Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Yes we did.

I thought we were promised Infrastructure Week.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I personally stopped the public option…

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Good luck with your asparagus.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Deploy the moving finger of emphasisity!

Let there be snark.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

… makes me wish i had hoarded more linguine

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Wetsuit optional.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

This blog goes to 11…

The willow is too close to the house.

There’s some extremely good trouble headed their way.

Shelter in place is one thing. Shelter in pants is quite another.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn – Nancy Pelosi

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Screw the Judean People’s Front. Splitters.

Dinky Hocker shoots smack!

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Other Stuff Open Thread

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I watched the Dem lawyer’s questioning, which was great. Then I watched about five minutes of the GOP questioning, which was just asinine, and I turned it off. It was too stupid to even rise to the level of bad-faith badgering.

Anywho, I figured I am not alone, and maybe somebody should put up a thread for other stuff! Here are some pictures of cats to get us started. From the wonderful @Bodegacats_ account:

This is, as the kids say, “a mood”.
And here we have cats maybe passing the mirror test?

I just concluded a long argument about metadata. How’s your day going?

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Just Chillin’

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Take a break from fuckery all day, every day. It’ll still be there when you’re ready to deal with it.

Go breathe. Go create something.

The feeling I have is that the constant crap we have to deal with is to prevent us from saying, “hey, we can make the world a bit better”. When we have room to breathe, time to focus on breathing, we have ideas. We gain strength, release anger and tension. We think clearer and for those of us with souls, we feel human and humanity towards others. So stop for a while tonight. Enjoy something. Write a few lines. Laugh at something. Feel unabashedly in love with a person, a story, a piece of music. Forget the bullshit of adulthood and expectations. Be intensely you – and enjoy how great you are.

You earned it. Obligatory cat pic from my library of shots during my tenure in animal behaviour.

Adorable little kitten wrapped in a full burrito restraining wrap.
Be the purrito, live the purrito

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Respite Open Thread: Scout Turns Two

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Difficult to believe, but Scout turned two on Sunday.

Here she is lounging in the sun this summer

And here she is her second day with us.

Hard to believe my gangly legged lapdog is all growed up.  Her training, which got a bit sidelined when Bixby got sick, is going so very well. Don’t tell Bixby, but she’s been such a breeze to work with, I almost forget to do training with her some days. I have put my name in as an emergency foster if needed with our favorite Great Dane rescue group. I think everyone is settled enough and ready for that if needed.

Now the ultimate test. Facebook video:

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: President Jimmy Carter Recovering

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Happy news from Atlanta. I know Pres. Carter says he’s ready, but I have to admit, I am not. Speedy recovery.

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Saluting Our Veterans And Their Families

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As a military brat whose father and brother served in war zones, I have firsthand knowledge of what families go through when service members are deployed. And even without deployment, many military families relocate every few years.  So reading about this young man really touched my heart. And he has a book!

Davidson and his dad, as illustrated by his father in a book they wrote together.

(CNN) Davidson is only 9 years old, yet he’s been the man of the house eight times while his dad serves his country.

His father, Dave, is a Green Beret on his 10th deployment. The famil y lives in northern Virginia while Dave is stationed somewhere overseas. Davidson is used to not having his dad around, but he never forgets him.
This illustration shows Dave embracing Davidson after surviving an attack in Afghanistan.
“Sometimes it’s fine because we actually do a lot of fun things while he’s away, but it’s also sad because he’s just not here,” Davidson told CNN. “My mom sometimes breaks down and cries a lot because she misses him. And it’s not really hard for her because I help her, but it’s just she misses him.”

by Davidson Whetstone

Illustrated by his father

Davidson’s father was deployed every year of his young life when, at 6 years old, four days before Christmas, the call came that he was injured by an RPG in Afghanistan. With vivid, compelling art by Davidson’s own active duty father, this book tells the story of Davidson’s brave journey during his father’s service, recovery at Walter Reed Hospital, and return to the battlefield.

Brave For My Family is a book for every American child to read and celebrate the bravery of thos on the homefront when a parent is away fighting for our country.

Proceeds from the book support Military Families and Wounded Warriors through trusted organizations who have demonstrated their commitment to those who serve: Green Beret Foundation, Rick Herrema Foundation, Lead the Way Fund, Navy SEAL Foundation, Semper Fi Fund, and Patriot Foundation.

 

Closer to home for me – I’m in Niwot several times a month and I love this display:

 

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Mikhail Gorbachev, Hero

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As the world watched the Soviet Union breaking apart in the late 1980s – early 1990s, there was much fear that things could go badly wrong and even escalate to nuclear war.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who had become the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985, had introduced reforms that he believed would reinvigorate the Soviet economy. But movements in the satellites, like Solidarity in Poland, wanted independence. There were similar movements in the Soviet republics. Those movements used Gorbachev’s reforms for their own interests.

This month is the 30th anniversary of Gorbachev’s releasing the satellites – Poland, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and East Germany – from Soviet rule. Two years later, the 15 Soviet republics became independent countries.

Hard-liners in Moscow would have used force to prevent those outcomes. There were some clashes with the Soviet internal police, OMON, and military forces were ordered into some of the republics as demonstrations took place. But Gorbachev decided against major force and allowed the Soviet Union to dissolve, even though it was not the outcome he wanted.

The United States has become too accustomed to using force to solve problems. Russia has become an international spoiler, looking for ways to create chaos. With 14,000 nuclear weapons between them, this is unsustainable.

Gorbachev is speaking out.

And Don’t build a wall between Russia and the West.

He will always be a hero to me for handling the Soviet Union’s breakup peacefully. Not so much in Russia, where that breakup led to misery for many.

What he’s saying isn’t outstandingly new, but it’s always worth hearing, especially from someone who stared war in the face and walked away.

 

 

 

 

 

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Respite Open Thread: Throw Like a Girl

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I have a busy day ahead, but this started things off just right:

Here you can see the actual throw:

And thanks to Adam for sending this to me:

Bailey used to talk and back-talk aaaallll the time. I miss it, but Scout is working on it. Sometimes she finds her voice and it startles her. Adorable.

Before today’s onslaught, here’s a respite open thread.

 

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