In a speech yesterday, Hillary Clinton admitted what many have long suspected: She is an advocate of cat GIFs.
After reciting a litany of the horrible things Trump has said, she declared that his divisive rhetoric
makes you want to turn off the news. It makes you want to unplug the internet. Or just look at cat GIFs. I get it… I’ve watched a lot of cats do a lot of weird and interesting things. But we have a job to do and it’ll be good for people and for cats.
My own research has confirmed that one can indeed find many GIFs online featuring cats doing “weird and interesting things.”
Here is some of what I have discovered:
Feel free to share your own research in the comments below.
Or just us this as an OPEN THREAD to talk about whatever!
Thank you, dreemr, Myriad, numerobis, and Viscaria.
Today I’m going to break out my spinning wheel and see about making some singles.
Bacon,
feisty judgemental opinion-having wives like you are what is wrong with modern marriage.
If your husband really is spending 10 hours every day eating kittens for money, then obviously eating kittens is his job, and you are being a hypergamous b*tch for deriding his honest manly kitten-eating toil, and implying there are nobler ways for a man to support his family.
If he is actually doing the job he says he is doing, but tells you he will be working late so he can stop at a kitten tapas bar for a couple of litters with the guys before he comes home, you should be happy he gets to enjoy himself. He works hard for it.
Just don’t go thinking you can do any kitten-eating yourself. It’s not an appropriate job or hobby for a woman.
Doge rhymes with rogue. I’m very clear on this point. It’s saying “dog” the same way a dog would say “dog”, and obviously that’s with the right consonants but with the vowels a bit wrong.
@Dalillama:
Oh dear, that sounds difficult. All my hugs.
I’m really bad at non-academic conflict, so I feel for you here. I hope it goes well.
@Pie:
How could I have forgotten Bhutto? Thank you.
Should we also add Matilda of Tuscany to the list? On the one hand she was badass awesome. On the other hand medieval feudal warlords are probably not the best role models to follow.
@Diptych:
The Doge of Venice would like to discuss pronounciation with you. That’s ‘Doge’ to rhyme with ‘Rouge-y’.
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/956/190/a7a.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/17Dauun.jpg
I know there are plenty more, and Bhutto has already been added, but *ahem*:
Julia Gillard (Australia), Helen Clark, and Jenny Shipley (both New Zealand). Clark governed our wonderful Kiwi cousins for 9 years, if I recall correctly.
I’d also add the two women who were elected to lead their Nordic countries, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (President of Iceland 1980-1996, the longest serving elected female head of state in the world, to date) and Tarja Halonen (President of Finland 2000-2012).
Not sure if these have been mentioned, but:
Sirimavo Bandanaraike – Prime Minister of Ceylon/Sri Lanka, 1960-65, 70-77, 94-00
Chandrika Kumaratunga – President of Sri Lanka, 1994-2005 (daughter of Sirimavo Bandanaraike)
Park Geun-Hye – President of South Korea, 2013-
Gro Harlem Brundtland – Prime Minister of Norway, 1981-81, 86-89, 90-96
Erna Solberg – Prime Minister of Norway, 2013-
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – President of Liberia, 2006-
Sheikh Hasina – Prime Minister of Bangladesh, 1996-2001, 09-
Tarja Halonen – President of Finland, 2000-12
Anneli Jäätteenmäki – Prime Minister of Finland, 2003-2003
Mari Kiviniemi – Prime Minister of Finland, 2010-11
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir – President of Iceland, 1980-96
Agatha Barbara – President of Malta, 1982-87
Mary Robinson – President of Ireland, 1990-97
Mary McAleese – President of Ireland, 1997-2011
Helle Thorning-Schmidt – Prime Minister of Denmark, 2011-15
And many, many, many more. Not enough, of course, but there have been many.
Embarrassingly enough, we still haven’t had a woman Prime Minister in Sweden. There have been a few that came close, and it’s somewhat likely that Anna Kinberg Batra will be PM after the next election (2018). Sadly, she’s a terrible person who I will be voting against.
EDIT: Partially ninja’d by the Finnish Flash.
http://inotternews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/download.jpg
http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/_archive/TODAY/Pets/ss-091103-animal-friends/ss-140130-unlikely-friends-otter-kitten.blocks_desktop_medium.jpg
I mean, Margaret Thatcher was a godawful leader who destroyed British industry, crushed the power of the unions, started a futile war that killed thousands, paved the way for the total collapse of class mobility and welfare, and as someone who grew up in the North of England her name is basically a swearword BUT there’s no denying that it’s ridiculous that her legacy has been partially to make people in the left wary of electing female PMs (as if it was her gender that made her awful, not her misogynistic, racist, classist, anti-union, anti-social politics)(also both female PMs of the UK have been Conservative,which is… interesting). On the plus side, up here in Scotland we have First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is a female leader who is a) a force to be reckoned with in many ways and b) Definitely Not A Tory.
I’m sorry to rant it just really throws me when people name Thatcher in a positive feminist light, because a) in parts of this country she’s by far the most hated leader we’ve ever had, and not (just?) because of her gender, and b) she HATED other women. She thought men were much better than women at leadership, she pushed women out of her cabinet, and a lot of her policies attacked vulnerable women. She thought she was qualified to lead because she was the exception.
@Luxbelitx
That’s awesome that women are organizing a protest in Argentina. Awful reason (I Googled it), but hopefully something will change as a result.
I pronounce doge with something between a long o and a short o, a hard g, and a little schwa on the end. Except for when I do none of those things and instead pronounce it long o, soft g sound.
Here’s my favourite bit from that blog entry:
Yes, that’s right, it looks like everything I’ve been predicting has been wrong. Now, you may be thinking, “Scott, doesn’t that mean that you were wrong, and your system doesn’t work?” Haha, nope! I’m still a perfect genius.
@weirwood, we’re having them pick us out (hopefully).
@ The Dread Vampy. In my experience most foreigners I’ve spoken to on the subject are shocked to find Margaret Thatcher is not widely well thought of in the UK, but then they didn’t have to live governed by her iron fist.
A friendly cat calms the unease.
Dave Willis put up some bonus sketches, that together form a brief comic, in the comments section of his comic Dumbing of Age:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/antichrist1-275×300.png
http://www.dumbingofage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/antichrist2-275×300.png
http://www.dumbingofage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/antichrist3-275×300.png
It made me chuckle.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_queens_regnant
Just because they weren’t elected by the people doesn’t mean they didn’t rule.
Hello, my dear, sweet Mammothers. I need your help again. Glad to see it’s an open thread.
So…at the start of September, I told you all about confronting my husband about his abusive and controlling patterns. A month later, I told you what a great job he’s been doing of making change and sticking to it. Unfortunately, a couple of days after that he had a backslide in intimidating behaviors during a fight, which, means I’ve decided to end our marriage and leave, because I told him that would happen if he frightened me again.
However, Mr. LG has responded to this by accepting it and working all the harder at confronting his demons. He’s started his abuser program, finished reading Lundy Bancroft and then positively inhaled some bell hooks, distanced himself from the friends who aren’t supportive to me and reached out for support and accountability to the ones who get it.
He is helping me with the move-out process. Co-signed on an apartment with me yesterday. He’s eager to give equity because he recognizes that he’s been interfering with my economic independence and career confidence to the point that I can’t support myself.
A lot more honesty is possible, now that we’ve decided things are over. Part of that honesty included confronting him about his sexually abusive behaviors. That was a goddamned hard conversation for both of us, but he didn’t falter. He apologized, meaningfully, and with empathy, and Jesus Christ, how many survivors get that? It was amazing. Made me feel human again. I opened up to him about how I want to go back to school and start a career in designing art therapy tools for dealing with childhood sexual abuse. His eyes lit up and he said, “You would be so good at that!”
But this is where things started to get about twenty different shades of “Holy fuck, is my life even REAL right now?” Because the next day, his mom called to inform him that his childhood gymnastics coach is up on child sexual assault charges. It’s in the news.
As soon as I heard that, it was like…oh, my god…this explains so. Goddamn. Much. It’s not an excuse for the bad choices he’s made that hurt me, those are all his (and he knows it), but so much of the “why” behind it.
I was as careful as I could be to not push him or put any ideas into his head, but he pushed himself to try to remember if there was anything. He doesn’t remember any particular incident, but I’ve been talking to him about things like implicit memory and memory encoding during trauma, which has lead him to get in touch with things his body knows about ways that he’s afraid to be touched. They are telling. He has significant memory loss from this time in his life that he’s always been worried about, as well as a laundry list of psychological issues that are pretty standard for adult victims of child sexual assault. And he *does* remember some grooming behaviors that fit with this guy’s M.O. so…it all adds up to one of the smokiest smoking guns I’ve ever seen. He believes he was assaulted, and I absolutely think he’s right.
So now, my dear Mammothers…you’ve given me such good advice, and I want to know if you have any advice for him. One thing in particular: he’s reluctant to seek individual therapy right now because Lundy Bancroft advises that abusive men sort out their abuse patterns before seeking therapy (because abusers tend to manipulate their therapists to hurt their partners). I’m saying, fuck that, I’m guessing Mr. Bancroft would make an exception in a case like this, especially because at NO point has Mr. LG tried to turn anyone’s opinion against me. It’s just not part of his pattern.
And yeah…how can I be a friend to him with everything that’s going on in our break up? We’re still on very caring, very friendly and cooperative terms. I want to be there for him, within reason, and I’m trying to figure out what that means. Thank you so very much.
Viscaria:
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/ssb/images/c/c6/Vizzini.gif
Ah, LG, you’re on quite the roller-coaster. All the love to you – and to him – as you grapple with this.
I’m glad that you’re sticking to your guns about separating. As I was reading halfway through I was worried you were going to be asking whether you should be moving back in with him or not. You have no responsibility to fix him, and to be frank I imagine he should come to terms with his own past before he thinks about any kind of relationship. He’s been super understanding, as you say, so I think he’s on the same page.
I kind of agree with you about him seeking help. He’s sorted out his own issues enough to know that you deserve your space and your independence. I don’t think that therapy will make him want to go back on that, and it’ll otherwise help him quite a bit. I hope he can rediscover what happened to him. (I went through a similar process of rediscovering some abuse in my past some years ago, so I can empathize at least.)
As for staying friends with him, I’m not sure, really. Perhaps simply living apart will be enough separation, allowing you to go out as friends together? Perhaps that will be too much, though? I don’t know, that’s really something you’ll have to experiment with a bit, to see what works. You seem to recognize that you have to keep be responsible for yourself, not him, so I’m sure you’ll figure it out <3
That's a super emotional situation, but it sounds like it's going in the right direction. You're really tough for dealing with it so well! I hope that it all works out without any pain for either of you.
@ Pie, n all
Boudicca and Kahina (Dihya)….
They led armies and kicked ass.
Re; Scott Adams’ greasy bullsh*t…. I’m writing this on a f***ing COMPUTER to inform you that a WOMAN wrote the first computer programming… … a**hole….
Ooohhhh, shit, I didn’t adequately direct my last comment TO Scott Of Dilbertland…. I hope none of you thought that was directed to the Fellowship of Mammotheers!!!
Gif or jif? Definitely gif….but what has always bugged me, is why is it called a ‘hard’ g. The g in Georgia sounds harder/harsher than the g in guff or guy…or is it just me?
Anyway, hello all! Long time reader, and fan, of WHTM.
LG – What an awful mess. All my good thoughts to you and your soon-to-be-ex!
I agree that counseling for him immediately is a good thing; what a horrible thing to have to confront during a breakup!
Your being there for him I think will probably be to the good, but might be tricky. Perhaps you can consult with his counselor/therapist on how/whether to do this.
I hope others here will have better advice; I’m battling bad hay fever and am not very coherent becoz post nasal drip and Benadryl, unfortunately.
“…he should come to terms with his own past before he thinks about any kind of relationship. He’s been super understanding, as you say, so I think he’s on the same page.”
Yes. In fact, he broke up with his other poly partner of just a few months, telling her he felt certain he would hurt her if they continued. He’s going to be living with friends, including a couple of other childhood abuse survivors who have done therapy and know what he’s going through.
“I’m glad that you’re sticking to your guns about separating. As I was reading halfway through I was worried you were going to be asking whether you should be moving back in with him or not.”
I actually decided to move up my move-out date when this news came up. I think it will be a lot healthier to be out, working on my healing and independence, and that I’ll be able to give him more meaningful support if we’re not living together and having the conflicts and drama of me having to maintain my power in the same house.
Gifs with such fat cats make me sad 🙁