I know there is lots of important shit going on in the world and I am ignoring all of it and talking about my fucking cats, but this is where I am right now in my life. At any rate, I removed the gate from the office so everyone is free to go where they want, and Maxwell spent the night exploring. There have been no incidents with Thurston or Steve, so I am assuming everyone is sorting their shit out.
I woke up in the middle of the night and checked the tracking device, and Max was in the basement, and when I fed him this morning I had to spend a bit of time removing cobwebs. Steve’s nose is a touch out of joint- Maxwell came running in for skritches, and as I was petting him, Steve took notice and sauntered up for some attention, too. So I had them both at arm’s length on different sides of me, petting them simultaneously without incident. That’s good, because it means they can share the same space and it assures them both there is plenty of the fat man to go around and no favoritism.
Meanwhile, here is an adorable picture of Steve:
Did any of you catch Dan Goldman pantsing Taibbi, turning him into a sniveling, smirking, little shit? Was beautimous.
Baud
Jealousy is the best.
WereBear
Steve, it gets better.
WereBear
When we get a new cat, my story is, “I got this for YOU!” to any complaining cat.
cain
You need to update the balloon-juice pet calendar to include this sweetie!
catclub
@WereBear:
Environment enrichment!
At the New Orleans zoo, when the Elephants were out [still in their area] and near the Tiger’s enclosure, the tiger was VERY nervous. They called it environmental enrichment for the tiger.
CaseyL
I am all in favor of shutting out the world and focusing on cats!
I am also beyond impressed with how smoothly you’re integrating Maxwell into the family. Here’s hoping he and Steve become Best Buddies, and embark on many entertaining capers and hijinks.
Betty Cracker
One of my aunts had a beautiful black cat we called “the micro-panther.” He was magnificent, but I think your lad has a sweeter disposition. Micro-panther was a one-human kind of cat
ETA: I did see a clip of Goldman pantsing Taibbi and may post it later. Goldman’s cross-examination skills are serving him well in his new role.
MisterDancer
Yay Cole! What a lovely kitty :)
If I may ask — what tracking device are you using for Max? I’m considering one for our wee little run-under-stuff cat (sigh)
Geminid
I was doing a survey of the new class of House Democrats, and Dan Goldman was one of just a few who have never held public office before. It looks like he picked up some skills though, as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Watergirl’s new Congresswoman, Nikki Budzinski is another new Rep with no background of elective office but a whole lot of relevant experience.
RedDirtGirl
Impressive pet expansion!
Amir Khalid
I ddn’t know Matt Taibbi needed to be turned into a snivelling, smirking little shit.
Baud
@Amir Khalid: Heh.
Math Guy
I enjoyed watching both Goldman and Wasserman-Schulz work him over. It is important to confront these republican thugs with the facts; it is even more important that the general public see it happen, and see the republicans squirming in their own flop-sweat because it paints Dems as winners and republicans as losers; public perception matters in elections.
If there is an afterlife, I hope it includes the cats we have adopted and cared for.
John Cole
@CaseyL: @CaseyL:
Cats integrate themself you just have to stay out of the fucking way and be consistent and predictable.
Roger Moore
Taibbi was already a sniveling, smirking little shit; Goldman just exposed him.
Kay
Senator Ted Cruz @SenTedCruz
Great to meet @mtaibbi and @ShellenbergerMD
today. They’re true patriots for shining a light on the brazen corruption, censorship, and abuses at Twitter.
No one has to buy any of these peoples work. Republican pol Twitter is free and the content is identical.
Perfectly aligned messaging, every day, but skip paying for the subscriptions and go right to the source.
Geminid
@Math Guy: Republicans really gave Democrats a lot of fat pitches to hit with these hearings. I don’t think they thought that part through.
p.a.
Of course sooner or later they’ll team up against you.
Cats are interesting. My GF had to put down her puggle, and her cat, which paid no more attention to him than she did a doorknob, sequestered herself in a back room for 3 weeks, only emerging for food, water, and potty. She’s back to being herself now.
ellie
I, too, have a house panther and he loves cobwebs! I don’t know why. We have to lint brush him.
Roger Moore
@ellie:
I think all cats like cobwebs, but they show more on black cats.
schrodingers_cat
Steve looks like he is plotting something.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: My late ginger tabby loved to eat small spiders. MMmm cruncy and delicious. She was a good kitty.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
The Perfect Purrder.
ETA:
Or Purrfect Murder.
citizen dave
We got a real character male cat from my stepson, tons of personality, cattitude, etc. Sprayer even though fixed (but not as a kitten). Also had 2 female cats. When a male stray kitten showed and up and we took him in, it seemed like older male cat calmed down a lot. ‘Course he was a senior cat as well. Maybe Steve is going to be good with another male sharing the load/taking over.
Math Guy
@Roger Moore: Two of our cats discovered that there were cobwebs to be found between the floor and the bottoms of the kitchen cabinets – they were constantly “snacking” on them.
geg6
I missed the Goldman pantsing! However, I did catch the pantsing Wasserman-Schultz gave him. Sounds like Matty was pantsless all day.
Baud
@geg6:
Decent pantless people are none too happy about the association.
NaijaGal
Silicon Valley Bank just failed. FDIC taking over. Used by a lot of venture capitalists, so I wonder what the impact on the economy will be.
CaseyL
@p.a.: When you have to have an animal euthanized, what the other animals know is that So-and-So went away with Mom/Dad and never came back.
They don’t see the dead body, after all.
I really don’t know how much they understand about those disappearances, so I suspect their over-riding anxiety is that the same thing could happen to them. So they hide for a while.
This is on top of any grief or loss they might be feeling.
artem1s
@NaijaGal:
hmmm, wonder if it has anything to do with Bankman-Fried’s crypto failure?
Oops, looks like maybe a YES!
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: I had a good friend bring Henry to say goodbye to Tucker at the vet school so he would understand what was happening. It helped.
Math Guy
@CaseyL: We had two cats: a female stray I’d taken in years ago, and a male stray that we had for about four years. The male loved to play with wadded up pieces of paper: he would bat them around the house until they disappeared under the furniture. He died in my arms, at home, from kidney failure. The other cat just hissed at him a few times till he passed. Three months later we were moving a desk and underneath there were about a dozen wadded up pieces of paper. My little cat walked over, sat down in the middle of all of those “toys” and wailed her heart out.
WaterGirl
@artem1s: Crypto’s complete failure can’t come soon enough for me. It’s obvious that investing in crypto was playing with fire, and it’s beyond me to understand how anyone convinces themselves they will not get burned.
WaterGirl
@Math Guy: I am crying.
Math Guy
@WaterGirl: I didn’t mean to make you cry, but thank you.
artem1s
@WaterGirl:
It’s basically digital Amway. Everyone thinks they are at the top of the pyramid until it collapses on the poor saps at the bottom.
Ruckus
@John Cole:
Cats integrate themself you just have to stay out of the fucking way and be consistent and predictable.
Sounds like most of life.
zhena gogolia
Inspired by John, I went to YouTube to watch some of Goldman & Taibbi (Forbes video). The comments are all about how Taibbi pantsed Goldman. I’m living in an insane universe.
Amir Khalid
@Math Guy:
I cried too.
Betty Cracker
@NaijaGal: Yikes. A quote from that article:
I hope he’s right, and I’ll say straight up I don’t understand how any of this stuff works, so grain of salt, etc. That said, I do know certain unprofitable or barely profitable platforms and tech outfits have been outrageously overvalued for a long time now, and we’ve seen VC geniuses fall for obvious scams like NFTs and sketchy crypto outfits. That’s gotta come home to roost sooner or later.
Ruckus
@Geminid:
I don’t think they thought that part through.
They never do.
They think they do/have thought it through but they have zero concept of what that actually means or what actual thought is like, is done, works, happens because they are haters and morons. But you know that…
Amir Khalid
@artem1s:
This is a brilliant, succinct four-word summary of crypto.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
So I just signed up for Spoutible
My first attempt at branching off Youtube and Balloon Juice for social media since I deactivated my Facebook in 2016.
LiminalOwl
@CaseyL: When my beloved Java (another black micro-panther) had to be euthanized, her best friend the pug from downstairs let me know how he felt. He never forgave me, in the three years we still lived upstairs.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
My comment at #41 answering Geminid, applies to crypto and most of the investment industry. They understand the outcome when it works, they usually seem to have zero idea of what went wrong when it fails. I’d say humanity often equals greed is the basis of that failure.
Emmyelle
When you think about all the things that had to go wrong for this guy to be president, and they did, it’s mind blowing. I think I’m still pretty traumatized by the whole thing.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
Because they believe they’re super smart. They know they’re playing with fire, but they’re certain they’ll be able to sell off their crypto to some greater fool in plenty of time to get out before the inevitable collapse. Of course some people were right when they believed that, but some people will inevitably be wrong.
To me, it all gets back to the Super Bowl ads for crypto. When the scam has gotten to the point they’re advertising at the Super Bowl looking for greater fools, the bubble is primed to burst.
NutmegAgain
Love that image of Steve as a furry flying saucer.
dlwchico
Moved into a new place once with our two cats. One got lost for several days. We finally found her under the house in a crawlspace.
Turns out the dryer in the garage had a hole in the wall behind it for some fittings to go through and she was able to squeeze through but then apparently couldn’t get back through to get out again.
TaMara
@WereBear: LOL Same here.
NaijaGal
@Betty Cracker: I don’t pretend to understand any of this either but I’d read that they invested in some form of mortgage backed securities and that strategy hit a snag when the Fed raised interest rates. Made me alarmed but most seem to think that this isn’t going to cause systemic problems because the mortgage backed security situation is different from 15 years ago. I certainly hope they’re right.
Roger Moore
@NaijaGal:
I don’t think it’s mortgage-backed securities. The article mentioned that a lot of banks had parked their excess cash reserves in government bonds, since they’re supposed to be extremely safe. The problem is that when interest rates rise, that shows up by bond prices going down. So the higher interest rates the Fed has been pushing have driven down the value of those bonds, meaning the banks’ reserves have shrunk.
Fortunately, banks are required to have substantial reserves, and the first part of those reserves are shareholder equity rather than deposits. So far, at least, the rise in interest rates has only hurt shareholders rather than depositors, so there isn’t any systemic risk. Yet.
kindness
When you say basement John, I think of a cold, drafty place. I know the one I grew up in was till my parents converted it to a living area (and insulating the crap out of it). Up until that point, the basement was closed off most the year. So I’m wondering if your basement is old & cold or modern subterrainian living space. Which leads to why do you have your door open to the basement this time of year?
indycat32
@kindness: Obviously I don’t speak for John but my basement is open because that’s where the litter boxes are.
Cheryl from Maryland
I have selected Dan Goldman to be my imaginary boyfriend. That is all.
NaijaGal
@Roger Moore: I’d read somewhere else that SVB had invested in relatively long term securities like 10-year mortgage backed securities (among other investments like US Treasuries) but the Fed raising rates meant that refinancing wouldn’t occur as planned (who wants to refinance their mortgage to a higher rate?). They didn’t have enough investments in short term vehicles – when people wanted their money back, they had to sell certain assets at a loss. I certainly hope you’re right and this is a unique situation unrelated to just that exposure.
MisterForkbeard
@Math Guy: Cats have a lot of capacity for grief.
When I was I college, I was engaged to a lovely redhead and we’d moved in together. She died in a car accident and my normally standoffs cats would RUN to meet any redheaded woman who walked past the house. They were always disappointed when they realized it wasn’t her.
Later that same year, one of the cats was hit by a car and died instantly.The other cat came and got me, and then stood next to my poor kitty and tried to wake her up, then wailed when I picked her up and tried to give her some dignity.
There’s some real depth in their little brains. :(
MisterForkbeard
@dlwchico: We had the same – a cat that could get into the crawlspace through the drier fittings but couldn’t get back out.
AND HE KEPT GOING IN
Nettoyeur
@Amir Khalid: Me neither. He, like Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Greenwald, Noam Chomsky, and many 14 year olds, suffers from selective oppositional-defiant disorder. Anything to get attention. Fortunately, only the suckers who pay these clowns via Substack have to read them.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
Yeah, but Glenn Greenwald said the Democrats utterly failed, and Taibbi was a bigly winner and made the mean, mean Democrats look like big, stinky poopie heads. I don’t know who to believe here. I mean, if youo can’t trust Glenn Greenwald, who can you trust?
Ruckus
@NaijaGal:
It would be an individual event if it wasn’t for that one human character flaw. GREED. (OK I know there are other flaws, I’m only talking about this one.) Greed is the thing that always gets the flim flamers. The people who try to sell you the magic potion or the magic money maker or the magic salvation of humanity. And it may work for a short time, until the greed becomes the one obvious selling factor and everyone gets screwed. And being humanity, and greed is one of our traits, it will continue to happen till the last 2 humans.
Ruckus
@Nettoyeur:
You seem to be giving them a lot of age credit on their emotional maturity level.
Roger Moore
@NaijaGal:
I think this is more or less the same thing. The key is the problem wasn’t triggered by the something like the mortgage defaults that led to the 2008 financial crisis. It’s a result of the bank investing too much in long-term securities and then having those securities fall in value because of interest rate fluctuations. There is still some systemic risk- other banks might have made the same investment decisions- but you don’t see a whole class of assets that are genuinely worthless.
Ruckus
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
I mean, if youo can’t trust Glenn Greenwald, who can you trust?
Anyone walking down the street, even if they are carrying an open bottle in a brown paper bag would seem to be a better option. But then you knew that.
Ann Marie
@MisterForkbeard: When my red tabby Hugh died, after a struggle with cancer, I came home from the vet hospital and found my remaining cat, Louie, sitting in the same spot on my bed where Hugh had spent his last days. He stayed there all evening until bedtime, instead of coming down to be with me as he usually did. They had not been best buds, but Louie still grieved.
NaijaGal
@Roger Moore: That makes sense to me. Thank you for breaking it down. So we have made progress in reducing exposure to garbage in the banking sector since 2008 🙂.
Spanky
Get used to this.
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: Excellent observation, Amir!
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@NaijaGal: My financial guy sold my bonds with that bank and a couple of others yesterday so I got out just before the hammer fell. He says the raise in interest rates, plus all the working from home has really depressed the commercial real estate market in major cities like SF, LA, NYC, and Chicago (and apparently it is overbuilt too), so banks holding a lot of those building loans are in trouble. He also says a recession is coming. He put the $ from the sales into tax-free muni bonds and treasury bills. Being very conservative
ETA: yes, and lending for crypto didn’t help. Annie Laurie always said it would end in tears. And the rate hikes are exposing weakness in companies and sectors. While a rising tide (low rates) lifts all boats, a falling tide exposes everything.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@CaseyL: I know what you mean, although I think they can usually smell the sickness in the dying animal so they have an idea of what is going on.
Paul in KY
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Agree with cats being able to smell it. There’s an idea that some dog attacks on (mostly) elderly people happen due to the (stupid) dog smelling that the person is dying or has a terminal condition and the dog can’t help themselves and attacks.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Paul in KY: Wow, that puts dogs in a charming light. A little above vultures LOL (not that attacking elderly humans is a laughing matter, of course).
JML
I remember when I thought Taibbi was an interesting read who wrote about things others weren’t writing and had a high level of skepticism to his writing. (This would have been the Bush years, I think) Turns out he’s just another grifty little shit who believed all of his own press.
Cjcat
Steve is a good sweet boy. Thurston is too. You just might be as well, Cole. Who would have guessed?
Paul in KY
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): They are opportunistic predators in the wild, who generally attack the old, sick & lame. Which from their standpoint is a good idea, as situations where the prey kicks their ass, usually lead to their death.
robtrim
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
Good move!
Between the Fed precipitating a recession with its mindless rate increases and the rapacious greed of our capitalist one percent, we are back in the no-man’s-land of bank bailouts and corporate trouble making.
Nettoyeur
@Ruckus: It’s an act they are naturally qualified for , but which I think they do for the loot. Taibbi and former buddy Mark Ames ran the Exile mag in Moscow in which they harassed the powers that be and documented their adventures with Russian prostitutes, all in Gonzo Journo style. Eventually they got closed down by the Russian authorities, which gave them dissident rebel cred, and moved back to US. Once home, their commentary became increasingly anti US and eventually darn near Kremlinesque, which made a a long time Russia watcher like me begin to wonder if they’d been turned. I don’t know about Greenwald’s background, but his connection with Assange (who was sheltered by the Putin allied Ecuadoran govt until they lost power, at which point he got booted, funny about that) makes me wonder about him, too. The gullible Substack subscribers are giving these scammers millions per year without any editorial oversight cost…..the arrangements reeks of Trumpism, which is itself a descendant of the American huckster tradition first pilloried by Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn.
jonas
This keeps happening on this committee (and others) because the Democrats, like Goldman, are *very* smart people who hire smart staffers and who know their shit and do their homework and come prepared to expertly fillet the nitwits and grifters Gym and the other dim-bulb Republicans keep serving up because they’re not terribly smart people and have long ago given up on oversight or governing in favor of creating Fox News and Twitter-friendly, lib-pwning soundbites. Except most of them end up being ridiculous self-owns that they’re usually not even aware of.
Suzanne
@Math Guy:
I had an amazing kitty — the dearly departed Polly Jean — who explored that very space, and then found a gap in the kitchen cabinets that could be accessed only from under the toekick. I couldn’t figure out where she was hiding until I watched her slither out one day.
karen marie
Nothing is more important than an update on your pets, John Cole.
I’m delighted that Maxwell and Steve are doing so well together!
Ruckus
@Geminid:
I don’t think they thought that part through.
Nice snark.
As if any of those sfbmf think. Or are even capable of any thing even resembling thought.
WaterGirl
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: If you search for Balloon Juice or WaterGirl, you will find quite a few jackals.
WaterGirl
@LiminalOwl: Oh, that’s so sad.
PBK
@Math Guy: Oh I’m crying too. How can anyone say animals don’t feel or think or remember.
WaterGirl
@MisterForkbeard: You guys are both making me cry. So sorry that you lost your red-headed love in college. I, too, lost my love to a freak accident. Gone in an instant.
So sweet and so terribly sad that your kitties would run to the window when they saw a redhead. Love. And then the poor guy trying to wake up your other kitty? Totally crying my eyes out.
Geminid
@Ruckus: They just talk to people in their own bubble. About the most charitable thing I could say about the House Republicans who planned these hearings is: they lacked circumspection.
Jay C
@Geminid:
Better than I, for sure: the best thing I can say about most/all of the House Republican hearings is that it shows them up as a gang of stupid f*ck*ing idiots….
karensky
@NaijaGal: I am getting August of 2007 feelings!