Tails of the Teufelhund: Part 3

Baby Bella

Belly and I have always played throw and return, and she’s finally starting  to return things I throw: rope, baseballs, etc. And this is good for her as I have almost no yard for her to play in. We walk every day, and the dog park is down the street, so there’s that. When Belly was about 3 months old, I bought her a toy which she immediately lost, and 7 months later, today, I found SQUEAKY TOY!

We have spent the entire afternoon playing and throwing SQT around and B is having a blast.

SQT is a fluorescent, orange rubber bone-shaped thing that squeaks. Yummy!

I have read that the reason dogs love SQTs is because they love to hear their prey scream. Sounds about right for Bella. And so delicious, I can only wonder what cats think about it; after all, they are the gangsters of Pet World.

Cats: yes, I have one. Eighteen years old and still kicks Bella’s ass. A real nice kitty.

My son actually found her on a rainy night, and I said, “If she lives, keep her,” thinking this poor thing wouldn’t make the night. Happily, I was wrong. Kittah is tiny but real tough. Full grown only about 6 lb–truly a runt like my Bella, and a fucking trooper. Been through 3 dogs and handled them all. Go Kittah!

Maybe this should be Tales of the Kittah

 

Cats are Canaries in Coalmines

Pets are opportunistic,

Dogs are free Security

Like people,

Pets are not Children

Most are just as stupid

And must be Guided

God Bless the Doggies and Kittahs.

I’m a Sucker

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Comments

209 responses to “Tails of the Teufelhund: Part 3”

  1. Yusef drives a Kia

    I woke up about 5 minutes ago and found that all my Beltloops are missing on my shorts, well I have 1 dangling off the side, go Puppy!

    1. Gordilocks

      STEVE SMITH APPRECIATE PREPARED HIKERS

      1. Gordilocks

        APPRECIATE PREPARED HIKERS DOG WALKERS

        STEVE SMITH NOT TOO CONCERNED WHY YOU IN WOODS.
        RAPE INEVITABLE.

  2. Tulip

    Aww, cute.

  3. Number.6

    What kind of contributor are you, anyway?

    No alt-text? Damn you to hell!

    1. Number.6

      How odd. And now they’re there.

      “Damn you to elysium, man!”

      1. Yusef drives a Kia

        Elysium looked like a pretty cool place, I’ll take it(and my Dog)

        1. Number.6

          It sure beats Hades.

          1. juris imprudent

            Reminds me of the Twilight Zone of the old guy and his dog out for a walk in the woods.

          2. Yusef drives a Kia

            That’s me, followed by STEVE SMITH

  4. SimonD

    I know this is off-topic, but the morning thread is probably dead:

    What in the actual fuck?!

    https://nypost.com/2017/12/01/judge-bars-starbucks-from-closing-77-failing-teavana-stores/

    Welch, in a 55-page order, found that the very profitable Starbucks could absorb the financial hit — estimated by Starbucks to be $15 million over five months — better than Simon could. The mall operator did not provide an estimate of how much the closings of the Teavana stores would hurt them.

    Since when was it a judge’s job to determine winners and losers? I know for a fact that in one of the Simon malls discussed, the Teavana store is within 20 feet of a Starbucks, that sells Teavana teas.

    I fucking hate Progs.

    1. SimonD

      Also, cats are murder machines. They’re awesome.

      1. Yusef drives a Kia

        A welcome addition to a pest free home,

    2. “Since when was it a judge’s job to determine winners and losers?”

      Since FYTW peasant. Back to tax slavery with you!

    3. What do the terms of the contract say?

      1. SimonD

        I don’t know the specific terms, but…

        “Welch (the judge) admitted that “no court has ever entered preliminary or permanent injunctive relief to specifically enforce a continuous operations covenant against a non-anchor tenant” — but she did so anyway.”

    4. Retailers will just go all Irsay on the malls.

    5. Rhywun

      It sounds like those stores are leased. I’m not sure what the problem is here. Obviously they can’t be forced to actually operate the stores but they have to keep paying their rent, right?

      1. I’d assume the contract has terms for breaking the lease. What are those terms?

        1. Rhywun

          Look at you wanting “details”.

      2. kbolino

        Obviously they can’t be forced to actually operate the stores

        That seems to be exactly what they were ordered to do. The plaintiff doesn’t just want the rent money, in fact that seems secondary to the complaint. The plaintiff wants the stores to stay open to discourage other tenants from leaving.

        1. I spent a good number of years working in the mall, God help me, and I got to see a little bit of the inner workings. The worst thing that can happen for a mall is to have unused space, not just because of the lack of rent but because of the appearance. The mall has to attract shoppers by making it look full of busy, awesome stores in order to attract stores. The mall is a retailer of space and the stores are the shoppers. Blank space looks bad.

          1. juris imprudent

            And god-forbid they have to lower the rent to keep the space filled!

          2. The rent is too damned high!

        2. Pope Jimbo

          If I were Starbucks, I’d go complete SJW on them.

          Start spouting nonsense like “Our homeless people need somewhere safe to exist.” Then simply unlock the space every day and let every homeless bum sleep, shit, whatever in them.

          When the mall tries to close you down, get frontal and call them dirty capitalists who put profit ahead of helping people in need during the holiday season.

    6. Homple

      “Since when was it a judge’s job to determine winners and losers?”

      Since We the People long ago decided to let the judiciary run the country.

    7. Playa Manhattan

      “No.”

  5. Yusef drives a Kia

    Razorfist is going DS9 on us,

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx84P0tQ3zk
    Demonflesh spawn
    2 hours ago
    JJ Abrams: slowly but surely making Michael Bay look like Stanley Kubrick in comparison…

  6. My cats are fat and lazy, not runts.

    1. Spartacus

      I have several fat and lazy cats, and then there’s the Tortie Sisters. Combined weight: 11 pounds. Those two could take down an elk, easy.

  7. And this guy has a blue check mark. He sounds like he actually belongs in a psych ward.

    https://twitter.com/neontaster/status/937204096226021377/

    1. Gordilocks

      Jesus. Buddy has been hitting the Partisan Crack Pipe pretty hard. Put it away, bro.

      1. juris imprudent

        I think that might be someone I know on FB (not really, but I have a few ‘friends’ that are pretty fucking partinsane).

    2. Derpetologist

      I can’t find the quote, but some mid-level public employee in a deep blue state posted a long rant wishing cancer, death, etc on all Trump voters. Unsurprisingly, he still has a job.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Bucking for a raise

      2. I work alongside state and fed employees. The state people talk all kinds of shit about Trump, but that doesn’t bother me. The fact that the leadership among the feds, a bunch of GS-15s, in a regulatory agency that’s supposed to be apolitical are so blatantly and openly partisan, really, really pisses me off. I mean, they’re talking no end of shit about a segment of the voting population that is in a very real sense paying their salaries. Salaries they earn largely by going to meetings and getting a lot of paid leave, I might add.

        1. The taxpayers (us) are the suckers.

        2. kbolino

          When you take out the voters who think this is great, the voters who don’t care, and the voters who are only upset because it’s the other party that’s getting away with it, you’re not left with enough voters to change it.

          1. juris imprudent

            A great exposition on why democracy really isn’t that great (and yet still better than any other political system).

        1. AlmightyJB

          Yeah she’s probably wearing more than a lot of 3rd world laborers make in a year.

        2. AlmightyJB

          How about If I can’t even afford Ramen, I’ll get a job.

          1. DOOMco

            return the sharpie, get 4 packets of ramen.

          2. Playa Manhattan

            Her job is holding up signs.

          3. juris imprudent

            Wonder how much ramen she gets for that?

        3. Tulip

          I want those boots. Should I make an offer in ramen?

    3. AlmightyJB

      Gee, that was convincing.

    4. John Titor

      Come on man, if you’re going to do crazy at least do creative crazy. You just repeated the same ‘Republicans are traitorous mass murderers’ talking point multiple times. At least start screeching about Nazis or something.

      *Throws peanuts*

    5. Playa Manhattan

      “They might be dead, but they’ll still, vote democrat”

      1. Chafed

        I saw that too. I laughed before I cried.

  8. Yusef drives a Kia

    What do the aliens think of Humans? Half of them are blithering idiots, yet they survive as a species, amazing.

    1. Mr Lizard

      We think your planet is giant hot mess of entertainment, but far too reckless to allow interstellar expansion. Think FloridaMan shitting all over the galaxy in a spaceship that resembles an airboat.

  9. Raven Nation

    OT: reportedly Andy Reid gave up play-calling today. Seems to be a good decision at this point. OTOH: it’s the Jets.

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      Open thread, The Dog is just a ruse to get you here,

      1. juris imprudent

        Let us mock the champions of the Big 10 – for the second straight year the conference champion is deemed unworthy of a place in the CFP!

        1. AlmightyJB

          Got our assess handed to us by Iowa. Inconsistent play all year. I’m not gonna be too pissed about it. Beat Hairball and won the Big Ten. I’ll take that. The best thing the Bucks can do now is to win decisively against whomever we play on NYD. The Alabama decision will either be vindicated or it won’t.

        2. AlmightyJB

          Would be really interesting to see an OSU-Auburn matchup in the bowls

          1. juris imprudent

            Cotton Bowl – OSU v. USC

            They ought to decorate that cotton ball with miniature roses around it.

    2. Grumbletarian

      And the Jets won. Lulz.

  10. Yusef drives a Kia

    This is well done and funny

    https://youtu.be/nSuregWhlWk

    1. AlmightyJB

      That’s great:)

    2. Mad Scientist

      Holy cow that’s awesome!

      1. Festus

        *full-bore Roman Triumph*

    3. Pope Jimbo

      Yusef Imm gonna let you finish, but already been posted….

  11. peachy rex

    I don’t think I’ve ever known a household which contained a dog and a cat which was run by the dog. My dog might as well belong to the youngest cat – she scent-marks his muzzle with her head, and he just lies there and takes it like some pangalactic wuss even though he outweighs her six-to-one.

    1. AlmightyJB

      That’s been my experience as well

    2. My recently-deceased cat (old age) would wait in ambush to wreck my pits. We’re talking about a 60-pound weight differential. His brother, who is still with us, takes a more passive approach, but there’s still no question of who ought to be afraid of whom.

      1. peachy rex

        Claws are the great equaliser. (Also, cats have no consciences.)

        1. Yusef drives a Kia

          or Souls like me

          1. peachy rex

            Oh come now – they’re not gingers! (Except for the ones who are, I guess.)

      2. Playa Manhattan

        (old age)

        I love that you felt the need to clarify.

        1. Playa Manhattan

          (Jet Ski Accident)

          1. DOOMco

            well, that’s the story i’d like to hear about.

        2. Playa Manhattan

          (Hot and Sour Soup)

    3. Tulip

      My cat and dog just avoid each other, although the dog can’t go upstairs if the cat is sitting on the stairs. But the cat is wary of the dog and the dog is wary of being yelled at if she goes after the cat. Or stares at him (NO KITTY!).

      1. Rhywun

        No dogs but I have two cats and I’ve given up trying to deal with their territorial bullshit. When they were little they would sleep together. Move to a different apartment and all of a sudden it’s nothing but hissing and spitting from the big fat one who’s terrified of the slightly less fat one. Little monsters.

    4. juris imprudent

      We had a cat that ruled over the dog until one day the dog snuck up behind the cat and gave it a little goose – the cat was surprised and forgot it was boss and skittered away. After that, it was dètente.

  12. Derpetologist

    Some nice anti-derp: https://calwatchdog.com/2013/01/23/firefighter-one-of-nations-safest-jobs/

    ***
    The nation’s astoundingly well-paid public firefighters insist that they receive their high salaries and pensions (averaging around $175,000 a year in total compensation in California, with age-50 retirements and schedules that allow them to sleep on the job and work only a few days every two weeks) because of the terrible dangers they face on the job. They do face occasional and serious dangers, but according to a new National Public Radio report, such dangers are well below those faced by most of America’s workers.

    The average death rate in 2011 was 3.5 per 100,000 workers for the average American worker. Fishermen had the most dangerous jobs with 121 deaths per 100,000, followed by loggers and pilots. Firefighters die at a rate of 2.5 per 100,000 workers, which is slightly above the rate for cashiers (1.6). Yet not many cashiers — or loggers or fishermen or taxi drivers, for that matter — receive “3 percent at 50” retirement plans courtesy of taxpayers. Police officers died at the rate of 18.6 per 100,000, which is significantly below farmers and just above construction workers, although well above the national average. About half of the police deaths are because of car accidents.

    By the way, the government considers it an “on the job” death when a firefighter or cop dies from heart attacks, cancer and other common ailments. These are referred to as presumptions. It’s a presumptuous standard, but one that unlocks myriad benefits for surviving family members.

    Police and fire also argue for their millionaires’ pension — one would need several million dollars in the bank to receive a lifelong six-figure payout for employee and spouse — based on the idea that they die shortly after retirement. Union officials repeat that falsehood, but even the union-friendly California Public Employees’ Retirement System released a presentation showing that the longest-living category of public employee is a cop followed by a firefighter. They tend to live well into their ’80s which, if you think about it, is why there are those huge unfunded pension liabilities.
    ***

  13. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Mrs. Doubtfire 2: The Reckoning

    An Indianapolis man who dressed as an elderly woman to ambush his ex-girlfriend and her brother, was sentenced to 80 years in prison Friday.

    Michael Love, said to be in his 50s, was convicted on two counts of attempted murder Nov. 1 after wearing a mask, wig and dress before shooting the two victims while they and some children were getting into a vehicle earlier this year, Indianapolis’ Fox 59 reported.

    1. mindyourbusiness

      Beard and mustache maybe a dead giveaway?

      1. Nephilium

        Look at you trying to assume gender you shitlord.

  14. Derpetologist

    Just beautiful. The Trump-supporting uncle responds to being lectured at Thanksgiving:

    http://thefederalist.com/2016/11/21/talk-millennial-donald-trump-thanksgiving/

    ***
    Look, Caitlin, I get it. You don’t see eye to eye with your uncle on much. I’m sorry I mentioned I voted for Trump, but do we have to do this now?

    And can we please cut the crap? You and I both know that as much as you claim to dislike returning to Grand Rapids, you wanted to be here. It was just too depressing to contemplate watching Netflix alone in that dreary shoebox you rent in Red Hook. How do I know your apartment is dreary? Well, you put those ridiculously bright filters on everything on Instagram. Yes, I know what Instagram is. I’m not hopeless.

    Again, I wasn’t the one starting an argument. Nothing’s changed between us, okay? Remember when you were a kid and every time I saw you I told you the same stupid joke about Beethoven? I swear, you laughed at the joke all the way through high school. Then you went off to college and everything changed. No offense, but Mount Holyoke? You could have gotten your fill of women’s studies classes paying in-state tuition at Ann Arbor without graduating $150,000 in debt.

    If Donald Trump is racist, does that mean you think your family is racist for voting for the man? Is Kanye West racist now? You think I like the fact that a rich New York jagoff with verbal diarrhea is going to be president? I just voted for the guy, I didn’t sign on the dotted line in blood. If he starts throwing people in camps, I’ll be the first guy to form a militia. But until then, I can’t be bothered to keep up with all things that are racist these days.

    I remember watching cable news a few years ago, and some guy was saying that people complaining Obama golfed too much were racist. Golf is racist! If we’re going to do this, why don’t you go Wikipedia the Fugitive Slave Act and then we can put Trump’s racism in the proper political context, okay?

    Anyway, Greg Keller and I headed down there to fix the toilet. While we spent the afternoon mopping up and drying the carpets, Greg explained to me why he couldn’t vote for Clinton. You see, when he was in the Navy he had to get a security clearance. And when he was in the Navy, he knew a guy who was court-martialed for leaving a purchase order for nuclear submarine parts on his desk when he went to lunch, instead of locking it up in a safe like he was supposed to. The guy did time. And the purchase order was only “confidential” information, the lowest level of classification. Hillary Clinton had top secret information in her stupid emails. Why does she get to run for president when she’s committed crimes that would put you or I in jail? Riddle me that.

    Your great-grandfather died when you were too young to remember, but we used to sit in the deer stand together and gramps would tell me stories about what Guadalcanal was like. Gives me chills thinking about it. You know how old he was at the time? Nineteen. And now kids your age need coloring books and safe spaces and therapy dogs to cope with an election that doesn’t go your way.

    Just stop it. Please don’t pretend you know more about this than the rest of us. I know you’re a budding journalist. Really can’t wait until you get the first Pulitzer for producing hot takes in a reclaimed warehouse space. That’s right. Aside from stalking you on Instagram, I read your website. You know that one of your esteemed colleagues wrote an article for your site last week on “How to Talk to Your Trump–Supporting Relatives at Thanksgiving.” You know how that makes the rest of us feel? If the country’s falling apart, maybe it has something to do with an entire generation that’s so politically correct they need written instructions on how to be nice to their own family.
    ***

    1. Now that is some good stuff.

    2. Heroic Mulatto

      Sounds like a family of assholes. I didn’t think it was, but perhaps assholery is genetic.

    3. Gordilocks

      That was bloody excellent.

    4. John Titor

      Too much ‘Old Man Yells at Cloud’ for me.

      1. Gordilocks

        You know how that makes the rest of us feel? If the country’s falling apart, maybe it has something to do with an entire generation that’s so politically correct they need written instructions on how to be nice to their own family.
        multiple generations of people supporting the two party state and being tribal assholes always demanding free shit?

        1. John Titor

          Yeah, the whining about Millennials and the “y’all motherfuckers need Jesus” bit that isn’t relevant to anything whatsoever doesn’t cement me on that guy’s side. His points on Clinton are fine though, they’re just bogged down by his general attitude as a whole.

          1. Heroic Mulatto

            You only say that because you live in a shitty Millennial apartment.

    5. KSuellington

      Ha, what a great response. Loved it.

    1. Rhywun

      The withdrawal comes days before a global conference on migration that starts Monday in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

      I’ll start taking the UN seriously the day they hold a conference in Duluth or Grand Forks.

      1. juris imprudent

        Even better, one of the places that people tend to be pretty energized about emigrating from (i.e. any Central American slum).

        1. thrakkorzog

          Help do it from Mexico City, it is a capital with a large population. Why not let the U.N. Envoys party there?

      2. Festus

        1/2 mile from the tourist trap I found a secluded beach and promptly went body-surfing in human feces. Logs. That’s not even close to the worst story from Puerto Vallarta that I could share.

      3. Pope Jimbo

        Whoa! What did we do to warrant such an unprovoked attack?

        Minnesoda is a wonderful place (and I’m putting GF in Minnesoda because it is close enough). You know why? Because we don’t let fucking UN conferences take place here.

    2. AlmightyJB

      “following the Obama Administration’s decision to join the UN’s New York Declaration on Migration,”

      I don’t remember that being reported

      1. kbolino

        The US has been a part of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants since it was formed last year.

        The nerve of some people, upending literal decades years months of tradition!

  15. My cat is awesome. That’s all.

    1. Festus

      Without any evidence, I will agree that your cat is awesome because I believe that prit-near every cat is awesome (especially mine).

      1. hayeksplosives

        Also true. Cats rock the world.

        I might be getting drunk. It’s been a long weekend with little “downtime”

  16. Derpetologist

    My mom rescued our first 2 cats from a box on the side of the road when they were kittens. They both lived to be 17 or 18. One of them liked to perch on the front tire of our van to be close to the warm engine when it was cold out. My dad was backing up one day and the cat didn’t move in time. She was missing for a few days but returned with a paralyzed tail. That cat was very chill.

    We had another runt kitten who was fearless. One day, he returned with a mangled hind leg and had to get it amputated. A few months later, he disappeared.

    Our first dog came from the pound. She was sick at first, but became healthy after being fed our left-over vitamin-fortified cereal.

    Over the years, we had a rotating menagerie which included ducks, hermit crabs, iguanas, parakeets, and hamsters. My brother, sister, and I all had various pets. Aside from our house smelling like a barn, it was a happy, chaotic childhood.

    1. hayeksplosives

      LOVE!!!!

      You’ll probably never come back and see this reply to a dead thread, but that is awesome, and now I love ya even more, Dr Derp.

      Critters aren’t that smart, but they also can’t consciously sin. So we have to care for them and love them.

  17. SP

    Thanks for the pup post, Yusef!

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      Thanks for posting it. Squeaky toy is no more, but She’s got some new ROPE! that is entertaining.

    1. SP

      One of our pup’s favorite sleeping positions, too.

      1. DOOMco

        My previous ones never stayed like that for long, but this guy just loves it.
        They also have some OCD about the path they take while scouting our property. they’re wearing a path into the grass.

        1. SP

          My dad’s dogs did that. Our dog has a specific route, but it’s more about clearing the invaders in the central area first, then checking the perimeter.

          1. DOOMco

            They have a very direct path out to this group of rocks that lets them look into the woods for intruders. It’s pretty funny to watch them work.

    2. Yusef drives a Kia

      That’s a Dog right there!

  18. Heroic Mulatto

    1. Now that’s diversity outreach!

    2. AlmightyJB

      That cat is like WTF dude

      1. Playa Manhattan

        Nah, I see a little push-back.

      1. Playa Manhattan

        “Suggest it is appropriate for handlers to attempt to calm”

        Now hiring: Assistant for Harvey Weinstein

      2. Derpetologist

        In some central European countries, there was a belief that infertility could be cured by beating a couple with a stick that had been previously used to separate mating dogs.

        1. peachy rex

          I wonder how rigorous the clinical trials were.

    3. Yusef drives a Kia

      Any port in a Storm

    4. Derpetologist

      OK, HM. Two can play at this game:

      http://www.healthystrokes.com/

      ***
      EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

      Although about 90 percent of males masturbate by hand, about 5-10 percent masturbate by lying face down and thrusting the penis into or against the bed, pillow, or something else. Although masturbation is normal, healthy, and fun, prone masturbation causes severe sexual dysfunction in most males who practice it. This web site describes prone masturbation and the problems of its practitioners and offers case studies and approaches to becoming cured.
      ***

      ***
      When was prone masturbation first documented?

      The ancient Romans had a word for it. They referred to male masturbation by different words depending on how it was done. The word for the prone masturbation method was trudo, which literally means “I thrust.” No doubt this stemmed from the open way in which masturbation and other bodily functions were carried out in ancient Rome.
      ***

      1. Derpetologist

        Too weird? OK.

        [backs away slowly]

      2. Number.6

        Trudeau?

        Hmmm.

      3. Heroic Mulatto

        about 5-10 percent masturbate by lying face down and thrusting the penis into or against the bed, pillow, or something else.

        I knew a guy who said he did that.

        1. Lackadaisical

          Me too. Sounds terrible, and is bad for your junk I guess.

  19. The Zenome Project

    Is this the peak of all derp from Politico writers? Article: Chelsea Clinton should run for Tom Cotton’s seat in Arkansas if Rex Tillerson is replaced

    With rumors swirling that Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton will soon head for the CIA, another Senate race may be added to the 2018 list. The safe money is for an open seat in Arkansas to stay in Republican hands. But who thought Alabama would host a competitive Senate race? If Democrats can find a credible candidate, and unruly Republican voters those fucking plebes again fail to take their nomination process seriously, anything could happen.

    However, to call the Arkansas Democratic Party a shell would be an insult to turtles. There are no Democratic officials holding statewide office, nor any in the U.S. House delegation. Out of the 135 members of the Arkansas state legislature, only 33 – less than 25 percent – are Democrats. Not a single Democrat has yet stepped up to run for governor next year. The only Democratic Senate prospect that Arkansas Times columnist Jay Barth could come up with isn’t even a Democrat, but former Republican state House speaker Davy Carter, who has been critical of President Trump and could run as “an Independent with Democratic backing.”

    If Arkansas Democrats want to field a serious Democrat, there’s only one name to consider. I’m talking, of course, about Clinton.

    Of course, Hillary Clinton would have to overcome a lot of impediments to become only the third person in history to have represented more than one state in the Senate. She just lost Arkansas to Trump by 27 points, and didn’t even bother to campaign there. She’s not a native Arkansan and was always a polarizing figure during her stint as the state’s first lady. She didn’t come back there to live after serving in the White House, nor does she visit often. A sudden return to the state would likely dredge up bad memories of the Whitewater investigation, in which she was never charged with crime but many of her Arkansas associates were convicted. As Bloomberg columnist Leonid Bershidsky summed up after visiting the state during the 2016 campaign, “Arkansas is pleased to forget Hillary Clinton.”

    But what about Bill? Might he follow John Quincy Adams’ footsteps and become the second ex-president to serve in Congress? He was born and raised in the state. He did win statewide time and time again, as state attorney general, governor (except for that one time) and president. And unlike Hillary, he does visit his home state regularly, staying at his 5,000-square-foot crash pad atop the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock.

    Yes, Arkansas politics have swerved to the right since the 1990s. But as Lyon College political science professor Bradley Gitz told Bershidsky, Arkansas is a small state where personality-driven retail politics often win the day, which is why it was a perfect fit for Bill. “He’s just about the only Democrat who would stand a chance” in the state, Gitz said. One Clinton friend said in 2014, “Even the ultra conservative elements admire Bill. They are Clinton supporters even though they are Obama haters.”

    But Bill is suffering a post-Weinstein Effect reassessment of his sexual misconduct, proven and alleged. Two of his accusers, Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick, still live in Arkansas and would likely hover over the race as they did when they crashed the 2016 town hall presidential debate. Plus, Broaddrick is publishing a book in January titled, “You’d Better Put Some Ice On That: How I Survived Being Raped by Bill Clinton.” Let’s just say, the timing isn’t right.

    That leaves us with one Clinton left: Chelsea.

    She has the Clinton name but little of the Clinton baggage. She wouldn’t hurt for name recognition or campaign cash. She’s vice chair of the controversy magnet known as the Clinton Foundation, but emails released during the presidential campaign by WikiLeaks and the State Department show Chelsea getting caught doing good, seeking to root out corruption by foundation officials and warning of problems with Haiti earthquake relief.

    She is an Arkansas native, even though she hasn’t lived there since she was 12. Sure, she lives in Manhattan now and lacks a Southern accent. But her mom bought her first house in New York two months before she launched her Senate bid, proving zip code ain’t nothing but a number. Carpetbagger charges are inevitable. But in the end, what matters is your knowledge and respect of the state and its voters. Chelsea shows no hint of cultural condescension toward her birthplace. For example, as an NBC reporter, she spotlighted efforts to preserve the folk music traditions of the city of Mountain View in the Ozarks.

    We all know she’s gearing up to run for something someday. She’s sharpened her political presence on Twitter. She’s released two books this year, the popular children’s history book “She Persisted” and the less noticed but weightier “Governing Global Health: Who Runs the World and Why?” in which she and a global public health professor explore how effective international organizations have been at combating infectious diseases.

    Although Chelsea typically bats away questions about launching a campaign, in a March interview with Variety she caveated, “If someone steps down or something changes, I’ll then ask and answer those questions at that time.” Clearly, she’s waiting for someone to step down.

    Plenty of people, on the left and the right, would like to see just that. The Observer’s Michael Sainato warned Democrats of embracing Chelsea: “Instead of moving on—and being better off for it—another Clinton in public office would broaden the party’s disconnect with working and middle class voters … The only good to come out of this would be for Chelsea Clinton to lose a congressional race, thereby re-teaching a lesson the Democratic establishment has continuously failed to learn.”

    Vanity Fair’s T. A. Frank ripped her as an intellectual phony: “reading anything by Chelsea Clinton—tweets, interviews, books—is best compared to taking in spoonfuls of plain oatmeal that, periodically, conceal a toenail clipping.” The New York Post’s Michelle Malkin described Run Chelsea Run articles (like this one!) as “pathetic” attempts by the “the Hollywood-media complex [to] squeeze blood from a rotten turnip.”

    Chelsea will get a similarly rude welcome into any race. But by entering the Arkansas contest, she would at least start her politician life with exceedingly low expectations. That would give her the opportunity to establish her own political persona, hone her stump skills and prove she can beat back the inevitable Clinton family conspiracy theories without the pressure of risking her entire political career on her first race. Even if she lost, by running respectably and helping get the state party off the mat, she’d get credit for beating the spread.

    1. juris imprudent

      Couldn’t the poor bastard that wrote that do something else with his life? Like cutting?

      1. peachy rex

        Isn’t writing for Politico the step *after* cutting?

        1. Festus

          Them terlits aint gonna clean themselves, Son. Put some pepper on it!

    2. Lachowsky

      The clintons are no longer popular in Arkansas. There may be people who fondly remember Bill, but hillary is universally hated here. She’s hated enoigh that no Clinton or clinton progeny will ever be elected here.

    3. Tulip

      Some people long for royalty. They just want to be ruled.

    4. thrakkorzog

      Hillary 2.0, but this time without the common man’s touch.

  20. Gilmore

    via jordan peterson:

    an essay which seems to basically say, “Right wingers flop when we foul them, and so end up getting good-calls from the referees (the public), which is unfair”.

    to wit:

    Spencer and his white nationalist colleagues have mastered the art of manipulating no-platforming

    if you go into the article expecting to find any actual relevance to either Spencer or racism, you will be disappointed; the subject is the girl @ that canadian school who was told that JP was too-problematic to expose to students. why bring up White Nationalism? why not, really.

    1. AlmightyJB

      IFP. Intellect-free press?

      1. Gilmore

        worse, i think that “I” is an L.

        London, Ontario. i believe i drove through it once when i was 16

  21. Nephilium

    Bad news from Canton for the brewing world.

    1. DOOMco

      that is terrible.

      1. Nephilium

        Yeah… the opening up a home brew supply store while dodging the full breweries does not bode well. Now that the news is out there, I’m willing to wager that his home brew store suffers a steep decline in business.

  22. thrakkorzog

    https://news.vice.com/article/one-of-the-worlds-biggest-extinction-crises-is-being-caused-by-cats

    So it turns out all those stories about people causing mass extinctions are a bit overblown. The problem is we bring our furry friends along with us.

    1. F. Stupidity Jr.

      Looks like not even Australia is tough enough for cats.

    2. Raven Nation

      Well, you could argue humans occupy a place in the chain of responsibility.

      1. thrakkorzog

        Nope. Turns out rats are responsible for even more extinctions. https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2004/09/rats-and-extinctions.html

        1. Raven Nation

          Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant specifically in the first post: most feral cats in Australia are there because people cast their own into the wild where they bred.

    3. hayeksplosives

      I am really tired of blame-shaming humans for the endangerment of Panda bears. Those suckers are meant to die out. They are picky eaters, picky maters, and have almost no instinct for self-preservation.

      Let ’em go.

      1. thrakkorzog

        Yep, I’ve seen arguments that pandas are a bit more more randy outside of captivity.

        Then I look up prison rape statics and I am reminded that people, and hate birds the birds that have will fuck whoever whenever.

    4. Raven Nation

      Somewhat related, this is why the US should sign the Paris Climate Accords: http://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/42213491

    5. Gilmore

      “It’s difficult to bait and trap them, because they’re very shy, and culling through shooting is very difficult; you can’t shoot that many cats.”

      here kitteh kitteh

    6. Rhywun

      I’m sure a Fluffy holocaust in favor of… whatever “natives” there are is going to go down well.

    7. Mad Scientist

      “Each feral cat eats between three and 20 native animals a day. That adds up to a conservative 80 million native animals a day,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday.

      He keeps using this word “conservative.” I do not think it means what he thinks it means.

  23. Lackadaisical

    I’m going to write a ken-long post, is there going to be afternoon links, or am I good to post it here, you think?

    1. hayeksplosives

      Eh, I say put it here, and if the PM thread shows up at 4pm, repost.

      1. We don’t have 4pm posts very often on a Sunday. 6pm, yes (Central, or “God’s Time”)

        1. Lackadaisical

          Yeah, I was waiting until 4 pm, and then realized you guys all live in flyover. 😉

          1. Looks like it will be a bit earlier today.

          2. hayeksplosives

            Sundays roll how they roll! We adapt and overcome.

    2. AlmightyJB

      Is it about beastiality? If it is, post it here, it not just don’t post it.

      1. Lackadaisical

        Sorry, I can’t cater to your tastes JB, maybe SugarFree can help you out?

    3. Gilmore

      a ken-long post

      Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure my distaste for Rand Paul.

      1. Derpetologist

        In fairness the Gettysburg Address was quite short. Ken’s stuff would have John Galt looking at his watch and making the “wrap it up” gesture.

        1. juris imprudent

          Lincoln spoke after an oration by one of the country’s pre-eminent speakers of the day, who had rambled on for an hour and a half (per the museum at Gettysburg, and IIRC).

  24. hayeksplosives

    I won the chili cookoff (Hot Category) today at church! So I have to live with the hideous traveling trophy consisting of a ceramic piggy bank of a fat Mexican dude with a giant mustache. My name is now written across his backside in gold paint pen, following those who have held the trophy aloft in triumph ahead of me.

    Last year my husband won, so now I have that stupid trophy in my house for the second year in a row.

    1. AlmightyJB

      You going to share the recipe?

    2. Have it bronzed.

    3. Number.6

      You’ll have to resist the temptation to make delicious chili for next year then.

      1. They don’t like her chili, and are punishing her by making her keep that trophy.

        1. hayeksplosives

          You could be on to something…but the emptyness of the crockpot testifies otherwise.

          Fortunately, we have the rest on the stovetop in the GIANT stockpot, so that will be baggied up for frozen leftovers for the cold Minnesota winter.

    4. Mad Scientist

      Did you bring some for the whole class?

      1. hayeksplosives

        Maybe I could freeze dry some for the survivalists out there…

    5. Playa Manhattan

      In lieu of the recipe, how about a fight over the proper ingredients in chili?

      Chili should have beans, at least 3 kinds of meat, tomatoes, and masa. If you disagree, you’re stupid.

      *cracks beer*

      1. Mad Scientist

        What’s masa?

        1. Playa Manhattan

          Nixtamalized corn flour.

          Raw tortillas, in other words.

        2. hayeksplosives

          Wassa massa witchoo?

      2. thrakkorzog

        Beans don’t belong in chili. They are a side dish like cornbread.

        1. Playa Manhattan

          Here we go!!!

          1. thrakkorzog

            I already gave up on Hills I’m willing to die on. We’ve already got someone not understanding the exception that proves the rule. Next there will probably a horde of nice folks arguing that noodles are an integral ingredient of chilli.

          2. hayeksplosives

            I never put starch into the chili itself, but I often serve my east asian flavored chili next to Basmati rice.

        2. Mad Scientist

          I put black beans, pinto beans, and string fucking beans in my chili.

          1. Playa Manhattan

            I put in lima beans. And pancake syrup.

          2. Mad Scientist

            Hey, I understand. They don’t just hand out those “Worse Than Hitler” trophies.

          3. hayeksplosives

            Pancake syrup—is joke?

        3. Nephilium

          Beans are used if, and only if, you can’t afford enough meat to make a proper chili.

          1. hayeksplosives

            Mr Hayek is a strict no-beans guy. He also uses steak, brisket, and/or chuck for the meat, instead of ground beef. Mine is more economical, and I happen to like it. That’s really my approach: I make what I want to eat, even though it’s not Tex-Mex. I was just surprised that other folk liked it enough to vote for it.

      3. RBS

        No beans.

      4. hayeksplosives

        I use a #10 can of DARK red kidney beans, 5 lbs onions (yellow ~crying while thinking about cutting~), 6 lbs ground beef, red wine, lotsa bird chili peppers (some call them tree chilis) from the local Indian grocer, and then I indian spice the crap out of it. Green chili chutney, bengali 5 spice, fenugreek leaves galore, and the very hard-to-find unless you have a local Indian grocer, Curry leaves. Curry leaves have nothing to do with curry powder; they are a laurel-like green leaf that has no equivalent of substitute. You have to pull em off the branches, put them in the blender and frappe, but man are they unforgettably tasty. Oh, I also add pickled green peppercorns (also from Indian grocer), cardamom seeds, etc etc.

        Very eastern. Couldn’t believe the Scandahoovians around here voted for it!

        1. hayeksplosives

          Oh, and a # 10 can of tomato sauce. It’s a big stockpot…

          1. hayeksplosives

            Garlic (slices! I love the way they look and feel) and probably some other stuff I am forgetting. I have never written it down or measured other than the bulk #10 can of beans, #10 can tomato sauce, 6 lb beef, 5 lb onion. The rest I make up as I go.

          2. AlmightyJB

            Thanks for sharing:) sounds awesome

          3. hayeksplosives

            You betcha!

            Come again! (I don’t have an Indian catchphrase aside from Apu…)

        2. Playa Manhattan

          This comment deserves its own post.

      5. juris imprudent

        Brilliant Playa, you mention everything but chiles.

  25. Lackadaisical

    Tales of Woe from Slate: Home-Based Care Isn’t Babysitting

    Parks and her colleagues, who take on the risk of running small businesses in addition to the responsibilities of caring for very young children, often barely make enough money to stay afloat. As she put it, “It’s a sacrifice.”

    America pretty much treats its child care workers—even the owners of home-based centers like Parks—as nothing more than babysitters. (Parks hates that comparison, quipping that she’s never sat on a baby in her life.) In many places, they are paid like babysitters (the majority of home-based providers gross less than $35,000 a year, and that’s before factoring in the expenses of running the program), they have zero health and other benefits, and, like most babysitters, they are required to have next-to-zero training or educational expertise. (Only 15 percent hold bachelor’s degrees; Michigan, where Parks works, only requires 16 hours of training a year to grant a license to a home-based operator.)

    While it might be great to have someone with a degree watch your kids, a degree, or more than 16 hours of training should not be required to watch someone else’s kids. I’m sure Slate would love to mandate more training (which would screw over everyone involved by pricing most suppliers and consumers out of the market). Also, if you are paying your baby sitter 35k/yr you’re doing it wrong.

    Experts say that a long tradition of sexism, racism, and the low value placed on early childhood education and care—

    Ah yes, the long history of racism in childcare. Don’t forget to throw in the canard about mothers being expected to do it for free

    a gargantuan task that mothers have been expected to do for free throughout much of history—contribute to the low expectations and low compensation afforded the women who provide this service to other people’s children from their homes. An astounding 98 percent of early childhood workers are female, and an estimated 48 percent of home-based providers are women of color. (By comparison, 76 percent of the K–12 teaching force is female, and 20 percent are people of color.)

    There it is! It is almost like she was getting room and board for her and her children for free in return, but no, that can’t be- I’m sure dad just threw them out on the street.

    t’s not just the financial well-being of child care workers and directors that’s at stake. Home-based operators help teach about 1.5 million kids a year how to speak, process language, exhibit empathy, develop curiosity about the world, and so much more, playing a big role in how the youngsters fare in their kindergarten classrooms and beyond. And research shows achievement gaps in math and English along racial and socio-economic lines have often already hardened by the time kids reach kindergarten.

    Are you saying they’re doing a shitty job, or what? I’m not getting the angle here.

    When she opened her program in 1999 at the age of 31, Parks knew it was a financial risk, but she had another motivation: She wanted quality child care for her own newborn daughter, Joy. Parks had been caring for children in one setting or another since she was 9 years old and closely observed her mother, a Detroit Public Schools special education teacher. After graduating high school, she began working at a child care center for teen mothers. She eventually took a monthslong course in the Montessori method of child care, which emphasizes play and exploration, but had to quit and temporarily take a factory job to pay her son’s tuition and put down a payment on a new house. By the time her daughter, Joy, was born, Parks was stable enough to start her own program, which she figured would allow her to care for her daughter while also providing a service to the neighborhood.

    Huh, it is almost like she got to multitask her homelife and her job and that likely contributes heavily to the low wages in the sector.

    Twenty years later, Parks says she has no regrets, calling child care the kind of work she’d “do for free.”

    Well shit lady. I think we found the source of the low wages!

    Parks gets a little more than $4 in subsidies every hour each child is in attendance at the program. If they come the full 40 hours a week, then she recoups her full tuition, but she said that’s rarely the case. She’s allowed to charge the families the balance, but she often lets financially struggling families off the hook.

    Worst businesswoman ever? I’m not saying there isn’t a place for graduated rates and such, but maybe she’d make more being a bit more aggressive in her pricing scheme? Either way she could be making about $24/hr from the subsidies (6 kids). Thats almost 50k/yr, nothing to sneeze at.

    In a typical year, Parks estimates that she grosses about $45,000, but it quickly disappears on supplies and food for the program, upkeep of her house, and training courses. She’s happy just to pay her bills at the end of each month, she says.

    Okay then.

    Many women who operate home-based programs currently face a chicken-egg dilemma: To get more money, they have to demonstrate their worth; but to offer quality programs requires more money.

    This is the problem everyone has, the whole world even.

    I get the feeling that this is a mostly properly operating market, despite the state subsidies. Workers and suppliers seem to recoup costs and are paid at or above the level their talents would dictate. Consumers are able to buy the product at the prevailing prices, everyone wins. Naturally Slate thinks this means everything is messed up and we need serious reform efforts to ‘fix’ it all. You get the feeling they would want universal 0-18 education paid by taxpayers with pensions and degree requirements for all. If that ends up removing employment opportunities from low-educated or minority women, so be it… they deserve it!

    1. Semi-Spartan Dad

      I get the feeling that this is a mostly properly operating market, despite the state subsidies. Workers and suppliers seem to recoup costs and are paid at or above the level their talents would dictate. Consumers are able to buy the product at the prevailing prices, everyone wins.

      ^Yep. Since I work from home with the kids, I need to hire an all-day sitter whenever I go out of town on business while my wife’s at her job. I pay $200 per day in cash, twice the local going rate, and have my choice of reliable and great sitters.

      I could get away with less, but prefer to provide incentive for them to go above and beyond, as well as always being available when needed.

  26. Mad Scientist

    My son actually found her on a rainy night, and I said, “If she lives, keep her,” thinking this poor thing wouldn’t make the night.

    That’s pretty much how I ended up with a second cat. Wife came home with a kitten she found that could comfortably fit in one hand. I thought he was way too young to survive without his mom, so I told her to try to save the little guy. 3 years later he’s 16 lbs of FYTW.

    1. hayeksplosives

      Aww. I love fat cats.

      1. Festus

        Then you’d love mine. 27lbs of fightin’ fury. (He’s pictured in my avatar – post shave)

        1. hayeksplosives

          What a sweetie. Normal cats don’t give a fuck. Fat cats don’t give 2 sparkly fucks. They rock.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    From (far) above:

    Your great-grandfather died when you were too young to remember, but we used to sit in the deer stand together and gramps would tell me stories about what Guadalcanal was like. Gives me chills thinking about it. You know how old he was at the time? Nineteen. And now kids your age need coloring books and safe spaces and therapy dogs to cope with an election that doesn’t go your way.

    Awesome.

    1. Tulip

      Meh. Who raised these kids to think they need coloring books etc?

      1. juris imprudent

        Yep – they didn’t give themselves participation trophies.

  28. Playa Manhattan

    I just had a rear tire blowout. In the parking lot of Costco.

    Talk about convenient!

    1. Mad Scientist

      Perhaps a little too convenient.

      1. Playa Manhattan

        I thought of that. But, with a 4 hour wait, I don’t think they were trying to drum up business on this particular day.

        1. Festus

          My Dad bought Costco tires once and kept having to go back for their awesome warranty and impeccable customer service. Fuck that. I bought off-brands and they have served me well.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Although Chelsea typically bats away questions about launching a campaign, in a March interview with Variety she caveated, “If someone steps down or something changes, I’ll then ask and answer those questions at that time.” Clearly, she’s waiting for someone to step down.

    “It would need to be handed to me on a silver platter, like everything else I have ever gotten.”

    1. Mad Scientist

      “Look, I’m a Clinton. I shouldn’t have to actually work for it. Just give it to me and I might only eat one of your children.”

  30. The Late P Brooks

    I just had a rear tire blowout. In the parking lot of Costco.

    Did you run to the door in a serpentine pattern?

  31. The Late P Brooks