Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Books are my comfort food!

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / Anger Bear

Anger Bear

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I am so fucking angry today at just everything. Everything going on has me just sputtering with rage.

On top of it, I have a sinus infection in my front right sinus cavity that is leaking a mixture of pus and blood and am on strong anti-biotics that will no doubt give me the shits and my teeth and eye and whole face feel like they have been punched and I just want it to be 21 January 2021 and this awful motherfucker out of the office.

Reader Interactions

130Comments

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    Repeat from previous thread, anger bear, meet sniffer bear. Anybody remember the shampoo brand Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific? That launched a hundred jokes.

  4. 4.

    Nicole

    Yeah. I will be finding this song cathartic until… well, 2021.
    Lowkey Fk 2020

    I’m sorry about your sinus infection.

    A friend of mine’s partner just found out yesterday that his Covid test was positive. He was tested on July 8. So that was super helpful. TWELVE DAYS.

  6. 6.

    Anne Laurie

    My (inadequate) solution, under such conditions, would be a cold pack (a bag of frozen veggies, at a pinch), one or another Jane Austen novel, and a lie-down with whichever pets choose to join me.

    Replace Austen with the reread-for-dependable-pleasure book of your choice, of course.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    Bummer re the sinus infection, John.  Sorry to hear that.  Hope you feel better soonest, and that the pets are extra good in the meantime.

  8. 8.

    MisterForkbeard

    Yeah. Right there with you.

    I’m just generally a mix of rage and exhaustion at this point. My phone buzzes with a notification and I can feel my blood pressure rising. I keep catching myself purposefully putting things or pushing them to the back of my mind because I can’t deal with additional stuff to do.

    Trump is at the root of most of it. Where he’s not the direct cause, he’s the indirect cause (such as COVID problems I have to deal with). I need this fucker gone and I want him prosecuted with prejudice afterwards.

  10. 10.

    Salty Sam

    Sorry to hear about the sinuses Cole.  Never much fun.  I have days when I am centered, balanced, and feel capable of taking on this custerfucked timeline.  Today ain’t one of them.

    And I know you don’t imbibe anymore, but the ad that appeared under your post (Zergnet!) informed me of “14 Wines You Should Be Drinking Right Now!”, and the two thoughts that shot through my mind were “TIMELY!”, and, “…only 14?”

  12. 12.

    Another Scott

    I sympathize. I used to have bad sinus infections at least a couple of times a year.

    Azelastin HCl nasal spray ended them for me. (It cuts the swelling in the sinuses so that they drain properly.)

    I hope you find something that works for you.

    Good luck.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  13. 13.

    Mike in Oly

    I am right there with you, but without the sinus infection. But my chronic fatigue is not helping my mood at all. And since I work for the State gov I’ve nothing but stress from furloughs and losing two people recently that we cannot replace due to hiring freeze, so we have four people trying to do the work 7 did before with less time than before. I cannot believe I have not popped a vein yet.

  14. 14.

    FelonyGovt

    Sorry about the sinus infection. Those are unspeakably awful. And I’m right there with you on the anger. I haven’t dared to check my blood pressure in months. This constant state of rage isn’t healthy for us.

  16. 16.

    cmorenc

    @John Cole:

    Trust me, getting the shits from medication is far better than getting all stopped-up from medication.  Been there, done that, with both, and with the shits you at least get temporary relief sitting on the throne.  When I had my knee replacement surgery in Jan 2016, one of the prime motivations for going cold-turkey on the opiods just on the fourth day home from the hospital was that I had been plugged up solid for a week.  The other was that Monday as the previous opioid pill I took began to wear off, I recognized the mix of nausea and craving for exactly what it was – the initial onset of addiction, and it was worth putting up with the pain to not go any further down that road.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    @trollhattan:   I think that’s a young bear.  I wonder if they can relocate him/her.  Hate when bears come to harm …  Or:  Train that bear to sniff for COVID!

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    Tom Nichols says Drumpf kept it to about a 4 to 5 on the 10-point crazy scale. But he did wish Ghislaine Maxwell all the best, so there’s that.

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Cole, look on the bright side.  They’re not asking you to wear a soul-destroying mask!

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    @Elizabelle:

    It’s Mexico and I suspect a cartel bear, so protected if you know what I mean.

    TBH I have no idea how Mexican wildlife folks handle critter management but I’ll wager it’s a lot more live-and-let-live, just don’t be stupid. than here.

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    @Anne Laurie:

    Since March 13, I have reread Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Emma, and Persuasion. I have read Pride and Prejudice too many times, so now I’m onto Daniel Deronda, inspired by Hugh Bonneville’s brilliant performance as Henleigh Grandcourt in the 2002 miniseries. Nineteenth-century England is my drug. 

  26. 26.

    geg6

    Be glad you weren’t watching President Dumpster Fire.  He was wishing Ghislaine Maxwell well.  Jesus fucking Christ.

  29. 29.

    JPL

    @geg6: Be happy.   His followers are now googling her to find out who she is.   Not all of them like pedophiles.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @zhena gogolia:

    But he did wish Ghislaine Maxwell all the best, so there’s that.

    There were good people on both sides of her child sex trafficking ring.

  32. 32.

    Nelle

    My friend and I were going over the daily news by phone this afternoon.  I’ve been mad a lot in my life – yay, anger issues.  But this was the first time I could feel my blood pressure rising, minute by minute.

    Apparently, there is a lot of buzz going on on the Naval Academy alumni network today (husband is an alumni, class of ’65).  There is a rallying around the vet who got the beat down.

    Has anyone heard the camo guys say anything?  Are they even American?

  34. 34.

    zhena gogolia

    @Nelle: Oh, yeah, I left out The Duke’s Children, which got interspersed there somewhere.

    I tried at one point to read a recent novel, but just couldn’t. It was pre-Covid, but too close for comfort.

  36. 36.

    zhena gogolia

    @zhena gogolia:

    My husband and I are watching Daniel Deronda together now because I told him how good it was (directed by Tom Hooper of The King’s Speech and Cats). He agrees that Bonneville is great, but he’s unable to see him as a spine-chilling villain. Downton has really fixed his image forever, I guess.

  37. 37.

    zhena gogolia

    Oh, Trip Gabriel says his tone was sober. I guess we can all relax — the POTUS has got this.

  40. 40.

    Roger Moore

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Trump is at the root of most of it.

    Trump isn’t the root; he’s just the most obvious symptom. He wouldn’t be doing any of his shit without the gang of enablers in the Republican Party.  They’re the ones who deserve the real blame, and the people who keep voting for them.

  43. 43.

    chopper

    i feel you cole, but not with regards to the sinuses. that’s fucking gross, that is.

  46. 46.

    R-Jud

    @Anne Laurie: I’m re-reading all of M.R. James’s ghost stories. Strong recommend.

    @Cole – I’ve turned off all my notifications except for calls, texts and WhatsApp (it’s how U.S. family and I communicate). Deleted all the SM apps except for IG, which I have to manage for work.

    That’s helped somewhat. Also I use StayFocusd on Chrome and LeechBlock on Firefox to limit all my SM time to a combined total of 45 minutes per day.

    Freedom takes care of it on iOS.

  48. 48.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Quick question, sorry if it’s stupid. Is Kanye West’s “candidacy” concerning at all?

  50. 50.

    kindness

    What is really sticking in my craw is that Republicans are OK with a dictator as long as he is their dictator.

    Fuck that party.

  55. 55.

    zhena gogolia

    @JPL:

    Amazon Prime/Britbox, I’m not sure which. It all goes via Amazon

    ETA: It seems to be included with Prime.

  56. 56.

    trollhattan

    @chopper:

    Finally carted myself to an ENT doc after months of being plugged up 24/7. He found infection WAY up in my sinuses (used some kind of goddamn fiber optic thing to look, plus a CT scan), prescribed antibiotics, decongestants and steroids and after about two weeks I felt GREAT. And not just from the steroids.

    My takeaway: infections don’t always self-resolve and are often missed by the regular docs. And you just never know where they might spread to.

    After three years of allergy shots I’m getting on top of being plugged up chronically. The struggle is real.

  57. 57.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @raven:

    Don’t know. I thought that he missed a lot of deadlines for several states to register. I’m slightly worried he could pull just enough votes for Trump to squeak through again, but I also think nobody takes him seriously

    I hate the Kardashians

  58. 58.

    CaseyL

    Honestly, stop watching the news.  I keep up pretty well getting the news secondhand (from here, twitter, various websites) and it has done wonders for keeping me from driving out to DC with plastique.

    I am so sorry about the sinus infections, My ex used to get them something awful – until he found out (after a protracted process at the local VA) they were actually migraines (!), from head injuries he sustained 20-odd years ago when he was in the Army.  Actually managed to get a partial disability benefit.

    He got the headaches more frequently than you, I think – if you do get them very often, you might want to see if they’re something else.

  64. 64.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    I am in despair that the MSM is once again saying his tone has changed. What is wrong with them? Don’t answer that.

  65. 65.

    Zinsky

    I have a feeling Trump is going to really “jump the shark” before the election – and do something outrageously egregious and offensive to 75% of Americans, like arresting James Comey or Hillary Clinton or maybe having unarmed protestors shot and his support will crater.  Because impeachment is untenable due to Mitch McConnell’s foul beating heart, Trump will get beaten so badly in the election that he slinks away in disgrace.  Just my take on how this plays out…..

    Have faith, Bros. Cole.  I think Donald Trump is headed for an ignominious ending.

  66. 66.

    chopper

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:

    “i wish her well. not many people know this, but in years past she helped hook me up with a whole bunch of hot young tail, and (someone whispers in his ear) waddya mean, “stop talking”? you stop talking! anyway, where was i? oh yeah, tail. lemme tell about this one number i met…”

  67. 67.

    A Ghost to Most

    Sorry about the infection, but while I have also  been in a permanent state of rage as well,  I choose to channel that energy into action and preparation. I don’t know how many warnings it takes to get through to most folks here, but secret police performing renditions on American streets should be sufficient.

    Slowly, then suddenly.

  70. 70.

    piratedan

    @geg6: and he called his Press Secretary a liar regarding how many times he gets tested for COVID…

    you know the one who called out the Press Corps for calling her a liar, which also turned out to be a lie…

     

    funny that

  76. 76.

    JoyceH

    I’ve spent the past week sorting through my sister’s house, determining what to keep, what to pitch and what to donate. This is what I expected to be doing in March, but… pandemic. So all through the worst of it (unless the worst is still to come), I was sheltering at home, while a house full of Jane’s stuff sat empty for one month, two months… finally five months. I talked to a realtor today, and think I can drive away from here on Friday and have everything done. I intend to hunker down at home for the rest of the year.

    So I’m feeling quite relieved, actually. But I have resolved to ration my news consumption through August – the spike in cases happening today will be followed by a spike in deaths in August – and it’s just gonna be too enraging and depressing.

    For those of you indulging in Austen, have you read my Regency Mage series? It’s kind of ‘if Jane Austen wrote Harry Potter’, and stars Mary Bennet.

  78. 78.

    opiejeanne

    @zhena gogolia: I just discovered John Scalzi’s ‘Unlocked, an oral history of Haden’s Disease”. It’s a short book with quotes from fictional doctors, researchers, etc., and a companion to his two sci-fi mysteries, “Lock In”, and “Head On”, published several years ago. I read them and thought they were interesting , and there is a very real condition similar to Haden’s Disease that has caused the nearly complete paralysis of 1% of the people who get Haden’s.

    “Unlocked” tells the story of Emergency Rooms completely overrun with patients suffering extreme flu-like symptoms, throwing up everywhere, having trouble breathing, some dying within hours of arriving. The death rate is pretty high, and a tiny percent are left completely paralyzed, having to be turned regularly,  needing a machine to breathe for them, needing to be fed through tubs and all the other horrors you can think of. It’s like being in a coma but you are awake and aware of everything and you can feel everything.

    It tells the progress of the disease, quickly becoming pandemic as several hundred specialists and researchers return home from a conference on infectious diseases, and infect some of the people they come into contact with.

    What is striking is how much his virus resembles COVID-19, but he published this in 2014 or 15.

    It’s a quietly prescient work, about how the virus is spread, public reaction (except the fictional public behaves much better than we do, partially because it’s named after the First Lady, who came down with Haden’s during her husband’s presidency.

    And even though I am enjoying the heck out of it, it calms me down, quiets the spinning of my thoughts so that I can sleep.

  81. 81.

    J R in WV

    @JoyceH:

    …have you read my Regency Mage series? It’s kind of ‘if Jane Austen wrote Harry Potter’, and stars Mary Bennet.

    I can endorse the Regency Mage series, I have all those books and enjoyed every one, even though I don’t really care for Jane Austin’s work at all.

  82. 82.

    Patricia Kayden

    Mr. Precedent, people keep asking about the Russian bounties, Portland, & your covid-19 failures. You gotta do something to distract them. Bring up Ghislane Maxwell, but whatever you do don't say you met her & don't wish her well.Got it. Got it. Met her. Wish her well. Bigly.— Steve Herzfeld ? (@american2084) July 21, 2020

  85. 85.

    Roger Moore

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I hate the Kardashians

    I don’t love them either, but they are not the villains here.  Kanye has both suffered from bipolar disorder and been a major media figure since well before he met Kim.  He could just as easily been doing this even if they had never met.  She’s apparently been trying to get him the mental health treatment he so obviously needs.

  86. 86.

    J R in WV

    John Cole;

    Sorry about your sinus infection, I don’t normally have those, but I can relate. The past couple of years I’ve had my first ear ache issues. My Doc put me on a nasal spray to open tubes and passages which seems to work well, and an oral anti-histamine, also working well.

    I went into his office last week, and was billed nearly $200 for what was effectively a refill on medication I’ve been taking for years, the meds cost under $3.00 so if you sum and divide the average isn’t terrible.

    We’ve been harvesting a lot of ticks, some right in the bed. I’ve done one cycle of antibiotics for one tick byte, mostly they die right away when doused with water and allowed to dry out. No one put me on hospital gown’s buttoned up for our revival in the Sulfur Springs

    Happy birthday. Suburu Diane

  87. 87.

    Patricia Kayden

    In all my days of living, I have NEVER seen any US President wish a sex trafficker "well"trump is unfit and most importantly UNHOLYGhislane Maxwell— ABlackWomanWhoDontGiveAF*ck (@battletested5) July 21, 2020

  88. 88.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @MisterForkbeard:  that happened too, years earlier

     

    “You have a young woman that was in his hotel room late in the evening at her own will,”

    ***

    “You have a young woman seen dancing for the beauty contest—dancing with a big smile on her face, looked happy as can be.”

    “It’s my opinion that to a large extent, Mike Tyson was railroaded in this case,” Trump also said in the package, which aired on Feb. 21, 1992.

  89. 89.

    opiejeanne

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): He’s not running, he has a new album. He never bothered to register to run and the primaries are over, aren’t they?

    Like I said, he has a new album and this was just to get attention. He has stated as recently as last week that he’s not running.

  90. 90.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @JoyceH:

    For those of you indulging in Austen, have you read my Regency Mage series? It’s kind of ‘if Jane Austen wrote Harry Potter’, and stars Mary Bennet.

    I am reading one right now! I love this series. You’ve captured the perfect tone, Austen with a twinkle and a wave of the wand.

    @Anne Laurie: Have you read The Other Bennet Sister yet? Wonderful for when you run out of Austen and JoyceH.

  91. 91.

    Formica

    @Nelle:

    Has anyone heard the camo guys say anything? Are they even American?

    My first intuition when these guys were revealed was that they are Wagner Group Russian mercenaries, paid for by Putin. I wish I knew how to meme better so I could get that idea to spread.

  92. 92.

    Patricia Kayden

    @geg6: Sicking thugs on protesters in Portland (and threatening to do the same in other cities) while praising a pedophile sounds just about right for Trump.

  93. 93.

    Elizabelle

    @Formica:   Why?  So BLM and the peaceful protesters can be discredited when it turns out to be false?

    And this helps how?

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @J R in WV:

    Happy birthday. Suburu Diane

    That’s really nice of you, but my birthday (which I am honoured to share with Omnes Omnibus) isn’t for almost another two weeks.

    Today is, however, the birthday of both Dorothy A. Winsor and Elizabelle. Hope they are both having a wonderful day!

  101. 101.

    Formica

    @Elizabelle:

    Why? So BLM and the peaceful protesters can be discredited when it turns out to be false?

    No, I’m just filled with incoherent rage and prone to thoughts of underhanded things like that these days. I could argue that it seems unlikely anyone’s mind would be changed on either side if it were true or false, but you make a good point.

    I really crossed some kind of rage event horizon recently. Storm troopers disappearing people off the street in America while the Second Amendment freedumb types cheer them on is just beyond dystopian. If they show up here in Oakland, I feel like it’s my duty to witness them instead of just sitting here typing about it, and that’s frightening.

    Happy birthday, I hope you have a good one. Mine was in April, and I was lucky to have some friends surprise me with a socially distant livestreamed party.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    Schumer: "Earlier today I said Republicans are divided. I want to amend that. Republicans are in complete disarray … Totally incompetent; totally in disarray; totally at war with one another"

    — Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) July 21, 2020

    (popcorn-eating-deer.gif)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    Elizabelle

    @Formica:   I hope they don’t come to Oakland, but agree that you should witness it if they do.  Strength in numbers and resolve.

    We are kind of transfixed right now in Richmond VA with the Confederate monuments FINALLY coming down.  Mr. Robert E Lee is the last on Monument Avenue, and he has a court date on Thursday which may not go that well for him.  Especially once the rebel yell fanboi judge recused himself because (a) he lives two blocks from Monument Avenue — which seems not to have occurred to him before and (b) a vicious editorial he wrote as a student at a private Virginia college has emerged, in which he called Democratic voters “parasites.” (This during Jimmy Carter’s push for expanded voter registration.)  Anyway, he has recused.

    Removing the monuments is symbolic, but it’s important too.

    And thank you for the birthday wishes.  Having a socially distanced but good one.

  105. 105.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Zinsky: I think Trump’s absolute floor of support is pretty much where it was for his whole administration– around the mid- to high thirties (job approval near the end of 2017). Everyone who’s still with him at that point will revise their notion of what is OK to fit any egregious thing he does. They’re the arbitrarily corruptible. Bush went lower because he didn’t tickle the nasty American id in quite the way Trump does. Those folks would think Bush was soft.

    Mid- to high thirties is probably enough for Trump to lose, given an opponent that people don’t irrationally hate. But high thirties was where Trump already was when he beat Clinton in 2016.

  106. 106.

    Bex

    @zhena gogolia:  Tudor England is my drug. Just finished the fifth in Alison Weir’s biography series of Henry VIII’s wives, the unfortunate Katheryn Howard; The Mirror and the LIght, Hilary Mantel’s final book in the Thomas Cromwell trilogy; and am starting Execution, S.J. Paris’s latest Giordano Bruno novel.

  107. 107.

    HRA

    Today is a joyous day for our 1st great granddaughter was born. I see it is also the birthdays of Elizabelle and Dorothy Winsor. A very happy birthday to the both of you.

  108. 108.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Matt McIrvin:

    high thirties waswhere Trump already was when he beat Clinton in 2016.

    True. But Clinton was pretty consistently under 50% too.

    Biden has been consistently above 50%.

  109. 109.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @HRA: Congratulations! How perfectly wonderful. I hope you get to see her soon.

  110. 110.

    Dan B

    @Nelle: There is a video of Camo guys chasing a couple medics and beating them with batons while shouting “get down” repeatedly in American english.  The medics were chased away from tending to a protestor who was curled up on the sidewalk in the fetal position.

  112. 112.

    MomSense

    I wish I could focus on reading right now, but I just  can’t. I hope I can do some knitting. Lately I’m so tired I fall asleep soon after I sit down.

  113. 113.

    Elizabelle

    @HRA:   My birthday wish is that it is safe for you to see that new baby before too long.  How exciting.  Congratulations all around.

  115. 115.

    zhena gogolia

    @Bex:

    Mantel is sitting on my shelf, but I haven’t had the heart. A little too heavy for these times!

  118. 118.

    Tim

    I don’t need a bloody ‘orrible sinus thing to feel your rage. You are not alone. Longtime lurker, new commenter.

    You are not alone.

  119. 119.

    HRA

    Thank you for the congratulations on this day of joy Comrade Colette, Elizabelle and SiubhanDuinne. I am off to teach what is right from wrong on another site to the laggards on the opposition.

  120. 120.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MomSense:

    I wish I could focus on reading right now, but I just  can’t. I hope I can do some knitting. Lately I’m so tired I fall asleep soon after I sit down.

    It really bothers me how little I read lately, like the last few years. Politics is a constant bat in my belfry, drawing me to twitter or podcasts or more MSNBC than I should (he said with Rachel Maddow on the big screen beyond the small screen). Life is stressful even aside from trump. The long days fuck up my sleep schedule so I’m tired all the time. I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks, which I can do while multi-tasking, cleaning or walking or yardwork, but it feels like cheating, and I don’t get the same calm I used to get in a good book. /sigh/

    autumn will come again….

  123. 123.

    Tim

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: sounds like me. Yrs of screen use and decaying eyesight have eaten away at my read-time. Also a 60 year old attention span…o fuck it, it’s Trump. I started dying slowly that night. I was fucking golden. And then…

  124. 124.

    dww44

    @Zinsky: Guess what! George Will agrees with you….,at least with regards  to the size of the loss. I do hope the both of you are right. We progressives are long overdue for a resounding  and lopsided victory over a GOP that needs to spend a decade or two remaking itself Into something sane and rational.

  126. 126.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Tim: eyesight has definitely been a factor– reading in bed doesn’t work for me anymore, since I need glasses, just not comfortable

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