Good Grief. What a week this has been, from Obama’s Economic Leadership tour in states led by Republicans (as a MI Republican Representative noted earlier this week), claiming credit where it is not due (as is his longstanding MO), to Boko Haram killing thousands and burning down a town while threatening Cameroon (h/t Helenk for bringing this to our attention), to Secretary John Kerry quoting an imam who just a few years ago condemned Danish cartoonists his own self, according to PJ Media. All this while Obama is already threatening vetoes as his way of “compromising” with the new Republican-led Congress. Awesome. Just awesome.
It is time for our weekend respite from all the intense or disturbing or sad news of the week, much of it from our Administration as discussed here this week. And many in the media who continue to blindly choose ideology over reality in their rush to blame the victim when it comes to what occurred in France this past week with too many lives lost as a result of radical Islamist jihadists. (If you can stomach it, click this link from above about the media and see the number of “journalists” who refuse to hang this on those who committed the attack. It is disgusting. But it will definitely harsh your weekend respite buzz.)
Before I move on to the fun part, I do want to take a moment and remember all of those who lost their lives in Paris this past week, from those at Charlie Hebdo to the police officers gunned down, to the hostages at the Kosher grocery store. My thoughts and prayers are with them and their families as they deal with the loss of their loved one in these horrific attacks. May they find comfort and solace in their faiths, families, and friends…
Yep, it has been a difficult week, which is why I have to share this very cute video with you. A friend put this up on my Facebook page. It was cracking me up, and making me go, “Awwww!” all at the same time. I bet it will bring a smile to your faces, and hopefully a laugh, too:
Isn’t that fantastic?? So cute! I love how easy going the horses are about it all, and how CUTE the goats are. Not to mention, how clever they are for finding ways to get up on the horses. Cute!
And since many of us here enjoy cartoons, there is this good one a friend had on Facebook (from Purple Clover Media site):
Ahahahaha – c’mon, funny, right?
And while the response from the teacher is a tad hyperbolic (especially in light of what just happened in Paris), I am sure many teachers out there have felt the same way. Also from a Facebook page:
I think we all know some folks who manage to mangle the English language in a big way, and not because they aren’t native speakers…
Since many (all) of us here are animal lovers, I have to share with you some photos from the 2015 Charleston Animal Society calendar (two of our cats, Pippa and Bou, came from there). CAS is a NO-KILL shelter, just so you know. The following comes to you via HuffPo (I know, surprised me, too). You can thank me later:
Firefighters in Charleston, South Carolina, showed some skin for the 2015 Charleston Firefighter Calendar, alongside adorable animals. What’s more, the proceeds from the calendar go to Toby’s Fund at Charleston Animal Society, which treats animals who are injured, abused or abandoned.
“My team and I have worked so hard all year to ensure our 2015 calendar raises the funds needed to treat the injured, abused and abandoned animals in our community,” Caroline Eller, calendar producer, told The Huffington Post in an email. “It has been both humbling and exciting to see so many supporting this campaign across the country and the world for that matter.”
Check out some of the sizzling pictures below:
For more information visit the calendar’s website here.
You’re welcome! Like I said, it is for a very good cause!
It is also a BIG football weekend. I know I don’t have to tell you Wisconsin folks that! Should be some good contests. I am definitely rooting for the Ravens over the Patriots, for whom I do not care, and you know I gotta root for the Packers! I will have to root for the Panthers over the Seahawks, though I don’t expect them to actually BEAT the Seahawks, mind you. And, I’ll root for the Broncos since they have Peyton Manning. Sure, both teams have horses as their symbol, but while I was a DIEHARD Colts fan back in the days of Johnny Unitas, it was mighty hard to like them after they absconded in the middle of the night from Baltimore. Just saying.
Speaking of horses, what better way to sign off on this Weekend Open thread than with a photo from one of my favorite organizations, Gentle Carousel Therapy Horses:
Have a good weekend, everyone. Stay safe and warm in this wintry weather! As always, feel free to talk about whatever strikes you, whatever tunes move you, whatever cartoons you find funny, whatever you want. It’s yours now!
Rabblerouserruminations's Weblog 
January 10, 2015 at 10:28 am |
Happy Saturday Friends.
The Sun is shining, so that fools us into thinking it is warm. 😆
January 10, 2015 at 10:33 am |
I’ve been out to fill the bird and squirrel feeders. Not fooled. It’s cold. But always better when the sun is shining. At least there is no damn snow to shovel today.
January 10, 2015 at 10:44 am |
funny how different animals can get along but different people can not
January 10, 2015 at 11:42 am |
Thanks for this Helen. It is just too precious!
January 10, 2015 at 3:16 pm |
That is just awesome – love it!
January 10, 2015 at 11:09 am |
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-09/all-over-america-government-officials-are-cracking-down-preppers
wish the next president would start a corp of law students and unemployed workers to go through the government agencies dept by dept and look at all the regulations they have created and start getting rid of them
January 10, 2015 at 11:41 am |
This video made my whole day:
January 10, 2015 at 5:12 pm |
Thanks so much for this, Marge. Yes, this is a good one to hang on to, for sure!
January 10, 2015 at 2:59 pm |
Mine too Marge, Thanks. ❤
January 10, 2015 at 3:06 pm |
I need to hang onto this video and watch when I get down and begin to think that the world is filled with unfeeling and unthinking people. There are millions of people that wouldn’t miss a hundred bucks very much. Imagine if they all did something like this? For one thing those on the streets would know, as the people in the video know, that someone cares.
January 10, 2015 at 3:20 pm |
Just got back from running a bunch of errands. The fun one was seeing Jordan and the other horses. The sad one was picking up Dorothy’s cremains. 🙂 The vet’s office people were so nice, though. And there was a clay paw print of Dorothy’s in there, too. We have to bake it ourselves, but I think I am going to put a hole in it so we can use it as an ornament next year…
January 11, 2015 at 10:27 am |
{{{{{Amy}}}}} ❤
January 11, 2015 at 10:38 am |
Thanks, sweetie!
January 10, 2015 at 4:20 pm |
Here are 19 delightful animal pics with great messages which should warm everyone’s hearts even in frozen areas.
http://www.dose.com/lists/16337/19-Animal-Best-Friends-That-Will-Make-You-Believe-In-Peace?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=OMGFacts&utm_campaign=Cards#
January 10, 2015 at 5:09 pm |
Those are great, Piper! Thank you for that!
Btw, I just got an email from the Charleston Animal Society. Turns out their calendar was featured on The Today Show today! Cool!!
January 10, 2015 at 6:19 pm |
sent the link to my oldest grand daughter and asked her if she wanted to adopt some southern gentlemen. she and her friend train dogs.they have two pits and they are well trained and not vicious
January 11, 2015 at 6:01 am |
A great article by Derek Hunter IMHO. If you haven’t read about what has been going on at Brandeis University then you have one less reason to be disgusted at our institutions of “higher learning”. Where universities were once thought to be place where the young could learn HOW to think and to exchange ideas they are now just place to indoctrinate the young and punish any not walking in lockstep.
They have also become institutions devoted to anti-Semitism. They are giving this country a generation of left-wing clones. Some days I am very glad to be old and not going to be around to see all this come to fruition.
Once I wanted to live forever since there were so many new things to see and learn. Now I don’t know if I want to see and learn the future for this country. We have allowed these people to steal the future by corrupting our young. A country that does that really doesn’t deserve to continue. Or maybe I am just very depressed because I don’t feel well this morning. I do hope it’s the latter.
As If On Cue…
http://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2015/01/11/as-if-on-cue-n1941405/page/full
January 11, 2015 at 7:13 am |
Yes, it was a great article, Marge. He nails it.
And it is incredibly disturbing what is happening on our college campuses these days. This insistence on walking in lockstep while not just attacking but attempting to drive out ANYONE who thinks the least bit differently, is unbelievable. HOW did we get to this place??
I do understand your concern. I feel that way a lot, too. With the media in their pocket, inserting the ideas of OWS, the demeaning of the 1 Percenters, and so much more in both reports and tv shows, it seems an impossible task to overcome this immature level of thought and action.
BUT – as Hunter pointed out, Republicans do run the majority of states, and now both house of Congress. So people ARE seeing through this mindset. Not enough yet, but as they get more extreme with the kind of rhetoric Hunter mentioned, perhaps their desperation to control everyone’s speech will become clearer to more…
Oh, and the anti-Semitism you mentioned is something abt which I was thinking when I learned abt the level of violence against Jews in this country. That mindset of supporting the poor Palestinians who suffer so at the hands of Evil Empire Israel is entrenched now. Hell, it even made its way into the Presbyterian Church of the USA when they voted to divest from Israel – ISRAEL – putting it on the same level as Apartheid South Africa. WOW.
Thanks for the good article!
January 11, 2015 at 10:46 am |
Nothing new – just move along (snarc)
Sadly this behavior is the same as we experienced back in the 30 and 40’s with the rise of Nazism and Communism. So many people in Europe and US praise these leaders and their policies. Walter Duranty of the NYT won a Pulitzer Prize for his
stories on the Soviet Union and Stalin refusing to write about the actual conditions as in the mass starvation in the Ukraine, the bread basket of the country. Furthermore he destroyed and dismissed honest reporters like Malcolm Muggeridge for attempting to report on the horrors of communism and Stalin.
January 11, 2015 at 7:20 am |
Perhaps with people like this in Congress now, we can return to some semblance of sanity in dealing with terrorists – as in, you CANNOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS: http://www.ijreview.com/2015/01/229910-navy-seal-congressman-puts-obamas-foreign-policy-blast-risk/?utm_source
January 11, 2015 at 7:41 am |
Terrific article! Thanks for sharing.
Zinke is the type of elected official we need. No pussy-footing, PC caring nonsense. I have a feeling we will hear more from Congressman Zinke. At least I hope so. Oh my won’t the PC establishment GOP be wetting their pants each time he speaks. I expect it won’t be long before some of their ilk try to destroy him like they did with Ted Cruz.
Meanwhile the left is trying to do the same to Joni Ernst and as they’ve tried so hard to do with Nicki Haley. Can’t have a war on women if the women you are warring against, as the left are doing, are the armed and ready to fight.
January 11, 2015 at 8:30 am |
I hope he speaks out more, too, but I fear you are right abt the Establishment trying to paint him with a negative brush lest he continue to convict their LACK of action on this issue.
It is ridiculous that any one EVER bought this “War on Women” crap brought to them by REPUCLICANS. All anyone ever had to do was look at how Democrats treated Hillary (among other women before her), Palin, Haley, and now Ernst. They go after every woman who dares to stand up to them. It is truly astonishing. I am just thankful that the vast majority of South Carolinians saw through the lies, machinations, and manipulations with Haley.
They may have met their match with Ernst, though – she didn’t get a major leadership position in the military for nothing…
January 11, 2015 at 10:39 am |
He has my Seal of approval. 😀
January 11, 2015 at 7:32 am |
Michael Goodwin has a great column today I think. But there were 3 small paragraphs in the middle of it that really caught my eye. Because I felt the same way “Nikki” did. And the way Goodwin describes Obama is the same way I see him. Only I wasn’t smart enough to articulate it that well.
Here’s the paragraphs:
and the link to the column: http://nypost.com/2015/01/10/city-needs-nypd-as-a-guard-against-terror/
January 11, 2015 at 8:34 am |
Oh, that is a great Goodwin column, Marge – thank you! It is astounding that Democrats who once saw that Obama was hollow, that “there was nothing there,” all of a sudden thought there was. He has clearly demonstrated time and time again that his responses do not reflect REALITY. Jetting off to Vegas, Baby, after Benghazi is another example of that lack of gravitas, of a moral code. That is something that seems to be seriously lacking.
And, he seems to have bought all his own hype, thinking he is above the law. I sure hope this Congress will disabuse him of that “notion,” as he likes to say…
January 11, 2015 at 8:45 am |
Gutfeld nails CNN and POS Christiane Amanpour for calling terrorists activists
January 11, 2015 at 9:23 am |
I could not BELIEVE Amanpour referred to these TERRORISTS as “activists.” WTH is WRONG with her??? She knows better than that. This level of denial, of revisionism, of dissembling, of diversion, is stunning.
Good for Gutfeld for calling her out.
January 11, 2015 at 10:29 am |
History repeating itself with the deniers, appeasers and the blind.
January 11, 2015 at 10:51 am |
Sharing Thanks Marge. 🙂
January 11, 2015 at 9:51 am |
OHMYGOSH – is anyone else watching Fox and Friends? Andrea Tantaros was speaking abt her dissertation, written in French, abt the very issues we are seeing. She revealed that she was attacked in France TWICE, both by Muslim men (one from Yemen, and once by a group of men from Algeria). Holy smokes. So, this is a field of expertise for her – France specifically. WOW. Who knew?
January 11, 2015 at 9:54 am |
And to go along with what Tantaros was saying abt Sharia law in Paris: http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/01/10/france-allows-estimated-40-percent-of-muslims-to-live-in-no-go-zones-where-non-muslims-arent-allowed-171755
January 11, 2015 at 11:18 am |
Everywhere I see “Je Suis Charlie”.
Je Suis my ass! For many of those pretending they stand in solidarity with the unbelievably courageous cartoonists who gave their lives for their belief in free speech this phrase is disgusting on so many levels.
Many are the PC police who pounce every time someone says something that may be offensive to someone. Live with it you clowns. Free speech includes the right to say offensive things. Just as free speech gives others the right to voice their indignation about what someone else said. Hell, I do it all the time.
Most of what spews from politician’s mouths, ditto talking heads, offends me on some level. Does that give me the right to keep them from speaking? Are we such a nation of delicate little flowers that we cannot tolerate something that offends us?
I believe that there are many such delicate sensibilities on our campuses today. That doesn’t stop them from spewing the most vile things themselves but in academia freedom of speech means freedom to speak what they like. The rest of us needs to sit down and shut up.
The number of speakers who have been “disinvited” to speak on campuses is repulsive. The delicate darlings don’t want people who might say something they don’t like to be able to say it at all, at least not at some of our institutions of higher learning. Institutions which are no longer any such thing.
Universities were once places where our your went to learn and to learn how to think – not what to think. A healthy diversity of ideas seems as important to me as a healthy diversity of cultures and skin colors.
I don’t know where this country is going. I do know where it’s been headed for too many years. Obama and his liberal cohorts, along with a corrupt media has only hastened that direction.
Does the last election mean that people are starting to wake up? Maybe. Will the horror at what happened in Paris wake up others who have failed to see, or worse yet excused the terrorists? I don’t know.
I do know that if we don’t take our freedom of expression seriously we will lose it. And the idea of people like Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Boxer and other lefty lunatics telling us what we can say, and then it will be what we can think, scares the panties off me. And it’s way to cold in my neck of the woods to be running around without panties. An old lady could get pneumonia.
Oops, getting down off my high horse now. Had no idea when I started I was going for a ride.
January 11, 2015 at 12:16 pm |
BRAVA, Marge! That is absolutely SPOT ON. I swear, this merits its own post. I have the perfect compliment to put with it, and may just well do that tomorrow. Dang!! You ROCK!!!!
January 11, 2015 at 1:10 pm |
Thank you for the kind words. Sometimes I get so outraged that my thoughts and fingers run away with me. Surprises the hell out of me when it happens.
January 11, 2015 at 2:51 pm |
LOL – I understand that reaction, Marge! And my pleasure – it was a great comment!
January 11, 2015 at 11:24 am |
Learning a new skill – posting twitter pic asking where is Waldo Obama
January 11, 2015 at 11:26 am |
sorry about the error message
Will try this link http://weaselzippers.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/B7E7AywIgAEEAIw.jpg
January 11, 2015 at 11:27 am |
scratching head – now tweet appears.
January 11, 2015 at 12:17 pm |
Beats me too, Piper – thanks for trying, though!
January 11, 2015 at 1:11 pm |
I get the head scratching Piper. I find myself doing it all the time. Thought at first I had dandruff. But no, it’s just the Internet having its way with me.
January 11, 2015 at 3:54 pm |
http://weaselzippers.us/210652-report-holder-didnt-show-up-for-paris-rally/
holder was a no show at the rally supposed to be at a meeting. NO American representation at rally
January 11, 2015 at 5:46 pm |
You have GOT to be kidding me!! WTH was he doing there then?? I know, I know, the article says he was supposed to be at a meeting, but as it also said, WITH WHOM????
WOW. Just freakin’ WOW.
January 11, 2015 at 6:23 pm |
well the American ambassador was there
January 11, 2015 at 6:28 pm |
Uh huh. Alongside the likes of Merkel and Netanyahu. Good grief.
January 11, 2015 at 6:23 pm |
clint eastwood was right
January 11, 2015 at 6:26 pm |
Marge
I am doing the Mummer’s Strut for you.
Green Bay Packers beat Dallas Cowboys 26 to 21 to advance to NFC Championship game versus Seattle Seahawks – live broadcast
January 11, 2015 at 6:29 pm |
LOL – even though we were interviewing prospective realtors, we had the game on. We were all happy abt the Pack winning that one! Rodgers sure was favoring that calf – poor guy. But to win anyway was impressive!
Now it is time for PEYTON to get going…
January 12, 2015 at 8:27 am |
Thanks Helen, and Reverend Amy. Always good to get a win. Did it seem to you that the commentators were sort of rooting for the Cowboys or am I, once again, being too sensitive.
Many of us here in Wisconsin have felt for a long time that the national sports commentators don’t much care for our little team and our little town, i.e. Green Bay.
January 12, 2015 at 9:18 am |
Marge, these commentators have been so biased, it is aggravating as all get out. Like the Ravens vs. Pats – even in the face of Flaco having a FAR superior QB rating than Brady during the game, one of the commentators blathered on abt Brady and the Pats practically NON-STOP, even when the Ravens had the ball! Neither one commented on missed calls by the refs, or Mickey Mouse calls they made against the Ravens but not on the Pats (one of the reasons I hate all NE teams is the biased officiating that occurs there – it is astonishing). But when he (Chris) claimed that Bellichek was one of the best coaches EVER, the coach who was caught CHEATING, I was thoroughly disgusted.
All to say, I would not be one bit surprised if the commentators were biased for the Cowboys. Unfortunately, we had to have it on mute most of the game because we were interviewing realtors, so I can’t say for sure. All I CAN say is that, other than rooting for the Colts to beat the Pats, I am a Packer Backer all the way! 🙂
January 12, 2015 at 9:48 am |
Not a football fan bec. I really don’t understand or care to learn but I always root for the home team in which ever state I’m currently living in. Prefer baseball – big Tigers fan since the 60’s.
Could the bias be coming from our Republican governor who I voted for 3 times and couldn’t be ousted by big money, unions, activists from Illinois, the great unwashed camping out at the Capitol and the Milwaukee D.A.?
Happy that Aaron Rodgers could play after that deliberate stomping by Suh who should have been suspended for more than one game.
January 12, 2015 at 10:07 am |
Speaking of Aaron Rodgers, did you see this piece at BizPacReview abt the way he calls plays when he changes them at the line of scrimmage? Too funny: http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/01/11/nfls-aaron-rodgers-new-york-bozo-audible-begins-trending-instantly-who-could-that-be-171945
And Piper, I LOVE baseball – you may have picked up on that, and I can sure understand supporting the home team. I will always have a soft spot for the Tigers just because of “Magnum, P.I.” if nothing else! Ahahaha…
January 12, 2015 at 8:27 am |
An interesting piece from Scott Rasmussen that contains a lot of information that I did not know. Especially about the tax forms and the fact that a form has to be filed EVERY month. This from the very people the left continually tells us are too stupid to be able to get a picture I.D. This will not go over well. People want the maximum amount of freebies with the minimum of fuss. This isn’t even close.
Obamacare and the Irritation Factor
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/01/10/obamacare_and_the_irritation_factor_125206.html
January 12, 2015 at 9:14 am |
Oh, boy – good luck with that!
January 12, 2015 at 9:21 am |
Great piece at Legal Insurrection abt Jews in Europe: http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/01/au-revoir-les-juifs-et-la-france/
Oh, and in our paper today, there was an AP story reporting on the big march in Paris. It wasn’t until the THIRD PARAGRAPH FROM THE BOTTOM that they mentioned our Ambassador went, but no one else even though Biden and Obama’s schedules were clear yesterday.
Sacre bleu.
January 12, 2015 at 9:35 am |
I have a feeling this is gonna stick. The MSM may make all the excuses they can think up, and they will, but the fact remains that 44 leaders of the free world locked arms in solidarity and no recognizable American face was present. Even though Holder was in Paris. Too busy running his yap on the morning shows I guess.
This isn’t leading from behind – this is leading from invisibility. Or as we old school picky people say, not leading at all.
January 12, 2015 at 10:05 am |
You said it – this is not leadership on any scale. And I hope this DOES stick, though as I noted above, the AP report in our paper (a lengthy one) didn’t mention the lack of real leaders at the march until the 3rd paragraph from the bottom. Typical…
January 12, 2015 at 9:25 am |
http://www.ijreview.com/2015/01/230757-15-clever-excuses-obama-failed-stand-freedom-france-terror-attacks/
15 excuses why backtrack just could not make to Paris this weekend
January 12, 2015 at 9:38 am |
There are not enough excuses to cover his ass on this one. He could have at least ordered Holder to go. The need was for a top administration official, a recognizable face, to be present. Bibi, you know the man that some dimwit Obama aid called a coward was there? Where”s Waldo, er Obama?
January 12, 2015 at 10:08 am |
Helen, from the article you posted below,
“But as French Ambassador to the U.S. Gerard Araud noted on his personal Twitter account, Nuland marched not in Paris but at a Sunday event put on by the French Embassy in Washington. She was the highest-level U.S. official there, even though the French Embassy is just a 15-minute drive from the White House.
Neither Obama nor Biden had anything on their schedules Sunday.”
January 12, 2015 at 10:10 am |
Can you believe that? Kerry didn’t even know she was still in the USA, and as you said, just a few minutes from her home. Oh, the effort THAT must have taken. Ugh…
January 12, 2015 at 9:34 am |
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/01/12/kerry-on-quibbling-over-white-house-skipping-paris-march-i-was-first-in-the-world-to-condemn-attacks/
Kerry on quibbling over white house skipping Paris march.
the backtrack bunch is so dense they make Forrest Gump look like a Rhodes Scholar
January 12, 2015 at 10:12 am |
Poor Kerry, he had a commitment in India that he had to attend and you all know that once you make a commitment you have to KEEP it.
(head – desk)
January 12, 2015 at 10:17 am |
Sigh… Just SMH…
January 12, 2015 at 9:41 am |
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/01/holders-homily.php
holder’s homily
January 12, 2015 at 9:46 am |
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/01/are-the-saudis-muslims.php
good question
January 12, 2015 at 9:56 am |
http://weaselzippers.us/210719-report-french-president-asked-netahnyahu-not-to-attend-anti-terrorism-rally-in-paris-netanyahu-went-anyway/
this is interesting. French president did not want Netanyahu at the march.
no wonder Jews feel they should leave France.
January 12, 2015 at 10:03 am |
This really angers me. Bibi came despite Hollande request while Waldo Obama didn’t come or send any representative. The American Ambassador to France is a woman and perhaps my eyes are bad since I didn’t see her but did see (woman) Prime Ministers.
January 12, 2015 at 9:58 am |
Marge,
Should I be worried about you next week when I’m driving thru Kenosha to loiter in Northern Illinois. Internet having its way with you – missing lingerie, warming temps……….