Earlier this week, I posted this photo to illustrate how our dog Pete has misappropriated a sofa cover in our rental that is intended to protect the upholstery from pets:
He’s the lump above. Here he is using the same sofa cover as a medieval friar costume:
Or maybe he’s supposed to be a racehorse. I’m not sure. But I need to cut his claws. Today.
When we go home, he’s going to miss that sofa cover. We might have to buy one just for Pete.
Open thread!
Baud
Steal it!
zhena gogolia
So sweet. Cats are very good at this sort of thing as well.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@zhena gogolia: I was thinking the same thing, my cat loves to find anything he can make into a cave. Seeing him try to fit into things he knows he won’t fit in is hilarious.
cmorenc
Our dogs are completely oblivious to the Presidential election results, or even of course to the fact that an election was happening. OTOH, they can pick up our pissy mood about it, and may be wondering whether that has to do with their being a bad dog rather than a good dog.
WereBear
Pete was born to be a supermodel, and that’s all there is to it.
WereBear
delete
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Since this is an open thread with BCrack in the lead, here’s something she said back in 2020 (prior to the J6 insurrection) and it’s just as applicable today as it was back then:
One could make the case that Tuesday indicates we’ve entered the terminally stupid phase.
WereBear
The pet cover looks similar to the one I got for the daybed where I write, with the cats. It’s actually soft to the skin, and spilled stuff wipes right off with the correct products. And machine washable, doesn’t even need the dryer and I need the humidity.
For the record, that would be Zout! for the civilians, and any gallon of professional enzyme cleaner.
Shelter people all have their favorites :)
Layer8Problem
I’ve got two words to say to you about this, Ms. Cracker: Thank, and You.
Annie
Happy to report that I have a cat again! My beloved Tommy went to the Great Catnip Patch in the Sky earlier this year, and it took me a while to recover. And I now have Nora. She’s about 2 years old, lovely gray with white paws and chest. We’re still in the settling-in process, she only moved in on October 21, but she loves it when I pet her and has spent part of every night on my bed. So I think it’s going well. (She was named for Nora Charles from The Thin Man.)
I’ve been petting her a lot since Tuesday evening . . .
EntroPi
We have our couches and bed covered with waterproof blankets due to our doodle having incontinence issues from medication imbalances. She’s doing better with a new vet.
She hates them and will dig herself under them every time.
On the plus side, one of her favorite things is trying to attack us from under them.
Betty Cracker
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: FWIW, I’m STILL mad at myself for retaining the capacity to be surprised and disappointed by America. Maybe this election finally killed that? We’ll see if there’s another election that isn’t a sham authoritarian affair like those staged in Hungary.
My sister and I have similar if not identical political views, but she’s a much nicer and more optimistic person than I am. Always has been. This election result broke her too.
Villago Delenda Est
Pete is a good boy who knows what comfort is. YAY PETE!
And, as always Ms. Cracker, best of everything to you!
Nancy
I am resolutely thinking about your charming dog and not about the immensity of this outcome.
My cats are also cute. Zena currently chooses to curl up on the papers I’m trying to sort. She could give lessons on ignoring items she doesn’t want to know about such as the lovely blankets that are nearby, just waiting for her to nest in them.
Villago Delenda Est
@Annie: Sounds like Nora is indeed settling in. Sleeping on the bed is an excellent sign. Zooty (my smol black panther) spends every night on the bed with me, except for times when I have to get up for some reason or another, he jumps off after me, but always comes back, and would prefer that I sleep in every single day. I’ve been recovering from SOMETHING for the past couple of weeks, and last weekend got my COVID and Flu shots (who knows what will happen next year with Bobby the Infinitely Lesser “in charge” of the destroying public health) and so far no issues there. Just a persistent cough which can be attributed to a side effect of one of the multitude of drugs (none of which get me high) I’m prescribed.
Layer8Problem
Apropos of nothing, I’ve been watching a fire across the river here, on the Palisades. We have been smelling something barbecuelike since 4 in the morning. Weeks of no rain makes things pretty dry, go figure. A red helicoper with a bucket underneath has been dipping into the Hudson and flying up and dumping the water on it.
p.a.
Here’s some existential questions that can provide a breather from current events:
Bay leaf- necessary addition to soups and stews, or might as well put in your yardwaste bag?
Burgers- regular or smash?
Hotel or B&B? (Not airb&b)
Fries- ketchup, malt vinegar, mayo?
Coffee and sunrise, adult beverage at sunset?
Turkey at Xmas? (Thanksgiving is a given…)
Pizza or pasta?
Mine: bayleaf yes, regular burger, B&B, mayo or vinegar, coffee sunrise, I like turkey but…, pizza (local, no chain)
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: Don’t be.
WereBear
@Annie: I love Nora Charles!
That series is what I wanted in my own marriage, and I am glad I did not settle for less :)
Maxim
More pet content is always welcome. Pete is adorable in his friar costume.
As for the country … I saw a post on FB the other day (backed up with links to source material) that said many of us are living in a literacy bubble, with no idea what it’s like for those outside it.
Half the adults in the US are close to functionally illiterate. Out of 5 levels of literacy defined by the relevant study, these adults are at levels 1 and 2. They can only recognize a few words, like Stop on a traffic sign, or read the most basic of sentences. Their ability to analyze information and arguments is virtually nonexistent.
They are, of course, extremely vulnerable to propaganda.
Sigh. More pets, please.
WereBear
@p.a.: Smash? And let out all the lovely juice?
That’s what your body makes hormones with! I do not skimp.
WereBear
Tristan got a dragon hut for his 15th birthday. He’s got a lot of Siamese, and pointedly leaps onto our high bed to scorn the thing we put to help him.
In the cranky department, he’s rested and ready. Bud Abbott keeps him on his toes. Unless he makes Tristan yell at him, then, I get on his case.
Tristan finds that delightful.
Three ways to use a cat hut is a post with pictures
WereBear
It would explain SO much.
Joy in FL
I love the Medieval Friar. What a great, funny photo.
narya
Today I received my copy of King Arthur’s “Big Book of Bread,” currently on sale for $30. It is AWESOME. Highly recommend, especially if you need a gift for a baker in your life. I have a no-physical-books policy these days, but made an exception for this, and my next task is go through it a page at a time and flag the things I want to try first.
dlwchico
Those harsh Florida winters are too much for Pete.
trollhattan
Dogs are pleasure-seeking missiles. If I go to the bedroom right now, ours will be lying on one of five tactical pillows, his head carefully resting on a second. It’s uncanny.
Now that winter is arriving, he must sleep under the Outer Shield comforter. If it weren’t for the Outer Shield, he’d spend the night trying to get beneath the Main Comforter and directly with us.
Dogs.
WereBear
@narya: They know their stuff! From them, I learned about fantastic pie.
The inside dope!
trollhattan
@dlwchico:
Totally relatable.
rk
People talk about Hungry. Trump loves the Hungarian dictator, but Hungary is 9 million people and easier to be a dictator of. I don’t think that it’s going to to be a cakewalk for a deranged, lazy and essentially stupid man like Trump to be disciplined enough to enact his policies so easily. The people around him are morons as well and will probably fight to the death amonst themselves. We locked up the Japanese in internment camps. Are we going to do the same with immigrants? Who is going to build the camps? How long will it take? Where? Which states will be o.k. with this? I know Miller wants this. What will the reality look like in this age of cameras and recording. We were at war with Japan. A lot of Americans rely on immigrant labor and know immigrants. How will this play out in the real world as opposed to the fever dreams of the far right?
Once the economy tanks and people feel the pain, who is going to be blamed?
If I’m thinking this, the planners must have thought this too. Does anyone have any idea how this is to work with 11 million people? Will the rural American men become MAGA enforcers. An army of honorary ICE enforcers so to speak?
These are the questions that have been going through my mind.
Quinerly
https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/exit-polls/national-results/general/president/0
Harris, Biden/Harris never had a chance.
Quinerly
“Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory. No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”
Jeff Bezos
cmorenc
Aside from the misogyny and racism in play against Harris, another factor is that frankly, her proposal to give new homebuyers $25k sounded to a substantial number of voters too much like pie-in-the-sky economics to somehow pay for out of tax revenues, and undermined her credibility with voters who are not themselves MAGA-fied. Especially, the tax revenues from people who already had bought and were paying out of pocket for houses. Also, although most people grasped that supply chain problems were part of the cause of the inflation associated with COVID, another very widespread impression was that another major cause was the huge infusion of covid economic relief money (including to businesses) that was injected in the early months of the Biden Administration, a fair portion of which was fraudulently diverted by businesses swindling the system.
OK, so the counterarguments write themselves about the huge amounts of graft, tax giveaways, corruption, and incompetence of the Trump Administration handling COVID was a major factor, but alas the goldfish-brain take of too much of the electorate that it was the Biden Administration’s economic profligacy is what stuck and was reinforced by every trip to the grocery store, whereas the huge financial contributions to it by the Trump Administration were much less obvious in everyday life.
sab
@narya: Electronic coookbooks just don’t work for me, although almost every other book I have is an e-book. The food spill stains are how I remember which are the best recipes.
I am trying to figure out how to re-attach the covers to a couple of my grandmothers’ cookbooks. Possibly with muslin fabric and elmer’s glue?
WereBear
@rk: There will be brown shirts.
Though in 2024, Probably a pastel polo, with some Fiver logo on it. Under their body armor, because they do like unfair advantage.
All those manly men who couldn’t get into the armed forces even with W’s waivers for felonies and literacy. But militias take anyone.
buggrit
The court system is in the soup here in Washington State, entire judicial information system down. Everything has slowed to a crawl here. I have never looked forward to a three day weekend so much in my entire life.
MazeDancer
@Annie: How wonderful!
Quinerly
@cmorenc:
Did you say grift? Let’s talk the private prison industry.
https://www.salon.com/2024/11/08/unprecedented-opportunity-for-profit-execs-salivate-at-potential-mass-deportation-camps/
https://www.vox.com/policy/383286/chart-trump-immigration-crackdown-private-prison
lowtechcyclist
@Quinerly:
Anticipatory
obedienceblowjob from Jeff Bezos.Fuck that dude with a pitchfork.
@Quinerly:
All too fucking believable. Of course the private prison people would be drooling over this yuuuge opportunity.
VeniceRiley
I slept on the sofa and under my emotional support blanket all day. Reggie by my side sleeping as well.
WereBear
@Quinerly: That was my conclusion. And it’s funny, because I’m a professional entertainer, Tarot reader, I fundraise for local shelters.
I also knock down superstition about it. It is a marvelous route to meditation, for instance. And I use psych techniques because they WANT me to make the decision for them, and I tell them that’s not ethical.
But I’m glad to explore possibilities with them… so that’s what we do. They pour their heart out, and my job is done if some of their delusion and wishful thinking has been purged from their mindset.
I’ve been grabbed in the street a year later, someone was so happy they got “that much” therapy. I tell them they did it themselves and they can do it all the time now. :) Which is my way of saying that whatever magical qualities my skill and the cardboard possess are in the quantum realm if so.
I deal in Reality.
So I’m not claiming clairvoyance, but this summer I crunched numbers and concluded the drop in our cat business would continue — something was afoot, and I did have a bad feeling about how long it would last.
So I discontinued our physical products, let the commercial space go, consolidated everything and threw out/donated/gift LOTS. A real minimalist campaign. All digital products are what I make now: no shipping, no product delays, no making products except with my laptop.
Maybe a part of me was whispering, “Time to stock the storm cellar.”
Elizabelle
Everyone in the Cracker temporary abode has found something to like.
Remind me, what is Pete’s second name? Does he have one?
Will not wake him up to ask.
p.a.
Has Ben Ciscoe (sp?) been commenting lately? Since before Tuesday’s disaster I mean. Was he a Kamala/Joe casualty?
Betsy
Pete the Embezzler!
Sasha
My beloved basset, may he rest in peace, was often cold. We didn’t have a good heating system and kept the house colder than he liked. I used to cover him meticulously in an old down comforter we had, making sure that the end of his nose was exposed to the air. Then one day, after doing that, I watched him spin around until he was completely covered, like the first photo of Pete. If you didn’t know he was there, you would never guess that there was a dog under the comforter. From that point on, I just tossed the comforter over him and he loved it.
Chat Noir
@WereBear: OMG I remember when Sir Tristan was just a baby cat! My “kitten” is now 16 years old.
Glyph2112
@Quinerly: I agree. I don’t think there was any policy, messaging, or alternate candidate that would have changed this outcome. The information was out there plainly and easy to obtain. We just found we live in a country where “belief” literally trumps facts, science and objectivity.
Geminid
@p.a.: Ben Cisco has commented recently, I think the day after the Election.
cope
@WereBear: Properly done, you smash the patty right when you put it on the hot surface to increase surface area for searing that will hold the juices in. My thin, wide smashburgers always come out nice and juicy if I am attentive to their cooking.
Quinerly
I never joined. I am hoping FPers and commenters seriously think about dumping Twitter/X.
I am struggling with Amazon. Hoping to never order from it again. My major credit card is tied to Amazon Prime. I pay it off every month. Loved the points….they have paid for a lot of stuff, including a couple televisions and some great pairs of Ariat and Tony Lama boots. Dumping ordering from Amazon and the card is easy. My issue is Prime Video. It’s my only source of movies. And Prime Music and Alexa. I so enjoy saying “Alexa, play Al Kooper.”
Tell me your thoughts.
https://newrepublic.com/article/188156/liberals-dump-musk-leave-twitter
Chat Noir
@Maxim:
Wow. I don’t know what else to say.
David Collier-Brown
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: maybe not terminally stupid, but driven to mindless rage by the end of the American Dream.
When I was a youngster, in the ’40s and ’50s, all the parents knew that their children would do better than they did, so long as the kids worked hard. In both Canada and the U.S., a coal-miner could afford a two-story, three-bedroom house. Everyone assumed that their children would at least be that rich.
But we weren’t. Trying hard wasn’t enough. A good union job making car wheels wasn’t enough. And it was worse in Canada. By ’74, everyone in the lower class knew they were in a blind alley. We all knew that the economy was setting records, but we were making less money. But we didn’t know why, or who to blame.
Today, we still mostly don’t know why, but we certainly know who to blame: every ruling government.
In Canada, we’ve had Preston Manning, Stockwell Day and now Pierre Poilievre beating the drum against the government of the day. In the US, it was Donald Trump, preaching that improvements in the economy didn’t “trickle down” to anyone. So now we have a huge community of people who’ve been cheated out of their dreams, and who blame the ruling party.
It doesn’t matter that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris helped bring the economy back from recession. Until some of that recovery money flows into the hands of the working class, until they can have the American Dream once more, we’ll have the rule of the politician who are the least fit, but best able to drum up anger.
WereBear
@cope: Aha! This explains how it is, so often, done wrong :)
It needs competence.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: LeBoeuf.
@p.a.: Pretty sure I’ve seen comments from him recently. He’s a good guy.
CaseyL
BettyC –
I love the photo of Pete swaddled in the slip cover.
Monk? Race horse? When I was a kid, we lived in Philadelphia, and my parents frequently went to Philadelphia Eagles football games. In the winter, and there were no such things as covered stadiums back then. Mom and Dad wore parkas suitable for strolling in arctic storms. The way the parkas were made, the hood grew right out of the collar: the zipper went all the way up to the bottom of the hood, so when it was zipped up the hood was like a short fur-lined tunnel.
Pete with the slipcover over his head looks like he’s wearing one of those parkas.
Update on my sweet old kitty Oscar: He is making a great recovery from his hyperthyroid treatment! He had his 1-month follow-up visit last week, and the blood test results are in. His thyroid is functioning normally! His liver values improved dramatically! Everything looks good.
He is aware that I’m upset about something, I think. He seems a bit subdued: might be picking it up from me, or might just be that he has a normal metabolism now, not one that has him all ultra-energized.
I want to tell people whose cats need the I-131 hyperthyroid treatment: keep an eye on them their first week to 10 days afterwards. It is a recovery phase. They may not want to eat much; they may be low-energy. And their necks might hurt! Oscar wanted his food and water dishes elevated, like his neck was bothering him. The treatment may make them achey or even inflame/irritate the nearby tissues. This isn’t something the vet or clinic warned me about ahead of time, and I wish they had.
Chat Noir
@rk: John Oliver did a mass deportation segment on his show a couple weeks ago. He said that to do what Dumb Ass wants to do would cost around $1 trillion. As always, the segment was informative and horrifying at the same time.
David Collier-Brown
@David Collier-Brown: Not just Canada and the US: every government that held an election this year. See https://cdn.masto.host/mastomachliscom/media_attachments/files/113/448/328/942/136/822/original/47b8cb0c10efefdc.jpg
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I suspect observing the Red States is a better idea how this will go down.
TinRoofRusted
@Layer8Problem: saw the smoke this morning during my walk in Fort Tryon Park. Also saw some FDNY folks walking off the trails in the park but not sure what they were there for, I could not smell smoke in that part of the park.
Maxim
@Sasha: My puppers are on the small side, 12-15 lbs, and so they tend to be cold. They always want a blanket or a throw over them. The smaller one actually runs hotter than the larger one, and she will crawl out from under after a while, sprawling on top; but if part of her is exposed, the rest of her will stay under longer. The other one is content to stay fully covered for hours.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
That’s very odd to me because right now is the Good Old Days in manufacturing. Me personally, Trump would really have to screw the economy up big time to threaten my employment prospects because my skills are in such high demand. I suspect part of this “The economy sucks” is in-sourcing is causing a massive economic realignment were people who built their careers on offshoring are seeing it all fall apart.
Quinerly
I am sure this has been discussed. I took a little spin on this Jon Miller’s page. The antisemitic postings might be some of the most disgusting shit I have ever seen.
“Women threatening sex strikes like LMAO as if you have a say,” wrote streamer Jon Miller, who later noted that he had successfully removed a community note from the viral post, allowing him to “profit from it.”
https://newrepublic.com/post/188159/donald-trump-maga-attacks-women?fbclid=IwY2xjawGbQD1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHa602B3ob-XCY2Wx8m8y_vC5FyfGo9XhHX09T0mIFoGyTxEvXN3bmuyr8g_aem_sDrvsxrTk7VPW6iabcfVmA
WereBear
@Quinerly: Sure, and we can all live in the woods like the old Adirondack hermits. They would spend the warm months building a tunnel of wood, and the cold months burning it, and hope they came out even.
But If I don’t order from Amazon, I would have to drive an hour in either direction to buy from Wal-Mart. Which, I think, is worse than Amazon, and always has been. Thus, I pick my retail poisons.
A lot of what I need is not available locally, even if they try to order it for me. So if that fails, I go online. And lots of times, I try to find an alternative small business, so I do support them. But I also need affordable cat food and the right kind of brush for my hair, and online is the only way.
Myself, I am an author who publishes with them. And I took a principled stand when the publishing business started going right-wing and exploitative of writers.
Glad I took the indy route, which revitalized a lot of readers, and opened new markets. Now I can diversify into Barnes & Noble and other outlets. All of which is a good thing.
So it’s just not possible to be pure unless you do take to the woods with a pocketknife and a bag of salt.
And being miserable will not help ANYTHING. It is not the kind of boycott which is successful :)
Quinerly
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
The MSM is responsible for this disaster. I’ll say it again. Harris, Biden/Harris never had a chance.
https://presswatchers.org/2024/11/i-blame-the-media/
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I working in manufacturing, I got a 35% raise over the last two years, all because of the labor shortage caused by fixing the supply chain problem combined with in sourcing. I am hardly alone in that experience. This is not reported because manufacturing is little people work with most workers immigrants or minorities.
Juju
@Quinerly: You should use your Amazon account to send anything written by Dr. Timothy Snyder to Jeff Bezos.
I tried Amazon a few years ago, but to me, they were more trouble than they were worth. Bad deliveries, hard to get to deal with an actual human when mistakes were made and so on. My sister in law is considering dropping Amazon and is feeling the same way you do, but she has the google thing that you ask questions.
I am not on twitter, facebook or many things in which I can be traced. Having a stalker in your past can make you wary of such things. He’s dead now, so I don’t worry as much as I used to, but it’s always in the back of my mind.
JiveTurkin
A few questions and a comment
Quinerly
@WereBear:
Your comments are always so thoughtful. Thank you.
dr. luba
@WereBear: I like smash burger largely because they are thin patties of meat. I hate ordering a hamburger and getting a slightly flattened meatball.
Ohio Mom
@sab: I am sure there are many YouTubes on book repair. If you can stand all the prattling that comes before the demonstration.
p.a.
Rethugs got the system down pat: if the economy is ok-to-good, find the people/segments not doing so well (it’s a big country and a BIG economy) and amplify them. Get covert Rethug functionaries to wear clothes from Savers/SA stores on local tv whinging. If things are not good, their national politicians & media blame gubmint spending (i.e. Dems, i.e. welfare for you-know-who.)
And the national fucking media leads with: “despite growth, the economy hasn’t helped…”
Every time. #notsayingtherearen’tissues
Also too, by the way, those capitalism-lovers never mention there are always winners and losers in mature, national economies.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Quinerly: Oh I agree about the never stood a chance.
But speaking as someone who has worked in manufacturing since the late ’80s, no one, but no one gave a shit when we were all losing our jobs too offshoring so it doesn’t surprise me one bit no one is even aware that there is this boom in it going on right now.
Nukular Biskits
Any recommendations for folks to follow on Bluesky?
I’m also on Threads (but I kinda hate that because it relies on Instagram which is now controlled by Facebook, which I hate with the white hot fury of a thousand suns).
One of the biggest adjustments for me is effectively starting over. From scratch.
A lot of the news sources and people I followed on Now-Shitty-Site-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named aren’t here.
Yet.
🤞
Steve LaBonne
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: And especially the ones that have relatively recently become solid red, like Ohio. We’ve seen the whole package take shape in real time.
Old School
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Pretty sure “this economy sucks” just means “It costs more to eat out this days.”
I doubt many people are using “economy” to cover the entire economy.
WereBear
@JiveTurkin:
They have Trump from the reality show in their heads. Not anything real.
That’s the beauty of their system. In their heads, they can have anything they want. So, eventually, they prefer to dwell there.
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: It was tres easy to cancel the Bezos WaPost, and painless, since it’s prepaid and does not expire until August. (That said, I have not been on a US news site since Election Night, and then only for a local campaign. It has been blessedly peaceful.)
But: have not cancelled Prime, although noticed it is up in January. I also have not ordered one single thing from them — using Thriftbooks and brick and mortar Barnes & Noble.
Do love their streaming archives. And, can choose something else by January. Bye bye, Jeffie.
Also bear in mind: I live in a city, with mucho retail within 5 miles. Do not beat up on yourselves if you have to keep Amazon, for now, but like that you are looking for other sources.
Quite different from being in more rural environs. (Less snow today, for one! Hello to JoJo.)
WereBear
@dr. luba: Which isn’t cooked properly EITHER.
Quinerly
Haberman has an article up that Trump put Musk on the phone when he was talking to Zelensky. Anybody read the entire article? Free link?
Ohio Mom
@Steve LaBonne: Yes, this isn’t the Ohio I moved to in 1979. On the other hand, my county in the southwest corner turned very Blue.
WereBear
@Nukular Biskits: I love Mastodon and it’s easy to get on their network. It’s not hard to do, either, it’s the same system Trump uses for Truth Social. If their people can figure it out…
A lot of the nicest people went over there in a big migration, and stayed. I far prefer it to FB & Shitter. I dropped X when he let Trump on and while I post on Facebook it’s only cat stuff for the business.
My personal life hasn’t been on it for years before that, too.
Take a look at my feed there, if you wish. I tried all the main ones, and have dropped them.
Ohio Mom
@Quinerly: Just popped over to look, it’s the very first article:
Trump Put Musk on Phone With Zelensky During Call
Elon Musk was with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago when the president-elect spoke with Ukraine’s leader. It is not clear if they discussed any change in U.S. policy toward Ukraine
“it is not clear if they discussed U.S. policy toward Ukraine.”? What were they talking about, who they are betting on for the Super Bowl?
I really don’t want to know any more than that.
narya
@sab: Lill Street in Chicago might be able to help; they have had bookbinding classes…someone there might be able to point you to a person or place
Quinerly
@Elizabelle:
JoJo and I are getting a bit of cabin fever. Guess there is 12″ of snow out there. He tried to bring in a dead bird last night. I was not amused. I am pretty fearless except when it comes to dead birds and pack rats (dead or alive).
Let’s chat sometime. Did you give anymore thought about La Posada? Before that, I am in Tucson for 9 days. I need to check but I think I ended up settling on a 2 bedroom place. I did take piratedan’s advice and am staying in Santa Rosa Barrio. Looks like a lot of stuff within walking distance. If you want to cop a squat in Tucson for a few days I think I have a room.
Nukular Biskits
@WereBear:
I think I had set up on Mastodon a while back, when that fuckhead Musk took over at Now-Shitty-Site-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named but I never did anything with it.
When I looked at Mastodon the other night, I was reminded that you needed to pick a server, etc, so I deferred until later.
Since I’m at home today, maybe I’ll take the plunge there as well.
WereBear
@Elizabelle: I love Britbox. Inexpensive and much to choose from.
I must admit some series have a pace that’s like watching grass grow, which cuts down on my own rewatchability score. But it’s professional grass with highly skilled performers, which helps makes up for it. At least, on the first round.
Quinerly
@Ohio Mom: thanks.
Ukraine is so fucked. It will all be memory holed. I haven’t forgotten the Kurds. Most everyone else has. Or just don’t care.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Elizabelle: For ordering books, you might also consider bookshop.org. It’s an alliance of independent bookstores.
Betty Cracker
@Sasha: We have an L-shaped leather sofa at home and always have at least a couple of throws on it for the dogs to burrow under. Pete generally does what your basset did — get all the way covered. Badger usually leaves a leg if not his entire hind-end uncovered.
Baud
@Quinerly:
What do Ukraine or the Kurds have to do with inflation?
WereBear
@Nukular Biskits: I chose a German server.
Which means they have strict rules about hate speech and the PHP is always up to date :)
Eural Joiner
@Nukular Biskits: Kevin Kruse and Aaron Rupar are two of my favorites…there’s also a Balloon-Juice group follow available, but I don’t know how to link to it. Maybe look at my following list and go from there :)
narya
@Nukular Biskits: there’s a Balloon Juice feed; see who others follow? I’m @gingerchef
Betty Cracker
@Nukular Biskits: You could follow me at bluesky! (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social). I don’t post very often but will probably post more when we go home and I have waterfowl and swamp tomfoolery to share again.
Nukular Biskits
@narya:
Done.
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker:
BettyC, if it took driving my truck to literal hell and back to to it, I’d go just to follow you! 🤣
ETA: Followed. That’ll teach you a lesson!
Quinerly
@WereBear:
I really like FB. My circle is very small. Around 100. Drank a bottle of wine last night and purged about 10 folks. All Harris supporters but I have been on a slow boil re their kindness to the Trumpists in their lives. They give no pushback on misinformation and derogatory remarks about Biden and Harris. “My Gay Son I Never Had” who is a very dear to me was pushing back on a thread of a mutual friend (Harris supporter with a bunch of Trumpist friends). The mutual friend ended up basically lecturing him. I just blew up.
I know…it all seems so childish as I type this. But I am back to my old question…how can people keep these Trumpists in their lives? It’s values and morality to me. I have nothing in common with someone who supports a rapist.
With that said, FB keeps me in touch with my old circle in St. Louis and my musician friends all over the world. We are a chatty bunch that all check in on each other and take an honest interest in each other’s lives. As I say, “Book of Faces being used for good not evil.”
Quinerly
@Baud:
The money we send to Ukraine could be used to bring down the price of breakfast cereal.
I crack myself up.
Mike S
The thing that got me through Wednesday was our morning music program, Morning Becomes Eclectic. It was filled with hand picked and requested music that spanned all genres.
https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic/morning-becomes-eclectic-playlist-november-6-2024
Quinerly
Susie Wiles describes herself as a moderate Republican.
Elizabelle
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Thank you! bookshop.org
At this point, gonna batten down the hatches and read the books I have at home that were never started. Too many! And: the library.
Did have to buy the new Michael Connelly Ballard-Bosch detective novel, since he is hosting a readers Q&A on it early next week. Haven’t started it, but tonight.
What is weird: I need to better fill the time previously used for scrolling US newspapers. Which was a lot! But not giving those gaslighters any further clicks. And don’t want to see anything about you know who.
Juju
@Ohio Mom: Do you have any feeling about when Ohioans will get tired of the corruption and graft?
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: More is the shame.
Suzanne
I have to attend one of those social/work events this evening. You know, mandatory fun. Where I put on a skin suit and pretend to have a good personality for a little while, until I become tired.
My grandmother’s prized possession was a set of three stone martens that she wore as a stole. They were given to her by a dear family friend, who had been interned in Manzanar. I kept them in her honor, even though they creep me right the fuck out. Fur. Not just fur…. they have the little paws and everything. But I am going to wear them tonight.
Suzanne
I have had nothing but computer problems today at work, so I have been reading Xhitter more than I should. LOL.
There seems to b a growing meme of Gavin Newsom as American Psycho and I am laughing uproariously.
JMG
@Quinerly: Compare Votecast to today’s U. of Michigan consumer confidence survey. Conducted entirely before the election, it showed the highest level of consumer confidence since June 2021.
Now either the people talking to VoteCast were lying about their real motives (I’m sure some where, but not that many) or it’s the classic “Things are going well for me, but everywhere else it’s terrible” contradiction.
Baud
LinkedIn is recommending that I follow some dude named Barack Obama.
Elizabelle
@JMG: Jimmy Kimmel was interviewing passersby who were definitely going to vote that day! For certain!
It was Wednesday.
Glyph2112
I see Democratic Governors already making plans to resist. Anyone know if Joe Biden is going to do some lame duck stuff, like releasing all funds to Ukraine? Or is he just going to check out for the next 2 months.
sab
@Baud: Who he? Sounds foreign, not that that should be a problem. I heard his wife watched the Brady Bunch, which should be an alert.
Elizabelle
@Glyph2112: Biden has not checked out for any month he’s been in office.
I hope we will be pleasantly surprised, and even amused, at some of the lame duck presidenting.
Personally, I join with those who would love to see interim President Harris. Why not? Talk about sharpening the contrast (with the convicted felon that follows).
Joy in FL
First, this is such great thread. Lots of info and ideas. Pup photos are adorable.
And as a consequence of some of the comments, I finally deactivated my Twitter account. I signed up around 2010 because people whose work I was interested in were posting. It was a rich and rewarding environment. Over the years, it became useful/indispensable for tropical weather info. Add news and political info to the mix, and then a couple years ago…
I’ve been on BlueSky for a while, and I like it. When Twitter was good, it was very, very good.
RIPI hope its vile influence fades and it increasingly leaks money away from its owner.Also, my Prime subscription expires in Feb or March. I’m pretty sure I will not renew. I may still purchase from Amazon for reasons WereBear cited– but I’m no longer one of its most active consumers, that’s for sure.
Realworldrj
@Betty Cracker: Everything trump touches dies. That much is a fact. I am trying to be optimistic. I try to be for my kids and their friends. But its hard
Baud
As far as I’m concerned, no one has the right to ask Joe Biden for Jack Shit.
Geminid
@Quinerly: There’s actually been a fair amount of Kurdish news lately. You have to find it on regional media though, sites like Al Arabiya, Middle East Eye, and Rudaw English which based in Ebil, Iraq. That is the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government.
That government just staged their long-delayed parliamentary elections. It’s actually one of the most peaceful and secure area in the region so there’s not a lot of other news besides various economic projects and cultural events including a heavy metal music festival.
There may be a big story coming out regarding the Kurds in Turkiye. About a month ago Devlet Bahceli, leader of an ultra-nationalist party, called for PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to be released from prison and allowed to address Turkiye’s National Assembly. Ocalan and the PKK have long been considered arch-terrorists by many Turks so this was a surprise.
Bahceli has been President Erdogan’s coalition partner since 2015, and it’s assumed he made the proposal with Erdogan’s approval. Erdogan apparently has a deal in the works whereby Ocalan agrees to renounce separatism and armed struggle in exchange for some degree of automomy for Turkiye’s Kurdish population. This would end a 40 year-long war.
I haven’t checked on this story recently. Ragip Soylu has written about it for the Middle East Eye, and I expect he and others will follow up as it develops.
Glyph2112
@Elizabelle: I didn’t mean to suggest that he would not do the job. I am just hoping that he does take some bold steps while he has the power, as opposed to allowing Dipshit to get a running start on his draconian plans. I don’t want him to do something like pardoning trump in the name of civility.
Heck, it would be great if he got sentenced to jail until his inauguration.
rk
@Realworldrj:
Everything that Trump touches dies.
He’s in very close contact with the USA right now
Quinerly
@Geminid:
Thanks.
Cheryl from Maryland
@p.a.: Fríes – Kewpie Mayo or garlic aeoli. Then Malt Vinegar. Ketchup last.
Elizabelle
@Glyph2112: Definitely!
brendancalling
Except for posters like Cole and Silverman, I am not seeing many folks grasping with the enormity of the situation we face. No one seems to realize that the brownshirts, snitches, and secret police are coming. I saw one article—ONE, at Huffington—that pointed out that the deportations will also target troublesome Americans as well as immigrants.
All you need to do is look at Putin’s Russia, the USSR, Chile, and Argentina to realize that history rhymes. And with the exception of BJ, no one seems to be saying that.
japa21
@Baud:
So very true. But he probably would disagree.
Baud
@brendancalling:
People said it plenty during the campaign. Voters didn’t care.
japa21
@brendancalling: The general consensus is that it will never happen because:
1. He never really meant it, or
2. He’ll find out it costs too much and is too difficult, or
3. Once he starts the uproar will be such that he will stop, or
4. The consensus is made up of stupid idiots who don’t realize that 1,2 and 3 are wrong.
WereBear
@Quinerly: Yes, it can certainly be like that. Especially if used to continue an existing relationship, or group of such.
prostratedragon
“Gavin Newsom as American Psycho”
The prudent start early. —Sun-tzu apocryphon
Mel
Betty, Friar Pete needs to have a photo shoot with CoCo the cat, who likes to do his impression of a Renaissance Madonna using a throw as his mantle. They’d tear up the internet!
Baud
@japa21:
4 is:
prostratedragon
Special rights? Hmmm …
New York Judge Strikes Down State’s Voting Rights Act
TBone
@buggrit: holy crap.
Nettoyeur
@rk: In 1953, the US deported 1.3M Mexican men who had been enticed to work her during WWII. Some were US citizens. Operation Wetback lasted a year until legal problems, budget issues, and public revulsion put an end to it. That was the biggest deportation ever. Multiply by 10, and add in women, children, and legal citizen relatives. The courts and the media are gonna be full of this, and the WH and Congress are really not gonna like it.
trollhattan
File under You don’t say.
SedDef Peter Thiel has some thoughts.
Mel
@p.a.: Bayleaf, but only for a few minutes. Malt vinegar with fries. B & B in off-season = happy travels for this introvert. Coffee with sunrise, esp in fall when the leaves are changing and the early morning has that hushed, surreal quality.
TBone
@prostratedragon: oh, that’s def a first shot fired across the bow…
🚨
.
Baud
@Nettoyeur: Yeah, but that was under Ike, not a respected leader like Donald Trump.
trollhattan
@prostratedragon: No shit? State judge ruled that? Wowzers.
Also, NY’s Orange County might be worse than California’s.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Yeah. What did Ike ever do first?
Wanker!
Ramalama
@p.a.: One of my uncles, incredible in the kitchen, believes bay leaves are a scam.
Also, one time when I was an adult, albeit young, I tried to force myself to swallow a bay leaf, not knowing about it. Surely it’s edible if it’s in my roommate’s spaghetti sauce. I am gagging right now with the memory of it.
Geminid
@Quinerly: There was also a neat story last Fall in the news site Kurdistan24. It described a two-day festival celebrating “Dom” culture. The four provinces making up Iraq’s Kurdish region include 60,000 Doms, which is the word used for Gypsies there. This was a good example of the way the KRG protects minorities like Doms and Turkmen.
I had not known this, and it made me wonder if this ever causes confusion on dating sites. I could see a couple meeting up at a coffee shop and one of them saying, “Oh….you meant that kind of Dom. But hey, as long we’re here we might as well go see Oppenheimer like we talked about.”
Villago Delenda Est
@Quinerly: He’s on the tumbrel manifest.
Villago Delenda Est
@trollhattan: Time to start contemplating Wolf’s Lair action.
Glyph2112
@japa21: Trump has no real plans, just concepts that pop into his head with no thought to reality. What really worries me are the 2025 scum that DO have an agenda and will have free reign. Not to mention if they empty out the career federal employees and replace them with unqualified toadies.
prostratedragon
@TBone:
@trollhattan:
I think it’s still appealable to the State’s high court, but this might be like some of the cases years back that NAACP would not appeal to prevent a lousy decision becoming the law of the land.
“Libertango,” live
trollhattan
@Ramalama: I have similar thoughts about cooking with rosemary and lavender. If I can tell it’s there you used too much.
CaseyL
Found out recently that a person I know casually, who is a fine and good and decent person, is also a Republican, and who voted for Trump.
I have been a member of the chorus saying there are no good Republicans, that anyone who votes for a Republican is either a bigot outright, or someone for whom bigotry is not a deal-breaker.
I am going to have to re-examine those attitudes. I know this person, and they are simply not conforming to what we believe about Republicans.
There are people who vote for Republicans for what they consider to be rationally good reasons. The bigotry is something they may not care about, or find embarrassing, or even not like at all… but there are other things about Republicans that are important enough to them to get their vote.
I imagine there are Democratic voters for whom Democratic policies are important enough for them to overlook things about the Democratic Party they find embarrassing or distasteful. Our lax attitudes towards drug use and addiction maybe; or our inability to do anything about homelessness other than tolerate encampments on the streets.
In the 1970s, it was Democratic attitudes towards violent crime – a tendency to see violent crime as a socio-economic issue excusable by rough childhoods – that turned a lot of people off and turned them into Law-&-Order Republicans. I remember that era very clearly.
Immigration… now that’s a rough one. You cannot be a Democrat in good standing if you aren’t pro-immigration and are willing to do some wink-wink-nudge-nudge at undocumented immigrants. Neighborhoods change character? Too bad – learn to embrace it! You can no longer find a salesperson or tradesperson who speaks English? That’s diversity, baby – learn to love it!
The things that Democratic supporters and voters overlook, or excuse, or explain away in order to keep voting for Democrats are mirror images of the things Republican supporters and voters overlook, or excuse, or explain away in order to keep voting for Republicans.
TBone
@prostratedragon: It’s Mark Elias this time! I trust his judgement explicitly. But the judge’s boldness in fucking with voting rights immediately is… particularly galling, to put it politely.
…
Quinerly
@Villago Delenda Est: 💙
zhena gogolia
@CaseyL: Sorry. Don’t buy it. We all know who Donald Trump is.
Maxim
@Quinerly: I don’t like FB. But it is the only platform, at present, that lets me keep in touch with a wide range of people across the country and around the world.
Josie
@Cheryl from Maryland:
Whataburger makes chicken strips with cream gravy. Fries dipped in cream gravy are delicious.
Villago Delenda Est
@zhena gogolia: Must agree. If you separate a lot of Republicans from the mishmash “ideology” that their party supposedly supports, you can treat them as individuals deserving tolerance. The catch is all the intolerance that their party embraces fully and without reservation, in the face of decency and reality. Actually following through on that ideology has given Germany, Japan, and now Israel a terrible taint, and has only reinforced our existing taints.
prostratedragon
@CaseyL: I can’t get past the treason.
CaseyL
@zhena gogolia: I’m not arguing who or what Trump is. He should have been aborted before birth.
I’m talking about the people who voted for him.
I’m saying there are things Republican voters supporters and voters overlook, or excuse, or explain away in order to keep voting for Republicans, which are, TO THEM, mirror images of the things that Democratic supporters and voters overlook, or excuse, or explain away in order to keep voting for Democrats.
sab
I love that stubby Boston terrier snout sticking out from under the cover in photo 2. My pitbull (American staffordshire) has a similar short snout. Makes her snore a lot.
TBone
@prostratedragon: 🎯
JiveTurkin
@CaseyL: That person voted for a rapist, a traitor, a racist and a thief. unless they’ve been hiding under a rock for the last nine years, they have to know it. To me, voting for Trump is no different than voting for Wallace back in the day.
Baud
@CaseyL:
Dems would also accept a post-birth abortion.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan:
So true it should be committed to cross-stitch.
zhena gogolia
@CaseyL: Nope. He attacked the Capitol. Everyone knows that.
catclub
There are absolute treasures in all the strange things federal government does, and something they are doing now will be needed desperately in some future crisis.
I think Michael Lewis’s example was the guy who became a mine inspector and figured out how to predict the stresses before a cave-in. He has saved lives.
sab
@Ramalama: I love bay leaves. They do amazing things to food taste. But always count them and try to remove them. They don’t boil down, and bad things happen if an idiot scarfs them down whole. Not everyone chews their food properly.
Quinerly
I found this piece interesting. We never had a chance.
https://newrepublic.com/post/188197/trump-media-information-landscape-fox
Glyph2112
@JiveTurkin: I think the problem is that some people who voted for trump think all those allegations are made up. They are the “do your research” crowd that gets their research from the Daily Wire or what casually pops up on social media. In addition, they blame all the issues in their lives on “They/Them government”.
Its really hard to get through to these people because of their anger. I know first hand, married to one.
sab
@Baud: I wouldn’t. Maybe in a less toxic family he would have been a different person. His father was a monster. His nanny died. His mother had a nervous breakdown. His childhood was anything but idyllic except the family had money. And he was the focus and recipient of the monster father’s hopes. That is a lot for any kid to overcome much less a kid with a learning disability (dyslexia.)
Juju
@Quinerly: I haven’t forgotten how Trump screwed over the Kurds, and I think Wiles will be the first of at least six chiefs of staff. She has a few things going against her. She’s a woman, and Trump really only likes women he can objectify. If she’s moderate, what the hell is she doing with Trump?
Villago Delenda Est
Of no interest to the billionaire parasites. Only their lives are important. Serfs can starve.
Ramalama
@sab: Guilty. I was an idiot!
But now I use bay leaves liberally in all kinds of things.
I once had a chat with a college friend about parsley who didn’t think it added anything to the conversation.
sab
@Ramalama: Swallowed one whole! Yikes. That’s almost like swallowing a razor. Husband’s fortunately got stuck sideways in his throat instead of slicing its way inside.
I couldn’t believe he had scarfed something that big down whole. I can barely swallow a pill.
cmorenc
BTW: Hope y’all are smart enough to not complain about nor cite within earshot of any Republican about the 15 million missing D votes for Harris in 2024 vs for Biden in 2024 that did not switch to Trump bc his vote totals were closely similar acrosd both elections. The R will gleefuly cite that as definitive proof Biden win by stesling the 2020 election by fraud – illegals voting, fraudulent counts , etc.
Quinerly
@Juju:
She certainly has poor choices in men. She worked on the DeSantis campaign.
Geminid
@Juju: My understanding is that Wiles said she was a “Moderate Conservative,” not a “Moderate.” My take on Wiles is that she is more of an electoral technocrat than an ideologue. That’s not such a bad fit for Trump, because he has no particular principles besides self-aggrandizement.
But Trump has some very ideological people in his orbit, and this could be a point of conflict for Wiles. And if Trump is not already non compos mentes, he’s on his way and that could be a big factor in palace intrigue.
Wiles has some experience to draw upon here: she served as Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff after he left the White House and was sliding further into dementia.
Geminid
@Quinerly: Susan Wiles worked for DeSantis the Governor for a while, but they fell out. Once Wiles hired on with Trump in 2021, she very effectively undermined DeSantis the Presidential candidate. Wiles likely knew Ron DeSantis better than DeSantis did himself.
Suzie Wiles had an up-and-down career after her years with Reagan. She was down in 2009 when a relatively unkown businessman hired her to manage his long-shot campaign for Florida Governor. Wiles helped Rick Scott win very close elections in 2010 and again in 2014. That established her reputation as an ace campaign manager.
laura
@Baud: Steal it!
You Magnificant Bastard! That’s why I love you.
Geminid
@Geminid: I think the Wiles/DeSantis sequence was that Wiles managed DeSantis’s 2018 campaign for Governor, and then she and DeSantis fell out. A common explaination is that Casey DeSantis did not like Wiles.
Wiles had the last laugh in 2023 though, when she helped DeSantis bury his campaign for President. I expect the pudding story and others came from Wiles.
Quinerly
@Geminid:
And Pat Summerall’s daughter.
Geminid
@Quinerly: There was a Politico Magazine story about Wiles this Spring that had a lot of material on Wiles’ relationship with her alcoholic father.
VeniceRiley
@CaseyL: Having grown up in SoCal and having an 2980’s pre internet white boy shout in my face that I was wrong, and the equal rights amendment was not a mere three paragraphs, but pages long . Having my own brother raise his voice at me that Scalia was murdered.
Listen. It was an immense relief to spend my final American years in California among liberal Latinos. Just a joy, compared to my family and school legacy friends in Facebook.
But macho is a thing.
I hug them in the find out. They’ve also been betrayed by their own. I feel that like a lesbian. And I’m so relieved my wife rescued me from the insanity to come.
way2blue
That’s adorable. Animals never cease to surprise me with their notes of grace and silliness.
Ramalama
@sab: no. Tried to. Gagged choked and barfed some. Took some effort to get out.. I must have scars but I also have the gag memory. Fun times. I can laugh at it now. Gulp.