Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Everybody saw this coming.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

No one could have predicted…

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Saturday Night Open Thread

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So apparently Mike Pence has seen a sign from God or read a poll or ran out of money or some combination of all three and has decided to drop out of the race:

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who spent four years dutifully serving President Donald J. Trump but refused to carry out Mr. Trump’s demand that he block the 2020 election results, ended his presidential bid on Saturday, with a final appeal for his party to return to conservative principles and resist the “siren song of populism.”

Whatthefuckever. Later.

I mean there are so many reasons to hate that fucking guy that’s it is too hard to list, but one thing that infuriates me about him is he could just fuck off somewhere for the rest of his life carefree and in peace. I have no idea what his net worth is, but I do not as a former Vice President, he gets 240k per year for life. That’s a lot of money for Indiana. Not to mention some group of jackasses will always fly him wherever to give a speech and get paid 50k.

Do you know what I would do to have an opportunity like that? If my boss came to me and said “heya we need you to permanently fuck off out of here but we’re gonna pay you 235k a year no questions” there are like maybe a dozen people who would ever hear from me again and that number would drop to an even ten when my parents die. And they don’t even mean like that- totally out of public site. They mean they don’t want him in this one specific job. And he can’t take the fucking hint.

Until now.

And while I am bitching, you know what really pisses me off and there’s no fucking reason for it? Deli meats and cheeses being thrown in plastic reusable bags and then having them tape the price tag in such a way that you invariably rip the side of the bag trying to open it, completely destroying the idea of a resealable plastic bag. Just use put the meats and cheeses in wax paper covered by butcher paper and be done with it. Stop with the single use plastic when you aren’t even getting one single use out of it.

God damnit.

Reader Interactions

121Comments

  3. 3.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    Tomato stickers on individual tomatoes that take off skin. Also, stickers on glassware that refuse to come off.

  5. 5.

    Mathguy

    Top comment on that shithead Pence over at LGM: “Pence aborted his campaign. He should have be forced to carry it to term.”

  7. 7.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Alison Rose:

    Oh, yeah. You’re wiping and wiping, but it won’t come off.

    The thing with the glassware, though – you wind up going at it with a blade, and are STILL struggling.

  9. 9.

    Lifeinthebonusround

    I have complained to the deli at my supermarket about this very thing! And now I can’t shop there.  Deli workers apparently have thinner skin than their products. Whatever I buy at the deli goes into a purchased Ziplock bag when I get home. What a waste. Do they imagine I’ll open their stupid bag and somehow stuff more ham in before I get to the checkout???

  10. 10.

    Ken

    And while I am bitching, you know what really pisses me off and there’s no fucking reason for it?

    I see “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” has been rebooted for the 21st century.

  12. 12.

    Pink Tie

    My HEB deli, which I otherwise like, *always* puts the sticker for the prebagged slices over the resealable zipper. It makes no sense, much like Mike Pence’s presidential run.

    It’s amazing that Hang Mike Pence stayed in for as long as he did, given that he not only had no discernible constituency and no respect from anybody, but also was the object of varying degrees of scorn/virulent hatred from the base.

  13. 13.

    Ohio Mom

    Cole: “there are like maybe a dozen people who would ever hear from me again”

    You would just drop us jackals just like that?!!

    On Pence, I’d forgotten he was running. Glad I didn’t waste any time thinking about him.

  16. 16.

    SteveinPHX

    My local Fry’s used to do that. Infuriating! Then they stopped. They just slap the sticker on the side of the bag. You know how much fucking happier I was! I heard other customers complaining. Deli department responded.

  17. 17.

    RepubAnon

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:   I find dish soap (like Dawn) will eventually take adhesive residue off glassware – put  few drops of dish soap on the gunk, then spend about 5-10 minutes rubbing to take the gunk off.

    As for Pence, isn’t it interesting how so many of these folks tell us that God told them that they’d win … and then they lose?  Either God is a big practical joker, Murphy the Trickster God does a great impersonation of the Supreme Being, or the voices these folks hear in response to their prayers for guidance are just voices in their heads.  Or, they’re lying.  I’m going with lying.

  18. 18.

    lamh36

    Holy Shit.

    Mahn. I was a 90s kid in college when Friends came out. I freely admit I lived Friends and Matthew Perry’s Chandler Bing was legit my fav character. Literally still quote or say words the same way as Chandler. Mahn  this hits hard.  As somone who spoke in the language of sarcasm like Chandler Bing did, I really loved that character!

    RIP Matthew Perry!  54 is too damn young.

    https://twitter.com/THR/status/1718024595230638329

  19. 19.

    eclare

    @lamh36:

    I know.  I’m the same age as the Friends actors, and that show was on tv at the right time in my life.  Chandler Muriel Bing was a favorite.

    It was a comfort show for me.  Now it’s sad.

  21. 21.

    Suzanne

    The thing I am currently annoyed by is the amount of “bridezilla” content on my Book of Faces feed. I presume I clicked on some celebrity wedding content at one point and now I get tons of this. Just incessant shaming of women. There’s no lazy-absentee-groom-slug content. No one criticizes men for having women doing all of the planning of important family events.

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    RIP Matthew Perry!  54 is too damn young

    Also,

    Charles Richard Moll 1943-2023 Larger than life and taller too.We first worked together on Mork and Mindy and then we spent nearly a decade helping Judge Harry Stone and the Night Court world come to life.
    — John Larroquette

  26. 26.

    Mike in NC

    Pence suspending his campaign means he’ll be lambasted by Fat Bastard for obvious reasons. He or whoever writes the crap that appears on “Truth Social” (what a stupid name) will come up with some nasty childish insults by tomorrow morning. Bank on it.

  30. 30.

    Quaker in a Basement

     there are like maybe a dozen people who would ever hear from me again and that number would drop to an even ten when my parents die.

    This is my life since retirement. I am seen.

  36. 36.

    Ohio Mom

    @eclare: Peanut butter also works. Anything oily works but peanut butter works better than say, canola oil because it stays in place.

  38. 38.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @eclare: So does some stuff called Goo Gone, available at the Dollar-And-A-Quarter Tree. For that matter, for labels or stickers on glass or plastic jars. score them lightly with a fork & smear some vegetable oil over them – in a couple of hours they’ll peel right off.

  39. 39.

    eclare

    @lamh36:

    Never seen that movie, I’ll have to check it out.

    I wonder if someone has told Bruce Willis, his costar in The Whole Nine Yards, who Matthew apparently worshipped.

  40. 40.

    Chetan Murthy

    Deli meats and cheeses being thrown in plastic reusable bags and then having them tape the price tag in such a way that you invariably rip the side of the bag trying to open it, completely destroying the idea of a resealable plastic bag.

    You’re so right about this.  I routinely ask the WF slice meat person to wrap in paper, b/c FFS I have enough plastic bags at home already!

  42. 42.

    SpaceUnit

    I am having a sad.  We’re having our first snow of the season here in the Denver area which means that autumn is effectively over, aesthetically speaking.

    I love Colorado but the seasons (or often the lack thereof) make me stabby.

     

    ETA:  I assumed this was a thread in which we bitch about random things that bug us.

  43. 43.

    Feathers

    @Uncle Cosmo: If you are using GooGone or something like it, be very careful. It’s nasty, nasty stuff to breathe in. Probably best to use outdoors. Does work, though.

  50. 50.

    mrmoshpotato

    So apparently Mike Pence has seen a sign from God or read a poll or ran out of money or some combination of all three and has decided to drop out of the race:

    Or wants to spend more time with his wife, “Mother.”

  52. 52.

    SpaceUnit

    @Ohio Mom:

    My vision of heaven is mid October, sixty degrees, sunny skies and magnificent fall colors.

    Ideally there will be snow in the mountains and ski resorts while it’s still autumn here along the front range.  We can have two separate climates.

  54. 54.

    mrmoshpotato

    Deli meats and cheeses being thrown in plastic reusable bags and then having them tape the price tag in such a way that you invariably rip the side of the bag trying to open it, completely destroying the idea of a resealable plastic bag.

    Tell me about it!  I hate when they put the price tag across zipper.

  56. 56.

    Nukular Biskits

    One of the things that really pisses me off is the resealable packets of cheese.

    There’s a tear-away piece of plastic at the top but, after you remove that, it’s often next to impossible to separate the two sides so you can move the slider to open the package.

  57. 57.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: I recently wanted to remove some such labels from small glass jars: so I could reuse them as spice jars.  I read that you can stick them in boiling water with dish soap added and let them boil for a while and that will remove the labels.  But and here’s the important part then I read that you can use isopropyl alcohol to remove the glue!

    It worked a treat!

  58. 58.

    JoyceH

    Oh, we’re airing grievances? Here’s mine. It’s most noticeable these days, what with Medicare open season, but the depiction of seniors in TV ads. There’s one I keep seeing where the narrator says, “Martha is 75 and on Medicare” – and there’s Martha in one of those frumpy front-button house dresses like my grandmother wore in 1970. Do ad guys ever go outside and look at other people? Because if they did, they’d notice that 21st century seniors wear jeans and tee shirts.

  60. 60.

    wjca

    @Suzanne:  No one criticizes men for having women doing all of the planning of important family events.

    Why criticize us for knowing our place and getting out of the way?  Think of the time savings from not having to repeatedly tell us to go away.  Not to mention not having to redo everything.

  61. 61.

    Citizen Dave

    Another sticker removal method (cds, used records and books) is simply heat from a space heater or hair dryer.

  67. 67.

    Hoppie

    @SpaceUnit: I am so happy to no longer deal with the ice storms, floods, tornados, and multi-foot snowfalls of the Midwest.  San Diego is expensive but SO worth it.  We just worry about earthquakes, wildfires, and tidal waves (only the first one in Hillcrest).  Others’ mileage may vary.

  68. 68.

    eclare

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Yes, it’s very sad.  Drowned in a hot tub.  I wonder if he had a heart attack and fell unconscious.

    I love Friends, and Chandler Bing is a big part of that.

  74. 74.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I think John Laroquette is the only one left from the main Night Court actors. Harry Anderson, Markie Post and Frank Robinson are all gone.

    .

  78. 78.

    Geoduck

    @Brachiator: I’ve read that Moll and Larroquette didn’t actually get along very well working on Night Court. Hopefully they did better in later years.

    Warfield cameoed in the last episode of the season of the Night Court revival, which Larroquette is a regular.

  82. 82.

    NutmegAgain

    @schrodingers_cat: Special leaves, used to wrap cigars. Those barns were part of the landscape of my childhood, all down the CT river valley to some of the shore towns (condo canyons now). And unfortunately, in previous eras children were the favored labor force in those fields. There are many photos at Library of Congress. After the kid labor was outlawed, of course it was migrant labor.

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    @JoyceH:

    Do ad guys ever go outside and look at other people? Because if they did, they’d notice that 21st century seniors wear jeans and tee shirts.

    There is a commercial for some service aimed at seniors that pointedly derides ads that stereotype or misjudge seniors, their lifestyles and interests.

  88. 88.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @eclare: they’ve been doing that with any celebrity who’s died in the past couple of years. Hank Aaron died in his 80s a few months after getting the vaccine and I saw people on Twitter blaming it on the vaccine.

  89. 89.

    am

    Deli meats and cheeses being thrown in plastic reusable bags and then having them tape the price tag in such a way that you invariably rip the side of the bag trying to open it, completely destroying the idea of a resealable plastic bag

    Thank you! God damn it!

  90. 90.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @mrmoshpotato: i don’t like horror, even fake campy horror movies. The last horror movie I watched was ‘The Thing’ which I found scary. Colbert had John Carpenter on the other night. I can’t believe he’s still around. He’s got to be pretty old.

  92. 92.

    Mike in NC

    @Mai Naem mobile: Carpenter’s version of “The Thing” was pretty gross. I liked the original B&W movie better. The monster in that was played by James Arness, the actor later famous for ‘Gunsmoke’.

  97. 97.

    karen marie

    John Cole sounds as cheerful as I feel.  If I had the option, I’d rip the head off the next person I see.  And I don’t mean that figuratively.

  98. 98.

    karen marie

    @Nukular Biskits: Have you met a resealable 5-pound bag of rice?

    The ziplock is almost an inch below the top of the bag so, if you go that route, the first time you open the ziplock half the rice spills onto the floor.

  99. 99.

    Redshift

    @Suzanne: My annoyance with the Book of Faces lately is how most of my feed is just stuff FB wants me to see. Like I get one or two posts from people I follow, and then it’s “reels” and “here’s a group we think you’d like” and three or four other things (not counting ads) before the next single post.

  103. 103.

    prostratedragon

    @am:  Yes!! I was hollering about this very thing just this week. Greatly shortens the life of cheddar cheese.

    And what’s with these packages that require small explosives to open? You could damage the stuff trying to get at it.

  104. 104.

    TeezySkeezy

    @SpaceUnit: After this f-ing summer and all the fires that have been and will be, I wouldn’t complain about a single drop of moisture west of KC.

  107. 107.

    BethanyAnne

    My main memory of Matthew Perry is bringing the villain of Fallout: New Vegas to life. He was a stellar Benny. “Thing is, the game was rigged from the start.”

    I’ve never watched too much TV, but I did catch some Night Court. I loved the character Brent Spiner played, Bob Wheeler.

  108. 108.

    Ruckus

    @JoyceH:

    I wear short and T shirts…… But I live in SoCal so most of the year the weather is fine for shorts. When I lived for 11 yrs back east, no shorts in winter.

  109. 109.

    SixStringFanatic

    @Redshift: I have just recently found the solution to this problem, at least on mobile (I don’t remember how things are arranged on the desktop version).

    Click the “Menu” icon on the bottom row.  That will take you to a page of “shortcuts”, one of which is labeled “Feeds”. Click on THAT and you’ll find a page that contains a row of choices at the top: “All”, “Favorites”, “Friends”, “Groups”, “Pages”.  If you click the “Friends” link, it will show you all the posts that your friends have made, in  reverse chronological order, with some advertisement intrusions (they ain’t letting you completely avoid what makes them money) but no Reels or weird-ass posts from groups you’ve never heard of.

  110. 110.

    Tehanu

    @Redshift: ​
      Oh god yes. I keep trying to delete those posts and the thing says “we won’t show you any more of these” and then the next time, there they are again. I’m past annoyed and almost to disgusted.

  112. 112.

    satby

    All those suggestions for sticker removals and no one thought of acetone (nail polish remover)? Can even be used on book covers and skin after bandaids, but not fruit or veggies. I always keep a cheap bottle on hand. Way less messy than most of the other suggestions.  And I have the kitchen Goo Gone, but never use it for stickers.

    And for the deli bags, you can always just cut the paper label along the line of the seal, most times. I have kitchen shears I use, not a knife, so I don’t accidentally slit the bag.

  113. 113.

    sab

    @JoyceH:  My senior spouse was just bitching about that ad. He hated it ( I do too, but I don’t watch much tv.) Before it reappeared. Thanks guy for invoking her name. So now she is back. And her glasses! What is with those frames?!

    ETA If she is for medicare advantage then I am against it.

  114. 114.

    sab

    @satby: Back summer before last when my husband almost died of a post op infection we had a visiting nurse training me on his drip antibiotic. Aside from her training, one of the miracles she passed on to me was a pack of antiadhesives that all nurses use.

    It removed all the stickem from the monitors stuck on in my husband from his hospital stay. Also, later, removed years old store stickers that had resisted every other removal attempt, including nail polish remover.

    I will be very sad when our box of these runs out.

  116. 116.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ruckus: ​
     

    I wear short and T shirts…… But I live in SoCal so most of the year the weather is fine for shorts. When I lived for 11 yrs back east, no shorts in winter.

    As someone who lives back east, my personal definition of ‘summer’ is the part of the year when I can pull on cutoffs and a t-shirt in the morning without even thinking about it, and the weather will be fine for that.

  119. 119.

    Mo MacArbie

    As to the deli bags, the store near us covers the zipper with the price tag for all of the pre-cut packs but just puts the sticker on the side when cut to order. From this, I ass-u-me that there is some health regulation that states that any pre-cut packs set out where the customers can access them must have something constituting a tamper-evident seal so you can tell when Random McPsycho has dosed the cheese with fentanyl, or some shit.

  120. 120.

    dexwood

    @satby: You should never use acetone on bare skin. My wife learned to restore pottery through a National Science Foundation grant. She had to use it to remove adhesives from badly restored Native American pots. It was drilled into her head to always wear a mask and gloves while using acetone.

    “Skin contact with acetone can cause your skin to become dry, irritated, and cracked. The effects of long-term acetone exposure have been mostly studied in animals, and include kidney, liver, and nerve damage; birth defects; and male infertilty.”

    Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. atsdr.cdc.gov

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     


  121. 121.

    bluefoot

    I know this is a dead thread, but man, I hear you on the “reusable” plastic bags you get at the deli counter. There used to be a wholesale produce/food place near here that used wax paper and butcher paper. I miss it.
    I miss a LOT of things about the place: produce that wasn’t pre-bagged/packaged. An amazing variety of produce – you could pick from five different types of eggplant, for instance. Lots of Asian veggies. My favorite balsamic vinegar. Their fresh baked bread. I could go on….and now I am both sad and hungry.

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