Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

This fight is for everything.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

As long as McCarthy is Speaker, the House will never be in order.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

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

Bark louder, little dog.

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Colorado Cat Adoption: Arwen and Gandolf Need Homes

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Re-posting for the weekend crew, with added info that Gandolf is also ready for his new home (they do not have to go together).

“Gandalf is a couple years old, neutered, chill guy. He will be scared of new people at first since we were the only ones he’s been around, but he’ll come around. He’s not a cuddler but will lay be you for pets. He’s had his shots and may be chipped. He’s just a chill cat.”

From the original post:

Jackal and neighbor (waves north!) Deb has a friend with a cat in need of a home:

Colorado Cat Bleg

Arwen the ragdoll (the black and cream on the top bed) needs a new home! She was a stray taken I took in, fattened up, and made ready for her forever home. She was a skinny, sad little thing. This kitty is sassy, yet classy! But emphasis on sassy. She’s sweet, but will let you know when you’re upsetting her. She dislikes dogs, but if a dog leaves her alone, she won’t go looking for trouble . . . she will let them know she dislikes them if they get too close.

Arwen and my female cat do not get along, but she likes to pester Gandalf, my male cat, occasionally (he’s the gray kitty in the photo). They behave like brother and sister . . . sometimes they like each other, sometimes they don’t. I do feel like she would be better off as an only cat, unless there is a special other kitty who will win her over and befriend her, like Gandyman did.

Arwen is spayed, but I have no other vet info on her. She will need to be taken to the vet as I haven’t been able to afford to do so to get more info on her health. Also her age–I have no clue how old she is.

If you don’t know about Ragdolls, they are quite cuddly:  Ragdoll Facts

My parents had a Ragdoll and he was HUGE. And I have Maine Coons, so I know huge.  And he was cuddly.

My experience has been, that most females like to be the only female, but do okay with a male cat buddy. YMMV.

I checked, because our local shelters have such a great track record of getting their cats adopted. The last couple of times either I wanted to adopt (hello, Willow!) or a friend wanted to adopt, there were very few choices. That is not true right now, the shelters are brimming with cats, big and small. So Deb and her friend are hoping we can find someone here who would love a fluffy cuddle buddy.

Email me at:  whats4dinnersolutions (at) live (dot) com  or my balloon juice email:  tamara (at) balloon-juice (dot) com and I will pass your information along to Deb.  I have no other information besides what is in the post. If you’re interested, I’m sure Deb can find answers for you and probably more photos.

I’m available for Colorado transport (oh, please don’t make me drive through Denver, but I’ll do it for this furry love).

 

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Pearl Moves in with Sandia Blanca (and Mr. Blanca)

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We have a kitty update!   Pearl moved to her new home with Sandia Blanca yesterday.

Notes from Sandia Blanca:

Our plan is to have her be a permanent part of our cat family, but we’re doing the trial run to be sure it all works out for them. I don’t really expect any problems; we’ve always had cats and have integrated new ones many times.

Salty Sam dropped her off, and we have proof of the handoff – in slow motion. :-)

Pearl was very chill, didn’t put up a fuss, and we’re all confident that she’s settling into her new home well.

Here’s a picture of Pearl getting used to her new room, where she’ll stay for a few days until she seems ready to explore our home (and new cat siblings).

So far she’s explored several good hiding places, but has also walked around and up to me for attention. She’s had some food, and is now having a nice cat nap.

She’s very affectionate and enjoys checking out some of the toys.

Pearl continues to be content in her new space, although Mr. Blanca had to sneak past her to leave the “cat room” last night. She wants to explore the rest of the house! All in good time, little kitty.

Note from Salty Sam

Funny little story- as we were saying goodbye, Sandia Blanca and I were chatting about Balloon Juice; the subject of Cole’s impending wedding came up, and how he is talking about selling his gorgeous home that he has put so much work into. She mentioned what a lovely place it was. I said, “Yeah, except the willow is too close to the house…”, and we both erupted in laughter.

On the way back to our car, Salty Spouse (who is not a Juicer) looked puzzled and asked “WTF was THAT all about!?!?”

We have an amazing and weird little community here. Yay for all of us!

Open thread.

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Colorado Cat Bleg: Let’s Get Arwen Adopted

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Jackal and neighbor (waves north!) Deb has a friend with a cat in need of a home:

Colorado Cat Bleg

Arwen the ragdoll (the black and cream on the top bed) needs a new home! She was a stray taken I took in, fattened up, and made ready for her forever home. She was a skinny, sad little thing. This kitty is sassy, yet classy! But emphasis on sassy. She’s sweet, but will let you know when you’re upsetting her. She dislikes dogs, but if a dog leaves her alone, she won’t go looking for trouble . . . she will let them know she dislikes them if they get too close.

Arwen and my female cat do not get along, but she likes to pester Gandalf, my male cat, occasionally (he’s the gray kitty in the photo). They behave like brother and sister . . . sometimes they like each other, sometimes they don’t. I do feel like she would be better off as an only cat, unless there is a special other kitty who will win her over and befriend her, like Gandyman did.

Arwen is spayed, but I have no other vet info on her. She will need to be taken to the vet as I haven’t been able to afford to do so to get more info on her health. Also her age–I have no clue how old she is.

If you don’t know about Ragdolls, they are quite cuddly:  Ragdoll Facts

My parents had a Ragdoll and he was HUGE. And I have Maine Coons, so I know huge.  And he was cuddly.

My experience has been, that most females like to be the only female, but do okay with a male cat buddy. YMMV.

I checked, because our local shelters have such a great track record of getting their cats adopted. The last couple of times either I wanted to adopt (hello, Willow!) or a friend wanted to adopt, there were very few choices. That is not true right now, the shelters are brimming with cats, big and small. So Deb and her friend are hoping we can find someone here who would love a fluffy cuddle buddy.

Email me at:  whats4dinnersolutions (at) live (dot) com  or my balloon juice email:  tamara (at) balloon-juice (dot) com and I will pass your information along to Deb.  I have no other information besides what is in the post. If you’re interested, I’m sure Deb can find answers for you and probably more photos.

I’m available for Colorado transport (oh, please don’t make me drive through Denver, but I’ll do it for this furry love).

 

 

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Respite Open Thread: Get Paid To Sniff for Poop!… *

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Of course not every dog is fit or focused enough, but this sounds like the canine equivalent of ‘grow up to be a paleontologist who is *also* a firefighter’.

From the Washington Post, “Once-abandoned dogs are now trained to sniff out environmental clues” [Unpaywalled gift link]:

The dogs were stranded on the streets or sitting in shelters, dropped off by owners who couldn’t handle the pups’ strong will and frenetic energy. Their temperaments were too volatile.

One of them, Tigee, was seized by animal control for being too aggressive. The 7-year-old shepherd mix spent several weeks in isolation in a four-foot kennel in Virginia.

But Tigee was smart and had an intense attachment to his toys, so he was a perfect fit to be a “conservation canine” — a dog trained to sniff out endangered species or other important environmental clues.

In 2017, Tigee was rescued by Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C), a conservation detection dog organization based in Turah, Mont. Tigee now lives in Zambia, where he uses his strong drive — and big black snout — to collect data in South Luangwa National Park and protect the region’s wildlife, including pangolins, a scaly-skinned mammal that is a threatened species.

After a successful session collecting data, he is rewarded with toys and treats…

Tobias, a 9-year-old Labrador retriever, was found wandering around alone in Helena, Mont., in 2016.

He had a hyper personality, a trait Coppolillo said often makes dogs unappealing as family pets. Instead, he was taken in by WD4C and now spends his days sniffing out invasive zebra and quagga mussels in Montana’s Glacier National Park. After a search, he also gets a toy and treats.

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Sweet Kitty in Austin, TX Needs a New Home!

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Who’s in the market for this beautiful girl in Austin, TX?  She can travel to a new home if need be, we would just have to figure out how to get her there.

Greetings Jackals!  (from Salty Sam)

A few weeks ago, I posted a question in the comments, asking for any information dealing with a family member suffering from Bipolar Disorder.  My sister-n-law went through a very intense manic episode last February.  She snapped out of it in May, and started swirling the drain with depression.  She has steadily deteriorated throughout the summer, and this week she was hospitalized, with court ordered protective custody.  She will likely be committed to a psychiatric hospital soon.

She has a very sweet and beautiful kitty, named Pearl, who now needs a new home.

Pearl wants you to adopt her!  (WG)

Sweet Kitty Needs a New Home 1

Pearl is about 8 years old, very calm and occasionally playful.  She is affectionate to a point, but when she is tired of pats and skritches, she will let you know.  While she most often seems aloof (feline prerogative), she is very lonely now, living in an empty apartment.  I have been providing her daily room service, but she misses human companionship.

I’ve never done this before, so I not sure what other info would be helpful-  I will answer any questions I can in the comments.

We are in Austin – my resources are stretched pretty thin right now, so I’m not sure of how to get Pearl to someone far away.

Thanks to those who answered my bleg a few weeks ago- there were some helpful suggestions.

Pro tip:  if you’re going to have a mental health crisis, don’t do it in Texas.  The lack of resources is appalling…

Open thread.

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Rough Couple of Weeks – Venting and Open Thread

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It all started about 3 weeks ago when there was a big puddle of pee by the litter box.  No one in my house does that.  For some reason I thought it was Henry and scolded him.  It happened 3 more times, and I knew we had a problem.

Long story short, between Henry and Mr. Bear, there’s been lots of stress and $1,700 in 10 days.  Thank god for pet insurance, though I keep getting messages from them saying “your claim is under review”, which is never a good sign.  If you don’t want details, skip to the bottom. :-)

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Odds & Ends (Open Thread)

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HuffPo did an investigative report about the paid experts who travel around the country helping wingnut states defend anti-trans laws, such as bans on gender-affirming care, so-called “bathrooms bills” and trans participation in youth sports. Y’all will be shocked to learn the “experts” are greedy, unqualified, bible-humping assholes who don’t give a shit about the laws’ impact on real people’s lives! An excerpt:

Most…practice medicine in a field related to gender-affirming care — such as psychiatry or endocrinology — but have treated only a handful of adolescent patients for gender dysphoria, if that, and haven’t published relevant research. Several belong to openly anti-trans groups and have urged state legislatures to pass the very laws they get paid to defend.

Some of the most prominent witnesses were recruited by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal powerhouse whose mission is to realize a country governed by far-right Christian values. And many share ADF’s extreme antipathy toward LGBTQ+ people.

“They’re hired guns,” said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a lawyer for the LGBTQ+ rights group Lambda Legal who has faced Hruz and his cohorts in several cases. “These are not real experts. They’re manufactured as experts by the opponents of transgender rights.”

Still, for a rate of hundreds of dollars an hour, they can lend a sheen of scientific rigor to school bathroom restrictions and bans on gender-affirming care.

And they are increasingly having an impact. On Aug. 25, a Missouri judge temporarily upheld the state’s four-year ban on most gender-affirming treatments for minors, writing, “The science and medical evidence is conflicting and unclear.”

When a trans kid’s mom shared her fears about the heightened risk of suicide for adolescents who are denied gender-affirming care, one of the profiled “experts” told her to read Pope John Paul II’s opinions on the topic and said, “Some children are born into this world to suffer and die.”

That sick motherfucker’s name is Dr. Paul Hruz. According to HuffPo, he is a pediatric endocrinologist and has testified in 12 cases. Sarah Huckabee-Sanders’ state government in Arkansas has paid that man more than $41K.

Thinking about people like Hruz makes me stabby, so I’m gonna abruptly change the subject to dogs, okay?

The heroic police dog who nabbed the fugitive murderer in Pennsylvania earlier this week is a four-year-old Belgian Malinois named Yoda. Here is that good boy:

Police dog

Thanks, Yoda!

Open thread.

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