Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

đŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockin’ đŸŽ”

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Giving up is unforgivable.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

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

How stupid are these people?

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Everybody saw this coming.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Evening Open Thread: We Are Surrounded by *Very Stupid* Paranoid People

Thursday Evening Open Thread: We Are Surrounded by *Very Stupid* Paranoid People

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Maybe they’re not Republicans, but they’re certainly a gift to the modern GOP!

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128Comments

  2. 2.

    JCJ

    Maybe there will be a picture of Handsome Joe dunking on Giannis Antetokounmpo during the White House visit the Milwaukee Bucks made earlier this week.

  5. 5.

    West of the Rockies

    GOP: Gaslighting Old Party.

    There is nothing they won’t lie about. Dealing with them in good faith is a fool’s errand.

  11. 11.

    p.a.

    Well for a group of people who thought Reagan, W, Palin, and then tRump were their jeebus-endorsed god-kings/queens believing an Onion article is just BAU.

  12. 12.

    ian

    Not being able to distinguish real media/news from fake/entertainment news is the trademark of being a Republican.  This comes as no surprise.

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Well, shit. Now my other brother has tested positive for Covid, is running a high fever, aches all over his body (“my hair hurts”), and is in the hospital.

    Did I mention he’s unvaccinated? Because of course he is.

    I’m glad I don’t have any more brothers, because I’m fucking sick and tired of being worried and scared as well as incandescently furious at them for their cavalier attitude toward a deadly, (mostly) preventable disease. I’m ashamed to be in the same family with them. And I don’t want them to die.

  16. 16.

    Tony Gerace

    @Mike in NC: It’s a shame about poor Melania.  When she married that unhealthy old man, she really didn’t think that he’d live this long.  Sad!

  18. 18.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    You have my sympathy. One of the few good things about my own RWNJ brother is that, for whatever reason, he got vaccinated early—through the VA, I think

  19. 19.

    Juju

    Has anyone here ever gotten a text survey from MDC?  I’ve just gotten one and I’ve never heard of them. Are they legit or a bunch of Trump humping cranks?  The question asked if I’d vote for Joe Biden again.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    That is hilarious. I kind of feel sorry for the Onion writers. They try so hard to make unbelievable satire and yet some set of people insist on believing it.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    Good for your brother. Glad the anti-vaxxers weren’t able to get to him.

    My brother who was hospitalised today isn’t exactly a RWNJ (as the other one is); he’s just in massive denial about his health. When he was a little boy he ? believed he was Superman, invincible to everything.

    Evidently he is still of that belief at age 76.

  23. 23.

    Tony Jay

    @Rob:

    How can people be so stupid?

    “Practice. Determination. Necessity. These are the three things that make stupidity a way of life for some.

     And resentment. 

      Practice. Determination. Necessity. Resentment. These are the four things that make stupidity a way of life for some.

      And gullibility.”

    It goes on from there. Like in cooking, you can add, but you can’t take away.

  24. 24.

    eclare

    • @Steeplejack (phone):   I will be seeing my somewhat RWNJ relatives for Thanksgiving.  But number one, they don’t talk about politics, tv shows we like are a popular topic, and number two, all vaxxed.  I asked.
  25. 25.

    brendancalling

    @SiubhanDuinne: my stepbrother-in-law and his wife are evangelicals and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to get their 5-7 kids (2 or more are adopted) vaccinated against measles/mumps/etc. They are not vaccinated against Covid despite my dad and stepmom pleading with them. They are “doing their own research.”

    Every single day I wonder if I’ll receive a call that one or both parents, or the kids, are in the hospital or dead. The selfishness and arrogance is galling.

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @eclare:

    Thank you. I’m astonished that my instant reaction to the news in both cases has been blind rage at their Covidiocy. Not proud of it, and maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, but there it is.

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @eclare:

    That’s good. Things can be okay if you set the ground rules. My brother knows not to talk politics with me, although occasionally he slips up. And I am exposed to his Facebook feed, where he posts a fair amount of the usual bullshit. His latest thing is “gas prices!,” now that Biden has proved not to be a senile puppet who can’t speak in public. My brother does recognize that the bullshit has to be at least a tiny bit plausible to the audience.

  33. 33.

    eclare

    @SiubhanDuinne:   As DAW said…totally understandable.

    It’s just weird to me that a marketing campaign of “here is some free shit that takes thirty minutes and can save your life” failed to move so many.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @zhena gogolia:

    I keep picturing myself standing in the doorway of his hospital room and screaming at the top of my lungs “WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING BLUE-EYED ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” Properly masked and distanced of course. After that little fantasy there’s plenty of time to fret and worry in a more normal way.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: That’s awful news about your brother.

    Family can be exceedingly fucking complicated.  Just because you love him doesn’t mean you can’t be furious that he is being so fucking stupid.

    I’m sorry.

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @zhena gogolia:

    They haven’t said another word, but at least they’re no longer bedridden. I’ve been trying to get hold of Rick* anyhow in the last hour to let him know about Steve,** so I’ll get an update then, I hope.

    *Not Mayhew

    **Not JGC’s big floofy cat

  45. 45.

    VeniceRiley

    Planning on having TDay dinner with my new wife, just the two of us. Buying Polly’s Pies and reheat. That way, if she catches covid (despite triple vaxx) We won’t be exposing her to others. If she’s still in the clear the next week, we will be driving through plague rat west to Utah to see the vaccinated members of the family. Any sights we see on the way will be strictly outdoors.

  55. 55.

    Peale

    So looks like Governor Abbott is taking a “I know it when I see it” approach to finding all that porn in Texas schools.  Looking forward to the first school librarian having to defend him or herself against solicitation charges that carry 20 year prison sentences because some AG candidate is looking to make a name for himself.

  57. 57.

    Tony Jay

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Frustrated rage is a pretty normal reaction in the situation you’ve been unwillingly dropped in. Seeing people you care about putting themselves in real danger for ‘reasons’ hurts in all kinds of difficult ways, and good people always have that “could I have done more?” itch. Try not to beat yourself up about it.

    And that’s what wine is for.

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    @jonas: ​
    Onion/Diamond Joe Biden was absolutely my favorite running political gag–eight glorious years. Probably my favorite was Onion Joe live-Tweeting the Biden-Ryan VP debate and the last image is of Biden’s vacated lectern top with “Pantera” carved into it.

  60. 60.

    Peale

    @Baud: yeah. “with” it probably the best preposition. Better than “without”, “over”, “within”, “through”, “out of”….as far as that goes.

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’m very sorry you’re going through that.

    :-(

    Once they’re back home and recovered, maybe ask them if they’re going to continue believing the RWNJs they listen to or their own actual experiences?  That’s up to you.

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott: ​
    IDK how they measure price volatility, but it has been epic during covid. Since I keep a little book (dad taught me to and I’ve never not) of every fill I can vouch since March 2020 it has ranged from just under $2 to nearly $5/gal for California premium. I see it above $5 pretty commonly right now.

    People notice volatility, not creeping changes. Wife says, “I hope this convinces assholes to stop buying those giant pickups” and while I share the sentiment, know the price has to stay high for an extended time to impact vehicle choice. How long is always the key question.

  67. 67.

    VeniceRiley

    @raven: We need to get married first. Longer stay visa. So, she’s coming here for 3 weeks vaca. We are getting married then applying for the Married couples visa instead of a 6mo fiance visa. Had to wait for travel to open to do it this way. Cost us 1 1/2 years of life each. Damn unvaccinated aholes to hell.

  68. 68.

    frosty

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​I just nominated it for you and gave you both credit. Really, it’s pretty easy to do!
    “It’s hard when people we love act like fools.”​
    ​
    ​

  71. 71.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I admit, one thing I’ve gotten dead wrong over the last few years was whether Republicans would go through with their promise to not get vaccinated. I figured they were full of shit like all those promises to quit instead of accept vaccine mandates at work. Chickenshit, lying bravado is one of the pillars of the movement. I should have spotted that a disease is something they can switch on their ‘it won’t happen to me’ block for, so cowardice isn’t a factor.

  73. 73.

    frosty

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​At one point WG said I had more nominations than anyone because I kept doing it when someone said “That should be a rotating tag.” Well, yes, it should!​

  75. 75.

    eclare

    @Starfish:  I can’t read in VF without creating an account, but I’ve read about it in other sources.  It should make a great Dateline, I hope Keith Morrison gets the assignment.

  77. 77.

    randy khan

    The MAGA hordes will believe nearly anything.  I had to explain to one of them today that Khrushchev’s “We will bury you” statement was not followed by a paragraph about how we’d have creeping socialism because we’d start giving things to poor people and that in the end we’d be just like them.  It was fun digging up the transcript, though.

  80. 80.

    frosty

    @Another Scott: ​
     That’s a nice graph, but it doesn’t go back to ’69 when the competition from all the gas stations on the corners of the same intersection drove it down to $0.29. (oops, am I showing my age?)

    I’m not entirely sure of the CPI, but we’re at least a factor of 8+ since then, so … $2.50 current equivalent? I just paid $3.29 today. That was in Maryland, PA is higher.

  81. 81.

    frosty

    @narya: ​Perfect! You nominate it, I’ve already done one for today.

    I’m pretty sure WaterGirl would slip it in there without running it past Cole.

  82. 82.

    Starfish

    @eclare:

    The seeds of the American National Ballet had been planted a year earlier, in the summer of 2016, when Doug Benefield and Ashley Byers met at the Palm Beach home of Ben Carson, after he ended his presidential campaign. It was a coup de foudre. At 54, divorced and widowed once each, Doug was confident and charismatic, slightly grizzled but still handsome. Twenty-four-year-old Ashley was classically beautiful, with bright blue eyes, glossy brown hair, and the elegant poise of a dancer.

    On September 1—six days after they met—they exchanged “I love you”s over text. By the time Doug landed, they had decided to marry. (Doug, according to a friend, would not have sex with Ashley before the wedding night.) They told almost no one of their plans—not even Doug’s teenaged daughter. Undeterred by their 30-year age gap, and the fact that they had met just 13 days prior, they wed at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Charleston on September 6, with no guests except a witness and Doug’s friend Trip Cormeny officiating.

  84. 84.

    The Pale Scot

    So I read this in the Gaurde’s comments today

    Imagine 5000 US peacekeepers in Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal. All of them falling in love with the place and supported by the French.

    Since the English’s big problem over the centuries was that the people they sent to colonize and civilize the Irish repeatedly went native after a generation. Until they sent the Calvinists over (AKA fundies of the nuttiest type… you know..morons)

    That would a movie. Maybe Turtledove could do one of his boring alternate histories.

    Guinness, and tariff free French wine.

  86. 86.

    Jeffro

    Could we just go on the (multiple times daily) offensive like the GQP, and ignore all their crazy shit?

    I get tired of wondering what their ‘Outrage of the Day Hour’ is going to be.  Would rather push hard on our own (well-justified) outrages or even better, our actual priorities for governing and improving people’s lives.

  88. 88.

    raven

    A 5th grade neighbor girl just brought me a Happy Veterans Day and late happy birthday card she drew.  Pretty sweet!

  89. 89.

    Jeffro

    @Steeplejack (phone):My brother knows not to talk politics with me, although occasionally he slips up.

    I’m at that point with basically every RWNJ in my family, since none of them will admit they followed trumpov all the way down the rabbit hole, to the point where they’re blowing off the 1/6 insurrection.  Last straw.

    And I am exposed to his Facebook feed, where he posts a fair amount of the usual bullshit. His latest thing is “gas prices!,” now that Biden has proved not to be a senile puppet who can’t speak in public.

    My mom is hysterical about inflation and gas prices (b/c of course Fox viewers are…what else would they be?)  This from a woman who spends >$100 on groceries and drives less than 30 miles/week.

  90. 90.

    Amir Khalid

    @brendancalling:

    They are “doing their own research.”

    I can’t help but notice that all these independent researchers wind up citing the exact same set of antivax talking points. Is this an example of great minds all thinking alike?

  91. 91.

    germy

    He seems nice:

    Key witness for the Rittenhouse defense Drew Hernandez attended the Jan 6th Capitol riot.

    Shortly before Jan 6th. Drew Hernandez called for "bloodshed" and a "second civil war" at a rally with J6 organizer Ali Alexander. pic.twitter.com/Pwuk94xKzF

    — Chad Loder (they/them) (@chadloder) November 11, 2021

  93. 93.

    Peale

    @Amir Khalid: And that they’ve been researching this thing for months. Egad. We have very lenient teachers here. The term has been over since January and they are still carrying INCOMPL on half their courses.

  94. 94.

    Jeffro

    @Peale:So looks like Governor Abbott is taking a “I know it when I see it” approach to finding all that porn in Texas schools.  Looking forward to the first school librarian having to defend him or herself against solicitation charges that carry 20 year prison sentences because some AG candidate is looking to make a name for himself.

    Looking forward to the first brave school librarian who empties the shelves of everything but the 10 most anodyne primers and goes, “You tell me what’s ok to put back on the shelves, empowered RWNJ parents”.

    Literally nothing available for weeks, months, however long it takes.

    Sorry kids!  Your parents don’t really want you to read, anyway.

  96. 96.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    The Spotsylvania County School Board has directed staff to begin removing books that contain “sexually explicit” material from library shelves and report on the number of books that have been removed at a special called meeting next week.
    [snip]
    The criteria for pulling books from circulation this week is “sexually explicit,” but the board plans to refine how material is determined to be “objectionable” for a further review of library holdings.

    The board voted 6–0 to order the removal. Berkeley District representative Erin Grampp was not in attendance for the vote on that issue.

    Two board members, Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg, said they would like to see the removed books burned.

    “I think we should throw those books in a fire,” Abuismail said, and Twigg said he wants to “see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.”
    [snip]
    …Abuismail said that whatever processes are in place “haven’t worked” and demanded an immediate audit of all school division library holdings.

    He said he doesn’t like the idea of Rapp’s book being on school division library shelves for one more night and that the fact that it is in a school library means public schools “would rather have our kids reading gay pornography than about Christ.” Source

  98. 98.

    Peale

    @NotMax: yep. If these book burners find one bit of “pornography” that doesn’t involve a gay or lesbian character, I’ll eat my hat.

  99. 99.

    DFH

    Oh my dog, I saw that on the Onion when it was published. But I didn’t think it was real.

    IT’S REAL IT’S REAL IT’S REAL IT’S REAL… it’s never mind, Rosanna.

  101. 101.

    bluefoot

    The body double Joe Biden thing reminds me that I recently learned about the “Two Luke Skywalkers” theory. I had never heard of it, but apparently it’s a thing? Two Luke Skywalkers, one apparently slightly taller than the other. I did see the Muppet Show in its original run that had Mark Hamill and Luke Skywalker on…I do recall they looked different from each other……hmm…..

  102. 102.

    eclare

    @NotMax:   I can’t help but think that this will have the Streisand effect.  Banned books are catnip to teenagers.  I remember passing around Judy Blume’s Forever with dog-eared pages in middle school.

  103. 103.

    soapdish

    I would love to see Biden do a video debunking this saying, “Of course I don’t wash my Trans Am in the White House driveway.  I get these guys to do it for me.”
    *Pan to a bunch of unsmiling guys in sunglasses and earpieces washing a Trans Am*
    “They don’t call it Secret Service Detail for nothing.”
    *points to the hood”
    “You missed a spot.”

  104. 104.

    eclare

    @Starfish:  I entered my email address, and VF let me read the article.

    Wow.  Great journalism.  So many different angles, so tragic, especially to his older daughter.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @brendancalling:

    They’re not making new converts though:

    Ryan Struyk

    @ryanstruyk

    Likely never get vaccine via Monmouth polls:
    March: 24% June: 21% July: 17% Sept: 15% Now: 13%

    They’re just really loud and they demand excessive attention. The 13% seem louder than the 24% did, don’t they?

  106. 106.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Tony Jay: ​
     

    “Practice. Determination. Necessity. These are the three things that make stupidity a way of life for some.

    And resentment.

    Practice. Determination. Necessity. Resentment. These are the four things that make stupidity a way of life for some.

    And gullibility.”

    It goes on from there. Like in cooking, you can add, but you can’t take away.

    And an almost fanatical devotion to the Trump.

  107. 107.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Well, the doggie we rescued and then brought to Humane Society already got adopted :(. We had an appt to go there tomorrow.  Oh well, hopefully she went to a good family and honestly we have a weeklong vacation in December and a weekend away in January so it was gonna be kind of stressful trying to leave a new dog alone after only a month, so this probably works out better.  We’ll probably start a serious search in February :)

  108. 108.

    Dan B

    @Peale: I’m fairly certain that sexually explicit is code for LLGBT+ or rape by white men.   They’re itching to make these invisible so their closeted and male domination brethren don’t feel tempted by honesty or equitable treatment.  Catching empathy and knowledge are terminal conditions for GCP members

  110. 110.

    Dan B

    @trollhattan: The Price of Rivian stock has been wild.  The company is now worth more than Ford, who owns 12% of Rivian.  Amazon owns a 20% stake and has orders for 100,000 Rivian trucks.

  121. 121.

    scav

    I nominate every single book involving married couples be removed from circulation.  What is Christian marriage but an excuse for legitimate sex for people unable to maintain the Jebus-preferred state of virginity?  All those wedding rings, flaunting their sexual activities in public.  Dragging their children around, obvious and incontrovertible evidence of their depraved natures. Disgusting.

  125. 125.

    Jerzy Russian

    @jonas:  wasn’t there an article about Joe Biden running around the White House frantically looking for “clean piss”?  That was funny as hell.

  126. 126.

    dopey-o

    @Tony Gerace: : It’s a shame about poor Melania.  When she married that unhealthy old man, she really didn’t think that he’d live this long.  Sad!

    “If you marry for money, you’ll earn every penny.”

  128. 128.

    H-Bob

    So looks like Governor Abbott is taking a “I know it when I see it” approach to finding all that porn in Texas schools. If he were a true Xtian, he wouldn’t ever have seen anything like that !

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