I voted “very, very bad” but I’m having a hard time getting worked up about it. After all, we could see for ourselves. I turned off the TV when Biden shuffled/shambled out to the debate podium. I knew we were finished right there. I guess the thing I’m most annoyed with was how inept the coverup was. Did they think we were blind? Or worse, did they think we were as stupid as Trump’s dupes are?
I voted ‘not that bad’ because we KNEW and the book should’ve come out before the election along with the accompanying five part book series on trump’s cognitive decline. I’d rather have Joe’s problems (remember how great his four years were) than the horrific ones we have now.
Similar to my 8-year-old self wanting so much to believe there was a Santa Claus, when it seemed highly unlikely, I wanted so much to believe Joe Biden could handle four more years of Presidency, when it looked more doubtful with each televised appearance. I desperately wanted not to have another Trump Presidency.
good point but I don’t remember Reagan looking lost on the debate stage, did he? And George Mondale was highly unlikely to dissolve Democracy if Reagan looked bad enough to lose.
A figment of my imagination. My brain must have mushed V.P. Bush and Walter together is all I can guess. Now if I had called him Gerald it would have made more sense since Geraldine was his running mate.
I voted for it was necessary to do it, at least up until he ran for a second term, basically every presidential administration cover stuff up and medically too, look at JFK, FDR, Reagan in his last few years in office. Hell in 1944, from what I have read, no one thought FDR, would live very long into the next term and we were in a world war. This is a long way of saying that what the Biden administration did was standard operating procedure for the US, so I can’t seem to find myself worked up about it
Truth is Biden still had enough juice to do his 4 yrs, age things have their ups and downs. So at the time he said he’d run, after NOBODY stepped up or even looked viable (recall Harris could have talked him out of it if SHE saw anything that tragic) & Joe was the one who’d already beaten Trump, he seemed a good chance. The Dems weren’t sitting still simply leaving it to Joe, they were sifting through possible candidates. And none rose up. But Joe got worse after 2024 from everything we all could see. In plain sight. If indeed there was a coverup, do you really believe Joe’s team would have pushed for a debate? Remember, Trump was dodging the debate, they could easily have let it pass. I think believing everything in the Tapper book is a mistake.
Wondering if it occurred to anyone else that Skippy Skinny's owner was the asshole, for not tendon and training the poor dog better. I always tend to blame the owner for a 'bad dog', since they don't exist. Unless rabid or sumpin'.
Please re-think your certainty that owners always are to blame for bad dog behavior.
I by-the-book raised and trained a herding-breed dog from 7-week-old puppyhood. When she was five, I had a baby and also by-the-book let them get to know each other. When the baby began to crawl, the dog tried to grab him by the head as if he were a threat. A professional trainer that our vet recommended and I tried every behavior modification we could think of, but none had any effect on the dog's antagonism. After six months of working with us, the trainer admitted that he could think of nothing more to attempt. I chose to have the dog euthanized rather than risk passing her along to a family that might drop their guard.
Maybe no dog is inherently "bad," but one surely can be too irreparably antisocial to be allowed free rein in society. Was the described experience a canine case of paranoid schizophrenia? I don't know. But it was a huge relief to no longer have to guard the baby every instant from another member of our own household.
You couldn’t rehome the dog with a no-kids rider? 5 yrs with no problem and there was no option? I appreciate your attempts, but … special needs dogs can find places.
I never said there had been no previous problems; I just didn't want to drag the story on too long.
The dog had lunged at kids before. No one got hurt, and I rationalized away the few instances, but kept an extra-wary eye on how she seemed to perceive my baby, which is how I was primed to interrupt her lunge for him. I had hoped that she might bond with a child growing up inside our own family, but it was not to be. Oh, and after once witnessing what an natural predator this dog was -- the first time she spotted a groundhog in an open field, she surprised it and efficiently snapped its neck -- I feared that one moment of inattention could be too many.
Believe me, euthanasia was a very last, excruciating resort, but 35 years later, I'm still sure it was the right one. The choice remains on my conscience, but at least no worse tragedy does. I really think that dog was losing touch with reality -- she increasingly seemed to perceive threats in situations (e.g. an adult stranger looking at her) that were not dangerous. That seems beyond "special needs."
For what it's worth, when I reported the experience to the breeder from whom we'd bought the puppy (so her breeding program could benefit from feedback), SHE immediately agreed I'd done the right thing, and insisted on refunding the purchase price despite that I'd never asked. My dog's mother also had shown decreasing mental health as she aged.
Thanks for the gracious acknowledgement. Three more tidbits:
After Dog tried to bite Baby, I took a documenting photo. The sight of faint, interrupted teeth pressure marks on the skin over his skull still chills me. Wariness paid off; it was a VERY close call.
Six years after the euthanasia, we adopted a year-old collie mix. When introduced at the shelter to my then two children, that dog's body language just screamed the opposite attitude of the first dog. CollieMix promptly cast himself as the children's genial, adoring protector and playmate, gracing our home for nearly sixteen years.
Baby grew up unbitten, and last summer became a father himself to a baby now just crawling and standing. Their family dog is as patient and good-natured as the one I, and probably you, grew up with. That is such a comfort to watch!
Lovely, how great that meet up at the shelter was available and worked out so beautifully! And yes, grew up with one of the best, a Golden. Most fortunate.
My apologies for poor word choice. I should have said 'usually', after 60 years of owning, handling and training dogs. I lazily said 'or sumpin'', as opposed to 'rabid or some other kind of mental defect'.
Despite the expected piling on of Joe Biden, latest in-depth looks at the 2024 election and its demographic shifts tell me it would have been at best a toss-up even if he had dropped out in 2023. Would primaries have made a difference by turning out those at least leaning Democratic among the estimated 90M who stayed home? I think not in looking over the list of the then possibles other than Kamala Harris, which included another woman, a gay man and several others with low national profiles. Then, tellingly, there was an international anti-incumbent wave (that started back in the pandemic) and it washed over the U.S., as irrational as it was, based largely on questionable grievance. It certainly didn't help that Kamala Harris had only four months to campaign and fine-tune messaging but, my take is that it would likely have been just as close had any other Democrat been the candidate, even a male candidate.
Yes, but the issue would have been how far was far enough (and still be able to maintain critical party cohesion), and you know as well as I do that emotion generally outweighs the "facts" in an election, and especially a presidential election. Democrats started late with a woman and one of color, which sadly almost immediately moved the needle the wrong way on the emotion meter. And then, it was really a case of telling that ultimately narrow plurality more or less what it wanted to hear, not what Democrats and a good chunk of independents wanted to hear. Not sure we will ever know how many of the estimated 90M who sat out the election were reachable Democrats, independents or even disenfranchised Republicans, but there were apparently simply too many reasons (real or imagined) not to vote. And, in the end, that probably made the difference.
Wait a goddamn minute here. Stop the Steal. No inking entries from Judy Freed? Have I fallen through a cosmic portal into some terrible parallel universe?
Thanks for the kind concern, Jon! I fear that I myself have fallen into some terrible parallel universe, but I hope to resurface in the near future. Keep the faith! And congrats on your ink.
Let’s be real. We all knew Unka Joe was not on the ball. We all knew msm was lying and covering it up. The problem now is, what are the legacy media lying about today. I cringe every time I open WAPO.
I assume you understand the difference between reporting what you're told or allowed to see and covering something up? How about the demented guy squatting in the People's House being capable of governing? That work for you as another "cover up?"
Trump is crazy. Just like we all knew about Joe, we all know about Trump. Good reporters don’t just report what they’re told, they report the truth. BTW, No need to be so snarky.
You "knew" nothing. You "knew" what you were told. And what was the truth? That he was incapable of running a government or incapable of running for office again (and winning)? You ain't seen nothing in the way of snark pal. Just getting started.
Re the question about the Empress's bad deeds: I misspelled the winner of the National Spelling Bee. In a headline.
Hahaha. I forgot that. BUT disrespecting my sense of humor is worse.
But remember I disrespect it only when it is wrong, stupid, inexplicable, etc. There are times when I find you somewhat amusing.
Perhaps a new slogan for the Invite: "We are somewhat amused."
🔥🔥🔥🔥Burrrrnnn🔥🔥🔥🔥
That may be worse, but the misspelled headline is certainly funnier!
Except to the winner and his/her family
Shouldn't "intent" be used to determine if something is a bad deed or simply a mistake?
It asked for the "worst thing," not the most evil. The misspelled headline was an accident but it was definitely BAAAAAAD.
I assume, unlike your partner in rhyme, the copy desk was not attacked as irredeemably xenophobic.
I voted “very, very bad” but I’m having a hard time getting worked up about it. After all, we could see for ourselves. I turned off the TV when Biden shuffled/shambled out to the debate podium. I knew we were finished right there. I guess the thing I’m most annoyed with was how inept the coverup was. Did they think we were blind? Or worse, did they think we were as stupid as Trump’s dupes are?
I voted ‘not that bad’ because we KNEW and the book should’ve come out before the election along with the accompanying five part book series on trump’s cognitive decline. I’d rather have Joe’s problems (remember how great his four years were) than the horrific ones we have now.
Yeah. There's "forgetful and quiet" senile, and there's "raving lunatic" senile, and I strongly prefer one to the other.
Similar to my 8-year-old self wanting so much to believe there was a Santa Claus, when it seemed highly unlikely, I wanted so much to believe Joe Biden could handle four more years of Presidency, when it looked more doubtful with each televised appearance. I desperately wanted not to have another Trump Presidency.
CAPTCHA is my favorite, probably because of my experience with the damned app.
Re: Biden -- I have seen no evidence that President Biden's condition, or the cover-up, was worse than what we had in Reagan's second term.
good point but I don’t remember Reagan looking lost on the debate stage, did he? And George Mondale was highly unlikely to dissolve Democracy if Reagan looked bad enough to lose.
Who is George Mondale?
A figment of my imagination. My brain must have mushed V.P. Bush and Walter together is all I can guess. Now if I had called him Gerald it would have made more sense since Geraldine was his running mate.
And Michele U., my sympathies on Pompeo. I imagine none worse, and there have been some stinkers. Almost 30 yrs! Bless you.
I voted for it was necessary to do it, at least up until he ran for a second term, basically every presidential administration cover stuff up and medically too, look at JFK, FDR, Reagan in his last few years in office. Hell in 1944, from what I have read, no one thought FDR, would live very long into the next term and we were in a world war. This is a long way of saying that what the Biden administration did was standard operating procedure for the US, so I can’t seem to find myself worked up about it
Not only was Gore’s answer funny, it was smart and shrewd. He was one step ahead of you and set you up for -his- joke.
Not on the topic, but I hope you saw the homage to you dressed as the Costco Chicken Guy with Dave Barry on Dave’s blog
Truth is Biden still had enough juice to do his 4 yrs, age things have their ups and downs. So at the time he said he’d run, after NOBODY stepped up or even looked viable (recall Harris could have talked him out of it if SHE saw anything that tragic) & Joe was the one who’d already beaten Trump, he seemed a good chance. The Dems weren’t sitting still simply leaving it to Joe, they were sifting through possible candidates. And none rose up. But Joe got worse after 2024 from everything we all could see. In plain sight. If indeed there was a coverup, do you really believe Joe’s team would have pushed for a debate? Remember, Trump was dodging the debate, they could easily have let it pass. I think believing everything in the Tapper book is a mistake.
Wondering if it occurred to anyone else that Skippy Skinny's owner was the asshole, for not tendon and training the poor dog better. I always tend to blame the owner for a 'bad dog', since they don't exist. Unless rabid or sumpin'.
Please re-think your certainty that owners always are to blame for bad dog behavior.
I by-the-book raised and trained a herding-breed dog from 7-week-old puppyhood. When she was five, I had a baby and also by-the-book let them get to know each other. When the baby began to crawl, the dog tried to grab him by the head as if he were a threat. A professional trainer that our vet recommended and I tried every behavior modification we could think of, but none had any effect on the dog's antagonism. After six months of working with us, the trainer admitted that he could think of nothing more to attempt. I chose to have the dog euthanized rather than risk passing her along to a family that might drop their guard.
Maybe no dog is inherently "bad," but one surely can be too irreparably antisocial to be allowed free rein in society. Was the described experience a canine case of paranoid schizophrenia? I don't know. But it was a huge relief to no longer have to guard the baby every instant from another member of our own household.
You gave that dog a much better chance than Kristi Noem gave her dog.....or any humans, for that matter.
You couldn’t rehome the dog with a no-kids rider? 5 yrs with no problem and there was no option? I appreciate your attempts, but … special needs dogs can find places.
I never said there had been no previous problems; I just didn't want to drag the story on too long.
The dog had lunged at kids before. No one got hurt, and I rationalized away the few instances, but kept an extra-wary eye on how she seemed to perceive my baby, which is how I was primed to interrupt her lunge for him. I had hoped that she might bond with a child growing up inside our own family, but it was not to be. Oh, and after once witnessing what an natural predator this dog was -- the first time she spotted a groundhog in an open field, she surprised it and efficiently snapped its neck -- I feared that one moment of inattention could be too many.
Believe me, euthanasia was a very last, excruciating resort, but 35 years later, I'm still sure it was the right one. The choice remains on my conscience, but at least no worse tragedy does. I really think that dog was losing touch with reality -- she increasingly seemed to perceive threats in situations (e.g. an adult stranger looking at her) that were not dangerous. That seems beyond "special needs."
For what it's worth, when I reported the experience to the breeder from whom we'd bought the puppy (so her breeding program could benefit from feedback), SHE immediately agreed I'd done the right thing, and insisted on refunding the purchase price despite that I'd never asked. My dog's mother also had shown decreasing mental health as she aged.
Oh my, that definitely changes the picture. Thanks for sharing the rest, I very much appreciate how hard that was for you.
Thanks for the gracious acknowledgement. Three more tidbits:
After Dog tried to bite Baby, I took a documenting photo. The sight of faint, interrupted teeth pressure marks on the skin over his skull still chills me. Wariness paid off; it was a VERY close call.
Six years after the euthanasia, we adopted a year-old collie mix. When introduced at the shelter to my then two children, that dog's body language just screamed the opposite attitude of the first dog. CollieMix promptly cast himself as the children's genial, adoring protector and playmate, gracing our home for nearly sixteen years.
Baby grew up unbitten, and last summer became a father himself to a baby now just crawling and standing. Their family dog is as patient and good-natured as the one I, and probably you, grew up with. That is such a comfort to watch!
Lovely, how great that meet up at the shelter was available and worked out so beautifully! And yes, grew up with one of the best, a Golden. Most fortunate.
My apologies for poor word choice. I should have said 'usually', after 60 years of owning, handling and training dogs. I lazily said 'or sumpin'', as opposed to 'rabid or some other kind of mental defect'.
Despite the expected piling on of Joe Biden, latest in-depth looks at the 2024 election and its demographic shifts tell me it would have been at best a toss-up even if he had dropped out in 2023. Would primaries have made a difference by turning out those at least leaning Democratic among the estimated 90M who stayed home? I think not in looking over the list of the then possibles other than Kamala Harris, which included another woman, a gay man and several others with low national profiles. Then, tellingly, there was an international anti-incumbent wave (that started back in the pandemic) and it washed over the U.S., as irrational as it was, based largely on questionable grievance. It certainly didn't help that Kamala Harris had only four months to campaign and fine-tune messaging but, my take is that it would likely have been just as close had any other Democrat been the candidate, even a male candidate.
Maybe. But I wonder if someone who felt free to differentiate themselves from Joe had run...
Yes, but the issue would have been how far was far enough (and still be able to maintain critical party cohesion), and you know as well as I do that emotion generally outweighs the "facts" in an election, and especially a presidential election. Democrats started late with a woman and one of color, which sadly almost immediately moved the needle the wrong way on the emotion meter. And then, it was really a case of telling that ultimately narrow plurality more or less what it wanted to hear, not what Democrats and a good chunk of independents wanted to hear. Not sure we will ever know how many of the estimated 90M who sat out the election were reachable Democrats, independents or even disenfranchised Republicans, but there were apparently simply too many reasons (real or imagined) not to vote. And, in the end, that probably made the difference.
Wait a goddamn minute here. Stop the Steal. No inking entries from Judy Freed? Have I fallen through a cosmic portal into some terrible parallel universe?
Taylor has her Swifties; Judy has at least one devoted Freedie.
I have all her merch
Thanks for the kind concern, Jon! I fear that I myself have fallen into some terrible parallel universe, but I hope to resurface in the near future. Keep the faith! And congrats on your ink.
The Empress decides what the Empress decides. I have learned that resistance is futile.
Submitting entries written on $20 bills never helped a thing.
Would a $50 work? Asking for a friend.
I’m too cheap to have any personal knowledge on that.
Ah yes Divine Right (and um...Wrong... no doubt, according to many subjects).
I know that The Empress speaks ex cathedra on these matters. Far be it from me to challenge Her infallibility.
Great piece from Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, late of the WaPo, in The Atlantic on the rise and deflation of Elmo Muck. Posted on archive today.
http://archive.today/2025.05.21-135727/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/05/elon-musk-doge-opponents-dc/682866/
I guess the point is to not use any entries that were used before. Not just inspiration per se. Got it.
Let’s be real. We all knew Unka Joe was not on the ball. We all knew msm was lying and covering it up. The problem now is, what are the legacy media lying about today. I cringe every time I open WAPO.
I assume you understand the difference between reporting what you're told or allowed to see and covering something up? How about the demented guy squatting in the People's House being capable of governing? That work for you as another "cover up?"
Trump is crazy. Just like we all knew about Joe, we all know about Trump. Good reporters don’t just report what they’re told, they report the truth. BTW, No need to be so snarky.
You "knew" nothing. You "knew" what you were told. And what was the truth? That he was incapable of running a government or incapable of running for office again (and winning)? You ain't seen nothing in the way of snark pal. Just getting started.
I think that what we all "knew" about Joe depended heavily on what we believed about him. We see what we want to see.
Unless you interacted with him daily, or with someone who did, what you knew about his fitness came from the media. Full stop.
Can’t we all just get along?
Hell no.
Well bless your heart.
Well bless your heart.