.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    March 2, 2023 at 8:08 am

    @Kay:

    so will probably end up more of a normie liberal.

    Oh good.  He should sign up for our newsletter.  It has coupons!

  40. 40.

    Van Buren

    March 2, 2023 at 8:09 am

    2 weeks ago I was directed by my principal to give a mock state test. Today, same thing. In between was a vacation. Maybe if we actually taught reading instead of constantly testing them they would show progress.

    BS getting old.

  41. 41.

    satby

    March 2, 2023 at 8:09 am

    @NotMax: we’ve had schizophrenic weather here alternating unseasonably warm (high 50s!) with cold,rain, and snow, which then melts within days. The river is pretty high but not quite at flood stage yet, this next bout could put it over the top.

  42. 42.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 8:10 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    People on Twitter brought that up as a comparison and an indication it’s getting worse, because that was a bit of a scandal and now this deceptive shit with manufactured narratives is just business as usual.

    It’s like your post yesterday. If nothing changes at the NYTimes it will continue to inexorably drift towards lower quality. It takes effort and intent to stay at the same level OR get better. They will continue to get worse until they change something.

  43. 43.

    satby

    March 2, 2023 at 8:11 am

    @zhena gogolia: me too, what a handsome ginger boy!

  44. 44.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 8:13 am

    @Baud:

    I listened to Chapo Trap House with him once and while them making fun of their moms for being normie liberals is a tiny bit insulting it is also funny because they capture us perfectly. I am actually like that. We raised them right. They’ll come home :)

  45. 45.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 2, 2023 at 8:15 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: Since your group had that strong reaction, I’d go with the Younger Things. Besides, it sounds like fun to write.

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    March 2, 2023 at 8:16 am

    @Kay: I have a friend who’s managing editor of one of the major dailies in FL, and from conversations over the years, I get the impression journos in the hinterlands still revere The Times. They shouldn’t! The local people do a much better job!

  47. 47.

    topclimber

    March 2, 2023 at 8:18 am

    @schrodingers_cat: Good to hear.

  48. 48.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 2, 2023 at 8:21 am

    @Betty Cracker: Local journos ask better questions when given the chance. They actually believe in finding out what’s happening.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 8:24 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Case in point: Bari Weiss publishes and promotes allegations by whistleblower that fit her existing opinions and anti-woke, anti-trans crusade without bothering to interview anyone else or do any due diligence of any kind

    Real local journalists follow up with some actual work and clean up the mess she made:

    ST. LOUIS — Explosive allegations made public last month about a St. Louis clinic that treats transgender children have flung parents into a vortex of emotions: shock, confusion, anger, fear. Kim Hutton, among those confused by the reports, views the treatment her son, now 19, received from Washington University’s Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital as vital to making him the outgoing college freshman he is today. “The idea that nobody got information, that everybody was pushed toward treatment, is just not true. It’s devastating,” Hutton said. “I’m baffled by it.”

     

    Weiss is probably making a million dollars a year. She produces junk. Garbage. They’re putting no work into it at all. I bet the St Louis reporters make 45k, if that. Toledo Blade reporters start at 35k.

  50. 50.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 2, 2023 at 8:27 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Just Curiosity solving the puzzle box that contained the book of forbidden knowledge had them rolling.  I barely got to her writing in ‘Nerd Princess Kelp Goggles’ in the blood contract and forcing her unspeakable dark god patron to appear as a sea pony hopping around in a bucket.

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    March 2, 2023 at 8:28 am

    I thought for sure from the title that this was going to be ruemara posting about her kitties.

  52. 52.

    Josie

    March 2, 2023 at 8:29 am

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
     This is very good news. I have never commented on your reports, but I always appreciate that you are so knowledgeable and keep us informed.

  53. 53.

    Scout211

    March 2, 2023 at 8:32 am

    I was happy to read at least one article about the student loan forgiveness program before SCOTUS that wasn’t all doom and gloom.

    Biden administration lawyer may have saved student loan forgiveness plan at Supreme Court, experts say

    Experts lobbed praise on Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the lawyer who represented the Biden administration in front of the nine justices Tuesday.

    “The Biden administration now seems more likely than not to win the cases,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.

    “Her preparation, poise and power were impressive,” Kantrowitz said.

    . . .

    In contrast, the attorneys for plaintiffs opposed to the program were less than stellar, Kantrowitz said. “It was like the difference between a star quarterback and two tiddlywinks players,” he said.

    University of Illinois Chicago law professor Steven Schwinnagreed: “Prelogar knocked it out of the park.”

  54. 54.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 8:36 am

    It’s also hysterical that the Princeton Right wing student newspaper is called “The Princeton Tory” – insufferable people.

  55. 55.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 2, 2023 at 8:41 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: Gee, I can’t understand why they laughed!

  56. 56.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 2, 2023 at 8:41 am

    @Scout211:

    Biden’s hired a lot of very good people for his Administration.  I hadn’t heard of Prelogar before yesterday, but sounds like she’s one more.  Yay Prelogar, and yay Biden!

  57. 57.

    Soprano2

    March 2, 2023 at 8:44 am

    @Kay: So, so stupid. No one is forcing anyone to support TFG – that’s on her, period. They have the dumbest arguments.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 2, 2023 at 8:45 am

    @Kay: I smelled a rat from the gitgo, her choice of lawyers was a big tell.

    As to the pay of Post Disgrace reporters, I doubt the avg comes close to $40K. They have cut everything to the bone there.

  59. 59.

    sab

    March 2, 2023 at 8:45 am

    @Betty Cracker: I know. Connie Schultz has most of her links ro the Times, and she is teaching Journalism. She went to Kent State as do her students. It may be a wakeup call to her when she switches to teaching at Denison.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    March 2, 2023 at 8:46 am

    @Kay: What a great example of how the infotainment media incentive structure rewards crap! The insidious thing is that most people who pay attention know Weiss has an agenda, but that same “whistleblower” story was amplified by more “mainstream” people like Chait at New York Mag.

  61. 61.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 2, 2023 at 8:46 am

    @Scout211:

    Experts lobbed praise on Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar

    In normal English usage, doesn’t one lob things *at* someone and not *on* someone? Wouldn’t you say “heaped praise on” or “lobbed accusations at”?

    Is this another episode of “copy editors? we don’t need no stinkin’ copy editors”?

  62. 62.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    March 2, 2023 at 8:47 am

    @schrodingers_cat: That is very good news and hoping it is a sign of more to come.

  63. 63.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    March 2, 2023 at 8:47 am

    @Kay: Seriously!???

  64. 64.

    Jackie

    March 2, 2023 at 8:48 am

    The Solicitor General may have saved Biden’s student debt loan forgiveness plan:

    “The government’s top Supreme Court lawyer may have saved President Joe Biden’s $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan from what experts considered all but certain defeat,” CNBC reports.

    “Experts lobbed praise on Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the lawyer who represented the Biden administration in front of the nine justices Tuesday.”

    Fingers crossed!

  65. 65.

    artem1s

    March 2, 2023 at 8:50 am

    @lowtechcyclist: ​
     

    my attitude for decades now has been, “just fucking start over.” What they’re trying now is just another One Weird Trick.

    Yes, they do need to start over, but it’s not one weird trick. There are states that haven’t revoked their ratification. And you need to go thru the steps to drop the current amendment in order to start over and revise the language to fit the current needs. Perfect way to build engagement to start over and build a new coalition is to put the GQP SCOTUS front and center as being apposed to gender equality. Now tie the decision to Dobbs and the attacks on LGBTQ. Great messaging IMO and reminds everyone what is at stake if the GQP retakes the Senate and/or WH in 2024.

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    March 2, 2023 at 8:52 am

    “being weighed is a war crime” – LOL

    My dog is the opposite, she loves going to the vet for any reason at all.  Jump on the scale?  Sure thing, hooman!

  67. 67.

    Soprano2

    March 2, 2023 at 8:53 am

    @Kay: Did you see the tweets where people are telling NY Times Opinion that this guy is on the masthead of the Princeton conservative magazine? Not exactly a “random freethinker”. It’s like you say, poor work, because it seems they didn’t even do the minimum amount of research in order to correctly frame the essay they just published. It’s more like “Student who was conservative when he entered college is still conservative, doesn’t like it when he’s criticized for it, thinks that requires him to like TFG”.

  68. 68.

    Jackie

    March 2, 2023 at 8:54 am

    Don’t get between a cat and his crack!

    https://youtube.com/shorts/P0OB9p0zqx0?feature=share

  69. 69.

    Jeffro

    March 2, 2023 at 8:54 am

    @Baud:Morning Joe had a clip this morning about how all the top GOP right wingers are Ivy graduates.

    I’m going to print t-shirts that say “FSM save us from the bored and privileged”

    Or should it say “bored, privileged, and easily inflamed?”

  70. 70.

    Soprano2

    March 2, 2023 at 8:56 am

    @satby: We’re having the same in SWMO. It was in the 70’s yesterday, supposed to be highs in the 40’s today with rain overnight.

  71. 71.

    LiminalOwl

    March 2, 2023 at 8:56 am

    @schrodingers_cat: That is very good news. Thank you for sharing it.

  72. 72.

    LiminalOwl

    March 2, 2023 at 8:57 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning!

  73. 73.

    JMG

    March 2, 2023 at 9:04 am

    @Kay: The Times has been publishing crap about the dangers of left-wing domination of elite colleges since I was in college 50-plus years ago. The Sulzberger family was then and is now hugely involved with Columbia, and the anti-Vietnam protests of the ’60s there and elsewhere in the Ivies broke all the brains in the family.

    Same thing with the Times’ anti-trans fervor it just discovered. It’s a cinch bet that someone very high up in the paper’s hierarchy discovered a close relative, likely a child, niece or nephew, is trans and absolutely cannot hack the fact.

  74. 74.

    Soprano2

    March 2, 2023 at 9:04 am

    @Kay: That “whistleblower” thing was deliberately timed, too, for the day before they started hearings on one of the “Don’t say gay” bills they’re debating in these committees. One of the bills would forbid talking about LGBTQ+ people in any way in all grades! It would require teachers to “out” any student who says anything about any of this to their parents within 24 hours, with a threat of being sued if the teacher doesn’t do it. They’re trying to pass a law that’s worse than Florida’s.

  75. 75.

    LiminalOwl

    March 2, 2023 at 9:06 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: I really want to read Younger Things; please write it! (And might I put in a good word for Ruthanna Emrys’ Winter Tide and Deep Roots? Not comedy at all, but recommended.)

    p.s. Was Those Who May Not Cast one of your stories? I know it was someone here but lost track of who.  Read it aloud to a group recently and everyone enjoyedit.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 9:07 am

    @Soprano2:

    “Freethinkers”. Putting aside the crap quality of their work, are they aware they have an unbearably high opinion of themselves?

    Their Substack grifts are like “Truth” and “Common Sense”. Okey doke, assholes. Whatever you say.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    March 2, 2023 at 9:11 am

    @Soprano2:

    was deliberately timed,

    Oh, don’t ask the ninnies to put 2 and 2 together to equal 4. They are busy with the Big Picture – Speech, Debate, how they are the only people permitted to set and enforce norms.

  78. 78.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 2, 2023 at 9:19 am

    Thanks for all the responses.  BJP is not going to be easy to beat in 2024 but it is possible. Both their detractors and their supporters paint it as an unstoppable force.

  79. 79.

    Soprano2

    March 2, 2023 at 9:20 am

    @Kay: Yep, I see a lot of “common sense conservative” around here, then when you read what they support it’s the same as all the rest of them.

    We had a kerfuffle with our school board this week. The local state university had something they call a Youth Empowerment Summit, where they expose students to college and career options. It’s organized by the university’s multicultural services, the school district and the NAACP, so as you can see it’s directed at “underrepresented” groups. Evidently she went to a session where they were talking about the challenges of being a minority in college, and how “racial trauma” can have bad mental health effects on a person. She basically called the presenter a liar, and then left the session. It caused a huge uproar with the students who were present, all of whom had their parent’s permission to be there. She has stated that she doesn’t think the day should even be held. She’s one of the three “woke panic” members of the board. There are two more of them running for the board in April, if they get elected the “woke panic” people will be in charge instead of the people who actually care about the students. It’s worrying.

  80. 80.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 2, 2023 at 9:22 am

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: As they say, all politics is local. The opposition had a good well known candidate from what I understand.

  81. 81.

    scribbler

    March 2, 2023 at 9:25 am

    @schrodingers_cat:  Just want to add my thanks for keeping us informed.  You have helped me to learn so much about present day politics in India.

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 2, 2023 at 9:31 am

    @Kay: “Freethinkers”. Putting aside the crap quality of their work, are they aware they have an unbearably high opinion of themselves?

    Oh no, they are much too humble to have anything as pedestrian as self awareness.

  83. 83.

    sab

    March 2, 2023 at 9:32 am

    @Jeffro: Took my pittmix to the vet yesterday and she was an embarrassing asshole. All teeth and growly. They had to muzzle her. Then they got a bigger tougher muzzle. It was kind of scary. After all the needle stuff and poking her was over they took the muzzle off. She wagged her tail and asked for a biscuit.

    Vet says she wasn’t even a 5 on a 10 point dog being an asshole scale.

  84. 84.

    Betty Cracker

    March 2, 2023 at 9:34 am

    @Soprano2: That same wingnut playbook worked in Florida — the “Moms for Liberty” types took over a lot of schoolboards and are dictating policy now, to the detriment of students and educators.

    This whole thing would be maddening under any circumstances, but it’s especially evil that these hard-right nutcases decided it was politically expedient to attack schools that were already struggling to recover from the pandemic.

  85. 85.

    Tarragon

    March 2, 2023 at 9:36 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    YA eldritch comedy Younger Things.

    Just this description made me laugh.

  86. 86.

    Geminid

    March 2, 2023 at 9:43 am

    Virginia political analyst Chaz Nuttycomb (CNAnalysis) put out an analysis of the upcoming General Assembly races, and the Blue Virginia site reported on it. Nuttycomb says that of 100 House of Delegates seats, 46 are “Solid D” while 40 are “Solid R.” Of 40 Senate districts, he rated 18 as “Solid D” and 14 as “Solid R.”

    Blue Virginia singled out 3 toss-up Senate races in particular for attention. One is the 16th District in the northwest Richmond suburbs, where Democrat Schuyler Falkenberg is challenging incumbent Siobhan Dunevant, in (I believe) a rematch of a close 2019 race. Another was the Southside 17th District where the Democratic nominee will be Clint Jenkins. There, former NASCAR driver Hermie Sadler and radical Emily Brewer are “tradin’ paint” in the Republican primary race to be decided in June.

    Nuttycomb based much of his analysis on work by the non-partisan outfit VPAP. They analyse individual districts for demographics and give results for the redrawn districts in 5 statewide elections from 2017 to 2021.

  87. 87.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 2, 2023 at 9:45 am

    @Soprano2: This shit makes my blood boil, this common racial resentment from white people.  Assuming this girl is white, though there are definitely Latinx and Asian-American people who share this twisted denial of the reality of the casual racism that black people have to endure in University settings.  I see it from my Libertarian and Moderate Dem family members and I used to believe it myself before I started actually listening to black people and reading history.  I just don’t know how we get people out of this brainwashing.  I hope this girl grows up and learns how wrong, cruel and racist her denial is, but it’s basically a coin flip with the other possibility being that she will just double-down and get even worse.  It’s hard to be hopeful about America ever making much progress given how addicted we are to fragility and complete denial of Racism.  Ugh.

  88. 88.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 2, 2023 at 9:46 am

    @artem1s:

    And you need to go thru the steps to drop the current amendment in order to start over and revise the language to fit the current needs.

    What steps??? There are no needed steps before starting over. You just follow the Constitutional process, same as if the ERA had never passed Congress before.

    Perfect way to build engagement to start over and build a new coalition is to put the GQP SCOTUS front and center as being apposed to gender equality.

    You see, I don’t think this shows that at all.  It just confirms to most people that Generalissimo Francisco Franco the ERA is still dead.

    The ERA was passed by Congress when I was in high school, and I turn 70 next year.  It’s been 40+ years since its supporters gave up because of the 1982 deadline.

    BTW, even the extension to 1982 was also legally questionable.  The original ERA legislation specified a 7-year deadline.  If we’d gotten to 38 states by 1982, there would have been a court fight over the legality of its ratification.  But after 1982, even its supporters threw in the towel and called it dead.

    Now tie the decision to Dobbs and the attacks on LGBTQ. Great messaging IMO and reminds everyone what is at stake if the GQP retakes the Senate and/or WH in 2024.

    I think it would only detract from the messaging around Dobbs and LGBTQ issues.  But I guess we’ll just have to disagree on that.

  89. 89.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 2, 2023 at 9:49 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: ​
      It’s my understanding that the person who had the outburst was an adult school board member not a student.

  90. 90.

    Burnspbesq

    March 2, 2023 at 10:05 am

    District Court in FL tells Devin Nunes to GTFO with his cockamamie defamation action against CNN and Jake Tapper. Lack of personal jurisdiction over Tapper and improper venue as to CNN. Presumably he could refile  in DC.

    https://twitter.com/joshgerstein/status/1631127242506895364?s=61&t=7hqHBklYEbRGGTczul9UuA

  91. 91.

    Soprano2

    March 2, 2023 at 10:06 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: She’s Persian, actually. She’s a doctor, too, so well-off. Not a girl or a student, she is a school board member!

  92. 92.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 2, 2023 at 10:07 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh, my bad. Still waiting up, not enough coffee etc.

    JFC…that makes it so much worse.  Double UGH

  93. 93.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 2, 2023 at 10:13 am

    @Soprano2: Yeah, my bad.  I read too fast.  I stand by my UGH about America’s toxic Anti-Blackness and Denial.

  94. 94.

    Betty Cracker

    March 2, 2023 at 10:15 am

    Well, my staircase rebuilding nightmare came true — the only stairs leading out of our stilt house now end in a six-foot drop. Hubby and a friend are working on it and assure me that the replacements they’re constructing will be in place shortly. We’ll see. Luckily, I’ve got lots of food and booze up here.

  95. 95.

    Ken

    March 2, 2023 at 10:20 am

    @Burnspbesq: A California congressman filed a suit against a DC news organization and reporter in Florida?  Now that’s judge-shopping. Did he go to Judge Cannon?

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 2, 2023 at 10:21 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: Eh, I think it’s actually better.  It is a person who is already an asshole being and asshole.  It isn’t a young person learning to become one.  Hopefully, the kids who were there looked at her behavior and decided to try to never look like that.

  97. 97.

    Skepticat

    March 2, 2023 at 10:26 am

    I’m a writer, but I couldn’t have chosen a better word than “grinding.” And it couldn’t be a worse feeling.  It would be time to start the ERA process all over again, but I don’t remember people being quite so vicious about women the first time around.

    That said, the fabulous felines and I are watching much more snow—miserably wet and heavy though very-pretty-on-the-trees snow—fall. It’s supposed to turn to rain before we get hammered with wet snow again on Friday night and Saturday. The power grid here in Maine’s Lakes Region is very fragile, something I didn’t know when I bought this house a couple of months ago. I am way too old for this, but all the materials to rebuild my Bahamian home now are on the way to the cay, so all is good. And the trees are beautiful.

  98. 98.

    Fake Irishman

    March 2, 2023 at 10:27 am

    @lowtechcyclist:

    The NYT does have a reporter full time on climate change. Brad Plumer. He’s a former Vox guy, worked with Dave Roberts. Does excellent work and a lot of it. (Doesn’t excuse the other coverage, but credit where credit is due)

  99. 99.

    Benw

    March 2, 2023 at 10:28 am

    @Betty Cracker: pull up the drawbridge! Seal the gates!

  100. 100.

    Paul in KY

    March 2, 2023 at 10:29 am

    @schrodingers_cat: That is great news!

  101. 101.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 2, 2023 at 10:29 am

    @Fake Irishman: Glad to hear it.  And that Plumer’s worked with Dave Roberts gives him cred with me.

    I’m still not going to pay a dime for the FTFNYT, but at least they’re doing that much.

  102. 102.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 2, 2023 at 10:30 am

    @Betty Cracker:  Watch that last step, it’s a doozy! ;-)

  103. 103.

    Old School

    March 2, 2023 at 10:34 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    the only stairs leading out of our stilt house now end in a six-foot drop.

    Have you considered installing a trampoline?

  104. 104.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 2, 2023 at 10:36 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: True.  If she’s in the minority on the Board and fails to get re-elected, I’ll feel much better.  I admire your optimism, I’m just so tired of these fucking assholes being put into positions of power.

  105. 105.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 2, 2023 at 10:39 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: ​
      The Board stripped her of her vice presidency. That’s not a bad thing.

  106. 106.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 2, 2023 at 10:45 am

    Good news: I have found a solid guitarist for a jazz project I’m trying to put together.  Bad news: I forgot how difficult and tedious it is trying to put together any sort of musical project, especially jazz, especially in LA.  Nothing can ever be simple.  That said, excited to have some good possible players.  Now comes the hard part of bring them all together, see if there’s chemistry, and figure out where to take it from there.

    Other Good news: finally getting my septoplasty/turbinate-reduction surgery at the end of the month.  Can’t wait to hopefully finally be able to sleep through the night without waking up multiple times with horrible nasal congestion.

  107. 107.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 2, 2023 at 10:47 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yay!  I’ll take it.

  108. 108.

    Leslie

    March 2, 2023 at 10:48 am

    @UncleEbeneezer:

     

    given how addicted we are to fragility

    I was just thinking that wrt all the comments above about the NYT. It’s a bunch of white cishet fragility being inflicted on the whole damn country.

  109. 109.

    gene108

    March 2, 2023 at 10:50 am

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    If she’s in the minority on the Board and fails to get re-elected, I’ll feel much better.

    She’s in the first year of a three year term. She isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

  110. 110.

    kindness

    March 2, 2023 at 10:53 am

    That issue with conservatives saying the ERA ran out the clock and is no longer valid & needs to be restarted?  Funny thing about that.  Those same conservatives are saying that states who ratified the call for a new Constitutional Conference are saying that it doesn’t apply to them and when they hit 38 states, regardless of the time gone by, they’ll go to conference and give us the Handmaiden’s Tale constitution they’ve been dreaming about.  Hypocrites yea, but it could be shit hitting the fan time if it ever comes to pass.

  111. 111.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 2, 2023 at 10:54 am

    @gene108: ​
      The glass half full contingent having spoken, the glass half empty caucus asks for equal time.

  112. 112.

    Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog

    March 2, 2023 at 10:54 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    That used to be a Mika Brzezinski specialty when she was with CBS News.

  113. 113.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 2, 2023 at 10:54 am

    The constituency (that’s what an electoral district is called in a parliamentary election in India) where the BJP lost is the heart of old Pune. It was the seat of the Peshwas (the Brahmin rulers) who were defeated by the British in 1818.  So it is the heart of orthodox  Brahminical Pune. The RSS (the BJP is the political arm)  has been headed by a Marathi Brahmin man for over 70 years of 98 years of the Sangh. It is like defeating the party that thinks the  Confederacy was peachy in Richmond. Except the Peshwai lasted far longer than the Confederacy (105 years or so)

  114. 114.

    Soprano2

    March 2, 2023 at 10:56 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Hopefully, the kids who were there looked at her behavior and decided to try to never look like that.

    Pretty much exactly this happened. There were lots of student complaints about her behavior, how she was rude to the presenter and to the people who were there for the workshop. It’s all in pursuit of an “anti-woke” agenda.

  115. 115.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 2, 2023 at 10:57 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s like that NY Post hack (can’t remember her name) who does “man/woman on the street” drive-by interviews in flyover country, and darn it, every single time the rando she interviews just happens to be a local Repub operative.

    Salena Zito?

  116. 116.

    Paul in KY

    March 2, 2023 at 10:57 am

    @Kay: Should be renamed to the Princeton Volkischer Beobachter. Would probably be truer to their beliefs.

  117. 117.

    PBK

    March 2, 2023 at 11:00 am

    @LiminalOwl: I think it was Major x4.

  118. 118.

    Soprano2

    March 2, 2023 at 11:02 am

    @gene108: Yep, the danger is there is an election in April for two members, and there are two “anti-woke” candidates running. If they both get elected then the “anti-woke” people will have a 5-4 majority, and the real fuckery will begin. One of the “anti-woke” candidates who got elected last year kind of hid his true agenda until he got elected – he ran as just a local businessman who cares about the children. Then, once he got elected, he started doing things like subbing as a host for a local right-wing radio talk show; he revealed his true agenda then through his interviews of people. The other two, including this woman, were relatively open about what their agenda was.

  119. 119.

    Paul in KY

    March 2, 2023 at 11:03 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: Great news on that surgery! Hope is works out great for you.

  120. 120.

    Burnspbesq

    March 2, 2023 at 11:05 am

    @Ken:

    Suit was filed in the Middle District. Nunes alleged venue was proper because he works in Sarasota (as CEO of the company that operates Truth Social). Any 1L who stayed awake half the time in Civ Pro could have told you that argument would go nowhere.

  121. 121.

    Soprano2

    March 2, 2023 at 11:08 am

    I did get some good news from the pain doc on Tuesday – she has an actual treatment that can actually get rid of most of my back pain! It’s called Intracept ablation, and although it sounds somewhat drastic  (they go into the spine and burn the nerve that’s causing the pain) it would actually eliminate the pain, rather that just help me learn to live with it like most other treatments have. She says she’s the only doc in Springfield so far who is able to do this procedure. I’m going to research it some to see if I feel good about doing it, but it’s the first time in over 30 years that a doctor has actually told me they have a way to get rid of most of my lower back pain.

  122. 122.

    Betty Cracker

    March 2, 2023 at 11:10 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s it! I knew the name was close to a pasta type, but that didn’t narrow it down much! ;-)

  123. 123.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 2, 2023 at 11:17 am

    @Paul in KY: Thanks.  A friend of mine got it and said it really changed her life for the better.  Like night and day!  Also she said the recovery was pretty easy.

  124. 124.

    Bishop Bag

    March 2, 2023 at 11:21 am

    @satby:  “Cold Rain and Snow” the Grateful Dead opened with this song the last time I saw them at El Monte Legion Stadium on December 28, 1970…I love that song, so happy you referenced it!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ppr6oOoTVA

  125. 125.

    kindness

    March 2, 2023 at 11:36 am

    @Bishop Bag: The last time you saw them?  Pigpen was still active then.  In the time since they went through 5 keyboard players up till Jerry pulled the plug in ’95.  I guess at least half the folk here are Boomers.  Maybe more even.  Love Cold Rain & Snow.

  126. 126.

    BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

    March 2, 2023 at 12:10 pm

    RIP Wayne Shorter.

  127. 127.

    Paul in KY

    March 2, 2023 at 12:16 pm

    @Soprano2: Sure hope it works. Back pain is so bad (as I know you know so well).

  128. 128.

    Skepticat

    March 2, 2023 at 12:58 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: That wins the thread, IMO.

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    March 2, 2023 at 1:33 pm

    @NotMax:

    Now that’s an undercover officer.

  130. 130.

    prostratedragon

    March 2, 2023 at 1:44 pm

    @BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️:  Shocker despite his age. Native Dancer, “Mademoiselle Mabry,” so much more.

  131. 131.

    prostratedragon

    March 2, 2023 at 1:48 pm

    “Footprints,” with Esperanza Spaulding, bass

  132. 132.

    Ruckus

    March 2, 2023 at 1:50 pm

    @sab:

    My last dog, the cocker Bud had to held by 3 people, one of them me before anyone could touch him. His nickname was obnoxious bastard and he earned it. Couldn’t take him to a groomer more than once, they all told me, “Never, ever bring him here again.” So I had to get a shaver and do him myself because his hair grew what seemed like over an inch per month. He and I got to an understanding point. I may not want or be able to bite him but I’m still bigger and very marginally stronger. Plus I fed him. It worked. Sort of. In return he was the best dog, for dog stuff, that I’ve ever had.

  133. 133.

    Kayla Rudbek

    March 2, 2023 at 2:13 pm

    @Jackie: I certainly hope so! And that reminds me that I need to email my union because I have been working for the federal government for over a decade now, and I applied for student loan forgiveness and was denied because my loans were at the wrong company.

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