Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Democrats are back in array!

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

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

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

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

It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.

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

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

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

Saturday Evening Open Thread

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We’ll call this an afternoon open thread for my timezone and a early evening open thread for you east coast rabble. Joelle and I just returned from Cat Fest, which I will discuss later in detail, but I wanted to share something with you before then. When we got into the car to drive to Mesa, I told Joelle I didn’t want to take the 202 or any of the highways, it was a nice Saturday afternoon let’s just take University Ave down to North Mesa Drive and see what’s going on and see if we spot anything interesting.

We were about halfway there, and we came across a much earlier model of me, probably a 1952 prototype:

Saturday Evening Open Thread 2

I saw him first and my thought first thought was “so I guess that’s what I look like that’s not too scary.” It was pretty funny because Joelle looked at him, then looked at me and her eyes got really wide and then she looked back at him and looked back at me and was like “How are you two places at once?” We pulled up next to him and chatted him up at the stop light, and told him about my love of overalls and pursuit of an affordable trike. He laughed and posed for us:

Saturday Evening Open Thread 3

We are legion.

Reader Interactions

88Comments

  8. 8.

    RaflW

    Two is not quite legion, but it’s a start!

    “The Low Road” by Marge Pierce
    Two people can keep each other
    sane, can give support, conviction,
    love, massage, hope, sex.
    Three people are a delegation,
    a committee, a wedge. With four
    you can play bridge and start
    an organization. With six
    you can rent a whole house,
    eat pie for dinner with no
    seconds, and hold a fund-raising party.
    A dozen make a demonstration.
    A hundred fill a hall.
    A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;
    ten thousand, power and your own paper;
    a hundred thousand, your own media;
    ten million, your own country.
    It goes on one at a time,
    it starts when you care
    to act, it starts when you do
    it again after they said no,
    it starts when you say We
    and know who you mean, and each
    day you mean one more.

  9. 9.

    delphinium

    Ha ha-that is awesome! He looks like a happy dude.

    @dnfree: True, but maybe there are more lurking in the shadows who now feel emboldened to come forward.

  16. 16.

    CCL

    On first look, I thought you’d had second thoughts about the tie dye overalls and decided to go “sedate.”

  17. 17.

    Central Planning

    @John Cole – Were I in a car and saw someone that looked like me riding a bike, I would have chatted them up too, much to the petrification (is that a word?) of my wife and/or kids that were in the car too. How is it possible they don’t know I would do that?

  18. 18.

    Joelle

    It is not often you get to see someone else’s Bizzaro World self casually pedal past their regular world self.  I thought Cole dropped acid in my latte.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    John, my nephew Shane* works in Tempe. I’ve sent him your photo in the tie-dyed overalls and told him that if he catches sight of you he must introduce himself as “Subaru Diane is my aunt” and convey my regards. Do let me know if it happens!

    *Shane’s daughter, my grand-niece, once babysat one of Suzanne’s spawn!

  25. 25.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    It looks like the town has a bearded guy wearing overalls and riding a trike after John leaves town…lol!

    @piratedan:

    Drinkin’ the squeeze for a buzz!

  33. 33.

    CaseyL

    That is hilarious.  And a little mind-bending: a glitch in the Matrix.

    Tempe is doing its best to tell John “This is your city!  And these are your people!”

    @Joelle:   If you were the one driving when John’s doppelganger happened by, you get major props for not winding up on a sidewalk.

  34. 34.

    smith

    @TBone: Love it!

    Also, the clock on the $83.3 mil from the E. Jean Carroll case is even further along. At this point it looks like he can’t even scrounge up that amount.  How on earth will he manage half a billion?

  36. 36.

    Quadrillipede

    I got the kid to do 5 minutes of tidying, I managed 10 minutes as well, plus vacuuming, plus dishwasher. Yay.

  37. 37.

    TBone

    @smith: FIRE SALE LIQUIDATION, the memes are proliferate.  He’s on MSNBC as we speak, giving a “victory speech” in SC.  I can’t wait for total denouement.  I could only stand 3 seconds of garble.  Oh, they cut away.  Good!  They are eviscerating him.  He got Melanie’s name wrong?

  38. 38.

    Jackie

    @TBone: Apparently Latitia James is trolling TIFG the past two days by posting the new balance he owes with the accrued daily interest.

  42. 42.

    Another Scott

    ICYMI, like I did.

    VOANews.com from yesterday:

    COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — A South Carolina man was found guilty Friday of killing a Black transgender woman in the nation’s first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity.

    After deliberating for roughly four hours, jurors convicted Daqua Lameek Ritter of a hate crime for the murder of Dime Doe in 2019. Ritter was also found guilty of using a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting and obstructing justice.

    A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. Ritter faces a maximum of life imprisonment without parole.

    “This case stands as a testament to our committed effort to fight violence that is targeted against those who may identify as a member of the opposite sex, for their sexual orientation or for any other protected characteristics,” Brook Andrews, an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina, told reporters after the verdict.

    While federal officials have previously prosecuted hate crimes based on gender identity, the cases never reached trial. A Mississippi man received a 49-year prison sentence in 2017 as part of a plea deal after he admitted to killing a 17-year-old transgender woman.

    […]

    (Emphasis added.) It’s good for us always to remember that there are good people serving on juries everywhere, doing the thankless job to make sure our laws are applied fairly (to the best of their ability).

    A good day for justice.

    (Many more details about the case at the link. And a reminder that repressing sexuality has many, many costs. :-(

    Peace and comfort to all who knew and loved her.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    ArchTeryx

    One thing I just finished reading that was quite fascinating to me is the entire history of the so-called “Debarkle.” It was the event in sci-fi fandom where the paleoconservatives and newly forming alt-right teamed up to game the prestigious Hugo Awards in sci-fi. They called themselves various things (The Sad Puppies for the paleos, the Rabid Puppies for the outright fascists, and the Evil League of Evil for both groups), but their goal, despite a whole lot of smoke and confusion, was to make sci-fi exclusively white, male, and Christian again.

    The Debarkle wasn’t just about the Hugos or sci-fi, though. It also encompassed Gamergate, the reactionary attack on Me Too and BLM, the rise of the “manosphere” and the incel movement, the wretched hives of scum and villainy known as 4chan/8chan, and the rise of Trump. I learned a surprising amount about how all these groups coordinated (or fought one another) to try to take control of sci-fi fandom. They were (spoilers) roundly defeated and many were driven out of mainstream sci-fi altogether, but their ultimate revenge on all of us was Trump. And that part of the story we all know too well. It only was a very small part of the Debarkle, though. It was written by an Australian, but one definitely not on the fascists’ side. Appropriately, the story both begins and ends at the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

    Know thy enemy.

    It’s a long read, but very much worth it. The PDF can be found for free here: https://camestrosfelapton.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/copy-edit-debarklevolumeall-1.pdf?force_download=true

  49. 49.

    KrackenJack

    One banana, two bananas, three bananas, four, five bananas make a bunch and so do many more. Not sure how many make a legion.

  51. 51.

    Jackie

    At least one member of the Republican National Committee is working to slow Donald Trump’s attempted takeover of the organization by pushing to keep the committee neutral until Trump is officially the presidential nominee and avoid picking up his legal bills.

    Two draft resolutions are being circulated by Henry Barbour, a national committeeman from Mississippi, for consideration at the RNC’s upcoming March meeting in Houston. Barbour said support for the resolutions among RNC members is growing but he does not yet have the needed cosponsors, and any resolutions would ultimately be nonbinding.

    https://apnews.com/article/trump-republican-national-committee-stop-legal-bills-ff51a7ae8b5d872344e64a9a18851350

    Personally, I hope he fails. I’d LOVE to see all the RNC donations go to TIFG’s attorney fees, leaving down ballot GQP candidates floundering for much needed cash.

  58. 58.

    Ohio Mom

    On the rare occasions when someone tells me they met/saw someone who looks like me, I typically answer, “I hope they are honest and law-abiding, I don’t want to get picked up by the police in a case of mistaken identity.”

    But this guy looks like a sweetie, I think Cole is safe.

  60. 60.

    Another Scott

    @JWR: Mr. “I’m your favorite president” can’t break 60% against a woman who he said is “effectively a Democrat” in a blood-red state.

    Sad.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  61. 61.

    Tony Jay

    Excited and hopeful for the first time in thirty (linear) years Alphonse Geronimo Romney-Cole III burst into his great-aunt’s suite like a dungaree-clad torpedo, dashing aside the gengineered arachimpanthers guarding its entrance and stomping rusty mud from the ornamental Mars Grass gardens outside into the vibrant cobalt and vermillion weave of rugs bought earlier that week from 12th century Samarkand. With his blue cycling helmet clutched tight enough to creak and his exposed scalp-diodes strobing like World War Neon had been declared on epileptics everywhere, he drowned out the trilling crescendo of Caffarelli’s Ombra Mai Fu with a breathless bellow.

      “Tante! You were right! I found them!”

      Twitching one finger to forestall the suite’s automatic security measures from turning her great-nephew into ambient molecules, the victor of the Battle of Bowling Green raised a platinum eyebrow. 

      “You found them?”

      Alphonse opened, closed, opened his mouth, paused for much needed thought, then continued.

      “They were where you said they’d be, Tante. I spoke to them.”

      Fragrant bubbles popped as the temporally exiled heir to the Majesty of Sol rose from her bath, lost in thought as her attendants towelled her dry. She strode abruptly forward through a synchronised flurry of dressers and primpers to halt, garbed in synthisilk ribbons, hair like a river of silver, millimetres from Alphonse’s face. 

      “Are you sure?”

      “Y… Yes,” he stuttered. 

      “How sure?”

      “He.. uh.. he liked my overalls?”

      A smile that was not a smile split the AI moulded perfection of Imperatix Hillary Stahovski Cole’s face. Alphonse paled under his grizzled beard, but when nanites failed to render him down to protein soup he remembered how to breathe. Star systems across a million timelines had burnt to bring his great-aunt here. She was not remotely the type to waste this chance to right the wrongs done to her Name and Kind. 

      “Very good, Phonzie. You’ve bought yourself another week in the revitaliser pod. Keep this up and you’ll have your babyface back in no time at all,” He sagged in relief. Over her shoulder a tele-bot beeped in anticipation of orders, “Yes, yes, summon the Arnies, all of them. Fuck discretion protocols, I want the progenitors and I want them now.”

     

    That totally may have just happened. serves you right for talking to strangers, Cole.

  62. 62.

    RaflW

    So is this S.C. result bad enough that Haley has a hard time mounting credible a 2028 run? My first thought is, I expect memories to be pretty short/bad, and then, who can even speculate about the state of the US or the Republican party in 4.5 years.

  66. 66.

    Suzanne

    The northwest corner of University and Mesa Drive has a McDonald’s on the corner of it. That was the site of my first job in 1996. The church we went to is down the street, next to the YMCA.

    I am a longtime Mesa person, and I remember Diz-Z. He used to come into the McDonald’s and hang out with us.

  67. 67.

    Geminid

    @RaflW: Personally, I think Haley will face stronger candidates than her in 2028, no matter how well she does this year. She’s not that formidible a politician in her own right and is getting most of her votes now because she’s not Trump. Pundits will give Haley tons of credit if she helps take Trump down, primary voters not so much.

  68. 68.

    Suzanne

    @CCL:

    My mother always thought Grady Gammage was FLWright’s FU to Ms. Gammage – making it as awful a building as one could possibly conceive.

     

    Grady Gammage Auditorium was not really designed for that site. It was a concept to be built in Baghdad.

    They’ve added some bathrooms and it’s much less bad now,

  71. 71.

    Jackie

    @RaflW: The gang on MSNBC seem to think the longer Haley stays in, the more it will backfire for her having any chance in ‘28. She’s being tarnished with the disloyal title. Certainly, when TIFG loses in the General Election, he and his MAGA base would go all out against her.

  73. 73.

    karen marie

    @Suzanne:  I’ve seen a lot worse.  I’ve never been inside but acoustically it sounds top shelf.

    The grand tier, supported by a 145-foot-long girder, is constructed to allow sound to completely surround the audience—an acoustic effect only previously attained in Adler and Sullivan’s Chicago Auditorium of 1889.

     

    I added a link to the Chicago auditorium because I think it’s interesting to contrast and compare on many levels.

  78. 78.

    Suzanne

    @karen marie: I’ve been to performances and lectures at Gammage dozens of times. It does sound great. The upper balcony, above the grand tier, is so high and the angle to the stage is such that the seats up there can’t all see the entire stage.

    I got to see Wilco perform there once and it felt amazingly intimate for a large theater.

  79. 79.

    Another Scott

    @Jackie: OTOH, I remember when Biden was dooomed forever because of him stealing a few good lines from a UK politician’s speech in 1987.

    It would be nice if reporters didn’t act as stenographers and attempt to be some sort of Nostradamus – maybe tell us what happened and how it fits with other things going on in the world, rather than predicting the future??

    [ sigh ]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  81. 81.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HeleninEire:

    WTF is on Donald Trumps head? Turn on MSNBC. The top looks red and the sides look black.

    Three hours and some after you posted (I was on a long phone call and not watching) and I just now saw a clip of this on MSNBC. Okay, that is by far the weirdest I’ve ever seen TFG’s hair, and he’s sported some pretty goddam weird hair in his time. Yowza.

  84. 84.

    TBone

    One of my exes met and married my doppelganger.  But she is not well liked by his family or friends.  On a trip they took together, a mutual friend of ours said “Are you TBone’s sister?” and she packed up all their shit and the lovebirds left immediately. Several mutual friends relished relaying that occurrence to me. C’est la vie 😆

  87. 87.

    sab

    @TBone: I am not a nice person and that made me laugh out loud.

    I have an ex that I don’t actually hate and I do not know or even much care if he is still alive.

    ETA I very much liked my inlaws, but not my exes inlaws. His kids were awful but I blame their mother.

    I love my current stepkids as if they were my own. And no, they were not easy adolescents. Each and all of them were a mess. But eventually they all grew up into lovely people.

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