Remember the other day when I bragged about Pete the pup’s amazing progress on housetraining? Well, we had to set the “DAYS WITHOUT AN INDOOR TOILETING INCIDENT” sign back to “0.”
Unfortunately, the infraction was of the brown variety, and it occurred in one of only two rooms in the house that have carpet. The scene that confronted me this morning upon entering that room immediately brought a particularly gruesome tableau from “Game of Thrones” to mind.
Let me explain: The Night King in GoT would occasionally massacre people, dismember the corpses and arrange the severed limbs, heads and torsos in circular patterns. Pete didn’t kill anyone, but he shat out mini Tootsie Roll-sized puppy turds in a similar circular pattern. He even has blue eyes like the Night King.
Speaking of shit, Ron DeSantis got called out by The Washington Post for peddling monoclonal antibody treatments that don’t work for the omicron variant, which is upwards of 99% of all current cases. The local dailies have been shouting this from the rooftops, and good for them. But it’s nice to see the political paper of record chime in since DeSantis is angling for a DC job.
Florida voters will have an opportunity to bounce that sociopathic prick later this year, and I hope we do. It would be every bit as satisfying to me as kicking Trump out of the White House was, and I’ll certainly do my part.
I have misgivings large and small about the Democrats who’ve tossed their chapeaus in the ring so far, but I’m starting to lean toward Nikki Fried because she’s the most bare-knuckled fighter of the bunch. That might be what it takes to break through the noise and malaise and win. Which is all I care about.
Speaking of shit for the third time: the Supreme Court of the United States has been hijacked by radical Republican activists, and the upcoming hearings for Biden’s nominee would be a great time to highlight that fact. It will be a groundbreaking pick, and the hearings will be an opportunity to celebrate that, but as we know, it won’t change the ideological balance.
So, unless we can build support for expanding the court (or a tragic mishap occurs at Federalist Society-funded “Roe Overturned” celebration), we’re stuck with five extremist justices — most of whom were appointed by popular vote losers and one who occupies a straight-up stolen seat — for the foreseeable future. I realize the judiciary isn’t a top priority for many voters, but we can try to change that, and high-profile hearings offer a venue.
Does anyone know if it’s always the chair or ranking member of the judiciary committee who runs the hearings for the president’s party, or can that person appoint someone else? Dick Durbin is the chair, and he’s a good guy, but he’s shown a distressing tendency to go wobbly on the radical nature of today’s Republican Party. I’d love to see Sheldon Whitehouse in charge of this particular project.
Whitehouse thoroughly understands that the court has been captured by right-wing dark money groups and has explained it articulately, most recently during Bony Carrot’s shameful confirmation. We desperately need more people to understand that and to make the judiciary a partisan issue.
And that’s all the shit I’ve got to talk about right now. Open thread!
raven
We’re hustling to get the rental ready for the new tenants Tuesday, so much little stuff that pops up at the end!
sab
Sorry about Pete’s backslide. My cats haven’t backslid. They just don’t fucking care what the rules are.
sab
I love Biden, but the best thing Obama ever did was get him off Judiciary Committee.
Geminid
Politico’s Florida Playbook has an article today about Congressman Charlie Crist’s campaign for Governor. Crist is emphasizing economic issues, and it sounds like he is not attacking DeSantis so much as contrasting himself to the Governor. The reporter seemed skeptical that this approach would work as well as Nikki Fried’s bare knuckled aggressiveness. But as long as Crist isn’t trying to tear Fried down I am all for his approach.
Spanky
Well, you fooled me good, Betty. I’d started to convince myself that I could pick out a Cole post just by reading the title, and this was a sure bet.
So much for my analytical skills regarding posters.
Mike in NC
Our next door neighbors have twice had bad luck adopting a new dog in the past six months. This last one (yellow lab) would return from being walked and poop on the floor as soon as it entered the house, then go and hide under a bed for 3-4 hours at a time. They returned it yesterday.
Scout211
raven
Our wonderful friend is dog crazy and one time her dog was pooping on the floor and, when her husband grabbed her to put him out, she yelled “wait, she’s not done yet”.
raven
@Mike in NC: Sounds to me like they are the problem.
Miss Bianca
@Spanky: IKR? I was like, “oh no, what’s happened chez Cole *now*?”
It was almost a relief to see that it was actual shit that we were talking about. And bonus Pete photo! I can tell he’s starting to edge into puppy adolescence – he’s got that slightly jaded look in his eyes, like “yeah, I’m bad – take my picture.”
trollhattan
@Mike in NC: How frustrating! And no dog is more lovey dovey than a lab.
Ours has some kind of fastidious thing, perhaps because he’s a bird dog, that has him hold it until the end of a walk, then charge for the backyard to poop. We carry the bags “just in case” but the only time we use them is traveling when there’s no home for him to hold it for; only then will he poop in the wild.
SWAG is it is a way to not leave smells where he might need to point birds later, but TBH we have no earthly idea. From ten weeks on after we brought him home, he had exactly one accident in the house (and was mortified).
Betty Cracker
@Mike in NC: Poor dog. :(
I think most dogs want to do what you want them to do. The challenge is communicating what you want them to do in a way that they understand. For me, positive reinforcement and plenty of opportunities for success (i.e., lots and lots of time outdoors at first, at all hours) have always worked, but with some dogs, it takes longer. Badger was the fastest to get it and Daisy the slowest.
Spanky
Biden’s at the collapsed bridge right now
ETA: Jeebus, Fetterman’s huge.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: A friend of mine has a horse that apparently will absolutely not piss anywhere but in his own enclosure at home. They were down at a clinic at my barn last weekend and I got to watch him hop around like a caffeinated cricket after he was done with his class. Poor guy still had a two-hour drive in the trailer to go through!
TaMara
@Mike in NC: Ummm….well, I guess that’s one way of handling dog training. Just return it. I hate to see what they do when a pet gets old and incontinent or has difficulty walking. Jeebuz.
John Revolta
Greetings fellow Democrat Americans! I think Democrats ought to run two or three candidates for Governor of Florida Province in the Fall! One of them surely is to win!
The Moar You Know
In a red state like Florida, you pick the one who can win, full stop. You can worry about decorating the house AFTER you put out the fire.
DeSantis wants to be president of the assholes, but I’m not sure that he’s got what it takes. Plus he’ll be fighting the former president of the assholes at every step and that won’t help him.
Tazj
I know he’s a bit of a trouble maker, but that’s one irresistibly cute face.
trollhattan
@Miss Bianca: Having witnessed numerous horses pee like waterfalls, guessing their bladders are sizeable and “holding it” back for hours must be excruciating. Poor horsie!
Cute story with even cuter pic of a little girl and her very good doggie.
sab
@trollhattan: My pitbull does that. She was crate trained excessively. So she won’t go down to the basement (“there be crates”) and she only goes in the backyard. Took her a couple of weeks to figure out that walks were supposed to be entertaining. She still hasn’t figured out that she is supposed to remarking other dogs comments. She just sniffs them with interest, and holds her own remarks for our backyard when she gets home.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: Awww….that is a cute story!
jnfr
I too thought this would be a Cole post. Poor Pete the Night King! Poor Betty the clean-upper!
SiubhanDuinne
Speaking of shit, I did a terrible thing and read Chris Cillizza. I didn’t know it was Cillizza when I clicked to open it, but I should have looked away the minute I saw his byline.
Yeah, Cillizza’s shit. But I’m shit for reading his undiluted swill.
The Thin Black Duke
@TaMara: I don’t think I’d trust them to water my plants.
cope
Was your pup stymied by the past week of cold drizzle or did you even suffer through that mess? I know our pup REALLY hates going outside in foul weather to take care of business. She hasn’t unloaded inside the house proper in quite some time but the back porch and any throw rugs or welcome mats on it are fair game to her if the weather is too horrible. We are lucky that she has access to the porch and fenced back yard through a doggie door. I know you need to be a bit more vigilant. Good luck.
The Moar You Know
@Mike in NC: oh, how that enrages me. That is such an easy problem to fix and instead they just trade the poor critter in like it’s a shitty car.
TaMara
@Betty Cracker: We had a major victory yesterday. Trixie ran the bell for real. Just a clear, I want to go outside and you’ve missed all my other cues. It was great.
We have had several backslides since I thought we were done – one right after I just finished shampooing the carpet, so I feel ya!
Spanky
@SiubhanDuinne: Don’t beat yourself up, accidents happen. Just ask Pete!
Miss Bianca
@The Moar You Know: I don’t know if it’s an easy problem to fix or not, but I do know that I would be trying my damnedest to fix it before giving up on the poor pooch.
Geminid
@The Moar You Know: Misgivings can have to do with electability, and they can be hard to value correctly. But it sounds like the three major candidates in Florida are pitching their own electability and not pounding the flaws of the other two. A Wisconsin commenter says the Democratic Senate candidates there are doing similarly.
sab
I am seriously thinking about re-registering as a Republican so that I can vote for DeWine ( yes he is horrible) in the primary against Renacci, who became very very rich owning nursing homes. Truly terrible things went on in Ohio nursing homes during early Covid when families were shut out. At least DeWine tried to prevent it, and then had them investigated, and severely fined for safety lapses. Ohio legislature is furious with DeWine. Renacci would stop all of that safety enforcement. I worry about my dad, who has so far been okay in his memory care unit.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: From the article you referenced:
Gee, whose fault is that? Politico is such hot garbage, but they’re probably right. In the dysfunctional political media environment they helped pollute, that is indeed the way to “get earned media to pay attention.”
lowtechcyclist
Maybe it’s different with dogs, but I’d rather clean cat shit off a carpet than clean cat piss out of it. Because ‘off’ and ‘out of’ is the key distinction: turds pretty much sit on top of the carpet, while piss sinks down through the carpet into the padding underneath. Even kitty upchuck mostly stays on top, and might sink a bit into the carpet itself, but that’s as far as it goes.
Fortunately, we haven’t had any of that recently, but one of our cats was having some serious GI tract problems last year, so it hasn’t been all that long since having to deal with all of the above.
sab
@TaMara: Hopefully he’ll get a better home next. I had a wonderful boxer mix I adopted from Humane Society’s no kill shelter. They thought his last match was perfect, but he ate a book while his owner was at work, so back he went.
He ate all kinds of things he shouldn’t have in his first few months with us until he settled down and got comfortable
ETA We went to the Humane Society’s first ParkHike fundraiser after I adopted him. Everyone remembered him. His name was Simon, but they all called him Simon Doofus.
TaMara
@Miss Bianca: I had a greyhound, rescued racer, took us a full year to get him to understand what anything in the house was.. 4 years old and he’d only lived in kennels.
He was potty trained…but it took months to understand the difference between the spare bedroom and outside – he just knew it wasn’t where he slept, so it was okay to pee there.
And he never got the hang of mirrors, LOL.
I would have never given up on him. Carpet and walls (he was a boy, after all) can be cleaned.
Miss Bianca
@sab: Dems in my blood-red part of CO re-register as Republicans to vote for the lesser of two evils in the Republican primary, and then switch back as soon as the primary is over. I’ve never done it myself but I applaud those who do.
Betty Cracker
@cope: Yeah, it’s been cold and raining here too. The high tomorrow is in the upper 40s!
Betty Cracker
@Miss Bianca: I’ve thought of switching parties for primaries because my county is 100% Republican controlled and there are many lesser of two evils situations at the local level. But I just can’t bring myself to do it.
satby
@Mike in NC: Some dogs are”shy poopers” and will not poop in close (leash) proximity to people. A 25 foot training lead is usually all you need to give the dog the privacy space he wants.Happens occasionally when a young dog isn’t let out when they need to go, has an accident, and the owner punishes the pup rather than accepts their own contribution to the accident. The dog associates pooping with punishment, and tries not to do it in the presence of people.
sab
@TaMara: You sure do like tall dogs. Next block over does greyhound rescue. So sweet and gentle unless you are a squirrel.
sab
@satby: I bet that’s what is going on in my pitbull’s mind.
opiejeanne
@sab: Someone, looking at you Henry tuxedo, has recently begun occasionally leaving a (mercifully) dry one on the Bokhari in the living room. He’s 17 and we can’t decide if it’s old age or a protest that the cat pan needs to be changed.
I’m mostly perplexed that we don’t know why, because it definitely had camels walking, peeing, and pooping on it when it was new, before it was sold the first time.
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: I can’t either. It’s just a visceral thing with me.
And at least at my county level, seems like there *is* no such thing as a “lesser of two evils” Republican anymore. Used to be that however batshit insane the GOP was at the national level, that there would still be old-fashioned conservative Republicans that I’d feel okay voting for in local elections – I might disagree with them politically, but I never doubted their commitment to actual governance. I can’t say that anymore.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker: In Florida??? What’s next, raining frogs?
sab
@Betty Cracker: My mother was Republican but saw and understood what they were becoming. She just couldn’t bring herself to switch, but she proudly voted for Obama.
trollhattan
@sab: Hah! And that’s one dog with a darn good chance of catching that squirrel. (Ours has come close just once, that I’ve seen. Like 2 inches between open jaw and squirrel butt close.)
satby
@sab: probably. A lot of people decide on a schedule for walks and assume the dog can always stick to it rigidly; of course none of us can manage that kind of rigidity biologically. So when the dog does try to communicate it needs to go out, it’s ignored, because it’s “not time yet”. And some dogs are subtle, I had one that just paced and panted a bit more when the rest would go to the door.
satby
@Betty Cracker: it’s a balmy 19° and sunny here ?
SiubhanDuinne
@Spanky:
I need someone who, every time I ignore Chris Cillizza, will pat me on the head, say “What a good girl, yes you are!” and give me a treat.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne: ? To hell with Cillizza, but don’t be so hard on yourself.
Geminid
@Miss Bianca: Virginia does not have party registration, so primaries are totally open. Republicans often use this as an excuse to have caucuses instead.They say they have to use the caucus/convention method to keep troublemaking Democrats out, but the only difference is that you have to sign an unenforceable loyalty pledge to vote in a caucus. The real reason some Republicans like caucuses is that they empower the zealots.
South Carolina also has no party registration. If I lived in Impeacher Tom Rice’s district I’d come out and vote for him in the Republican primary. His only path to renomination will be to attract Democrats and Independents..
TaMara
@sab: One day we were walking in the field near our house, both dogs (Dane, Greyhound) off leash, when the Greyhound flushed a rabbit. Then it was just a blur and he was gone.
He usually would come back after the chase, but this time, nothing. We were worried sick, went home to get the car and go look for him.
Just before we left, the phone rang. He was a good mile from home, in the neighborhood on the other side of the fields. When we got to the house, he was in the garage with two of the cutest little girls, both under five, feeding him peanut butter cookies.
He just looked at us like, “naw, I’m good here, y’all go back home.”
That was the only time he was ever missing after a good rabbit chase. I’m glad we had open space he could get that romp out of his system. One time he flushed one at sunset that belonged to a Great Horned Owl – I never even heard it as it came over my shoulder, swooped down and ‘brushed’ Coty off his dinner. It was amazing to watch.
sab
@satby: My pittie can hold it forever, which is a problem. “Honey, I know it is snowing but you haven’t been out for 24 hours.” But she is very private when she goes out.
Roger Moore
In some very good pet-related news, the Bidens finally officially have a cat.
sab
@trollhattan: We have a few tailess squirrels in the neighborhood. They mostly don’t survive their next winter.
Miss Bianca
@satby: I’ve had the pacers and panters. I vividly remember when I first adopted my big old girl Stella, she woke me up in the middle of the night and I was all grumpy because I couldn’t tell what she wanted and just wanted to go back to sleep so I ignored her until I saw her squatting in the corner and just about to release a big ol’ desperation dump. I cleared the bed and got her out the back door so fast that I think both our heads were swimming. And I never, ever ignored her signals again!
My Roxy will come to the doorway of wherever I am at and just stare at me – pointedly but politely – until I put down whatever I’m doing and let her out. That’s in the evening. During the day, Pal D and I get to play Doggie Doorman to her and Watson all day long.
Betty Cracker
@satby: Yikes. It’s supposed to get down to 25 after midnight on Saturday. We’ll have to wrap the lime trees and bring the potted plants indoors.
sab
@Betty Cracker: Yikes!!!
Are smudge pots still a thing?
Starboard Tack
@Miss Bianca: Aren’t our primaries open for both parties? I’ve gotten ballots for both in the mail the last few years. Only allowed to return one.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan:
What the tree-climbing greyhounds, Batman? ?
trollhattan
Xi beginning to crack at the preponderance of attention going to Vlad. Well bucko, enough of that.
opiejeanne
@The Moar You Know: Not as bad as some neighbors we had years ago. They bought a pure-bred Himalayan kitten, and after it pooped on the bed a couple of times they consulted the vet. The vet said they’d never break it of this so it was best to put the cat down.
We have neighbors now who dumped their declawed kitty in the woods 20 miles away, because it had scratched one of them and they were worried that it might scratch their new grandchild. We have avoided them since before they did that, after they tried to enlist other neighbors to help them pull the weeds in the ditch at the house across the street from theirs. When they couldn’t get volunteers, they sprayed the ditch with Roundup and the owners caught them. (It’s a fucking drainage ditch, we live in a semi-rural area where people keep horses and alpacas and goats and miniature donkeys and sheep and other creatures in their front yards. We sometimes whack the weeds in our ditch but only rarely.)
Betty Cracker
@sab: Haven’t seen one for ages.
Miss Bianca
@Starboard Tack: They are now – but I think it’s only actually open for independents. As in, if you are “undeclared”, you can vote in either primary. As a registered Democrat, I would have to unregister. (I think. I know they changed the rules a few years back, when we went to the infinitely stupid “primary system except for OH WAIT these positions we still caucus for” set-up we’ve got now.)
Kay
@sab:
Ohio has a “partially open” primary voter system, where requesting a Republican ballot in a primary is a public declaration that you will vote GOP in the general and you’ll be listed on the rolls as a Republican until you next draw a Democratic primary ballot (when you go back to being listed as a Democrat). It was why GOP voters asking for D ballots in the ’08 D Presidential primary was so controversial- they misrepresented their intention to vote D in the general.
mrmoshpotato
@Roger Moore: That Willow is not too close to the White House.
mrmoshpotato
@sab: Ouch.
sab
@opiejeanne: My aunt who lived in the country said there were two types of people who lived in the country: those who like the country, and those who don’t have the social skills to live in town.
She said that after a neighbor shot and killed her very sweet English Setter when the old girl trespassed harmlessly on the neighbors’ property.
Cameron
@trollhattan: Not frogs. Iguanas. It rains iguanas here.
Kay
@sab:
So in “red” counties like mine, the voter list will have someone I know is a Democrat listed as a Republican because they voted in a local GOP primary the cycle prior. They vote in local GOP primaries because there will be no Democrat in the general, so they’re lesser of two evils voting. Or, for like malicious (but delightful in their own way!) Democrats, MORE evil, just to punish Republicans :)
germy
sab
@trollhattan: Xi is scary. China always used to be very “Chinese” to the outside world but very aware of its vast cultural diversity internally.
Xi is just a Han Chinese racist/culturalist.
sab
@Kay: Yes. Ohio we don’t have to decide until we vote in the primary. I don’t want to be ostracized in future.
Fair Economist
@Betty Cracker: Register to make your vote count, which means Republican (unless indies can vote in primaries in FL). You can still vote Dem in every contested election. Doubt you will be running for major office down the line and get attacked by pseudoleftist grifters for having been registered Republican a la Warren.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker:
Beware of falling iguanas?
Kay
@sab:
I personally don’t do it because the declaration is “sworn” and of course I have no intention of voting Republican in the general, but lots and lots of people switch back and forth.
trollhattan
@sab: Now that’s he’s made himself “emperor for life, only totally not an emperor” and decided that hegemony is China’s proper course, Xi looms much larger than Putin in world affairs. Controlling Taiwan and the South China Sea (Hong Kong being done and dusted) are just the beginning.
opiejeanne
@sab: I like your aunt’s comment. I think this couple longs for a gated community complete with HOA to tell people what color they can and can’t paint their houses.
trollhattan
@Cameron: The amusing bit is knowing you’re not just making that up. :-)
I would trade crows for iguanas.
sab
@Kay: That as my Mom’s problem. Swearing. She believed in the Ten Commandments.
trollhattan
@opiejeanne: “Taupe, or Putty?”
I toured a development that allowed garage doors to be open a maximum of fifteen minutes. Never asked if that was cumulative, or at a time.
Kay
@sab:
A couple of years ago I got on the central committee because I just happened to be in the room and on the winning (status quo) side after a failed coup attempt and now I run unopposed so I feel like it would be awkward for the central committee to explain why I’m registered as a Republican.
sab
@opiejeanne: Lol. I am an accountant and I do Agreed Upon Procedures for Condos and HOAs. I absolutely love reading their minutes because they are so fucked up.
House color is a big thing these days. The new owners don’t understand why they are tied down to a sixty year old color palette. I laugh, because I don’t have to live there.
opiejeanne
@trollhattan: Pretty much those two colors, plus maybe sandstone. We lived in one of those place for exactly 2 years, and it was great the first 6 months until everyone on the board bought new houses in a nearby development and the new board was made up of the “mean girls” from HS, which included a man who fit right in with them.
sab
@Kay: Bless you. Answers all my concerns.
sdhays
@Betty Cracker: “Why won’t Hillary talk about X?”
Hillary’s campaign theme and primary topic for all campaign speeches for the last 10 days: “X”.
mrmoshpotato
@sab:
What about those who just really love fresh peaches?
Kay
Tim Ryan is lucky, and he will need to be. He couldn’t have picked better opponents if he had done it himself.
UncleEbeneezer
Gossip time: So there’s this dude who lives in the apt complex across my street. White, pudgy and the only reason I have ever noticed him is because we live on a mostly Black/Latinx street and I saw this guy walking around in a MAGA/Trump shirt shortly after 2016 election, and his big black pickup truck had Lock Her Up and InfoWars (and if I’m not mistaken also 3%ers) bumper stickers on it. Anyways, as I was just leaving to go to Trader Joe’s I saw three men in green and camo attire with big old “FBI” written on their backs standing in front of his door! I’m guessing they were doing some sort of raid, based on the prominent display of “FBI” on their persons. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if this dude had some sort of connection/involvement in the Insurrection.
He used to have a sticker mentioning some film production studio that I think he runs, on his truck too. I looked it up once and it was located in the Rancho Cucamonga are, if I recall correctly, but I can’t seem to find it in my search/browser history (probably on an old laptop).
Anyways, say some prayers to your deity of choice for me, that this fucker is in fact getting arrested!
Geminid
I know I’d feel differently if I liked the guy, but I don’t and some of the stuff about John Fetterman on Twitter just cracks me up. @Sasha Beauloux got a thread going about the Pennsylivania Lieutenant Governor’s visit to the site of the collapsed bridge this morning, and someone replied:
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
?
Betty Cracker
@Fair Economist: It’s a closed primary system, so I’d have to switch parties. Something about doing that doesn’t sit right with me, though I don’t judge anyone else who does. I have qualms because even though it’s a red county, we always want to see Democrats run against the odds, and I want to encourage those Dems with a primary vote. Though Dems are only about 30% of voters, that’s not nothing, and I don’t want our numbers to decrease. ;-)
Baud
@Kay:
“Please look at me!”
sab
@UncleEbeneezer: Interesting. Keep us posted if you learn anything. My bet is you won’t.
Kay
This is the kind of analysis we need, instead of lazy assertions that turnout is “up” nationally. Measured turnout is the last step in voting and “national” turnout is too sloppy a measure anyway. “Turnout” isn’t a valid measure of suppression, because it counts after ballot completion– registered, cast, accepted and counted.
sab
@mrmoshpotato: Those are the love the country folks?
UncleEbeneezer
@sab: Yeah I doubt it too. If I do it will probably be in one of Marcy Wheeler’s posts, lol!
She’s been following almost all of the Insurrection court cases
I’m friendly with a guy who is the neighbor of MAGA dude, so I’ll ask him what he knows next time I see him.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@UncleEbeneezer: How exciting!
cain
@raven: We are hustling here to pack up our two homes and consolidate into one! With this move it will be a lot more real that we are living together.
For the first time in my life, I’ll be living with kids – although teenage and a full adult. I’ve never had kids step or otherwise, so this will be a new experience.
UncleEbeneezer
@Dorothy A. Winsor: One of our direct neighbors who we are friendly with (in our apt complex) is in the Secret Service too.
But yeah, kinda wild. I’ve never seen FBI in person, as far as I know.
Subsole
@SiubhanDuinne:
Just think, he gets seven figures for that shit.
opiejeanne
@sab: We painted our current house an actual color. Horrors! Martha Stewart Agave (now called blue agave) with white trim and a dark red door. The house is a Federalist box with an appropriate-looking added porch so you don’t have to stand in the rain when you ring the doorbell. Neighbors and a listing agent for a neighbor’s house told us that they had some serious doubts when the paint started going up, but that they loved it when it was finished.
This is the “before”: https://flic.kr/p/8VsqM8
This is “after”: https://www.flickr.com/gp/snowwhite/219ha2
Our lawn was suffering from damage by “moles”, so it looks patchy. Annoying, but *shrug*. And the rudbeckia totally took over the garden border by August of that year and squeezed out almost everything else.
sab
@trollhattan: And we are ignoring him ( probably best, as inept as US foriegn policy has been lately. Not the actual government, Just the Press.) Clown car there.
trollhattan
@UncleEbeneezer: Lock him up; lock him up; lock him up!
May you be rid of the pest. Wonder what’s in his armory?
We had, back in our early homeowner days, “Parole Agent” emblazoned dudes show up, armed, to visit the house across the street. That was fun.
mrmoshpotato
@UncleEbeneezer: Hahaha! ?
Subsole
@Betty Cracker:
He should start insulting the media every chance he gets. They all should. And the party, and the voters. Hell, the entire nation. Just bully their asses until they despair of life.
If they want to make that the criterion, we should oblige.
trollhattan
@opiejeanne: Lovely!
I don’t mind painting single story, but two are right out. Speaking of, time for ours to be repainted only the price has tripled since our last time. Biden!!!{shakes homeowner fist}
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: I’ve seen Fetterman haters on Twitter sniffing about his attire (shorts!). Whatever. At least he showed up.
mrmoshpotato
@sab: Click the link. Enjoy a silly song.
mrmoshpotato
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Haha! FBI raids totally spice up the neighborhood! Fun for all – well, most.
Jackie
@opiejeanne: LOVE that color! And, the porch addition. You have a lovely home.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker:
Well, it probably was his bridge!
cain
@Spanky: That’s hilarious because I thought it was John Cole post too.
CaseyL
@opiejeanne: Oh, the house looks wonderful!
sab
@mrmoshpotato: Awesome, but not sure what it adds. But awesome. I will never think about peaches the same.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I don’t think people should hate on Fetterman. But he is not above criticism, or ridicule either. Fetterman has made his unconventional dress part of his poltical brand, and he gets to take the criticism along with the praise.
mrmoshpotato
Replying to Andrew Sullivan. “pretentious rage gremlin”
eclare
@opiejeanne: That after is so much better!
WaterGirl
Tootsie roll turds are the best turds, solid and easily pick-up-able!
If have to say that looking at Pete’s expression in that photo, I think that Pete at that moment was thinking he had had enough of your
shitscolding.I hope all is forgiven.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
We went through this with our shelter-adopted beagle mix. He was 18 months old when we brought him home, and I don’t think he’d ever lived inside a house before.
My wife was getting very fed up and starting to wonder if we needed to give him up. She says the “I am a good dog, it has been X days since my last accident” poster I made really helped her get through that period.
We’ve always had mature shelter dogs who were thoroughly housebroken so this was a new experience for both of us.
In theory, between crates and dog gates, he was supposed to be in sight 100% of the time so I could catch him in the act. In practice, he kept managing to find a couple seconds when I was distracted.
But then one day it apparently clicked, and I have no idea what made it click. When I got up to 30 days on the poster I stopped making new numbers and retired the poster, and (other than a reaction to some medication) he’s had no accidents since then (Feb 2019).
Edit to add: Betty, I’m sure you’ve been through housebreaking lots of times and as I said I’ve only gone through it this once. But it sounds like you don’t have constant vigilance, and that was really the thing that worked for us.
WaterGirl
@ Betty up top:
Please allow me to second, third, fourth, and fifth that idea. Maybe I will call (my) Senator Durbin and ask him if he can outsource that role to Sheldon Whitehouse for these proceedings.
Steve from Mendocino
I didn’t comment last time you posted about this issue because you seemed to have worked things out. My wife taught dog training for several years until I pointed out to her that our liability far surpassed any small income or pleasure that she could derive from it. We’ve also had 4 large dogs, one Rottweiler and three large standard poodles — all raised from puppies. Their is a three part cycle that is pretty much fail safe when teaching dogs to hold it when indoors. It requires a crate (shipping crate or the kind of crate that you see in dog shows). A puppy will not soil its bed, so you keep the puppy in the crated until it’s time to go outside. Stay with it outside until it goes. It’s useful to have a word associated with it. We used “crap crap”. Say this as soon as the animal begins to go. Play with/exercise your dog until it’s exhausted and then put it in its crate for a nap. Rinse and repeat. We have NEVER had a problem except the few times that we pushed the adult dog too long while we were out. Eight hours was about the max. In each case the mess was made right by the back door where we take the dog out. He really really didn’t want to do it in the house. If he was desperate and we were there he would come up and whimper.
Hope this works for you.
Steve
JMG
Last storm prep complete. Bought a box of Duraflame logs in case snow makes the firewood on the back screen porch too wet to light. Car’s in the garage. Hope Anne Laurie and all other Eastern Massachusetts residents on this board have their prep well in hand, too. In all actuality, if you don’t lose power and don’t live where the Atlantic can get you, a big snowstorm is a big inconvenience rather than a threat. If you lose power, then things become more serious.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@UncleEbeneezer:
We used to live in a neighborhood with some NSA employees. You could always tell, because they were the ones who, when you asked where they worked, would hesitate, get this scared rabbit look, and then blurt out “Department of Defense”.
We have a couple of two-degree of separation stories with Secret Service. One was the ex-husband of a babysitter, and apparently a real asshole. I think he did the “leave her when she gets cancer” thing.
The other is the nephew of a friend, who was on Joe Biden’s detail. The story of first encounter with Biden has the punchline of Biden asking, “Who’s the one who shot Mr. Softee?” (the nephew is the Softee-shooter in question).
Never met anyone in the FBI, except when doing the tour.
Kay
@mrmoshpotato:
It has SUCH a long history in the US. Every twenty years the Right claims public school teachers are turning students into communists:
They last tried it in the 1990’s, which I think is funny because the 1990’s is when a lot of the “anti cancel culture warriors” came up, so maybe they picked it up then.
Miss Bianca
@mrmoshpotato: I think “pretentious rage gremlin” is an insult for the ages, and I am so stealing it. It will nestle in my shriveled black heart right next to dr bloor’s immortal “wizened umbilical stump”, which I believe he hurled in the general vicinity of Jeff Sessions, tho’ I could be wrong.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
He always wears shorts. Always.
Mike in Pasadena
Bony Carrot is excellent. Honoring the “nomination party” TFG held in the Rose Garden that became a superspreader, I have named her Amy Covid.
dww44
@CaseyL:
I very much like it as well, even though I didn’t object to the original color. This new color adds depth and dimension and the door color is not too out there. Speaking as an HGTV aficionado, some door colors do get “out there”.
Baud
You won’t ever catch me wearing shorts at a public event with President Biden.
Emma from Miami
@opiejeanne:That’s one of the most stunning “afters” I’ve ever seen.
trollhattan
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Neighbor and fellow schoolkid parent is now retired from Secret Service, and served on HW Bush’s and Clinton’s details. He has stories (can only imagine the ones he can’t tell) and if you remember that early in Clinton’s presidency he would go on jogs, has a pic of himself jogging along.
dww44
@Betty Cracker: Yes.
Argiope
@sab:
I’m making the probable mistake of not reading all the comments before posting this, but in OH you can get a GOP primary ballot without being registered Republican. It’s an open primary state. I may do the same to keep Renacci out.
ETA or what Kay said :)
Spanky
Snow has started here in Southern MD, pretty much following the forecast timeline.
trollhattan
@Baud: Go ahead, put them on–it’s not that weird.
mrmoshpotato
Shitstains got some ‘splainin to do.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Didn’t mean to suggest he’s above criticism. It’s just that I find so much of it incredibly petty, but that’s Twitter for you.
@WaterGirl: I didn’t even scold him because I didn’t discover the offense in progress! We’ll get there, but he has been expelled from the Circle of Trust and placed back under constant surveillance for the time being.
@Steve from Mendocino: Thanks! He had been doing so well, and I truly think it was just a slip-up. Hubby took him out first thing and probably didn’t make sure the pup crapped, hence the crappage when I was in the shower.
geg6
@Baud:
But will you have pants on?
Anyway, the only time I’ve ever seen him in pants was at his inauguration. The lovely Giselle Fetterman put her foot down.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: My best friend is a retired FBI agent.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
Glad I didn’t pick up a bag at Target yesterday.
Miss Bianca
@geg6: That is an affectation I completely don’t understand. I see people – not all of them young people! – wearing shorts in the middle of winter here in CO, and all I can think is, “WTF?! – God made long pants for a REASON, people!”
geg6
Meanwhile Biden is giving a fiery speech here in the ‘Burgh about infrastructure after the bridge collapse in Frick Park this morning.
ETA: I crossed that bridge at least a thousand times when I was a student at Pitt. It was in bad shape back then.
geg6
@Miss Bianca:
In his defense, I’m sure it’s hard to find pants that fit. He’s huge.
We have so many kids on campus from CA and TX and FL who have nothing but shorts. They knew there was a thing called “winter,” but are completely unprepared for the reality of feet of snow and below 0 temps.
Baud
@geg6:
Sinema aside, I’m pretty sure the Senate has a dress code. What’s he gonna do?
geg6
@Baud:
No idea but it should be interesting.
Geminid
@geg6: If you look him up, you’ll see are plenty of pictures of John Fetterman in blue jeans. Not to mention in a suit and tie for formal occasions like Pennsylvania Senate meetings, which you’ve noted.
Kay
@Argiope:
Take the other bet. Vote for Renacci, therefore betting against Trump winning the general and DeWine Republicans, at the same time.
Argiope
@cain: That’s exciting! I will pass along unsolicited the best parenting advice for teens and young adults that I’ve been given (and which I have trouble following, but when I do it’s usually the ticket): underreact. Especially if they are doing something you think is really good for them–provide quiet enthusiasm and support, not rousing cheers, so they don’t quit just to assert their independence. Teens and young adults are really fun people, most of the time. There’s so much new to learn, from and with them.
mrmoshpotato
@Kay: Sorry. Labor unions are communists to these fucknuts? Seriously?
Argiope
@Kay: Interesting. Would you expand on that a bit? I feel like you have your finger on the pulse of OH Republicans a good deal more than I do.
geg6
@Geminid:
Been watching him for years and it’s a rare thing for him to have long pants on.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
As wingnut belief systems go, that’s not as completely crazy as some of their ideas. There’s a history between labor movements and communism from back in the day, although it’s far more limited than what the right believes.
Miss Bianca
@Baud:
@geg6:
I guess he’ll just have to cross that collapsing bridge when he gets to it.
zhena gogolia
He’s so damn cute.
mrmoshpotato
@Miss Bianca:
Totally.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Baud: …or pants ;)
Brachiator
@Miss Bianca:
Minnie Mouse agrees with you…
This may upset Tucker Carlson.
Sure Lurkalot
@opiejeanne: I love the paint job. Your home shouts curb appeal!
Kay
@Argiope:
You would want Renacci to win the primary because he’s too extreme, so you help DeWine lose the primary and bet Renacci loses the general to the Democrat. Beat DeWine and then beat Renacci, rather than the reverse. It’s higher downside risk (Renacci wins) but also higher upside risk (Democrat wins) because Renacci is the unknown.
Betty Cracker
@Argiope: Excellent advice.
Sure Lurkalot
@Betty Cracker: Exactly right…when given the choice, blame the hubby, not the puppy. The hubby should be used to it by now.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
@trollhattan:
Yeah. Technically, you still wouldn’t be wearing any pants.
Kay
Emails people who use ezpass get from the Ohio Turnpike:
I don’t even wanna know what happens out there.
Yarrow
@Brachiator:
I’m probably not the target market but Stella McCartney design or not, I don’t think it looks “smart.” I thought Minne was wearing pajamas. I guess athleisure wear is all the rage, so maybe that’s it.
JPL
@opiejeanne: You have excellent taste. It looks great!
mrmoshpotato
@Miss Bianca:
Holy pants, Batman!
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia: I mean Pete, not Fetterman.
sab
Red pandas: they have their paws up, fighting for their lives, and we laugh at them. Paws up fighting for their lives and we laugh!!
Old School
@Brachiator:
Not sure if Tucker has weighed in, but Candice Owens got upset about the story yesterday.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker:
That phrase brings it all back. You believe that you have made it to totally trained, heave a sign of relief, pat yourself on the back, and them, too and they have indeed reached the Circle of Trust, and then it’s such a letdown to find that you aren’t where you thought you were.
For me, the last two accidents with Henry were totally my fault – I realized I had gone from “vigilant at all times!” to “okay, we’re totally done!” Not my smartest move.
By Monday I suspect Pete will be back in the Circle of Trust. Too bad the weather is so shitty, though, because I imagine you’ll be taking him out a lot this weekend.
Betty Cracker
@zhena gogolia: He’s growing into those ears.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
I know, but it’s still crazy.
Argiope
@Kay: Hoo boy. I get it in theory, and agree it would be high risk and potentially high reward–but I don’t feel like I have a sense of the mean crazification factor in our fair state. Around here in the northern rural lands I’ve seen a few anti-DeWine signs in some clearly Trump-friendly areas because they didn’t like the mask mandates–long before he had a declared opponent. In 2016 and previously my county was 51%D 49%R, and then it went 58% R in 2020 because the crazies came out and voted. I think it might be a deterrent to R turnout if DeWine is the nominee and Trump isn’t on the ballot. But I really only have the vaguest sense if the newly mobilized would come out for DeWine or stay home, because right now he seems to be running against Biden, not Renacci. I keep getting YouTube adds against Biden from the DeWine campaign. I did get a robocall from Renacci which means their lists aren’t good but they have some $$.
Geminid
@geg6: I’m just going by googling “Fetterman” and then clicking on “Images.” A lot of those photos are for stories in magazines like People and Rolling Stone, though.
Fetterman looks pretty good in blue jeans. If I were his campaign manager I’d suggest he ditch the shorts and wear the jeans.
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia: Sure Jan.
Kay
@Argiope:
Sure, agreed. I don’t know either but it’s a more fun strategy because it’s about picking the opponent for the Democrat rather than picking the least-bad Republican. Wouldn’t you rather have Renacci v Whaley than DeWine v Whaley? Renacci could implode or flop and DeWine won’t.
schrodingers_cat
Thought experiment, what if a woman in elected office say VP Harris or the governor of Michigan showed up to meet the President wearing grungy work out shorts.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
David Brooks would weigh in with a very serious commentary.
geg6
@Geminid:
I’m sure he’s heard it from numerous people. It’s his thing and he ain’t doing it if he doesn’t want to. It’s quite appealing to certain demographics who won’t necessarily vote Dem. Or vote at all, for that matter. It’s not my favorite thing about him, but I get it. If I could get away with wearing yoga pants, sweats and leggings all the time, you bet I would.
mrmoshpotato
Chicago.
sab
@Kay: Or Renacci could win. Current Ohio the most awful possibility could happen.
mrmoshpotato
@Brachiator:
And blame both sides, because he’s a horse’s ass.
geg6
@schrodingers_cat:
Actually, he was at the bridge collapse and ended up at the speech because of that. He was originally booked for something else and wasn’t supposed to be there at all. But he literally lives about 10 or 15 minutes (with little traffic at 6 am during a snow storm) from that bridge. So I’m sure that he got a call pretty early on about the emergency. Thank dog no one was killed.
Steeplejack
Some light, prickly snow falling in my corner of NoVA, getting steadier by the hour. Started around 2:00, I think. Not really sticking, but the pavements are wet. Supposed to get progressively worse this evening and overnight.
I had lunch with my friend at Mattie & Eddie’s, an Irish place in Pentagon City, and then I did a grocery run to my super Giant, so I’m in the bunker for the duration. It is 34° and dark; sundown is at 5:26.
Lunch was great: we both had corned beef with new potatoes and cabbage—Irish!—and I washed mine down with a pint of Guinness Blonde. The bar was mildly busy, the dining area was almost empty, so we were able to isolate very well.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: I just read there’s a 10% chance of snow flurries in my area Sunday morning. Snow! Flurries!
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: Woah. Madness.
Old School
@Betty Cracker: Better go out and buy a snowblower!
mrmoshpotato
@Old School: Snowy, tropical swamp
Geminid
@geg6: Fetterman is a strange cat. He seems a little passive now about this Senate race. It may be that he’s counting on cleaning up in Western PA like he did in the Lieutenant Governor’s race in 2018. Or just that last year’s big lead and his fundraising advantage will pull him through. So far the primary race has not been destructive, so I guess that’s a good thing. The Republican side is looking more like a knife fight.
Betty Cracker
@mrmoshpotato: It snowed in the Tampa Bay area in the late 1970s once — maybe an inch or so, enough to stick for a while. It was the first time I’d ever seen snow, and my only snow day ever. My sister and I made sleds out of boxes and slid down an elevated green on a golf course.
Scout211
@Betty Cracker:
My sister in Orlando was complaining recently that they had temps overnight down to 40 degrees! I laughed because we grew up in Iowa. But she’s been in Florida for 30+ years so she was really feeling the unexpected cold weather
This weekend, they are predicted to be 32 degrees at night in Orlando with freeze warnings. She’s going to be miserable. I’m not sure she even has a winter coat. ?
Benw
Holy fuckballs today was a day at work. I don’t know if I’m more Badger or Pete in the OP right now.
realbtl
@Betty Cracker: There’s a 60 car 24 hour sports car race scheduled for Daytona this weekend. I know they make rain racing tires but snow?
SiubhanDuinne
@sab:
That is not fighting, that is paw-boops.
tybee
@Betty Cracker:
forecast here is for a low of 27 on Saturday night but snow is not mentioned.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I smiled at the thought of Pete the puppy seeing snow! Puppies love snow so much, I think it might be worth it?
If you do get snow, be sure to have your camera at the read in case Pete starts biting at the snowflakes. So joyful to see puppies react to their first snow.
Betty Cracker
@Scout211: It’s true you acclimate; my husband grew up in Buffalo, and he’s a bigger wimp about cold weather than I am! He’s lived here longer than he lived there. We will be holed up inside as much as possible!
Sure Lurkalot
@Benw: But yea, it’s Friday and hopefully happy days are here again. At least a couple.
gene108
@Geminid:
Can we appreciate the fact the big guy’s wearing shorts in freezing to slightly below freezing temperatures and shrugging off the cold like it’s nothing.
Geminid
@gene108: What’s to appreciate? All those first responders are dressed for the weather because they have to work a shift in it, and they are wearing long pants and boots to minimize injury while they work. Fetterman is just showing that he is an indoor guy who does not do physical labor for his living. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s nothing impressive about it either.
NotMax
@schrodingers_cat
It all depends. What color is the sports bra?
//
Kay
@sab:
Oh, he could! Could happen. But it’s favorable for Republicans. They want things to stay the same. We need things to change.
Betty Cracker
There’s an ancient Vulcan proverb: As the socks-and-slides vote goes, so goes Pennsylvania. Just saying.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Taking into account it is Florida, still time to scope out a snowy hill (well, incline) to walk up both ways in order to score the extra points on your CodgerCard.
;)
WaterGirl
@Benw: What happened at work?
Badger appears to be tired, his head aches, and he is not caring much about anyone or anything at the moment.
Pete, on the other hand, is so over you and whatever you are saying, conveying something along the lines of “ask me if I care” or “tell someone who gives a crap.”
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Is “socks and slides” kind of like “socks with sandals”?
I have never heard that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
To be fair, teh man some corners of twitter call “Vigilante Shrek” wasn’t planning on meeting the POTUS today
opiejeanne
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: The only Mister Softee shooter I can find was a serial killer, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
Yeah, there’s some interaction between labor unions and communists, but it’s nowhere near as strong as the interaction between conservatives, business leaders, and fascists. Just try bringing that up, though, and you’ll get the mother of all freak-outs.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t know who Mike Memoji is, which might provide a clue if I knew… but I can’t tell who he is attempting go slag here, and for what.
J R in WV
@sab:
I don’t think we have anyone mean enough to shoot a dog anywhere around here, unless it was going after livestock.
That’s not poor social skills, that’s bone deep mad dog evil. If you don’t want neighbor dogs walking through, build a fence, asshole.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: It is hard to interpret that tweet. It seems to extenuate Fetterman’s dress by pointing out that he did not start out planning to meet the President. And if it’s Fetterman spending face time with Conor Lamb, who now appears to be his main rival, that reflects well on both men. If it’s Biden getting a lot of face time with Lamb, the tweeter may be dunking on Fetterman. But Biden wasn’t playing favorites; he invited both Fetterman and Lamb to appear with him, and they are from the Pittsburg area.
opiejeanne
@Sure Lurkalot: Thanks, you and everyone else.
When we first visited it with a realtor we didn’t realize it wasn’t painted white, until the sun came out and we could see that it was sort of a pale mint-green, faded and flaking off. The place was only 15 years old but it needed a lot of work inside so we tackled that first. We had it painted 3 years later when we finally had the money to replace the roof first, and I had to convince the painter that I wanted primer and two coats of paint. It had never been primed and only had a single layer of paint. When I told him I wanted semi-gloss he about had a conniption, but I explained to him that it would last longer than flat would, because it sheds water better. He did one thing that I really didn’t like: he painted the undersides of the eaves in the green instead of the white trim, and I let it stay rather than make him do it over. He claimed that that was how it’s always done, but this wasn’t my first house, nor even my 6th, so I was of a very different opinion.
J R in WV
@opiejeanne:
The “before” house is nice but very bland. The “after” house is great, well done! I assume no HOA to tell you nay?!
My dad never wanted a motorcycle until he realized his condo wouldn’t allow one on the premises… No PU trucks either, no plumbers allowed!
geg6
@Geminid:
I just adore his wife. She’s amazing. And great on social media.
J R in WV
@mrmoshpotato:
My last time in elementary school was when a dear friend and third grade teacher asked me to visit her class and show them and discuss rocks I have collected. So I spent an afternoon with little kids. It was pretty interesting. Another guy was there with a Corvette, which got a lot more attention. It was a special day for the kids.
ETA: School is a whole lot different now that when I was a kid… better too!!
Geminid
@geg6: Giselle Fetterman comes across as a genuinely nice, constructive person.
opiejeanne
@J R in WV: I understand your dad’s reaction perfectly. And after the brief interaction with a good HOA that turned into a nightmarish one, we said “never again”.
We’ll probably move into a condo at some point in the future, when this place gets to be too much for us, so we will have to deal with one then. I’m nearly 72, mr opiejeanne’s nearly 75, so maybe 15 years from now?
Professor Bigfoot
@Geminid: I wanted to like Fetterman so bad… but that whole “grab a shotgun and chase a jogger” thing gives me GREAT pause.
Benw
@Sure Lurkalot: I’m working through the weekend! (Could be worse, it’s from home.)
@WaterGirl: exactly! I couldn’t tell whether I was exhausted or pissed off. Or both :)
Geminid
@Professor Bigfoot: The 2013 incident was reported at the time by local TV, and that reporting is still available. The story never got much attention before last year, though. Fetterman has two problems here: what he did in 2013, and how he has accounted for the incident since. Fetterman stated last year that he would stand by his story and was done talking about the event.
There is now plenty on record for Democrats to decide if Fetterman is qualified, and would be a good Senator. They’ll also have to consider the question of electability, and how much damage Republicans can do to him with this story in the fall if he is the nominee. If I lived in Pennsylvania this primary vote would be an easy choice for me. I don’t, so I’ll just hope for a rancor-free primary between the candidates, and as few hard feelings among Pennsylvania Democrats as possible
That said, I just couldn’t resist passing on that Twitter-wag’s joke about Fetterman and the bridge.
Omnes Omnibus
@Geminid: I have never really understood the appeal of the Fetterman-like candidates. They don’t appeal to me, but obviously the mileage of others varies. And I don’t live in PA.
Tdjr
@geg6: Should be interesting if he wins his bid for the Senate.
Ruckus
@Miss Bianca:
I doubt that people almost anywhere can say that anymore. The republican party has swung hard to starboard these days and seems very unlikely to even understand that there is a correction factor needed. They seem to think that the world had gone to hell in a speeding semi truck (a lot faster and carries more crap than a hand basket) and the only way out is to run screaming as far and fast to the right as possible. And of course, as they are the problem, making it worse never helps.
Geminid
@Omnes Omnibus: I attribute Fetterman’s appeal to the reaction after Clinton lost in 2016. Some people drew the lesson that Democrats needed to harness the progressive wave that Sanders seemed (to them) to have shown to be ascendent. Fetterman supported Sanders but still campaigned for Clinton in the fall. To some people, he seemed the type of an ideal progressive politician, one who could capture that elusive unicorn, the white working class voter. His unconventional style was particulary impressive to magazines like Rolling Stone and it’s readers. To me, Fetterman’s more like a white college-educated progressive’s fantasy of a working class man. I don’t think he is a bad person; I do think he is overrated, but that’s on his fans, and on the media outlets that made him a star. And he did a creditable job as Lieutenant Governor, and that’s not a small thing.
I think the incident in which Fetterman threatened the jogger will cost him the Senate nomination. He kind of painted himself into a corner with his justifications, and when he says he won’t talk about it any more I think it’s because he can’t without hurting himself. It could be that he knows now that he won’t be nominated, and just wants to lose gracefully.
Geminid
@Geminid: But, Fetterman came into the new year leading in the polls and in fundraising, so he may still be plannimg to win.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Geminid: plausible theory I saw from a PA observer: He thinks he can win a three way race for the nomination
I think he’s a weak general election candidate, but he’s from the wing of the party who tend to focus more on primaries
Ruckus
@Miss Bianca:
I’ll wear long pants when it’s in the 40s or below or 50s and the sun isn’t shinning. But above that, it’s shorts. SoCal does have it’s advantages.
cain
@Argiope:
Thank you for the advice! My wife spent her entire life pouring everything into her kids. They have such a strong bond.
They are amazing and mature humans even now. The younger is more a kid than a teen. heh.