Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

This blog will pay for itself.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

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

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

How stupid are these people?

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Stand up, dammit!

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

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

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Pet Calendar Update (and Sunday Open Thread)

Pet Calendar Update (and Sunday Open Thread)

by | 69 Comments

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So… every year with Cafe Press has been an adventure.

And not in a good way.  They are nearly impossible to deal with.  Let’s just say that if you call 5 times about the same issue, you get 5 different answers.

So this would be a very long post if I shared all the ways that Cafe Press has repeatedly left beth and I wanting to pull our hair out.

This year is no different, except that it’s worse.

They had the calendar setup available when we started on the calendar, but now they say they aren’t doing calendars this year.  Then they said they were.  Then they said it was just a problem with the template availability online and they would email us the template.  Then they wrote to say, no, they aren’t doing calendars.

So this is the year that we are switching from Cafe Press to Lulu.

Lulu allows us to send the funds directly to Athenspets, which is the one non-negotiable requirement.   When I couldn’t figure out where to enter the information for payment, I submitted a help ticket and the very next day I received step-by-step instructions for how to do that, so they already have Cafe Press beat by a mile.

We used to make $10.01 for the pet rescue for every calendar sold.  Now it looks like that number will be around $9, so that’s good.

Pet Calendar Update 6

I am as anxious to have the calendars available for ordering as Henry is!

beth has been super busy and I don’t have a date yet.

The calendar is still a go and we hope to have it available to order soon.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

69Comments

  2. 2.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Arrg, thanks for dealing with the frustration again this year and glad you found a solution!

  3. 3.

    Another Scott

    Thanks for your and beth’s efforts.  You’re another example of women in the trenches getting stuff done.  And it’s important!

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    HinTN

    Inquiring minds were wanting to know! Thank you for transliterating the vibes into this post. Hoping to get mine before the New Year. (Troglodyte that I am, I’ve got data from this year’s model to carry forward on the kitchen wall.)

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    I think this is the first year where everyone who signed up got their pics sent in for the calendar, which I feel really good about!

    281 pics – that’s about 11 or 12 to a page, so unless your pic was super low resolution, there should be a chance for everybody to shine!

  10. 10.

    Jackie

    You and Beth have all the sympathy of us all. And our thanks for being bullheaded enough to not give it up. I will never order anything from Cafe Press again. They used to be great, but obviously things have changed. SAD.

  11. 11.

    eclare

    Thanks to you and Beth for dealing with all of this.  And of course, thank you for the photo of Henry, with ears!

  12. 12.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl:

    I think this is the first year where everyone who signed up got their pics sent in for the calendar, which I feel really good about!

     
    Bodes well for the midterms.

    Dems in array!

  17. 17.

    HinTN

    @WaterGirl: Any chance that the (very old and probably lost) Balloon-Juice store content on Cafe Press can migrate to Lulu. I still love and use my “The Revolution Will Be Supervised” Tunch mug but my “Feed” Tunch tee shirt is long deceased.

  19. 19.

    Scout211

    On open thread news:

    Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela

    A JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curaçao halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a US air force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path.

    “We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control. “They passed directly in our flight path … They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”

    The incident involved JetBlue flight 1112 from Curaçao, which is just off the coast of Venezuela, en route to New York City’s JFK airport. It comes as the US military has launched deadly airstrikes on suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean and is also seeking to increase pressure on Venezuela’s government.

    . . .

    We just had traffic pass directly in front of us within 5 miles of us – maybe 2 or 3 miles – but it was an air-to air-refueler from the United States air force and he was at our altitude,” the pilot said. “We had to stop our climb.” The pilot said the US air force plane then headed into Venezuelan airspace.

    . . .

    The Pentagon referred the Associated Press to the air force for comment. The air force didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @HinTN: Well, for now, all our stuff is still available at the Cafe Press Balloon Juice store.

    I fleetingly had a similar thought.  But Lulu is primarily a book publishing company – that also does calendars – so they wouldn’t be the right spot.

    Maybe after the 2026 elections we’ll start thinking about BJ merchandise again.  And migrating to somewhere other than Cafe Press.  Or at least adding any new stuff elsewhere.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: Transponders?  Transponders!   We don’t need no stinkin’ transponders.

    Fuck you all, we’re the fucking Air Force, under new management!

    *with apologies to Leto.  (unless I am remembering wrong)

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    Is it perfectly kosher – or at least kind of tacky – that the person who is snow blowing my neighbor’s driveway is blowing several inches of snow from their driveway onto my flower bed and lawn?

    Their lawn is right there – just on the OTHER SIDE of the driveway.

    Slightly peeved, but I suppose it will provide good insulation to the plants since it’s fucking zero out, and worse with windchill.

  25. 25.

    Ruckus

    @Jackie:

    Small sized companies often go out of business when the owners retire, unless they have family involved enough to take it over, or they sell it.

    Medium sized companies are in decision mode as they realize that the person(s) that started the company are gone or old enough not to really care any longer, and that they have to grow or close.

    Large companies often have a lot of owners who own large and small amounts of stock, although they may be originally owned by one to a few people. But one thing, besides what they do or make, that makes them big is the ability to sell large amounts of product, and stock.

  26. 26.

    jackmac

    How maddening to deal with Cafe Press. Glad you found an alternative and thanks for all the work you put in.

  27. 27.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    To be honest I’m not all that surprised.

    Currently we have someone in charge of our military who’s never seen 1 second of military service. I’m almost at a point of say that to be elected president one must have served in the US military for at least one enlistment. Now of course that may in fact make them worse at the job but then look who is in there now….

    My point is that a lot of men of around my age served during Vietnam and that military service, while it never should be mandatory, in my opinion. Yes in time of war it is often necessary. But what it can teach some is no better than never learning it. But for others it to me lays a claim that one is owed a return. In this case the VA department actually does that. And is and should be appreciated, which for many it is, including me. Some of that reward is perspective, and for many involved it is and is appreciated as such.

  28. 28.

    Scout211

    @Ruckus:Currently we have someone in charge of our military who’s never seen 1 second of military service.

    Hegseth did serve in the military.

    Wiki:

    In 2011, Hegseth was commissioned into the Minnesota Army National Guard as a captain.[11] He volunteered to teach at the Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul, Afghanistan, for eight months,[11] during the withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan;[25] he taught one of the final classes at the school.[18] After completing his tour in 2014, he was promoted to major[19] and assigned to the Individual Ready Reserve.[17] Through the reserve, he joined the District of Columbia Army National Guard in June 2019 as a traditional drilling service member, remaining in duty until March 2021.[28] He was barred from serving on duty at the inauguration of Joe Biden after a guardsman flagged Hegseth as an “insider threat”, noting a tattoo on his biceps of the words Deus vult.[29] He left the Individual Ready Reserve in January 2024, writing in his book The War on Warriors (2024) that he resigned over the incident.[30]

    He has some resentments.  LOL.

  33. 33.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    As Jackie says at #30, Jimmy Carter was the last president to actually serve in the military.

    Now another problem with my point is that often the service is far different between officers and enlisted. Officers had rooms with maybe 3 others at most. They got payed a lot more. And in a service such as I was in, the USN, didn’t actually do much other than lead. If something broke or stopped working, not one officer on board had on iota of a concept of what was wrong. I slept in a room of approximately 85 beds, all full. One guy opposite me was something like 6 ft 5 inches tall so his feet hung over the end of his bed and he blocked the exit of the berthing area with his feet and legs. And a ship exists in an active 24 hr a day situation, regardless of when anyone sleeps. Or doesn’t. Now the room I slept in was the largest crew quarters on the ship of approximately 250 men. And today women serve on some ships, possibly all but I’d bet big ships only, because different shower/sleeping rooms would be mandatory.

  35. 35.

    geg6

    The loveliest thing just happened.  I was hearing a very loud snowblower (the houses here have huge yards and are fairly far apart).  Which shouldn’t be that unusual after 5 inches of snow, but it seemed too loud to be one of the neighbors clearing their drives.  So I looked out the window and it was my neighbor clearing my driveway!  So I went out to thank him and he said he knew I was taking care of someone and he wanted to make life a little easier for me.  He wouldn’t take any money, so I’m going to pick up some pastries and drop them off next time I’m out.

  39. 39.

    HinTN

    @geg6: So wonderful. We got no snow here and, by the standards of some other commenters, it’s a relatively balmy 23 F (headed toward 9 F tonight), but that’s cold for us.

    Love that dog, @Baud:. Thanks for the laugh.

  42. 42.

    kalakal

    @Jackie: Bush Senior was a carrier pilot in WW2 flying a torpedo bomber. He saw a lot of combat, flew 58 missions, was shot down once and was the only survivor of his crew

  43. 43.

    Scout211

    Speaking of weather, we are starting our third week with a giant fog bank overhead,  a temperature inversion building up pollutants under the fog bank, tule fog in the morning, and no sun.  Temperatures are mild compared to the colder parts of the country (42 degrees) but 12 degrees cooler than our average temps.

    It’s cold, dark and dreary.

    The forecasters are promising we will see the sun by Christmas, maybe.

  47. 47.

    Suzanne

    @geg6: AWWWWW! That’s so nice.

    The man who lives across the street from me has been in our neighborhood forever, is now in his late 70s, recently widowed, speaks very little English, and basically stands halfway bent over due to years of manual labor. Nevertheless, he is always the first on the street to shovel his snow. I watched him shoveling it last night as the snow continued to dump. He also rides a bicycle and planted tomatoes in our neighbor’s yard without permission. He’s hilarious.

  49. 49.

    WTFGhost

    @Baud: (sniffs disapprovingly) We never had problems with CafePress back in the Julian days!

    @WaterGirl: Could be doing so without a thought in the world, and if you were to say “could you be careful with my plants?” they’d wake up and say “OMG sure!”

    @Ruckus: It was mentioned that contractors in Iraq didn’t “get” that you have a four-five hour “lunch hour” so there’s never a concentration of military folks in one place. You need a President who understands when and why the military has a reason for something, even if it seems ridiculous and inefficient.

    In Trump’s case, though, he think he knows better. That’s bad. He might well be demanding the military provoke Venezuela within their airspace, hoping for a Gulf of Tonkin style incident. He’s stupid enough, for all we know, that’s the “plan” (for want of a weaker word).

  52. 52.

    Jackie

    Brown University shooter ID’d:

    Authorities have identified the person of interest who was arrested on Sunday in connection with the shooting at Brown University over the weekend, according to CNN.

    Benjamin Erickson, 24, of Wisconsin, has been identified as a person of interest in the case, the outlet reported. CNN reported observing FBI agents at a home in Wisconsin owned by Erickson’s family members.

  53. 53.

    raven

    @Jackie:
    Benjamin Erickson, the person of interest in the Brown University shooting, was a U.S. Army
    infantryman, not a Cyber Warfare Officer, according to an official statement from the Army. 

  56. 56.

    Jackie

    @raven: It’s weird how long it took to publicly identify him once captured – and then still getting his military info incorrect. Something feels off.

  59. 59.

    FastEdD

    Here’s a link to a holiday video I adore. It is an ad for an English department store in 2019. The catalog is named Book Of Dreams, which is why the amps have “BOD” on them. The little girl playing the drums has gone on to a career as a pro drummer. She’s a friend of Dave Grohl and she sat in with the Foo Fighters on drums, to great acclaim. The way Dad looks at the kid and they pound on the drum sets just brings me to tears every time. In a good way. youtube.com/watch?v=7GjeHzrn8jg

  60. 60.

    Jay

    Catherine Rampell

    ‪@crampell.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    Masked men wearing ICE vests—but who refused to present a warrant or identify themselves—roped off a construction site, trapping two men on a roof for hours in subzero temps. Protesters gathered. Masked men eventually left, and one man on the roof was taken away by ambulance kstp.com/kstp-news/to…

    7:04 AM

    bsky.app/profile/crampell.bsky.social/post/3m7xfbiqsb22h

    Alison Killing

    ‪@alisonkilling.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work – he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.

    He escaped to the US – then ICE detained him.

    wsj.com/world/china/...

    ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps
    Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.
    http://www.wsj.com

    bsky.app/profile/alisonkilling.bsky.social/post/3m7uvjwncds2g

    Scott Horton
    ‪@robertscotthorton.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.

    Federal agents use chemical irritant on crowd in Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis amid Trump crackdown
    Federal agents have used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. This happened Tuesday during a identification checks amid the Trump administration’s cra…
    http://www.mprnews.org

    bsky.app/profile/robertscotthorton.bsky.social/post/3m7xorvxvy22u

  61. 61.

    eclare

    @Jackie:

    I lived in ATL when Richard Jewell’s name was released early as a suspect in the ATL bombing.  That pretty much wrecked his life, so if law enforcement needs more time to confirm things, that’s fine with me.

  63. 63.

    Jackie

    @eclare: Oh, jeez, that brings back the memory of my then 13 yrs old daughter flying out of Atlanta that day – Jewells hadn’t been found yet, and of course flights going out of ATL were delayed. My ex didn’t tell her her flight was delayed, so when she finally flew out, she missed her connecting flight out of SLC – BECAUSE she thought she had two hours before boarding. As a teenybopper, she spent the time window shopping and arrived at her gate 15 mins after her flight had left. What a fiasco! Well before cellphones. After the initial panic by both of us, she ended up having a blast staying overnight with a couple of stewardesses who put her on a flight home the next morning.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    @WTFGhost:

    He’s more than stupid enough.

    FAR MORE. Just remember that most of what you see or hear is pompous arrogance, that is 1000% unjustified.

  66. 66.

    Jay

    bsky.app/profile/seancasten.bsky.social/post/3m7uxat233c2x

    Sean Casten
    ‪@seancasten.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    This is really solid investigative reporting from the Sun-Times. And a brutal expose of Greg Bovino, the cosplaying tough guy who has terrorized so many immigrants in Chicago. Read it all. chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdog…

    Greg Bovino’s the star of Trump’s deportation show. We trace his roots.
    As a boy, the Hollywood movie “The Border” set the course for his life. He couldn’t believe the Border Patrol agents in the movie were the bad guys. Now that he’s in charge of deportation efforts caus…
    chicago.suntimes.com

    Radley Balko

    ‪@radleybalko.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    Bovino, the man overseeing mass deportations, publicly declared that we must all have our papers on us, at all times, or we could be stopped, harassed, kidnapped, and detained, as they did with the man in this case, who is a US citizen.

    6:32 AM

    bsky.app/profile/radleybalko.bsky.social/post/3m7uszhghs22j

  67. 67.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl:

    A friend had his passport chewed up and partially eaten by his dog. The passport office was not happy…

    18 US Code 1543:

    Whoever falsely makes, forges, counterfeits, mutilates, or alters any passport or instrument purporting to be a passport, with intent that the same may be used; or

    Whoever willfully and knowingly uses, or attempts to use, or furnishes to another for use any such false, forged, counterfeited, mutilated, or altered passport or instrument purporting to be a passport, or any passport validly issued which has become void by the occurrence of any condition therein prescribed invalidating the same—

    Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 25 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism (as defined in section 2331 of this title)), 20 years (if the offense was committed to facilitate a drug trafficking crime (as defined in section 929(a) of this title)), 10 years (in the case of the first or second such offense, if the offense was not committed to facilitate such an act of international terrorism or a drug trafficking crime), or 15 years (in the case of any other offense), or both.

    Even the ICE monsters probably aren’t willing to risk that. Maybe.

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

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