Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

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

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

A consequence of cucumbers

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "Stories from the Road" / Saturday Night Open Thread

Saturday Night Open Thread

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Absolutely lovely day here in Tempe- just perfect weather. I love being able to walk around her back yard with no shirt on and let the air and sun hit me. And yes, she has an 8′ fence so I am not horrifying the entire neighborhood.

Now that you have that visual in your head, we’ll move on and let you savor it a bit more. Now think of the photo of me in the bandanna/fishnet stocking sleep apnea mask. Swish those thoughts around a while. Good stuff.

At any rate Joelle and I did not get the living room done, although we did go through all the drawers and gathered all important paperwork and got rid of all the old electronics attachments that were decades past usefulness. At one point we were in the kitchen and I said “I think I’m pretty much done in the kitchen.” ANd I am. I have it to the point that it is a serviceable, functioning kitchen- yoiu could basically make anything you wanted in here, AND I have it organized in a way that makes sense for Joelle’s way of thinking and categorizing information, and not only that, I have everything at hobbit height. We’re both very excited about that (and Joelle sincerely is this is not just me being a crazy person and speaking for her).

We also did a bunch of other stuff around the house, changed the sheets, Joelle did a bunch of laundry, etc., so as our reward we went to this place called the Dirty Drummer. It’s a pretty great little place.

It’s basically a dive bar/burger joint with a stage carved out, and they have live music. It feels like a rockabilly bar right out of SoCal, and the clientele play the part. The whole thing feels very Tarantinoesque, and back in the day when I was on the bottle it would have been a nice beer place before going out for the real drinking. The kind of place where they would unironically drink Schlitz and Brian Setzer would be on heavy rotation on the jukebox.

They had a band from San Diego playing, and they were fun, and I had a reuben and tator tots and the lady had some wings. It was very good, and they had an impressive flat top and a well oiled crew.

We’re home now and I am struggling to keep my eyes open.

*** Update ***

I forgot to upload the picture!

Saturday Night Open Thread 2

Reader Interactions

56Comments

  4. 4.

    Jackie

    If you’re ready to crash now, you’re gonna hate going back to eastern time zone lol! You’ll be asleep before prime time hours.

  5. 5.

    RaflW

    Not sure why I’m seeking details, but what makes for an impressive flat top?
    Size? Greasiness (or cleanliness)? The efficient dance of the crew you praised? Or just the goodness of the food that comes off of it?

    Anyway, these dispatches from the desert are a pleasure.

  8. 8.

    Scout211

    have it to the point that it is a serviceable, functioning kitchen- yoiu could basically make anything you wanted in here, AND I have it organized in a way that makes sense for Joelle’s way of thinking and categorizing information, and not only that, I have everything at hobbit height. We’re both very excited about that (and Joelle sincerely is this is not just me being a crazy person and speaking for her).

    Thank you for clarifying that. Some of the commenters here were worried that Joelle was not part of the reorganization process.  It’s very good to hear that she has been part of the process and is now happy with the results.  Teamwork makes the dream work.  😊

    Oh, and GO NINERS!!!

  10. 10.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I still think we need to hear from Joelle herself. Even then we can’t be sure it’s not some form of hostage situation. Very worrisome.

  11. 11.

    catclub

    @NotMax: Struggling to suss out what any such might be.
    .

     

    i am not. I have that drawer. pc Mice and keyboards from before USB – I think that means PS2. Telephone cords but we only have cell phones. Wall warts of a variety of sizes. spare hdmi cables.

    hard disks, both usb and older connector – hard disk to usb adapter.
    et cetera et cetera

  13. 13.

    Gemina13

    Holy shit, the Dirty Drummer is still around?? My big brother and his best friend used to hang around there in 1980, when he came out to visit my mom and I in Phoenix. He even had a T-shirt from the place.

    Next you’ll be telling me the Mason Jar has set up someplace new.

  15. 15.

    Jackie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I still think we need to hear from Joelle herself. Even then we can’t be sure it’s not some form of hostage situation.

    Or AI generated. How will we know it’s REALLY Joelle???😳

  17. 17.

    Joelle

    One of my favorite films, even to this day, is Shirley Temples the little princess.  I used to have a real Shirley Temple identity crisis.  To the point where my childhood tap dance instructor had to address me as Shirley Temple to get one iota of tap outta my patent leather shoes.  Anyhoo… coming home or waking up and finding storage in the kitchen or a pile of paper I need to go through and can do it because now it’s a priority, feels just like when the little princess woke up and found that she was wrapped in warm furs, and had hot breakfast and coal in her stove.  Sure, it takes a degree of Cole Take the Wheel mentality.  But the risk is worth the reward.

  18. 18.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Joelle: ​
      Okay, I can accept this. Cole wouldn’t come up with a Shirley Temple story on his own.

    IOW, I’m glad you are happy.

  21. 21.

    mvr

    Just glad it was a picture of the dinner place bar and not Cole in the bandana/mask and fishnets that got belatedly uploaded . . .

  22. 22.

    Jack Canuck

    So my news is that I finally got my Australian citizenship on Friday – long overdue, to be honest. I moved here in 2006 to do my PhD and never left. In the years since then I’ve acquired a wife, a son, a house, and an ongoing job teaching History and humanities (oh, and I did get the PhD), so I feel it’s pretty safe to say it’s permanent at this stage. Had a bunch of friends over yesterday for a barbecue and drinks in the lovely weather that Melbourne has put on for this weekend … and I’m unfortunately looking at the school year starting tomorrow, so this is the last day of my summer holiday. I’m resolutely ignoring the work I should be doing to get ready for the year in favour of working on some new music in my front room. Much more enjoyable, I must say, even if I pay for it later in the week.

  23. 23.

    Jackie

    @Omnes Omnibus: I can agree. Cole may know who Shirley Temple is, but no way he could detail The Little Princess.

    One of my favorite ST movies, and watched many times as a young lass.

  30. 30.

    Citizen Dave

    @Jack Canuck: Congrats!  Half of my impression of Melbourne is from watching the series Fisk (netflix).  Other half is the F1 race.  I remember watching in March 2020 the F1 official talking on the Wed or Thursday about how the race would happen.  Covid cancellations were very dynamic.

  31. 31.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @catclub: how do you tell a Silicon Valley redneck? They’re the ones with five computers on blocks on the front porch.  ETA: and I resemble this joke, as I have plenty of ancient electronics here and at my parents’ house

  39. 39.

    hitchhiker

    @Joelle:

    Hon, you and Cole are about the most wholesome goddamn thing on the internet; it’s a sort of balm to my spirit to read these posts.

    Thank you seems weird to say, but thank you.

  40. 40.

    Jackie

    @HumboldtBlue: We laugh at times and groan at times, but Carvelle speaks truth.

    A lot of BJ’rs mock him, but while some of the time I roll my eyes when he pontificates, other times I have to agree with him. This is a time to agree and give him kudos for truth.

  41. 41.

    wjca

    @HumboldtBlue: Trump stole the Ark of the Covenant. 😁We’re living in an Indiana Jones movie.

    One does wonder just which authorities have been unsuccessful in getting the artifacts back.  Because I’m not really seeing Bibi hassling his soulmate TIFG about them.  And if/since he isn’t, how high a priority does it need to be for US authorities?

  42. 42.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jackie: His “We’re Right, They’re Wrong” book was invaluable in the 90s.  “Sticking” was pretty good too.  But he is largely a person of his time.

  43. 43.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Jack Canuck:

    Congratulations! We have a good friend who lives near Melbourne who came up and stayed a week here with us so we could share our Thanksgiving with her and show her around the south Oregon /northern Cali area.

    My wife and I love to waste time watching Dash Cam Owners of Australia just to see life in the wrong lane…lol! Some of the intersections are freaking nuts, as are some of the drivers.

  46. 46.

    glc

    “My advice to you is that you never disclose that you were on this jury.”

    (Judge Lewis Kaplan to the jurors in Trump defamation trial.)

    – That’s one for the ages. Italy went through a bout of this, with the Mafia.

  47. 47.

    Pete Downunder

    @Jack Canuck: ​
      I moved to Brisbane in 2008 and became a citizen in 2014. As the Jimmy Buffet song goes “some people claim there’s a woman to blame…” In this case they’d be right – Mrs Downunder is an Aussie I met though a bizarre set of circumstances too long to detail here. Let’s just say life is chaos theory. If a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a hurricane, imagine what a plane crash in Emerald (a mining town in Queensland) could do.

  48. 48.

    Nukular Biskits

    @NotMax:

    (You lucked out, too, as it is rainy season.)

    Apparently, it did rain while I was onboard working.  Once that moved through, the sun came out.  Here at at the hotel, this afternoon was gorgeous, with the breeze.  I took a nap (still waking up at 3 a.m., dammit!) with the sliding glass door open and it was glorious.

  49. 49.

    Jackie

    @glc: The jurors from the first Carroll trial were also anonymous.

    I see a pattern emerging with any trial involving TIFG.

  50. 50.

    Chris T.

    @Pete Downunder: I like Oz-straila, but I love EnZed. Toyed with the idea of moving there several decades ago, now too old (I’d never get enough points). Instead I’m in a part of the Pacific Northwet (not a typo) now that resembles south-island NZ, right down to today’s all-day rain. I have a (partial) view of a lake with mountains behind it, like someone took the Wanaka area and miniaturized it…

  52. 52.

    satby

    @Joelle: One of my favorite films, even to this day, is Shirley Temples the little princess.*

    Mine too, and I wouldn’t mind a magician coming to help me with the same organization tasks, so I could have that same feeling. Alas, the cats are not helpful; and I just have to DIY it all.

    * I looked enough like her that my mom did my hair in the banana curls and I had the doll. But I was a klutz, so no tap lessons.

  53. 53.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Pete Downunder:

    Let’s just say life is chaos theory.

    Lord, yes!  I can rattle off multiple major life changes that only happened because of the equivalent of the butterfly flapping its wings.  I could tell some stories.

  54. 54.

    lowtechcyclist

    @sab:

    Our metropark has a recycling bin for old electronics paraphernalia.

    Our local dump and recycling facility has one of those, too.  I’ve made a number of contributions over the years.  When a computer dies, I keep the hard drive but the rest goes into the electronics recycling bin.

  55. 55.

    ```

    @Jack Canuck: I have a son studying Astrophysics over at the U of Western Australia in Perth. He’s been there about 6 months and seems to be settling in. The Missus & I wonder on occasion if he’ll go “native” and decide to stay.

    I’ve run across several people here who have sons over there, and the permanency of the stay seems to hinge upon the development of a relationship with a young woman.

    We shall see…

    Congrats on the citizenship! Best wishes for your new school year.

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