Years ago, my husband installed a dartboard in our tiki bar in a very ingenious manner. Since the structure lacks walls, he affixed it to a sturdy board that is mounted to the rafters on hinges. It swings down for use and can be locked back up against the rafters when no one is playing.
We haven’t played darts in a while. I noticed the other day the cigar box that contains the darts had been moved. Upon closer inspection, I saw bits of the bristle board poking though the cracks and noticed that the wire circle that sections off the target wedges and bullseye was hanging out the other side of the board. Then I noticed that the culprit was inspecting me:
So squirrels have made a nest of our dartboard. We’re tempted to unlock the bolt and swing the board down, but there might be a squirrel avalanche. You win this round, squirrels.
Open thread!
jl
A critter gone wild in the very domicile of a delicate maiden post. Knew it was Lady Cracker before even looking at the top.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
SENATE GOP VOTES DOWN CORETTA SCOTT KING
GOP Senate votes down reading of letter from Martin Luther King’s widow on the subject of Trump’s AG nominee….
I don’t think that’s a headline and story they really want
schrodingers_cat
Well at least its not a baby alligator or python.
Mike J
Dartboard squirrelfessional,
Sorry, I just woke up from a nap and am still logy.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: Maybe you want to rephrase this:
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, Elizabeth Warren is banned from the debate on Sessions for reading the letter. Nothing fascistic about that!
Omnes Omnibus
I may just have arranged to have drinks with a senior W DoD official. It was not intentional.
Major Major Major Major
@Betty Cracker: Yertle really shit the bed with that one!
Not that anybody will care.
Corner Stone
Telling a sitting female Senator to sit down and shut up. That is some level of balls I am unaware of.
laura
Ceiling cat’s got nothing on Dartboard Squirrel!
Hal
Wait, so anything related to Sessions nomination and subsequent denial to a federal judgeship is off limits?
PeakVT
A squirvalanche? Could make for a good yoo-toob video!
Emma
@Major Major Major Major: Women will. I can assure you of that.
mai naem mobile
That pic makes the squirrel look like a huge scifi horror movie sized squirrel.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
Not this time….
mai naem mobile
@Omnes Omnibus: make sure you tape it and get him good and drunk so you can get some real juicy stuff.
skerry
@Betty Cracker: Every Dem Senator should get up there and read the letter.
burnspbesq
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I don’t think they care. In their eyes, Sen. Warren is just being a pain in the ass.
CaseyL
@Hal:
Remember: it’s OK to be a racist; it’s not OK to call someone a racist. Because racism doesn’t exist, or wouldn’t if we didn’t keep calling attention to it. Or something like that.
Tokyokie
Have you considered using the squirrels as a dartboard? Although you probably wouldn’t want to use the fancy tungsten-alloy darts on them.
Gin & Tonic
I don’t have a tiki bar.
Major Major Major Major
@Emma: after everything else Trump did, this is what will get white women to vote blue?
I’m not saying it isn’t awful but I doubt it’ll get much play.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Would it matter if it was intentional?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Corner Stone: I’m a forty-nine year old white guy from Flyoverland. I cannot imagine that telling Warren that she will not use the words of Coretta Scott King to tarnish the good name of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions will play well (and I know he didn’t choose his name, but he’s chosen to live up to it).
PhoenixRising
I’m out. This thread is going to have me dreaming of a squirrel avalanche onto Mitch McConnell’s desk tomorrow consisting of the top story: Senate’s Dierksen Office Building Evacuated Due to Faxes Of Long-Lost Coretta Scott King Letter on Jeff Sessions.
Emma
@Major Major Major Major: I didn’t say anything about voting right now. I’m talking about anger. And women don’t rely as much on “play”. I was at my dentist’s this morning — an all-women office — and we spent quite a time discussing the President* and his poisonous brood. That conversation rippled out to other women. This will too.
Corner Stone
I wish Warren had pulled out her walking cane and went over to beat Mitch into the hospital with it.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: It’s kind of like a “sorry, not sorry” announcement, tbh.
Major Major Major Major
@Emma: fair enough.
efgoldman
@Major Major Major Major:
As i said in the last thread: Apparently Yertle McTurtle’s staff never explained this tweetler thing to him – that a message can get around the world instantaneously. Several Dems have already twittled about it.
mai naem mobile
For the Metro Phoenix BJrs Paul Gosar (R AZ4) is having a town hall meeting on Thurs Feb 23, 6pm at the Best Western in Gold Canyon. For people not familiar with Gold Canyon it’s 5-7 minutes from Apache Junction right off I 60. It’s basically <30 mins from the East Valley.I am going to try and be there work willing. I think this is a test run for a GOPr townhall in AZ because I think it's intentionally set where it is to minimize turnout. They want to know if they need to be scared.
Adam L Silverman
@Hal: Senate Rule #19 is written to prevent senators from disparaging each other on the floor of the Senate, as well as within committee/sub-committee work. That’s what Senator McConnell invoked. It really doesn’t apply here given the nature of the debate – Senator Sessions fitness to be the Attorney General, but McConnell wants to move things along and wants to protect Senator Sessions, hence the invocation of Senate Rule 19.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: No. Fucking Princeton.
efgoldman
@Corner Stone:
Lots of tradition there. Charles Sumner was from MA.
Adam L Silverman
@skerry: The letter is actually already part of the existing Congressional Record from when Senator Sessions was nominated for and denied appointment to the Federal judiciary.
burnspbesq
@Corner Stone:
Sumner’s revenge!
Gin & Tonic
@Emma: My daughter, my first-born baby (now a mother herself, but still my baby) has been relatively non-political most of her life, although understanding and fulfilling her civic duty to be educated and vote. But I tell you, this Betsy DeVos thing has turned her into someone I barely recognize. She is on fire! It’s probably relevant that she is a
union thugpublic school teacher in a majority-minority district, but I’ve really never seen her like this. I know others have remarked on the conversion of their loved ones, but this is a sight to behold.Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus:
I went to law school there!
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: better than Senate Rule 34.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I worked with and know several of them that I provided support for in 2008. They were also professional when I dealt with them as were the ones under President Obama.
skerry
Going to make a sign “Nevertheless, She Persisted”
efgoldman
@Betty Cracker:
Try mothballs or moth flakes. It’s how we got rid of Rocky Racoon and his family in our attic. Toss some up above the board, or hand some netting as close as you can get with mothballs in it.
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: Ew.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Ha!
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: I have a very close friend from grad school who is now the acknowledged authority on Congressional (and by extension American politicians) tweeting. He wrote the first assessment of it shortly after members of Congress started tweeting and its become a sub-specialty ever since. I keep meaning to ask if he’s branched out into Congressional use of instagram or vine or tindr or grindr or anything like that. I’ll text him tomorrow and report back!
Howard Beale IV
@Adam L Silverman: And Buzzfeed reported that King’s letter was never entered into the Congressional Record during Sessions’s nomination back in the 80s by none other than Strom Thurmond.
Emma
@Gin & Tonic: Women I know — even one or two very conservative Southerners — are pissed and spoiling for a fight.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Okay, good to know.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Very good friend trying to get his friends together. I said okay before he mentioned the Bushie who was in his club in college.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Remember, members of Congress are indemnified from criminal prosecution for anything they do as part of the course of their official duties. So if there’s a parliamentary justification for bludgeoning a fellow member of Congress to death, this could get interesting.
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: keep seeing folks talking bout Coretta Scott Kings letter is ” on the record” from previous hearing…ah …nope!
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Princeton dining clubs tend to throw politically different people together. To the extent that Princeton undergrads are vastly different.
efgoldman
@Gin & Tonic:
mrs efg and I will be married 40 years this August. She’s voted every time, but is basically non-political; I’m the political junkie in the house, especially since I discovered this place and other blogs ~2004-05.
This morning she was sitting with her laptop, following the DeVos vote in real time…. and cursing up a storm.
Peach Pustule and his merry band have energized a shitload of people.
Adam L Silverman
@Howard Beale IV: Yep, it had to be done afterword. Thurmond prevented it being read in. I believe he invoked a Rule 19 challenge.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Of COURSE you do.
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman: Any thoughts on Yemen blocking US ops? Seems they don’t want a loon directing armed people around their country.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: It is what it is.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m sure they are. I’d even bet that you’ll find more than one shade of blue oxford button-down among the entire student body.
Timurid
At this point every Democratic Senator should take their turn at the podium with a copy of the King letter and make McConnell rebuke each and every one of them.
Emerald
McConnell might not be too worried about the fallout from his action tonight if he’s sure that AAs and others just aren’t going to be able to vote in 2018. Getting Sessions in as AG will pretty much assure that, especially after Roberts gutted the VRA.
Method to their madness.
burnspbesq
What the holy hell?
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: I’m not surprised. The Awlakis are a large and influential family throughout Yemen. My understanding is that the 8 year old Awlaki girl and her mother had been taking to that area by her grandfather who is a member of what passes for Yemen’s government right now. But even more so than that, as we’ve heard a lot of recently, borders have to be enforced. If anyone can enter your country and commit acts of violence, you don’t have a country.
Corner Stone
@lamh36: Every D Senator should start at the part of that letter the previous one left off. There is nothing more important than can be said about this asshole right now.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
Dartboard’s in the cupboard? Dart’s in the cupboard? Squirrel’s in the cupboard…
Farewell and adieu to you Spanish ladies….
Another Scott
@efgoldman: It’s a pretty good story for fundraising, also too. I sent her a US Grant tonight.
Cheers,
Scott.
Peale
@Mike J: I’m confused as to which government of Yemen we’re talking about at the moment. The one that we’re trying to destroy? The one who allies with Al Queda every once in awhile to push out the one we don’t like?
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: i thought i had read that the letter was “lost” but an enterprising journal from WSJ i believe found and published a copy of the letter
efgoldman
@Gin & Tonic:
Maybe even a stripe or two. Brooks Bros sells ’em.
burnspbesq
Listening to a replay of this afternoon’s oral argument in the Ninth Circuit. DOJ lawyer getting skewered. I am enjoying it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Well, to the extent that these two people are a black Bush official and a pasty white Obama/Clinton banker….
Gin & Tonic
@burnspbesq: Economic anxiety.
Adam L Silverman
@burnspbesq: This is not a problem. As the new Administration and a member of Congress have announced, these folks are not a problem, not extremists, and not terrorists.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: 90% of my work shirts are BB.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: I’d read that.
lamh36
Notice too ALL FEMALE GOP SENATORS votes to shut Warren up!
fuckwit
@Steve in the ATL: Princeton can use a man like Joel.
Omnes Omnibus
@burnspbesq: @Gin & Tonic: I am a decent shot. So is my dad. My brother is okay.
ETA: My dad is better than me with a long gun. Full disclosure.
lamh36
Corner Stone
@lamh36: You mean Collins and Murkowski aren’t the heroic warriors we saw them to be when they sooooo bravely voted against DeVos?
This is my shocked face.
efgoldman
@Corner Stone: @Timurid:
They won’t do it, but ‘Fie wuz the Dem caucus, I’d call a press conference and all just stand there with duct tape over their mouths.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Golly!
efgoldman
@Omnes Omnibus:
How do you exist without shirt pockets?
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I had tactical training yesterday morning.
lamh36
Corner Stone
@lamh36: Holeee sheet. Bull Connor? That’s going there.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: I am sharpshooter/expert on the day and weapon. Dad would be expert on any long gun.
tobie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ll be curious to see if they tell a male senator to shut up.
I’m surprised Dems haven’t asked the Senate Parliamentarian to weigh in on whether Rule 19 applies when a sitting senator is being discussed in the context of his nomination to a cabinet post i.e., not in his capacity as senator.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Gwah?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
If, like me, you didn’t know, the Streisand Effect refers to the time Babs sued to block publication of pictures of her beach house, making everyone want to see the pictures.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I will update the dossier.
rikyrah
B.C.- be careful about the critters.
lamh36
#CorettaSpeaksForMe
#LetLizSpeak
#StopSessions
MomSense
@burnspbesq:
I don’t like that one bit.
rikyrah
Not shocked in the least about what Turtle did. White Citizens Council defending White Citizens Council.
lamh36
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Betty Cracker
@efgoldman: I wonder if mothballs would work in the Republican cloakroom? ?
efgoldman
@Betty Cracker:
The RWNJs are at least as persistent.
Timurid
@Betty Cracker: If they cut them into lines and snorted them, maybe.
CaseyL
An avalanche of squirrels!
The official collective noun(s) for squirrels are dray and scurry. A “scurry of squirrels” sounds perfect.
But I kinda like “an avalanche of squirrels,” too. I speak as someone who for many years fed the ones around my house, and would often have eight to twelve of them outside waiting for me to scatter the peanuts. “Avalanche” is kind of how it felt – especially when they started fighting over the territory. I was caught between wanting to break up the fights (who knew the little bushy-tails would actually draw blood from each other!?) and, sanely, not wanting to get bitten myself.
Any idea how many are up there?
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: OT: You all okay with the storm front moving through Central Florida?
Major Major Major Major
@CaseyL: as far as terms of venery go, it’s hard to beat “a parliament of owls”.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: A glitter of Generals or Admirals.
Mary G
Those knuckleheads have now assured that thousands more people will read that letter than would have if they’d just let her read it without comment. There must be 100 copies on my twitter right now.
efgoldman
@CaseyL:
Oh for FSM’s sake, WHY? It’s not like they needed the help.
We’re trying to figure out where we can leave poisoned peanut butter without the birds getting into it.
lamh36
Bullshit…nothingthe Dem can do to stop Sessions as long as all GOP votes for him…all they need is Pence like with DeVos.
I want them to read every god damn bit do the letter so it’s ok the record for sure…so they when Sessions is confirmed and rolls back al the civil protection against racial discrimination like the racist assholes want…that letter from Coretta would we glaringly resonant!!!
SWMBO
@Betty Cracker: Mothballs repel mosquitoes too. My dear departed MIL used them in the garage and porch and didn’t have any in the house.
It’s a pity that a crucifix and a garland of garlic isn’t more helpful.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: is that what we’re calling Trump’s defense braintrust now?
burnspbesq
Washington’s state SG did a really good job in oral argument, even given the fact that some of the questions were softballs.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
Also being shared extensively — lavishly, even — on FB.
Timurid
I still don’t know why a Senator hasn’t yet stood at the podium and read the whole letter, ignoring any protests.
What are they going to do, send him to Vietnam?
lamh36
Betty Cracker
@Adam L Silverman: I’m glad you mentioned it as I had no idea it was bearing down on us! I got a severe weather alert on my phone a while back but assumed it was for rip tides and didn’t read it (been getting those nonstop).
One of my car windows is stuck down, damn it! I put a contractor bag on the door. Hope that holds. There’s too much crap on the carport to pull it under. Thanks for the heads-up! Are you battened down?
Corner Stone
@lamh36: I agree 1000%. Why let this pass? They will never be able to explain why Sessions is the wrong choice without using this as the foundation.
burnspbesq
If this case gets past the inevitable motion to dismiss, the discovery is going to be insane.
lamh36
jl
@Major Major Major Major: A paunch of advisers. A swindle of consultants.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: No, but someone leaked about Flynn again. This time to HuffPo. Someone wants him gone.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: I was going to mention that you are depraved, but I see you just did a good deed for the Lady Cracker so I’ll save it for later.. And probably everyone knows that anyway,
lamh36
@Corner Stone: i’m so mad…didn’t even notice the typos
Calming Influence
“Hey, you ever smell moth balls?”
“Sure. Why?”
“How’d you get their little knees apart?”
What? It’s a critter thread, amirite?
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: Yep, we’re good. My dogs, 5 and 3, both provide lots of advanced warnings as they don’t like thunder, driving rain, and driving wind. So they’ve gotten their happy pills and I’m just listening to the rain on the roof, the thunder, and the wind. I’m likely to have to go out tomorrow and fix the neighbor’s patio furniture. He’s ill, just sold the place, and hasn’t been in his house for almost a month. He’s got a glass topped patio table with an umbrella through it that turns over in high wind as its not weighted properly. If I’d had more warning, I’d have secured it before it started pouring.
Keeping good thoughts for your car’s interior!
Adam L Silverman
@jl: Not that I’m contesting being depraved, but I’m curious as to what brought this observation on now?
lamh36
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
To his credit, he didn’t saddle his son with JBS IV. However, one of his grandsons is named Jim Beau.
“G’night, Mama! G’night, Grandpa!”
“G’night, Jim Beau!”
Timurid
@lamh36: Did he tackle her? Did he pull out a taser? Otherwise she should have kept reading right where she was.
People, the comity train has long since left the station. Right now it’s orbiting Alpha Centauri.
Mnemosyne
I managed to burn myself making spaghetti sauce. Turns out the “stay-cool handles” weren’t. Ouch.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Timurid: this could scarcely have turned out worse for McConnell, it’s still blowing up– let it happen
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: what did he do?
And who leaks to HuffPo?
SiubhanDuinne
@skerry:
I have an artist friend who does feminist drawings and sayings for t-shirts, buttons, posters, etc. First I heard of the Warren thing was on FB earlier when my friend posted that she was busy sketching out a “Nevertheless, She Persisted” design.
randy khan
@Timurid:
I think the Dems have played it right. Not because of comity, but because the headline now will be “Republicans Stop Warren from Reading CSK Letter,” not “Warren Defies Senate Rules.”
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Calming Influence:
Oh, boooo!
Okay, I laughed actually.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: You are doing good meteorological deeds right now. I am ever optimistic and always hope reprobates will reform them themselves. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: Apparently he was unable to answer macroeconomic questions for the President when the President called him and asked him about weak dollar/strong dollar at 3 AM.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-administration-leaks_us_589a45f1e4b04061313a1fbb?
Two sources confirm the leak.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: okay…
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: this is not what the ads told me would be the subject of the 3am phone calls.
Timurid
@Adam L Silverman:
The White House is already leaking like the Titanic, but leaks only matter if the right people care.
From the looks of the Nuremberg rally in the Senate tonight, none of them care.
Adam L Silverman
@Timurid: If/when it starts to look like it will effect their majorities in each chamber, they will start to care. I think they are putting up a brave front and aren’t sure which way to turn. They’re freaked over the phone calls and the number of constituents, regardless of party, showing up to their offices and town hall events opposing everything. To the point where it was reported this afternoon that the GOP House Caucus had a meeting about security concerns for when meeting with constituents. That takes us into this dynamic (partially related to the post I just put up):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig9IKQpu50o
On the other side, they’re scared the President will treat about them and end their chances of reelection. I have no sympathy for them. They have sold out their country for temporary power, handing their inheritance as Americans to a hostile foreign power and that power’s quislings. They have no integrity. They have nothing but hypocritical self-righteousness.
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
Why Flynn?
How about Secretary of the Treasury?
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
They can whine to politico and Fox Noise, but this is an issue that plays well with LOCAL media, who are only too happy to report what’s really going on on the ground.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: 1) Not confirmed yet. 2) He probably doesn’t have those folks private phone #s. LTG Flynn as the National Security Advisor is, essentially, on call 24/7 because the President is on call 24/7 – even if the current one hasn’t quite gotten that memo. The Secretary of the Treasury is usually not on call 24/7.
Mnemosyne
@randy khan:
Yep. Now the story is “Read the letter the Republicans tried to hide!” If Warren had persisted, it would have been “Out-of-control Dems break rules!”
Well played, Sen. Warren.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
I would have thought he’d call Jared.
Jared would know.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: That’s so stupid it’s almost funny. And then you remember the idiot in charge is the president and it’s terrifying.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Adam L Silverman: Maybe it’s just me, but I would think that a high-powered international business tycoon like DT would know about currency exchange rates and what the implications of strong vs weak dollar are.
It’s almost as if he doesn’t know as much about business as he claims.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: My guess is Jared turns his phone off after a certain hour.
Adam L Silverman
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Hoocodanode?
pvmike
@102 On first read, I thought the white supremacists were marching through Florida. We do live in interesting times.
Gretchen
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Jefferson Beauregard didn’t change his name, but it speaks to where he came from and what his parents thought important when they chose the name of not one, but two Confederate generals for their bouncing boy. And that he hasn’t dropped the Beauregard. Lots of people have embarrassing middle names that they drop or deemphasize. Not JBS.
seaboogie
@Adam L Silverman: Should it come to pass, one hopes that when POTUS “feels” he needs the nuclear launch codes, the dude with “the football” will direct T to the Secretary of the Treasury. Much confusion ensues. Everyone has a good laugh later.
AxelFoley
@fuckwit:
Sometimes, you just gotta say, “What the fuck…”
George Sutherland Herscher
@Steve in the ATL:
Singing Truth to Power
After Warren was silenced, Merkley, Sherrod Brown, Udall, and Sanders read the letter, without being reprimanded or stopped. And the video of Warren being silenced had more than 5.0M views last I heard. McConnell didn’t do a very good job of crushing this –