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The lights are all blinking red.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

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

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

It’s a doggy dog world.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

We’re not going back!

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“woke” is the new caravan.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread (and wondering)

Open Thread (and wondering)

by | 192 Comments

This post is in: 

I am using this TOTALLY OPEN THREAD as an opportunity to also ask a question, but please treat it like an open thread!

Hoping you guys can help me out here.  We sold 284 Balloon Juice Pet Calendars in 2021, and we have sold 87 so far this year.

So i’m wondering…

  • Less enthusiasm this year because of the Cafe Press paper issue last year?
  • Current events leaving people less motivated about, maybe, everything?
  • Less enthusiasm because you’re less engaged this year b/c you didn’t send in photos this year?
  • Don’t care for the design?
  • We have put up fewer reminder posts?
  • Has the BJ pet calendar run its course?
  • Were you guys buying calendars before more as a way to support the pet charity, but we also have a thermometer now?
  • Have been planning to order, just haven’t gotten around to it yet?
  • Something else we haven’t thought of?

Anyway, it would help to understand what’s up so we know what to do next year.

If you’ve never bought BJ pet calendars in the past, no need to comment about the calendars, for you, this really is just an open thread.

OPEN THREAD.

Reader Interactions

192Comments

  3. 3.

    Suzanne

    Printed calendars are just not my deal! No wall space.

    Also, I had some pet losses in the last couple of years, and was having a hard time about it.

    But I think they’re a lovely thing for those that do participate.

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    I’ve ordered several. I don’t think there have probably been enough reminders. Don’t overdo it, but I’ve only seen one.

  7. 7.

    Sis

    Thanks for the reminder – just ordered the two I was planning on! And thanks again for all your hard work on this!

  8. 8.

    narya

    Fully intend to order, just haven’t gotten to it yet! Not least because I’m an auntie to one of the featured pets, but I’d purchase one anyway.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I’m still doing the last, annoying, frustrating bits of moving. As soon as I’m settled in, I will be ordering calendars. I’ve only been able to confirm mailing address in the last 24 hours, and I’m busy and exhausted. But I haven’t forgotten.

  10. 10.

    Juju

    Right now I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed about things, a lot of stuff on my mind and things to do that I don’t feel terribly enthusiastic about right now. The last time I ordered calendars I think I did it end of December, beginning of January. I’m hoping by February this year. I’m off to hide under my bed for a while.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    @TheOtherHank: Nothing official.  Unofficially, if you have a code to share, you can send the code to either me or Anne Laurie (not to both because that would be confusing) and then we can share the codes with people who request them from us.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    @Juju: I imagine you might find some other BJ peeps right there under the covers with you.  Virtually, of course!

    Imagine climbing under the covers and finding Baud there!!!

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    So, here’s an alternative theory as to why Kevin McCarthy suddenly quit yesterday. Today, the LA Times published a big story about how Kevin’s leadership PAC seems to be spending huge amounts of money (even by leadership PAC standards) on fancy spa resort stays, winery tastings, etc. etc.

    Rambling above the rust-colored cliffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Terranea Resort is known for its ocean views, world-ranked spa and villas that can command $3,000 a night or more.

    The property is less well known as a gathering spot for federal elected officials and the campaign donors they wine and dine.

    But one politician was very familiar with the luxurious resort: former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. In 2 ½ years, the Bakersfield Republican’s election committees dropped nearly a quarter of a million dollars at Terranea, with most of the money coming from a thinly regulated leadership PAC, a Times investigation has found.

    As he exits Congress two months after his historic ouster as speaker, political obituaries tout McCarthy’s skills as a prolific fundraiser on behalf of Republican candidates. Also setting him apart from other congressional leaders was his roughly decade-long pattern of using his Majority Committee PAC to spend lavishly on hotels, private jets and fine dining establishments, according to a Times analysis of campaign finance records on file with the Federal Election Commission.

    While I realize that “embarrassment” is not a concept familiar to any Republican, donors wondering just what the hell their money is being used for might be a different matter. Once ousted from the Speakership, all he had left was his fundraising skills, and any donor interested in endowing conservative luxury vacations is going to be talking to Clarence Thomas instead.

  18. 18.

    Elie

    I didn’t see the announcement to submit photos and was distracted with some personal issues this year.  I like the calendar and its design….

  19. 19.

    Barbara I

    I ordered one (for the first time!) this year. I am the only person I know who still likes wall calendars— and although I am already flooded with other charities’ calendars, I still wanted a Balloon Juice one.

  20. 20.

    brendancalling

    I never buy print calendars, because I have a white board calendar.

    Been an exciting day at school today. At least two fights. I’m very excited to go home and hang out with my cat.

  23. 23.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    Two reasons  we made the decision this fall to both retire early, next summer. So I am feeling overwhelmed already and the Holidays season has been hard d for me since once childhood. Bigger reason is two of my three beloved pets died this year. One of old age, difficult but expected the other had to be euthanased at age three and tat one still guts me. But would love to go be a donation directly towards the rescue shelter that the calendar money go s to but can’t bring myself to order calendars. I really appreciate the work you put into it. Really. Sorry 😢

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: No apologies.  The point of the post is to understand what’s going on, not for anyone to feel bad if they are not ordering!

    I lost a pup once at 9 months old, and it does indeed gut you in a very special way.  I’m so sorry about your losses.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    Can’t wait for football season to be over so those oh so obnoxious Thursday Night Football promos on Prime go away. Lunge for the remote each time one comes on.

  34. 34.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    I’ve moved enough times that all my moving boxes have wheels……

    OK that’s BS about the wheels but I do own a hand truck. And it has wheels…….

    Let’s see, in the last 20 yrs, I’ve moved 5 times. In the 20 yrs before that I moved 3 times.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ooh ooh ooh!  I like the sound of that.

    I, too, would like to hear from the attorneys on whether that’s the end of the road.

    As I am beginning to understand, the higher courts don’t get in the middle of “fact finding” so my best guess is that T**** is fucked.  But IANAL

    That would be so sad.  //

  38. 38.

    stinger

    I get free calendars from national and state bird/wildlife/nature organizations I belong to, and I also like to support BJ’s Albatrossity and other folks who have calendars for sale. And, like Suzanne, I don’t have much wall space. At least this year, it works better for me to donate directly to the pet charity being supported.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: In college, I moved nearly every year.  Ugh.  At some point, I said fuck this shit and decided to buy a house, so I didn’t ever have to go through the “we want to meet your dog first” before we will rent you this house.

  40. 40.

    geg6

    Have been planning to order, just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

    I have done nothing yet for Christmas (which I hate, hate, hate this holiday!), so this is just one more thing I haven’t done yet.

  43. 43.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    Can’t wait for football season to be over so those oh so obnoxious Thursday Night Football promos on Prime go away. Lunge for the remote each time one comes on. 

    I’m going to assume you don’t shake your bones to the Sunday Night Football intro.  (Or watch any of it for that matter.)

  44. 44.

    Another Scott

    I bought paper calendars for a few years in the past, and bought a few from Albatrossity and others, but we only have so much wall space (even at work) and it doesn’t make sense for us these days.

    My J gets (literally) about 20 calendars in the mail from various charities that want her to donate (or that she does donate to).  I think she uses one – the rest go in the recycling.  :-/

    I donate directly to the thermometer now.

    My $0.02.

    I hope this helps a little.

    Thanks for all you do.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  45. 45.

    Ha Nguyen

    I only bought the pet calendars to support the charity; since there’s a thermometer now, I can do that instead.

  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    @Chief Oshkosh: There were way fewer notices.  I suspect that Cole thinks I put up too many posts to remind people, so I tried it with way fewer reminders this year.

    It wasn’t clear whether that was the issue or if maybe the pet calendar had run its course, hence my asking the questions!

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    I’m doing my part, I bought 2!

    One as a gift to my best friend and his wife, who I’ve known for over 50 yrs.

    I think that the concept of the calendars is a great idea and very well done – but. I buy it for the pictures and what a part of the money goes for, the calendar part is just icing. We all, very likely, have phones that show us the day, date and time, I’ve had a cellphone for going on 30 yrs. What life today is like is hugely different than it was 60-65 yrs ago. I knew people that didn’t have a phone of any kind then. Now many kids in single digits have cell phones – most likely so their parents can find them, possibly yell at them to get home, but also for the now normal use of a phone

    Anyone my age or there about knows that life has changed, as it always does, but that it changes at an accelerated rate now, for many reasons and cell phones are just one of them.

  49. 49.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    Lisa Desjardins
    @LisaDNews
    1h

    NEW, Newsy.

    Sen. Kennedy, R-La. told me he just spoke with Leader Schumer on the floor and….

    – the White House is getting involved in border talks now, in serious way
    – Kennedy thinks a deal is possible
    – And he thinks they stay until Christmas.

    Dec 7, 2023 · 7:02 PM UTC

    (via Fritschner)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  50. 50.

    Martin

    I’d put a thumbnail of the front of the calendar under the 2024 Pet Calendars! heading to help it stand out.

    I’m not a calendar person, but I feel like I had a better sense of what the calendar looked like in past years, which tells me I got more exposure to it in past years than this year.

  51. 51.

    lowtechcyclist

    @brendancalling:

    I never buy print calendars, because I have a white board calendar.

    I’ve got one of those too.  I get a few freebies each year from various organizations, but they all go in the recycle bin.

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    Heh.  I just got a snazzy PDF calendar by e-mail.  No doggy / kitty / lizard / horse / emu pictures though!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  54. 54.

    catclub

    CNN:

    Trump wants election subversion case paused while he appeals judge’s ruling on presidential immunity

    Of course he does. delay delay delay.

  55. 55.

    Manyakitty

    I use 2 paper calendars in addition to my electronic ones. One is for household stuff and the other is for work. A friend gives me one from her photographs every year and the other is Pets of Balloon Juice. I have a stack of them going back a long while.

    Hope mine gets here soon — they sent shipping notification last week.

  56. 56.

    Dan B

    I haven’t gotten to ordering yet.  I had a severe lower back spasm that git me in urgent care and the doctors.  Sleep has been iffy.  A reminder would be great twice a week.  I might notice one when I’m between muscle relaxers and synthetic opioids.

    Or, maybe I should just order right now!?

  59. 59.

    glc

    Personally, I’m going to order later if the supply holds out, as I’m traveling till the end of the year and unclear about how long delivery takes.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @Another Scott: I absolutely think Schumer should keep them until Christmas or until they have a deal that works for Dems, too.

    Whichever comes first.

    Either because a deal is still possible, or to have Rs face some consequences of their actions, even if a deal isn’t possible.

  62. 62.

    MagdaInBlack

    Well, I’m currently in a money crunch aka broke, so there is no Xmas at Magdas house, just a wrecked Elantra. So, no calendar.

  64. 64.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    Put me down as “I want one but my broke ass has to wait to get paid on Friday.”

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @catclub: My hope is that the appeals court takes this on in a very expedited fashion.  Trump and his attorneys need to be bitch-slapped for their arrogance and fuck-you attitude to Judge Chutkan.  I bet if this was a male judge they wouldn’t be quite so snippy.

    *Although they certainly are with Engoron, so I may be wrong about that.

  69. 69.

    Ruckus

    Just checked shipping progress of my calendar which showed that it was supposed to be here next Monday. It arrived at my city post office sorting room at 3 am this morning. I may get mine today or tomorrow. I’m not holding my breath waiting for the post office. They seem pretty good these days but my expectations tell me that skepticism is always in order here.

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: We haven’t heard from anyone yet to say that any calendars have arrived.

    When they do, I would love to know what they think about the quality.  In other years printing and paper quality has been great, but we always hold our breath a little bit until we hear back from someone on both calendars.

  74. 74.

    rekoob

    Ordered two copies because my dear departed buddy is featured in May of Calendar A. Since we went with the 2022/2023 photos, there was less of a flurry of posts leading up to the deadline for submissions. Happy to keep doing it, but if it makes more sense to donate directly, that’s fine too. (Perhaps on Giving Tuesday?)

    We know it’s a lot of work, and we have many, many opportunities to give to the causes we support. Thank you again for all you do.

  76. 76.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    SFB thinks he is in a class by himself, above all the riff raff, which is of course anyone but himself. He has, his entire life, thought he was above everyone else on the planet, even as the proof he was 1000% wrong was staring and shouting right in his face. He has lived his entire life ignoring the obvious, overwhelming evidence that he is the epitome of shitty human.

  77. 77.

    Rebel's Dad

    I love the idea of the calendars. I was hoping to order one this year, but once again money is tighter than TFG’s grip on insanity. I have a second interview for a FT position at Rutgers, so I praying fervently that it pans out- I haven’t done anything fun in over a year, the food pantry doesn’t provide everything I need, and I don’t even have a coat for this winter (which I guess is already here- today it’s flurrying with a high of 38). I had to do a GoFundMe just to get the clothes for an interview.

    I’ll buy one next year, if the fates allow. Until then, I’ll have to muddle through somehow.

  78. 78.

    Geminid

    Democratic Representative Cathy Manning (NC-6) announced today that she will not seek reelection, and cited Republican gerrymandering as the reason. Manning first won election in 2020, and is 67 years old.

  82. 82.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Another Scott: Good. I really want to see funding to Ukraine and I don’t think increasing border security paired with some tightening of the limits on immigration is going to be a political loser for Biden. Some folks in the Democratic coalition will be really angry about it, but there are plenty of people who lean Democratic who are not happy about the strain, particularly on housing but for other services too, from having such a large surge of immigrants.

  83. 83.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    Going to go old school on you here. I used to work in a machine shop. 99.9% of the machinists back then were men. They put up calendars every year. Moms (and wives) likely would not have approved of the pictures. Use your imagination.

    @WaterGirl:

    I’ll let you know when they arrive. But I’m not all that far away from the shipping point so when they gave me the date of arrival I thought that was likely days after they would actually arrive. Looks like at least this time I may be correct. Stranger things have happened.

  87. 87.

    zhena gogolia

    @geg6: When you’re on an academic calendar, Christmas is just — GAAAH! I just finished classes, and now I’m already behind on the Christmas junk, and I don’t even have kids!

  88. 88.

    billcinsd

    Is there a way to donate to the cause, or buy a calendar, but then have a calendar sent to someone who wants one?

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: Am I crazy?  Or did the US announce more aid to Ukraine just last night?  Or perhaps I misunderstood?

  90. 90.

    Martin

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: I mean, this speaks to Adam’s complaint about how Biden handled this. By requiring GOP approval, they’re going to find the most politically painful concession for Biden – which is his hold on young voters. If young voters stay home, Trump probably wins. And young voters fucking hate the GOP border demands. Democrats will support more asylum judges and improving the efficiency of handling asylum claims, but that’s not available to the GOP. They want a wall and machine guns.

  91. 91.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: I don’t think it’s run its course! My pet-loving friends love it. It’s far better quality than the ones I get from charities.

  92. 92.

    WaterGirl

    @billcinsd:  That’s a nice idea.

    If you see that there’s someone in this thread who wanted to / hoped to buy one this year but couldn’t afford it – I would be happy to be the go-between and get a shipping address.

  96. 96.

    Martin

    @WaterGirl: They did, but these are dregs. We haven’t sent a substantial aid package to Ukraine in months – substantial meaning ‘keeping up with what Ukraine needs to just hold things static’. Russia is outproducing the west without the US throwing in sizable aid packages, and Biden is digging nickels out of the sofa here.

    If Ukraine want to do a counteroffensive, they need to be able to rely on certain things showing up in the future to plan around them. The US can’t promise a goddamn thing right now.

  97. 97.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Sorry, I’m just not a printed calendar gal. And having to be careful with money at the moment until I find out if my contract gets renewed. (Can I just say 3-month contract extensions really suck.)

  98. 98.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: He was supposed to do it all before the Republicans won the House. Or something like that. I can no longer follow the Ukraine threads because of this.

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    @Martin:

    If Ukraine want to do a counteroffensive, they need to be able to rely on certain things showing up in the future to plan around them. The US can’t promise a goddamn thing right now.

    I can’t disagree with that.  But I don’t know what control people think Biden has over the nihilist Republicans.

    P.S.  Not sure if you saw my other reply to you.  Can you check out the sidebar re: the calendar?

  100. 100.

    NeenerNeener

    I moved last week, and forgot all about it in the “pack up old house, fly to new city and find new house” furor. I ordered one last night. At least I think I did. I know I was on the Cafe Press page, anyway.

  101. 101.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: Biden is always wrong.

    Trump’s people support him no matter what. Our side can’t do anything but complain.

    Maybe when we have Trump as our Putin, we can stop complaining. (We won’t be able to, for one thing.)

  102. 102.

    Ann Marie

    I bought mine, but just one this year, not two.  I found that I just never used the second one.  I hope you keep these up.  Seeing everyone’s pets each month is lovely.

  103. 103.

    WaterGirl

    @Sister Golden Bear: I feel the need to ay again that this was not a push to get people to buy the calendar.  Because the purchase numbers are downs much, I am just trying to get a feel for what’s up with the people who do normally get the calendar, but aren’t getting it this year.

    Hence al the questions up top.

    No one should feel bad if they don’t buy a calendar!

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    @NeenerNeener: I used to be able to confirm that an order had been placed, because i could see names or email addresses or something.

    But this year I do not see that.  I guess if you do on-line banking you could see if there is a pending charge?

  105. 105.

    CaseyL

    (*raises hand*) Another procrastinator here.

    Nature Conservancy has for years sent me a calendar, and then get snippy about it when I don’t send a donation.  (I donate to them separately, so there.)  This seems to be the year they finally decided not to send any more, so I actually have need of one.

  106. 106.

    Ruckus

    @Rebel’s Dad:

    You get the job and need a suit…..

    I have a Hart Schaffner and Marks 42 regular black with very narrow almost blend in pinstripes that I’m selling. If it fits and you need a suit I’ll donate it if you pay the shipping. I wore it once for about an hour. The only thing I can imagine or would wear a suit for is my funeral, and I could care less what that is or isn’t. My family is gone, my funeral is likely to be whatever the VA does and is hopefully at least a couple of decades away.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    @CaseyL: I get kind of cranky when places try to guilt me into donating – by providing something and then playing on that with the words that come along with it.

    I have been know to mutter “I didn’t ask for your fucking calendar”.  (replace fucking calendar with whatever they sent me)

    Like some surveys include a dollar bill in the hopes that it will guilt you into doing something.

    Attempts to make me feel guilty have the opposite effect on me.

  109. 109.

    catclub

    @WaterGirl: *Although they certainly are with Engoron, so I may be wrong about that.

     

    Even there Trump aims a lot of his ire at the Judge’s clerk, a woman.

  110. 110.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus:  The cleaners that I go to has a sign up that says that if you are interviewing for a job, they will clean your outfit for free.

    I always tear up when I see that sign.  The owner is a good man.  The year my 7′ diameter tree fell on my house, he stored ALL my bedding (I have a lot), all of my coats and jackets,  all of my good clothes, all of my towels etc.

    For 6 months.  He charged me $100.

    Edit: And they delivered it all back to me at my house when I was ready.

  114. 114.

    cain

    @dmsilev: At least he’s consistent – most GOP believe in diverting public fund to private interests. This looks pretty much the same thing :)

  117. 117.

    MomSense

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Oh my goodness – the way you phrased wrecked Elantra made me laugh – and I’m terribly sorry.  If it makes you feel better I am definitely laughing with you.  My Christma$ and then some was spent on plumbing!  It involved bonus holes in ceilings and walls which I had to repair.

    Fa la la la la la fucking la

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    @zhena gogolia: Biden got $60 billion in military aid passed in the Omnibus bill right before Christmas of last year. That was after Republicans won the House but before the current Congress.

    So I guess the complaint is that he didn’t get a lot more back then. I still think he’ll get more in the next few days, but for now he hasn’t and the uncertainty is an issue.

  119. 119.

    cain

    Since this is an open thread:

    My 4 cats have formed some kind of coop gang. One has learned how to open doors and taught all the others. Now every door that is closed the night before is open including the door to the garage! So these critters are having a good time going on a tour of the house opening every door and wandering around. Especially the garage. One discovered an old litter box and proceeded to use it!

    ETA they especially been enjoying going into my daughter’s bedroom and then waking her up. Theyu can’t get into ours because there is a lock on the door. Unfortunately the other bedrooms don’t have locks.

  121. 121.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Ordered one like every year.  We donate shit tons to a local cat-only spay/neuter clinic, my wife volunteers there.  The fact this calendar is a fund raiser for a shelter is simply one reason to get one every year.

    Yeah, one of the cats in my photos died a few months back, that makes having her on the wall in Feb 2024 even better.

  122. 122.

    WaterGirl

    @Fair Economist: Xavier is in the calendar – June in Calendar B, I believe.

    You may have missed the post where BJ peeps voted to use the design from last year since we had it all ready to get and upload to Cafe Press when they said they didn’t have paper?

    So everyone who replied to the post said they wanted to use what they had sent in the year before.

    So Xavier is in the calendar with the photo you sent in last year.

  123. 123.

    Betty Cracker

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:

    Some folks in the Democratic coalition will be really angry about it, but there are plenty of people who lean Democratic who are not happy about the strain, particularly on housing but for other services too, from having such a large surge of immigrants.

    I think that’s right. John Fetterman today:

    “I hope Democrats can understand that it isn’t xenophobic to be concerned about the border,” Fetterman said in an interview. “It’s a reasonable conversation, and Democrats should engage.”

    Fetterman, a progressive favorite, urged Democrats to acknowledge the large numbers of migrants streaming across the southern border. He cited the nearly 270,000 border encounters that U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported in September.

    “Honestly, it’s astonishing. And this isn’t a Fox News kind of statistic. This is the government’s,” he said. “You essentially have Pittsburgh showing up there at the border.”

    Republicans are demagogues on the border issue because it’s politically beneficial for them, which makes it tempting to dismiss any engagement at all. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. Fetterman didn’t go into specifics because he said he doesn’t want to paint himself into a corner, but it sounds like he thinks a compromise may be possible. We’ll see.

  124. 124.

    WaterGirl

    @MomSense: Did you get the Jacquie Lawson advent calendar I sent you?   I thought that would help get you in the holiday spirit.

    Unless your email had changed and you didn’t get the email?  I also texted you.

  127. 127.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: “Snazzy” might have been an overstatement. ;-)

    It seems to have come from here but the customized version I was sent has green weekends rather than the default pink.

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  128. 128.

    cain

    @Betty Cracker:

    Border security should be coupled with sane foreign policy. We need to look at NAFTA again, we need to look at other things that create instability to our neighbors in the south.

    One thing we absolutely need to stop doing is fucking with their govts because they are not friendly to american businesses. It’s their goddam resources.

  129. 129.

    JAFD

    @Rebel’s Dad: If you’re living anywhere near Newark (said Rutgers, so am assuming N.J.), please have Ms. Watergirl or Ms. Laurie put you in touch with me.  May be able to be of some help, food wise.

  132. 132.

    catclub

    @cain: Unfortunately the other bedrooms don’t have locks.

     

    That might change.

     

    I always thought if we had lever doorknobs(?)  our big cat would figure them out.

  134. 134.

    shirk

    Hadn’t gotten around to it, just ordered my two. THANK YOU for all the work that goes into this!

  137. 137.

    WaterGirl

    @catclub: My Mr. Bear tries to do that, but he’s not quite tall enough.  He can jiggle it so I hear the sound and can open the door, but he can’t quite get the leverage to actually push it down.

  138. 138.

    rikyrah

    Democrat, Environmentalist, & the establishment (@BlueSteelDC) posted at 6:27 AM on Thu, Dec 07, 2023:
    When Donald Trump is convicted he would have already clinched the nomination.

    He will have the numbers by late March

    He will have the formal process in the summer

    Republican have made it clear there is no path to remove even if convicted

    Democrat, Environmentalist, & the establishment (@BlueSteelDC) posted at 6:45 AM on Thu, Dec 07, 2023:
    Nikki Haley has less than six weeks to topple Donald Trump.

    Chris Christie less than six weeks to do this

    Because they are going to get beat in the South. Most embarrassingly for Haley by her own state.

     

    Democrat, Environmentalist, & the establishment (@BlueSteelDC) posted at 6:52 AM on Thu, Dec 07, 2023:
    The constant drumbeat about replacing someone so late in the game really hid the reality of how difficult it is to do that.

    All of this idiotic conversation on the Dem side about replacement from “politicos’ did a disservice to ppl understanding the timeline
    (https://x.com/BlueSteelDC/status/1732744905754079584?t=l_cnhaADzxiEcasUXnSiug&s=03)

  140. 140.

    NeenerNeener

    @WaterGirl: I just checked  my credit card activity. The one I thought I bought yesterday doesn’t show up, but the one I ordered today does. I remember filling out all the shipping and credit card info yesterday, but I guess it didn’t go all the way through. I kept getting error messages just now that they were having technical difficulties; maybe I missed that when I tried yesterday.

  141. 141.

    Bupalos

    In this open thread I just want to say it was a huge fucking mistake to structure the HEERA rebates to run through the states in the first place, with apparently no federal urgency whatsoever to even enable let alone push the states to design their programs. What was supposed to be available in 2023 is now slated for “limited availability in the latter part of 2024.” Really it won’t be anywhere that matters electorally before 2025 which may well mean it just doesn’t ever exist. The signature accomplishment of the Biden administration has been postponed until after the election. It’s an own-goal.

    It could have been a refundable credit until programs were in place. And if that couldn’t get through, at the very least there could have been effort and resources allocated to expedite the process.

  142. 142.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: Of course “encounter” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in these conversations.

    encounter, administrative – CBP/CBP administrative encounter: An encounter by CBP Office of Field Operations (OFO) with a noncitizen who is determined to be inadmissible and whose application for admission is terminated without prejudice, who is a crewman refused landing rights or detained on board, or who is granted parole status.

    Encounter, enforcement (CBP enforcement encounter): An encounter by CBP with a noncitizen who is apprehended by USBP or determined to be inadmissible by OFO, except for persons whose application for admission is terminated without prejudice, who are crewmen refused landing rights or detained on board, or who are granted parole status.

    encounters: The sum of USBP Title 8 apprehensions, OFO Title 8 inadmissibles, and noncitizens processed for expulsions under Title 42 authority by USBP or OFO.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if people are cherry-picking the numbers and combining categories. (E.g. if people are processed for expulsion, then the system is working and the border is protected, isn’t it??)

    Something like 14M people crossed the border just at Laredo, TX in 2018.  Lots of people cross the border.  Lots of people cross and are excluded. We’re used to it.  It’s not a crisis, IMHO.

    That said, we need more government people handling asylum claims, normal immigration issues, and all the rest.  It shouldn’t take years, or decades, for people to be admitted. We don’t need to be panicked into closing the borders and throwing people out who meet the standards for staying.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  143. 143.

    cain

    @WaterGirl: We have video of our lady cat jumping up and down to hit that lever. She just came out of kittenhood. Both her and her brother have been opening doors now.

    My black cat has now started this thing now where he makes this weird meow as if he is announcing something and he comes into the room with a cat toy in his mouth and then drops it in front of me and looks up at me. It’s like cat gift giving season :D

  144. 144.

    MagdaInBlack

    @MomSense: Im laughing in between panic attacks, but I just got off the phone with ins and confirmed I’m covered so called the shop ( my boss) and said tear it down and fix it. I can sorta breathe again 🙂

    ( we aren’t supposed to say ” tear down” we are supposed to say “disassemble.)

  147. 147.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @cain:

    My black cat has now started this thing now where he makes this weird meow as if he is announcing something and he comes into the room with a cat toy in his mouth and then drops it in front of me and looks up at me.

    Our black cat, Bonnie, aka Satan’s Handmaiden, does the same thing every day, sometimes many times a day.  I’ll take the mice back upstairs so she can bring them down, yowling like the devil she is.

  149. 149.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: Weird.  It quickly shows a web page with various fields one can change and a preview, and you can then download a PDF for the year.  It works on Winders and my Android phone, here.

    Sorry it’s giving you issues.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  150. 150.

    Ruviana

    @cain: He might want you to throw it. I have a cat that plays fetch with me off and on throughout the day. You could try it and see what he does. My cat also likes to open cabinet doors and push books off bookshelves.

  151. 151.

    cain

    It’s been six months since I’ve gotten hearing aids. I think the problem of hearing has gotten worse. I think the problem is that I”m using the bluetooth function all the time and listening to spotify. So I never hear what anybody is saying anyways. :D

  152. 152.

    Bupalos

    @Betty Cracker: I strongly encourage us all to look at what is going on with the dream European democracies we’ve long aspired to be, and refigure our math on immigration. The reality is that global warming is going to force us to do an essentially immoral political calculus. This writing is very much on the wall and we need to figure out how to respond.

  153. 153.

    cain

    @Ruviana: I will give it a try – but he’s not much of a chaser. Even if that is the two younger ones will be all over it before the black cat even decides to play with it!

    Also with the open doors, every fucking plant is also being chewed on. There is not a plant in that doesn’t have its leaves ripped and chewed. Of course, they also puke in various places.

    Lately, someone has decided to poop in front of the litter box and there is random peeing in front of the litterbox as well. What a mad house! :D

  154. 154.

    Geminid

    @cain: I also have things I want see in an immigration bill. But Democrats are not going to be able to work out a deal that treats all these questions in the best way, because the need for aid to Ukraine is too important and pressing. Republicans will get some provisions that Democrats do not want because this is not the time for a game of legislative chicken.

    But Democratic leaders want a lot of what we’ll get. President Biden asked for $14 billion in border funding in his original request. This wasn’t a tactical ploy; he thinks these investments are neccesary and people like Senator Fetterman and Rep. Gallego are two of many Democrats who agree.

  155. 155.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishments☘🌈 Koch

    @cain:

    Everybody’s talkin’ at me
    I don’t hear a word they’re sayin’
    Only the echoes of my mind

  156. 156.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker:He cited the nearly 270,000 border encounters that U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported in September.

    does that mean 270K individuals trying to cross illegally? I wonder how many of those are repeated efforts by same people or groups?

    also, I find progressive increasing be-normie-ing of John Fetterman amusing. He’ll be wearing long pants and collared shirts next

  158. 158.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia:

    Trump’s people support him no matter what. Our side can’t do anything but complain.

    Because they are a cult, not a healthy political party. A healthy party can criticize its leaders when they are wrong.

  159. 159.

    Steeplejack

    @Rebel’s Dad:

    Just a reminder that with the straight apostrophe in your nym every comment will have to be approved by a front-pager. I thought we helped you with the “smart apostrophe” solution a while back? Let me know if you need a refresher.

  160. 160.

    tandem

    I am not a wall calendar user and so not a buyer. But: (1) I don’t recall as many reminders this year as in the past. (2) This thread made me realize I could donate to Walter’s Fund directly, and so I did!

  163. 163.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack: Maybe you can replace the regular apostrophe in Rebel’s Dad with the fancy one that WP doesn’t mind, and copy that into a comment so Rebel’s Dad can just copy that into the nym field in his browser?

    If he posts a comment right away, then WordPress will remember the one that works.

    If he has more than one device, he will need to do the same process on each one.

  165. 165.

    RevRick

    @WaterGirl: Congress has sole power of the purse, and all appropriations must originate in the House. Now the Senate can finagle around this by taking a House bill, stripping everything out of it and sticking its priorities in it. But there’s a limit to those shenanigans.

  166. 166.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:

    I used to have a customer in Mexico who would send one of his semi tractors to deliver tooling back to us for modification or pickup new tooling and I would ride my motorcycle down there when necessary because I could bypass all the lines of cars to the front of the line. In a 4 wheeler the line might take an hour. Minimum. On my bike it took less than 5 minutes.

  173. 173.

    Matt McIrvin

    We should just let all those people in, the only reason that is a crisis is that people are shits. Democrats are shits, Europeans are shits too, but Republicans are bigger shits so what are you gonna do.

    The same people who worry about a flood of refugees and the supposed burden of immigrants sometimes worry about our declining birthrate and the aging population pyramid. Seems like a solution to me, at least until the whole world runs out of people. I can’t worry about both at the same time unless it’s some Great Replacement garbage.

  175. 175.

    Mary

    I just ordered my calendar.  Just realized how fast time is going by. Thanks for the reminder.

  176. 176.

    Martin

    @WaterGirl: It’s not about Biden’s control over Congress, it’s about the US being an unreliable partner because Republicans have no interest in being a reliable partner – they only have an interest in their hold on power. Consequently, the US is not a reliable partner in the same way that credit agencies say that the US is not a reliable borrower because they know the GOP will threaten a default every chance they get. It’s not a property of the relationship between Biden and Congress, it’s simply a property of the GOP, and any time the GOP controls any branch of government (even when they can utilize the filibuster) it becomes a property of the whole nation. We can never be better than our worst actors.

  177. 177.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Martin:

    You can make the same argument for a lot of nations these days. Look at who Argentina just elected recently for example.

    It’s still not fair to paint the entire country with such a broad brush

  180. 180.

    karen marie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   I’d like to know what this means and why:

    While Thursday’s appellate court ruling upheld Engoron’s conclusion that Trump committed fraud, it halted his order suspending Trump’s standing as a corporate officer in New York-based businesses.

     

    My guess is the appellate court thinks that’s a decision best reserved until the final order but that’s only a guess.

    Anyone else know?

  183. 183.

    karen marie

    @cain:  My now two-year-old cat does that occasionally – walks into my bedroom making a weird miaowing noise with a toy in her mouth.  I’ve had cats my whole life and this one takes the cake for weirdness.

    Her spaniel has been wearing a cone on her head for a week because of a small tumor removal from one of her eyelids.  Baby Cat is terrified of it.  Despite being thoroughly tired of not being able to scratch her head or rub her face, I expect the spaniel would ask to continue wearing it because it  stops Baby Cat from fucking with her.

  184. 184.

    schrodingers_cat

    @zhena gogolia: Your kidding right? Biden is to be blamed when people can’t buy the house they want and because rents are too damned high. Biden is responsible for every real and imagined problem. Period.

    So say we (many in the BJ commentariat, the media, “progressives” and so on) all.

  185. 185.

    karen marie

    @cain: Mineral oil.  Put about a tablespoon of it in a tiny bowl, see if they’ll drink it.  I’ve had three out of three serial cats drink it on their own.  Completely eliminates hairball pukage.

    Never give your cat vegetable oil because it is absorbed by the intestine, gluing the hair to the wall and creating a blockage.  Mineral oil pulls the hair all the way out.  It doesn’t give them loose stool or diarrhea.  If they have too much, they might get a bit of a greasy butt.

    You want to be careful with dosing them with it by pouring it into their mouths because (I’ve read) they can potentially aspirate it (not a good thing).  But I did that (1/2 teaspoon every month or two) with the first of the three – the one whose vet recommended it – for over five years with no problem, until I discovered she liked it and would drink it on her own.

  186. 186.

    WaterGirl

    @karen marie: That’s my understanding from the legal eagles.

    That’s the bell that can’t be un-rung.

    But I don’t know if there’s anywhere else for them to go from here.  paging BJ attorneys…

  187. 187.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    Trump is a fucking pig.

    That is not a very nice thing to say about pigs. I mean they do live in slop and pig shit but to compare pigs to ShitForBrains is really a low blow to pig fucking. I mean geez they are animals and to have to fuck to create little piggies.

  188. 188.

    Ruckus

    Water Girl

    The shipment details on my calendar arrival say tomorrow.

    I imagine that being close to the state where the press is located helps a bit.

  189. 189.

    KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

    I’m happy to make a contribution, but honestly, I just don’t use paper calendars anymore. I don’t have a place to hang one, and my online calendar is just so dang much more handy.

    I do miss the pictures on paper calendars though.

  190. 190.

    WaterGirl

    @KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): No need for you to feel like you should make a contribution.  All fundraising is totally voluntary.

    No one will know if you contribute through the thermometer, and no one will know if you don’t!

    Truly, this post was not a nudge to donate.  Just trying to understand the big drop-off so we can make the best decisions going forward.

  192. 192.

    TerryC

    My wife decides on our 2024 calendar much earlier in 2023. If I remember to send a pic next year I will work on her to wait for this one.

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