I spent a significant and embarrassing amount of time in bed this morning lying there wondering if my pets could vote, who would they have voted for in 2016? Rosie and Thurston were the easiest to figure out, but Lily and Steve were tougher.
Thurston, of course, was easy. His main goal in life is to be disruptive, loud and barky, to tear up and destroy things, raise a ruckus, and to insert himself into the middle of everything. He’s also kind of dumb, so without question he is a Trump voter. I’m pretty sure he holds the same positions on climate change and evolution as most actual Trump voters, or at the very least understands the issues as well as them.
Rosie, of course, is smart, pragmatic, bitchy, doesn’t care about glitz and glitter, is willing to take things into her own hands (“I’m not gonna sit in the middle of this road all god damned day, and this moron has opened his car door, so in I go”), has a checkered past, isn’t liked by everyone, and when she wants something she just gets it done. So of course she is a Clinton supporter.
Lily was tougher. Lily is sort of apolitical. She’s just sweet, and nice, doesn’t care about the issues, just wants to be warm and happy for everyone to get along and to share the comforter and the treats. She would probably have been Bernie curious at first, but if a lot of her friends convinced her to vote for Clinton, she’d be ok with that too. She’d be absolutely horrified how mean the Trump people are, and would try to change the topic any time politics came up because it just makes her sad and she doesn’t understand why everyone just can’t be nice and sit on the lap like a good dog. Regardless, Lily forgot to register and didn’t get out from underneath the comforter to vote anyway.
Steve, on the other hand, has libertarian leanings, but is a ward of the welfare state. So while one might think he would be a Johnson/Weld voter, I’m betting there was no one who really suited him, so he probably just wrote in Queen Elizabeth the 2nd because if we can’t have freedom we might as well have some class and dignity.
At any rate, go Steelers.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
How about the late Tunch? What would his vote have been?
Walter, too?
John Cole
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini: Tunch was my spirit beast so obviously he would have voted for Clinton.
RedDirtGirl
Thanks, John, for bringing us all together. I can’t, for the life of me remember how I ended up here, but it has become a huge part of my life, and for that I am grateful. Here’s to us!
germy
That’s not unusual. I’ve seen that before.
JordanRules
I love this post so hard!!
Mai.naem.mobile
Damn Cole what kind of pet parent are you that you can’t bring up your pets to vote Democratic? Big fail. Sad!
Walter obviously would be a Dem. He’s too happy to be a GOPig.
JPL
Finch wants to know what assholes in the statehouse voted to allow fireworks until two in the morning. All politics are local.
JPL
Pittsburgh is not being televised here, but I get to cheer against the Cowboys.
Citizen_X
Heh. This is actually a pretty insightful political post (especially the Lilly part).
But I had thought Rosie was the unimpeachable fuck-shit-up-er-in-chief in your household. Didn’t realize that Thurston had so firmly taken the reins for that position.
germy
@JPL: There must be a powerful fireworks lobby. It seems every holiday features fireworks nowadays. Christmas? FIREWORKS! Shrove Tuesday? FIREWORKS! All Saints Day? FIREWORKS!
And they also loosened restrictions on private ownership, which means fireworks now explode on non-holidays, lit by amateur assholes.
Elizabelle
Great post. So Steve is a dudebro who wrote in QE2.
Who is not having a great holiday season. Queen missed church services on Christmas and New Year’s Day due to a “heavy cold.” But 2016 did not take her.
As it did the wonderful Sutter Brown (as noted here earlier). Although: he made it to 13, great little guy, and there’s another family Corgi — Colusa — ready to step into California’s First Corgi role.
Mj_Oregon
That was a very nice meditative opening for 2017, John. I’m sending “no more problems with the new house” thoughts your way this year, along with a hug for you and a bunch of scritches for all the beasties. BJ is one of the few things I can stomach on a regular basis since the election and I’m grateful for the sanctuary. And I’m just glad the animals can’t vote because humans, even the best of us, would have been voted off the planet long ago.
MomSense
@JPL:
The only thing that saved us from fireworks last night was that the entire outside is a giant slip n slide on ice. It’s impossible to walk anywhere.
Mai.naem.mobile
@John Cole: Wouldn’t Tunch being an angry white male in coal country have affected his vote ?
Suzanne
No way. Rosie = Cole. Rosie is the Nasty Woman of the house. I love Rosie the best of all of the Cole pets for this reason.
@JPL: My pets, and my younger Spawn, are similarly irritated. STFU with the fireworks, people. Or at least go to the park.
Betty Cracker
I suppose my orange hens would have gone with the Tang Tyrant due to identity politics, and my Australorps would have voted for Clinton because they are sensible hens of color.
At first, I reckoned my dogs might have split the ticket: Daisy is an impulsive hothead, and Patsy Marie is a sweetie who just wants everyone to get along, kinda like Lily. But Daisy is too smart to be a Trump dog — she’d see through his bullshit in seconds — and if Patsy Marie got her shit together, she’d have voted for Clinton too.
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: Thankfully we just got rain, not freezing rain.
PaulWartenberg2016
Let’s win this one, Bucs, and have a winning season for the first time since 2010!
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: I’m embarrassed at how fascinated I am with QE2. I can’t explain it. But I’ll be crushed when she dies.
Betty Cracker
@PaulWartenberg2016: Yes, c’mon Buckaroos! Also pulling for the Dolphins!
raven
@Betty Cracker: Watched “The Crown” yet?
? Martin
I think all of my pets but one would be Clinton voters. The hamster, 3 oldest bunnies, and the dog are all pretty chill, loyal, and mostly just want to be fed. Trump would seem like a disruptive interloper that would spurn them at the first offense. The youngest bunny would be a Trump voter. She has the same personality as Thurston – she just wants to break shit.
Happy new year all. Hoping this year brings good health and a quick impeachment.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Yeah. She is a tough one, though. Think Siubhan is quite taken with her too.
Memo to self: watch that new series on Netflix (?) about her.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: goes against my instincts and my Irish ancestry, and if my taxes were funding that nonsense I’d probably feel differently, but the older I get, and the more absurd this country gets, the more I appreciate all that staid dignity
I think I like her better since she became Helen Mirren and all, fixing her own truck, shooing away that stag, and having no patience with Charles
O. Felix Culpa
My Pippin would have voted Bernie in the primaries because UNLIMITED TREATS! but supported Hillary in the general. He’s a sweet and sensible doggie that way.
ETA: He actually attended many phone banks and cheered on the GOTV effort…so Pippin was an active Hillary and Dem downticket supporter. I like to think that many of our phone bankers and canvassers returned because of him, playing a significant role in our NM wins.
Aleta
@germy: Here at least, privatizing big fireworks got connected by politicians to the elusive glittering blast known as freedom, spelled g-u-n-s. The same politicians use “local control” like sugar on cereal, but the towns that have outlawed fireworks seem helpless to prevent them.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Yes! Loved it!
Elizabelle
Incidentally, have we heard any more of performers to issue in Trump’s reign of error and breaking shit?
germy
schrodingers_cat
Both my kittehs would go for Clinton but for different reasons. The ginger floofball does not have a mean bone in her body, so she would go HRC. Bosscat Tiger Tabby is imperious but fair. He will share whatever he has with you, even if he does expect complete obedience in return. Voting for the Tangerine Man would be beneath his dignitude.
germy
My cat’s favorite piano piece is Beethoven’s Für Elise
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: @raven: Many of the jewels in the Crown were stolen from the Jewel in the Crown. I is in your base, stealing your diamonds.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
I stopped being embarrassed about my love for HM a long time ago. I first lost my heart to her in 1947 at the time of her marriage. I was a 5-year-old girl and she was a real, live Princess Bride. I really had no choice. Then six years later, I was completely besotted by the Coronation. Haven’t looked back since, and my obsession eventually turned into a legitimate interest in English/British history.
And yes indeed, I am wishing her well for a long time to come.
ETA: Sorry, didn’t see Elizabelle’s follow-up comment “Think Siubhan is quite taken with her too.” before I posted!
The Pale Scot
Weren’t you talking about Glenn Reynold’s?
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
Lucky! We keep getting snow that melts and then freezes. Last night we got sleet.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Is your cat exceptionally fürry?
The Pale Scot
@Citizen_X:
Rosie has a reason and a plan, Thurston just goes off.
So I guess that makes Rosie a Putin supporter
SiubhanDuinne
@John Cole OP: This is a wonderful, insightful post, John. You are fortunate that none of your menagerie turned out to be Jill Stein voters.
I expect Walter said “I want everything to stay nice, so I am voting for a third term for Obama.”
opiejeanne
@germy: The fireworks companies sued the City of Riverside, CA for outlawing fireworks. This was after allowing them for one year after many years of them being outlawed; they surveyed the damage and outlawed them again. The fireworks companies lost that suit but it was telling that they had the bucks to hire lawyers and try it.
Zinsky
Dogs will eat their own shit, but I gotta believe 99% of them wouldn’t eat the shit that the Trumpenfuhrer was serving this last election cycle. Foul and vile – only humans would stoop this low. Animals have common sense. Apparently, 48% of American voters don’t.
Miss Bianca
I managed to stay up till midnight last night (just barely) to watch the fireworks on Pike’s Peak, which is visible from my house, even tho’ it’s on Front Range and I’m in the central mountains. They were just little blobs of light until I got the telescope trained on them, when they turned into real fireworks. Sans the sound. The nutters who haul the fireworks all the way up the mountain in backpacks in the middle of freaking winter are the true raving lunatics – hate to break it to you, JC. Speculating about who your pets would have voted for is just a little dotty, if charmingly so.
germy
@opiejeanne: I remember when they loosened the fireworks restrictions in my neck of the woods. About a week later a house burned to the ground. Two children were playing with fireworks inside it. (I don’t remember if the house was abandoned or if it was a property for sale with absentee owners). Fortunately the children were unharmed.
None of my local newscasters dared draw a comparison between the two events.
The Pale Scot
@germy:
Fuck Fuck.
I always saw myself as a Father Mulcahy Catholic.
Vaya Con Dios Father, happy trails
raven
@schrodingers_cat: No Bic
germy
@SiubhanDuinne:
Domestic short-hair. But she admires the way Beethoven bridges the Classical and Romantic periods.
opiejeanne
we@MomSense: We woke up to a world of white. Ok, whitefish. It snowed for hours but there’s only about an inch outside and it’s so thin that the grass is showing through it. There was a heavy fog when I first looked out the window but it seems to be going away now..
Mnemosyne
It’s a beautiful, if chilly, day in So Cal — the expected high is only 58. In keeping with my goals (NOT resolutions!) for the year, I need to get up, do a load of laundry, plan my week using my Passion Planner, and write a minimum of 1,700 words of my novel if I’m going to have it 3/4ths done by 1/31.
Fellow writers, I’m going to be doing my own personal NaNoWriMo for January — anyone else with me?
? Martin
At the current rate, Miami will lose 68-0. How the fuck are they in 2nd place?
The Lodger
@opiejeanne: A world of whitefish? You live in a deli?
O. Felix Culpa
Shout out to satby! whose custom-made doggie soap gave Pippin his New Year’s bath! He’s now several shades lighter and sweet-smelling. He might not be grateful, but we are.
CaseyL
Seattle got dusted with powdered sugar last night. Very pretty. Today we’re getting beautiful sunbreaks interspersed with overcast. It’s very cold (for Seattle), and going to stay very cold for a few days, so I think what will happen is, the direct sunlight will melt the snow and then the cold will re-freeze it into ice just in time for the morning commute.
I am taking preventive action by not driving anywhere today, and maybe not tomorrow either! Sherlock Season 4 starts tonight. A local movie theater is selling tickets to watch on the big screen, but PBS is supposed to carry it as well, so no need to brave the ice-slicked streets to see the premiere.
? Martin
@germy:
If you think about it, running a company that only gets work one day per year is pretty untenable. Fireworks for Flag Day ensures that someone will be in business for Independence day.
zhena gogolia
@JordanRules:
Me too!
I have a Trump cat and a Clinton cat.
germy
@? Martin: The Christmas Tree lobby better get busy.
I think fireworks are wonderful on the 4th of July, but lately I hear them every other weekend. It’s nuts.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
Yeah, I hate it, hate it, hate it.
Pogonip
@germy: I’m glad SOMEBODY else noticed. He was one of the best 2nd bananas in the business.
geg6
That’s so funny how you describe Thurston. His sister is lot like him, but apparently I got the brains of the litter. No doubt that Lovey would be a rabid Pant Suit Nation Hillary voter. She’s tough, she likes practical but colorful clothes, she’s a bit bossy and definitely outspoken and she’s the leader of the pack. She seems to have outgrown her destructive tendencies, at least as far as my or John’s possessions go, but her barking has not been curbed for sure. Koda is like Lily. Give her food, a comfy bed and human touch and she doesn’t care or pay attention to much else. She’s just too content to get involved with anything negative. Which explains why Lovey rules the roost. Koda will do anything to avoid conflict, so Lovey just rolls over her every time.
opiejeanne
@germy: There were so many fires and the cause was obvious that there was no fear of connecting the dots. People had always brought them in from other counties and from Mexico but this was just a big whopping helping of this tinderbox-dry place meeting the match, so to speak.
There were several civic fireworks displays, and the one near our house on Mt Rubidoux let us view it from our front yard. One year the People In Charge forgot to close the gate to that park early and the road was so crowded that the guy with the fireworks contract couldn’t get up to the top. Not knowing this and standing around with our neighbors, one of them (Jerry) got impatient, got out his stash Mexican rockets and started his own show, in another neighbor’s, Tom’s, front yard. That was cool until one of the palm trees next to the house caught fire. That was exciting, and waiting to see what happened next had us all on edge: both these guys were lawyers.
The civic fireworks show on Mt Rubidoux was held the next night but it seemed tame compared to watching these two guys, both of them leaders of the local BSA troop, acting like kids. These were the guys who went to BSA camp on Catalina with our boys.
Their names were Tom and Jerry. I never noticed that before, never wrote them down together before.
Another Scott
ObFYWP: Anyone else having this problem?
Chrome on my Chromebook is almost unusable over the last few days – it will just hang for seconds on end, sometimes restart on its own. I’ve turned off Ublock Origin, and I’ve unloaded GreaseMonkey and Cleek’s Pie Filter, but I still have a little warning icon that “This site is trying to load scripts from unauthenticated sources.”
Rebooting the Chromebook a couple of times last night didn’t help.
Anyone else seeing weirdness for B-J on Chrome (with or without a Chromebook)? Any pointers?
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who figures it’s probably on his end, but who knows…)
germy
@Pogonip: Tyrus Wong passed away at the age of 106. He was a great artist who got caught up in that Disney unpleasantness (when Disney called a bunch of striking artists “communists”). He worked on Bambi. He overcame a rough childhood to create some real beauty in the world.
? Martin
@germy: Well, I’m close enough to Disneyland that we hear fireworks every night at 9:35. I had an employee who lived across the street from DL and her daughters bedroom window faced the fireworks. Every night they’d start storytime at 9PM, at 9:35 they’d stop and watch the fireworks out the window, and then it was bedtime.
opiejeanne
@opiejeanne: white-ish not whitefish. Dammit.
opiejeanne
@The Lodger: White-ish. Stupid autocorrect.
O. Felix Culpa
@opiejeanne:
That’s ok. I’d happily wake to smoked whitefish. White-ish (as in light dusting of snow) would be ok too.
germy
@? Martin: Well, actually that sounds magical. I guess one man’s annoyance will be someone’s fondest childhood memory.
If they’re far enough away and handled by professionals, they can be a wonderful thing. But often they’re too close to me for comfort.
Our cat has a place under the bed she’s reserved for such occasions. Every time she hears them, she thinks it’s her most horrible fear realized: the dog next door has acquired weapons.
? Martin
@germy: Christmas trees are a bit different. It takes several years to grow one so they get multiple sales opportunities per production cycle. They are also sold over a span of several weeks. Fireworks don’t take a year to make, and all of the action happens on a single day, so finding enough qualified operators is a bit challenging.
Beautifulplummage
I know 2017 will be better for me if only because I didn’t start visiting with you all until mid-spring. In 2017 I will have you all in my life for the WHOLE year. Thanks to Mr. Cole, the FPers, and all the regular (and irregular) commenters!
Villago Delenda Est
John, at least none of your pets are vile collaborationist shit like the vermin of the Village. For that you can be grateful.
Gator90
@? Martin: The Fins have made a living beating average teams with big plays late in games. Which for the Fins is an exciting improvement. But of course they are not playing an average team right now, and are in the process of being reminded how far they still have to go if they want to eat at the grown-up table.
opiejeanne
@? Martin: Don’t take a year to make? Yes they do, or at least they used to. Not the individual pieces, but the factories ran year round. It was just the sales stands that were open for about 2 weeks once a year.
When we lived in Riverside two of the factories in Fontana exploded. Both shook our house. I think the second company to explode was considered a suicide. What a way to go.
Gindy51
Mouse the mixed breed, lab pyr, would be for Hillary just like the malleable Swissie, Hannibal. Dany the other Swissi, would be a Trump voter to the core. If it isn’t about her… it isn’t important. Come to think of it, she could BE Trump (being deaf would help since it seems Trump can’t hear a fucking thing) except she is a beautiful dog who loves me beyond all measure.
? Martin
@germy: Yeah, like anything, circumstances matter a lot. Our HOA is large enough (30,000 residents) to do their own quite large fireworks show which is really nice. Some years ago we would regularly go to a friends house which is immediately next to the launch location, so the fireworks were directly overhead – you really had to lay on the ground to see them, and they were huge and loud as hell. One year in the middle of the show we hear someone yelling. We look over by where they are being launched and a guy in a firesuit is running straight at us yelling to lay down and cover our heads. Turns out one of the rigs that holds the fireworks fell over and it was going to be firing them at us, rather than overhead. Since they’re preprogrammed, there wasn’t anything he could do to stop them. I threw a blanket over my wife and kids and some of the people around us and layed on top of them head down. We had a number of mortars go off right over our heads and I could feel the cardboard casings landing on and around me. It didn’t last long, but it was pretty exciting. Nobody got hurt (all of the safety precautions worked well – and the firing location was in a depression with no line of sight to people, so they couldn’t have directly hit us), but it took a while to clean that shit up – debris on everything, on the cars, houses, etc. Clothes smelled like gunpowder for quite a while.
Another Scott
@Another Scott: Well, reinstalling UBlock Origin, TamperMonkey, and Cleek’s Pie Filter (after a reboot with them uninstalled) might have fixed it. Whatever “it” is that was causing the slowdown problem.
But I’m still seeing the “… trying to load scripts from unauthenticated sources.” icon. I don’t see it in any of the other 15 tabs I have open – only B-J. I hope it’s not a sign that something malicious is lurking in the FYWP code here…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
raven
@? Martin: We move to Whittier the same year as DL opened. It was all orange groves between the two in those days.
eta, Man, I had never really looked, it’s only 16 miles!!!!
HeleninEire
This post reads a bit like the preelection post not here ; elsewhere. about which candidate would win a bar fight. I’m in a Dublin bar right now so I can’t link but the post was awesome.
raven
@? Martin: We were at New Smyrna Beach in 86 and were part of the crown that saw this:
HeleninEire
@HeleninEire: yeah editing on my phone is impossible. The post I referred to was not here. It was….elsewhere. Dunno where.
greennotGreen
@RedDirtGirl: I second that. Living alone (besides my massive number of critters,) this site provides a semblance of social contact that’s sufficient for me to be happy. I have IRL friends whom I see occasionally and family I visit about once a week, but it’s with the Ballon Juice crew I start my morning and usually end my day (as well as the odd awake-at-3:00am-how-am-I-going-to-amuse-myself times.) Thanks to John for starting this club, all the other front pagers who take the stage, and fire marshall Alain who makes sure the place doesn’t burn down.
So Happy Good Riddance to 2016, everyone! My we weather the New Year with strength and love and good humor.
raven
@HeleninEire: New York Times but you might enjoy it
Two Irish Girls Who Made It to New York
HeleninEire
LOL So now I see the edit. Methinks its time to go home. I’m just an hour away from Sherlock anyway. I promise no spoilers!
seejanerun
My dogs go absolutely nuts whenever any person or animal approaches the fence, and it is impossible to convince them that those people/dogs/squirrels are not a threat. So I assume they would be Trump voters.
HeleninEire
@raven: Thanks I’ll take a look. That was my mom in 1958. But there was a secret to her emigration that I did not know until I was 32 and she had been dead 20 years. My granny in Belfast told me the first time I visited, but first said “don’t tell your father”
Another Scott
@HeleninEire: It’s probably not this, but The Presidential Candidates Ranked By Their Usefulness In A Bar Fight.
Hehe.
Cheers,
Scott.
Aimai
Is it too late to submit this for greatest post of 2016? Because it is. Like our blog host it is deceptively simple, entirely profound.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t know. She didn’t need to be so rude to Diana.
O. Felix Culpa
@debbie: My guess is that she regrets that now.
SWMBO
@Suzanne: The neighbors have blown so many fireworks that the city had to do repairs to the asphalt. This was several years ago and I’m not sure if the city sent them a bill.
All of our dogs would have voted for Clinton. Pixie is a nasty woman and she would have ordered the boys to fall in line.
Villago Delenda Est
@debbie: She SHOULD have sided with her against her wastrel spawn who has never been able to get his act together on anything at all.
Denny
I remember a meme I saw going around some time ago that made the inverse comparison of Libertarians to Cats. Somewhat paraphrasing but it went something like – “Libertarians are like cats; completely dependent upon others but absolutely convinced of their own independence.”
Quinerly
@germy:
And we started out 2016 with the news Wayne Rogers of MASH had died.
debbie
@Villago Delenda Est:
Agreed totally.
Villago Delenda Est
@Denny: Major difference: Cats do know how to give and return love. Libertarians, not so much.
raven
@HeleninEire: Did you see Brooklyn?
bemused senior
@SiubhanDuinne: my birthday is 2 days before Prince Charles, and my mom was always interested in QE2 because similar age, both went through the war doing war work, etc. So I also developed a mild fascination with her.
Mnemosyne
@Another Scott:
Okay, someone needs to create a front-page post linking to this epic post at the same site:
Now Is When We Become Fire Ants
Ryan
Here’s a better question. Which co-blogger is each of your pets most like. Pretty sure I got Rosie figured out. Not too sure about Thurston.
Major Major Major Major
I have absolutely no idea how or if Samwise would have voted.
O. Felix Culpa
@Mnemosyne: Very cool! Thanks for the link. You don’t want to get bit by fire ants either. I did once, while working in Uganda. Fire is an apt name for those critters. They burn.
CaseyL
My current two kitties are Jeannie and Oscar. Other than their complete self-centeredness (which is normal for cats and therefore not a clue to their political leanings), it’s hard to imagine either of them voting for Trump because his spawn kill their wild cousins. Also, Hillary is far more likely to let them sleep with Mommy in the human bed, and indulge their finicky eating habits. Hillary it is!
The Archenemy, Liam, a magnificent but mean cat who lives at the other end of the townhouse complex, dedicates himself to being a bully and is obviously a Trump supporter.
SiubhanDuinne
@Pogonip:
Sacrablue and I both noticed and commented with “RIP William Christopher” posts last evening. Can’t remember which thread. I think a few more might have noted his passing in one of the overnight or early morning threads. So it was definitely noticed, just not while you were around :-)
He was one of the best. I loved the Father Mulcahy character — so gentle and wise and compassionate with a core of unwavering strength. From all I know about the actor, Bill Christopher was much the same in real life.
Ella in New Mexico
Your pets=my kids/family members.
“Lily” is my sweet little 23 year-old pot-head, recovering video game addict nephew who lives in two-bedroom apartment with his “Rosie”-style girlfriend who HAS TO DO EVERYTHING IN THIS PLACE GODDAMN IT yet just brought home their third abandoned, abused dog they care for. His parents being not too pleased with his current progress tend to nag him quite a bit. But she loves and motivates him, and he adores and pampers her, which is wonderful because she was an abused foster-child and orphan herself. He’s is still trying to graduate from Vet Tech school after 3 years of starts and stops, and delivers Jimmy John’s sandwiches to make mends meet. But I love this kid– he’s always hopeful, positive and the best hugger in the family. He literally slept in on the last day to register, too, so…yeah, he’s Lily.
So, Happy New Year, John. Like everyone else here, I’m so grateful that you founded this place. It’s full of smart, interesting and complex folks. At times this year, I thought people here were gonna tear each other apart, but now that the Trumpocalypse is under full swing, I’m seeing positive signs that everyone remembers who their friends–e and otherwise–truly are.
“The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity – or it will move apart.”– Franklin D. Roosevelt
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
“Jocularity?”
germy
@Mnemosyne: Are you the Disney employee? Did you see the Tyrus Wong obit?
debbie
@CaseyL:
Hey, thanks for letting me know about Costain last night.
Doug R
Great post until the last line. Ya spelt Stealers wrong.
Go ‘Hawks!
Mnemosyne
@O. Felix Culpa:
I like the vision of Democrats as fire ants: we stick together and bite those who try to separate us. Let’s do it.
@germy:
I know people who worked on the recent documentary about him, so I heard pretty quickly after he was gone. The film will be airing on PBS as part of the “American Masters” series — I’ll try to let everyone know when the date is finalized.
Mnemosyne
@Ella in New Mexico:
My usual question: has he ever been screened for ADHD? If he leans more towards inattentive type, he could have flown under the radar while more flamboyant hyperactives were getting all the attention.
germy
@Mnemosyne: I look forward to seeing that. I remember the “Reluctant Dragon” movie that featured some actual Disney animators. It was released around the time of the big Strike. From what I understand, he left Disney around that time.
germy
@Mnemosyne:
Unlikely, although it’s obvious he has poor concentration skills.
It’s like the old saying, “If you’re poor with a mental illness, you’re called crazy. If you’re wealthy with a mental illness, you’re called eccentric.”
ADHD isn’t a mental illness, but I think the quote applies.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
Sorry? Not following.
Doug R
@SiubhanDuinne: Scaring the sh*t out of King Abdullah, ripping around her estate. What’s not to love?
Scotian
Since this is an open thread on NYD I’m going to ask a question I’ve been wondering about for some time now.
You see, I used to be very active on following American political blogs from the mid to late 90s into the end of the GWB period. However, once Obama got elected I shifted my primary online focus back home/Canada because of Stephen Harper and watching us giving him more and more power. So I completely missed the decline and end of FireDogLake. Now, I’ve seen multiple references here and elsewhere to how extremist Hamsher got, I’ve seen the pejorative FireBaggers used as the left version of TeaBaggers, but I honestly do not know the basis for it.
So could someone or someones here please explain to me what happened, or provide a link to where this is already spelled out? It isn’t really important, just one of those long term itches that finally gets annoying enough to scratch. I’m asking here because I have seen this referenced here more than a few times by various folks relatively recently and so I figured I’d have a decent chance of getting an informative (as in more than just catcalls and namecalling) answer as to what happened to FDL.
Thanks a lot and Happy New Year everyone, even if this is the first year of living the viva Trumpa…*sigh*
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
Yes, isn’t that curious that two stars of the same TV program died exactly a year apart on New Year’s Eve? Statistically, of course, it’s no more anomalous than two people dying a year apart on any given date, but the holiday and the M*A*S*H connection somehow make the coincidence feel more portentous.
The Pale Scot
MY departed Scottie have worried it a bit and then given my that assessing look and said;
Hoot man, Ar’ ey Daft?
HeleninEire
@Another Scott: that’s it. Thanks
Major Major Major Major
@Scotian: they were always a flaky part of the coalition but they were the first to insist that Obama ‘sold us out’. Many of the negative caricatures we use–obama should have used the bully pulpit!! public option!!–are about that crowd.
HeleninEire
@raven: yes and I cried my effing eyes out. Even at the good parts. Loved it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Doug R:
Oh yes, that was a wonderful moment. I’ve always thought the Queen was a lot more badass than her usual image would suggest. (It’s one of my innumerable specific sadnesses about the election results that HRC won’t have a state visit and call on the Queen at Buckingham Palace or Windsor or wherever. Two badass women? I would have enjoyed that.)
Doug R
@Another Scott:
Are you sure it’s not a memory problem?
SiubhanDuinne
@bemused senior:
There’s no predicting what kinds of things will set off a lifelong (or temporary) interest in a subject. Almost sharing a birthday with Prince Charles, and your mom’s identification with QE2, seems like an excellent reason!
Major Major Major Major
@Another Scott: they’ve had that here for ages. Something with their certificate I think.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
He did, but Tyrus mostly got fired for being Chinese, unfortunately. He was on the non-striking (scab) side, which didn’t help when people came back to work.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
They didn’t figure out that my nephew’s father had severe ADHD and bipolar disorder until he’d been in and out of jail most of his adult life. The fact that he’s poor and Black is not a coincidence.
(My nephew was diagnosed and treated as a kid, so he’s doing fine and has never been in trouble with the law.)
Pogonip
Our betta first said he would have refrained from voting, but upon further teflection, decided he would have written in Vladimir Putin.
eclare
@Doug R: Love that story! And fan as well. Really wish she would make a public appearance.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Since you like stuff about Disney animators, you can get the recent documentary about Floyd Norman on Blu-Ray and iTunes, or it may still be streaming on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Floyd is a little younger than Tyrus was, but he was hired by Walt and knew a lot of the Nine Old Men. And because he’s Black, he had to be better than all the other guys who were hired with him.
Scotian
@Major Major Major Major:
I’ve gotten that much, I guess what I’m more interested is a bit more detail on the key points that took it from being a fairly well recognized American liberal blogsite and then end up as synonymous with the worst extremists on the left side of the political spectrum. For me, the last time I really read them was during the 2008 primaries, so I missed everything after that in the direct sense, although I would of course occasionally see secondary references, like the ones you cited, and of course from that I can get a sense of how that is meant, but the context, the backstory, that is the part I am nagged by.
I agree it could get flaky, but that is a far cry from where it appears it ended up from all the reactions I’ve seen here and elsewhere and the pejoratives used, what they described, and in general being branded teabagger left. I clearly missed a lot.
BTW, do you know who “Grover” is in relation to Hamsher? (I see “Grover” in an American political context standing alone and my first thought goes to Norquist and I cannot imagine that to be the right answer here) I saw that referenced in an earlier thread where one commentator here said they were banned after those two met up in some manner and it changed the site or so the implication went to someone as uninformed as I am on that context, and that is what triggered this itch yet again.
Mnemosyne
@Scotian:
It was kind of a slow decline, so there’s not really a spectacular blow-up to point to. The beginning of the end was when Hamsher partnered up with Grover Norquist (yes, that Grover Norquist) for reasons I can’t entirely remember at this distance.
Another Scott
@Doug R: It appeared suddenly, and I often had 2x that number open without the “slowdown” and “freezing” issues. The RAM management on Chromebooks seems pretty good usually.
But, who knows…
It still seems “fixed”, so fingers crossed…
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Major Major Major Major: Thanks, M^4. I never noticed it before, so thought it might be related.
Cheers,
Scott.
Villago Delenda Est
@SiubhanDuinne: If I were Alan Alda, I’d realize I’ve got a year to get my affairs in order.
3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)
@SiubhanDuinne: Father Mulcahey doing an imitation of Col. Potter, I think, if I remember correctly. MASH was my last foray into “appointment television”.
germy
@Mnemosyne: He was one of the 101 Dalmatians guys, so he has a special place in my heart. (I saw 101 Dalmatians as a very young child on the big screen when it first came out and it blew my mind.)
Another Scott
@Mnemosyne: I used to read FDL when they were part of the groups trying to push for a Public Option early in the PPACA process. I thought they were useful, then. But then they went further and further out on that branch they were sawing off, and wouldn’t let it go.
And then Jane tied up with Grover to go after Rahm and Obama over bailing out Fannie and Freddie and who knows what else…
Grover is the friend of nobody who wants progress. Jane seemed to be trying to be an early, even “purer” version of
BerWilmer… :-/Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack (phone)
Resolutions.
Major Major Major Major
@Scotian: Norquist and Hamsher teamed up to harass Obama, actually. ETA: I see others got there first.
@Another Scott: It’s not a coincidence that Wilmer’s ranks were infested with firebaggers. Their newfound influence is one of the things that sank Hillary.
germy
Did anyone here see Don Lemon make a fool of himself on TV last night? Apparently he started drinking early, and after an hour or so he was getting his ear pierced and saying weirdly personal stuff to his co-host. I didn’t watch, but it showed up on the twitter…
MomSense
@Steeplejack (phone):
Ha! I suppose if you put the booze in a water bottle no one would notice.
SiubhanDuinne
@Villago Delenda Est:
Jamie Farr is a couple of years older than Alda.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Like most of the old-timers I’ve met, Floyd is simultaneously really nice and tough as nails. They had to be to get through the post-Walt years.
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne:
Very strange indeed.
germy
@Mnemosyne: I imagine you had to be tough to survive the Walt years as well…
Another Scott
Atrios reposted his homage to M^2’s father. Classic.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yarrow
I love this post!
Just got home from a New Years Day brunch where everyone hated Trump and wasn’t afraid to talk about it. Refreshing. We talked about things like phone and computer security and working to defend institutions and the constitution.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
Me too.
Especially after watching The Crown and the movie on Netflix about the night when WWII ended, and Lillibet and Margaret got to go out among the people and celebrate.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: yes! Am working on it today. btw, what’s your email again? I should have made a note of it a few days ago, but have been hella pre-occupied and didn’t.
Joyce H
Open thready and pet related – Al Franken notes and seems to find significance in the fact that you never see Trump laugh. I agree that seems rather sinister, but another thing I’ve noticed that I find pretty sinister about the guy is that he doesn’t have and apparently has never had a pet. Does that strike anyone else as odd?
debbie
@SiubhanDiunne:
Can’t find a video, but it was a scene from Mash. They’re all sitting around drinking, feeling no pain, and Potter does his imitation (in a high-pitched, indignant voice) of Father Mulcahey protesting the doctors’ irreverence. “Jocularity? Jocularity!”
Major Major Major Major
@germy: I did not, though I could have guessed he made a fool of himself just by the fact that he was on tv.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
Thanks. Thought I knew all the episodes pretty well, but I’m not remembering that one. If I saw it I probably would.
SiubhanDuinne
@Joyce H:
Yes, I’ve noticed both things about him. Seems somewhat … not human.
eclare
@Joyce H: He seems to be quite the germa-phobe, not shaking hands, etc. That could be why.
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: Also have noticed Melania rarely, rarely smiles showing her teeth. All very pursed lips, mouth closed.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
That movie (A Royal Night Out) was fun! Very far removed from the somewhat duller facts, but a fun flick.
I don’t have and don’t know how to do Netflix, so I will have to wait for The Crown until the series is released on DVD in a couple of years.
Major Major Major Major
@eclare: I know people who’ve never had pets who aren’t completely insane. The creepiest thing is definitely the lack of laughter or a real smile. When he smiles it’s very uncanny valley.
Villago Delenda Est
@SiubhanDuinne: Then he should, too, as a precaution, get all his affairs in order. Gary Burghoff might also do that.
CaseyL
@debbie: Happy to help! Are you going to re-read them? Do you like more novel-y books set in that era? Sharon Kay Penman is worth checking out.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: There’s at least one video of him laughing. You’ll never guess what it’s about. :-/
Trump laughing (0:36).
Cheers,
Scott.
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: Oh I agree, was just stating that if as rumored he is a germa-phobe, that would explain the no pets.
Villago Delenda Est
@Joyce H: A pet would compete with him for attention. Can’t have that!
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
I always figured the lack of smiling was a side effect of all the collagen injections. That full-lipped pout is supposed to be sexy.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Google tells me it was during Penobscot’s bachelor party before marrying Hot Lips. I believe even the good father got a bit tipsy.
SiubhanDuinne
@Another Scott:
Figures, the only thing that could possibly elicit a genuine laugh from him is at the expense of a rival. A female rival.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
It’s mnemosyne dot muse at Gmail. In a pinch, you could email Schrodinger’s Cat through her website and she could forward the email to me. I think TaMara also has my email addy.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: Yup. What he genuinely laughs about when he does says much more about him than him than the frequency…
Cheers,
Scott.
Mnemosyne
@Joyce H:
Be grateful he doesn’t have a pet. You don’t want to know the horror stories I’ve heard of narcissists with pets.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
I looked up the full episode summary and I remember almost everything about it except Father Mulcahy getting tipsy! There’s no clip on YouTube, apparently, so shall have to dig out the DVDs.
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
She’s had a nasty head cold for nearly two weeks. You don’t go out into the cold damp English winter when you have a bad cold and you’re just a few months from your 91st birthday. I hope she gets lots of rest, that all the fires at Balmoral are giving her warmth, and that her footman knows how to mix a restorative hot toddy.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: Dunno. That seems to be a very, very common look among models. And I don’t recall smiling being that common in many pretty eastern European women either. (E.g. Maria Sharapova). But of course, Google has plenty of examples.
FWIW.
.
.
In other news, Wilmer’s team still has nothing posted about the Day of Action rallies in 14 days….
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who still plans to be at the Women’s March on 1/21 but isn’t planning anything for the 15th – yet.)
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: @Miss Bianca: I can do it too.
@Another Scott: It makes them look like a drag queen!
zhena gogolia
Sherlock tonight!
Kathleen
@raven: I loved that movie. It was set in the town my Grandpa lived in before he came over to US.
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s not smart even for those of us younger. I have been battling a terrible cold or flu that immediately went to my lungs. I was coughing up gunk by the second day. I’m mostly over it now but even so when I go out in the cold and forget to put a scarf over my nose, it hurts when I breathe in that cold air. At her age she needs to be very careful. I hope she recovers quickly.
Yarrow
@Another Scott: Why do you call him Wilmer?
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Calling him by his name alerts the trolls. Then the threads go all to shit.
ETA: There’s been speculation that a couple of trolls have Wilmer’s (real) name on Google Alert or similar, so they get a ding and come running over.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
Because certain trolls have a Google alert set up if we use his more familiar name, and we don’t want them swarming the thread.
Another Scott
@Yarrow: I think it was Captain Mnemo’s idea. To keep the trolls away (some seem to show up shortly after his name is mentioned – apparently Google Alerts can be used for that purpose).
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne: @Yarrow: Plus it’s more fun than his real name.
Mnemosyne
@Another Scott:
I didn’t come up with it, but I wholeheartedly approve. Even I get tired of rehashing the past 8 years with the same trolls over and over and over again.
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: @Mnemosyne: @Another Scott: Wow. Really? That’s crazy. Who would spend the effort to set up a Google alert so they could come troll a thread? Good plan with the name, though. Has it been working?
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: It also explains why they always show up to the thread so late.
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major: They do seem to do that. And only in those threads where that subject/person is discussed. Otherwise they’re no shows.
Scotian
@Mnemosyne:
@Major Major Major Major:
@Another Scott:
Thanks to all three of you for this, it is appreciated. Grover bloody Norquist,??? Mr. Let’s drown government n a bathtub man? That says a lot right there. Sounds like I got out back when it was still a strong and useful information source, because it really was, once. So I can with that fill in some of what has been bothering me, which is what I was looking for, because I have, as I said, seen fragmentary information on this specific point but not enough context. Which should be obvious if I thought Grover being Norquist was clearly wrong/impossible. That at least gives me a measure I can use to gauge just how far they had fallen.
Appreciate getting that itch scratched well, it has been needing it for a bit. Enjoy the rest of your New Year’s Day, especially since it is one of the last days we are all free of President Trump and still safe in the hands of President Obama. For a few more days/weeks at least…*sigh* I’m really not looking forward to the international spillovers from his formal assumption of power, I really really am not. Ah well.
O. Felix Culpa
@Yarrow: It appears to have been working. Far less trollage than usual, which is a good thing. Hats off to whomever came up with the Wilmer protocol.
Yarrow
@O. Felix Culpa: I’m glad I asked so I didn’t inadvertently mention the name!
wasabi gasp
tl;dr: here’s to a pussyfree 2017
Miss Bianca
@zhena gogolia: Just finished the first two seasons of “Sherlock”, and enjoyed it far more than I was expecting. I mean, not that I was’t expecting to enjoy it, I just found myself wondering what all the Cumberbatch hysteria was about. I found out. : )
(Course, for me, Basil Rathbone was the ultimate Sherlock. BR just had a sinister panache as an actor I find extremely alluring.)
Another Scott
@Doug R: On the other hand, RAM starvation might have been at least part of the issue, also too. I love this National Weather Service National Radar Loop, but it is a bit of a hog. Things run more smoothly without it being open all the time.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Miss Bianca:
Rathbone’s problem (not his fault) was that his films were formulaic B-movies. For “straight” Holmes, give me Jeremy Brett in the excellent 1984-94 Granada series.
Villago Delenda Est
@Scotian: Norquist is the prime example of an entitled douche (his dad was some corporate bigshot, so his fortune is a result of falling out of the right womb, not any actual effort) who should have been subject to a 100% inheritance tax and then beaten to death with a tire iron. Vile parasite scum of the first order.
Miss Bianca
@Steeplejack (phone): yeah, I know. Some of those old serials scripts are truly terrible. Have been watching old episodes of “The Lone Ranger” because it was on DVD at the local library, and oh, dear God – what absolute, howl-worthy clunkers of scripts! Poor Jay Silverheels – how he managed to make it thru’ his lines without hurling, I have no idea.
@Mnemosyne: Yay! I am planning on sending you guys (SC and Bella Q as well) Chapter 1, and possibly Chapter 6, because I’d like some feedback on that one specifically.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
Love me some Rathbone. I was always rooting for him in his swashbucklers over the supposed heroes. Especially once I found out he was the best fencer in Hollywood (as judged by the guy who did all the training) and had to keep losing his on-screen duels to idiots like Errol Flynn who barely knew one end of the sword from the other.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: IKR? – the older I get, the more I’m like, “to hell with Robin Hood, give me the Sheriff of Nottingham!”
Did you know he was on the short-list to be cast as Rhett Butler in GWTW? Now *that* would have been interesting! Course, he didn’t stand the ghost of a chance actually *getting* cast against Clark Gable, but still…I would have *loved* to see him as Rhett!
Steeplejack (tablet)
@HeleninEire:
What was your mother’s emigration secret?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Miss Bianca: Yay!
@Steeplejack (tablet): I want to know also too.
RedDirtGirl
@HeleninEire:
Helen! Congrats on your move! Sorry we didn’t connect again in NY before you left! Hope you are settling in well.
ChrisGrrr
@John Cole: Tunch was why I stuck around here. What a character.
That may reveal more than I want it to, but I’m sticking to my story.
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
@Mnemosyne:
I met him, years ago, when I was a student at Northwestern (so, probably 1961-62). He was on campus for a couple of days doing lectures and, I suppose, master classes. Anyhow, I went to one of the lectures and chatted with him for a few minutes at the reception following.
By then, of course, I knew him as Sherlock, but my standout introduction to him was as the Narrator and Witch in a much-abridged recording of Hansel and Gretel, given to me as a gift when I was four or five years old. I damn near wore those discs (78rpm) out. Jane Powell — anyone remember her? — sang the role of Gretel. But Karloff’s Witch made that album.
Anyhow, I talked to him about Humperdinck’s creation instead of Conan Doyle’s. I came away with the impression that he was somewhat relieved not to have to discuss Holmes for a few minutes.
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh, my dear, is there anyone you *haven’t* met? Such a fascinating life as you’ve had! Very jealous of meeting Mr. Rathbone in the flesh, indeed, indeed!
debbie
@Miss Bianca:
I met Jeremy Brett, another Sherlock, years ago when he starred with Claudette Colbert in “Aren’t We All?” A friend was one of the minor characters, which is how I got backstage.
I met both stars and they couldn’t have been nicer or more down to earth.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@SiubhanDuinne:
“Karloff’s witch”? You mean Rathbone’s, right?
Miss Bianca
@debbie: Jeremy Brett is also rather dreamy, have to say.
debbie
@Miss Bianca:
No argument from me. I liked his performance in PBS’s “The Good Soldier” (Ford Maddox Ford).
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Yes, DUH. Rathbone, to be sure. Don’t know where “Karloff” came from! (Well, I kinda do, but it’s long and boring and senseless.)
Thanks, I didn’t catch that at all.
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
Ha, there are lots and LOTS of people I haven’t met! The Northwestern thing with Basil Rathbone was just a right-place-right-time fluke, but mostly I’ve just been fortunate to work in jobs that put me in brief contact with people who were prominent in music/theatre/dance and later in government offices in Canada and the US. Also, my mother owned a bookstore, so when I was younger I met a few well-known authors. But it’s all luck of the draw, really.
And if I ever come across as name-dropping, please yell at me, because that’s far from my intention :-)
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
I would love to have had the chance to meet Jeremy Brett — to my mind, the quintessential Sherlock. People forget, but he was Freddy Eynsford-Hill (“On the Street Where You Live”) in the original Broadway My Fair Lady.
He died, I can hardly believe this, in 1995, the same year as my father and also the same year as one of my other all-time favorite actors, Nicholas Pennell. (Nicky was Michael Mont in the original Forsyth Saga, opposite Susan Hampshire’s Fleur Fordyce. One look at him, even in grainy black-and-white, and my heart was gone. He later emigrated to Canada and was a stalwart of the Stratford Festival for many years. His “Pericles” in a loin-cloth and nothing else gave my aunt palpitations for weeks.)
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
Also very cool that you got to meet Claudette Colbert! It’s always nice to know that most stars are nice, decent, down-to-earth people.
In fact, I can remember only two performers of international repute who were arrogant and horrid.
Just thought of another. Okay, three.
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
I drop a lot of names, but they’re all animators, so germy is the only one who’s impressed. ?
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne: Grace Hopper handed me a nanosecond. This impressed the hell out of my geek friends.
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: I remember Nicholas Pennell, and I’m sure I must have seen him in *something*, because I used to go to Stratford fairly frequently when I still lived in Michigan.
You have – you must have, you’re probably the one who recommended it to me – seen “Slings and Arrows”, right?
stinger
@Mnemosyne: I missed the first BJ Writers discussion group because that Sunday I was writing the final chapter in my novel! Whew! My January goal is to finish revisions, write a good query letter, and identify some likely agencies. But I do need to start the next novel soon. I take a community college evening class that is basically just a workshop, and will have to have something to submit by the end of February.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
I had to Google a photo, but I recognized his face. I loved the original Forsyte Saga series (and also the books).
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
Yes, indeed. And that was probably me.
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
I lived in Michigan from 1975-84, and with relatives in Ontario, used to drive over to Stratford several times a season. After I moved to Atlanta, I wasn’t there as often, but spent a week with my aunt in 1992 during which we saw eight or nine plays. Great theatrical memories!
(Am I wrong, or was it you who knew Bud Beyer at NU?)
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
Me too!
Jeffro
CHIEFS TAKE #2 SEED for the AFC PLAYOFFS!! NOT THAT IT MATTERS!! BUT STILL!!!
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: That was me, yup!
Yeah, Brian Bedford, Maggie Smith, Nicholas Pennell – I got to see a bunch of the greats at Stratford.
Aleta
The dog here would strongly oppose candidates who won’t limit climate warming, if only he understood how it’s likely causing more energetic and frequent crashes of thunder and ice-covered tree limbs.
The cats believe they are opposed to any man-made health care whatsoever, so would vote for any candidate who promises to bring the whole veterinary system crashing down.
Ella in New Mexico
@Mnemosyne:
Wow! super perceptive on that one! Yes, he has been and spent a great deal of his childhood on meds, but once out from under the control and structure of his parent’s home he’s stopped taking them. They really have struggled with trying to get him back on them and/or in counseling, but as you might guess, his follow through is not the greatest. I think they’ve decided to back off at this point because it was causing a lot of conflict between them.