Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

“woke” is the new caravan.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Bark louder, little dog.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

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

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

Friday Night Open Thread

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Fanni Davis did nothing fucking wrong. Her “crime” is being a black woman with a sex life. That’s it. I’ve had people say bullshit like “she should have known” and that’s just nonsense on stilts. There is no conflict of interest. And this never would have happened to a white man. Ever. And definitely not a Republican. Jesus christ if it were a Republican the most shocking thing about it would be if it were consensual.

And it should have never been an issue, but our system is so fucked up because it was designed to operate in a world where people acted in good faith. But Trump and the Republicans don’t do that, so much like every other institution this nation relies on, Republicans have corrupted it an co-opted it. Fucking hell, some bullshit organization is giving the Ruth Bader Ginsburg award to Elon fucking Musk and Rupert Murdoch whose name I can’t even remember. The nation is broken and there are no guard rails. And it wasn’t by accident, it was intentional and by design by people like newly minted Ruth Bader Ginsburg award winners Mush and Murdoch and all their billionaire friends.

***

Joelle safely made it to Minnesota for the funeral, so it’s just me and three dogs and two cats at Camp Cole. Spent the day doing laundry so I could pack all my stuff I am taking with me and so Joelle would not come home on Sunday to a bunch of dirty laundry. I tell you what, folding someone else’s laundry is amusing. All her clothes look like little kids clothing. It’s so small I can’t even fold half of it very well.

And before 100 of you ask, yes, I know how to do laundry and separate colors and fabrics and use the right settings on the washing machine. I was a lifelong bachelor, not a moron. Actually, I’m a moron, but I do know how to do laundry correctly.

It rained all day and was unseasonably cold, so that kinda killed my plans to do stuff outside and to work on the car. Can’t really go to the car wash and clean the car in a downpour, can you. I mean you can, but I didn’t.

I really don’t have anything else. House does feel empty, though.

Reader Interactions

55Comments

  2. 2.

    Roberto el oso

    Agree 100%. There’s a lot of pressure, including from Dems themselves sometimes, for our candidates and our elected officials to be as close to perfect as is humanly possible. But no where is this pressure greater than when directed at women of color.

  5. 5.

    Quaker in a Basement

    Her “crime” is being a black woman with a sex life.

    Yeah. Well, if that doesn’t nullify an attempt to coerce state officials to cheat in a national election, then what does?

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I think one of the things I hate worst about this timeline is the blatant way the right just co-opt patriotic symbols and progressive icons. They have basically laid full and exclusive claim to the flag for years now. They have an anti-abortion group named after one of the most seminal figures in feminist history, Susan B. Anthony, “the mother of us all.”  Now they are using Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s name and legacy to honour the Musks and Murdochs of this world. It’s disgusting.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    Mustered enough energy to tackle the overdue lawn mowing and … it’s raining. Lightly but steady enough to make the ground too mushy.

    Looking forward come din-din time to the lima bean and barley soup cranked out yesterday.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    O/T, I know this isn’t his usual time, but I don’t recall seeing Raven around here recently. Has he posted and I’ve just missed it?

  19. 19.

    different-church-lady

    Actually, I’m a moron, but I do know how to do laundry correctly.

    Nominated!

  20. 20.

    Gvg

    Spent the day helping my dad repair my car. Estimates for a mechanic were around 800 up to 1100. This would also have involved waiting for an appointment to see a reputable mechanic. We spent just over 100 and it’s taking a whole day with lots of breaks. Mom had company come so that stopped us for several hours.

    The repair involve disconnecting and moving a lot of other parts to get to the part….and terror that we would drop a screw or bolt into the tangled pipes and wires where we wouldn’t even be able to find it. I invested in an extendable mirror and telescoping magnet. Had to use it almost right away.

    Never learned to like car repairs and prefer to take it in, but this time the bill seemed too high. I discovered there are magnetic sockets, rather high priced, and will now start looking for sales. Not too hard because I don’t do this sort of thing often, but I just can see the utility.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @eclare: Glad it’s not just me.

    @Jay: Good, thanks.

    @SpaceUnit: Oh, is that happening already? For some reason, I thought that wasn’t until next month.

    But then I lose track of my own calendar, I don’t know why I seem to think I should be on top of Raven’s!

  22. 22.

    Roberto el oso

    @SiubhanDuinne: Agree, and it’s been that way almost my entire life. MLK jr is another one whose invocation by conservatives is vomit-inducing. Similar to Fredrick Douglass, although I don’t remember the details of that one as it was washed away in the hilarity of realizing that Trump not only had no idea who Douglass was but was under the impression he was still alive.

  23. 23.

    BlueGuitarist

    Just saw that “Judge Scott McAfee had written his order on Willis and Wade early last week, according to NBC News, but because he had been receiving threats, he waited until today to make it public in order to allow for proper security to be in place for him and his family.”

    oof.

    Seems already forgotten that before Willis offered the job to Wade, former GA Governor Roy Barnes declined the job saying he didn’t want to have bodyguards the rest of his life.

    good to see that worker power thermometer going up, cause we have to stop the fascists and their thugs and enablers.

  31. 31.

    Jackie

    @BlueGuitarist:

    Just saw that “Judge Scott McAfee had written his order on Willis and Wade early last week, according to NBC News, but because he had been receiving threats, he waited until today to make it public in order to allow for proper security to be in place for him and his family.”

    So even he’s aware and dealing with the security issues Willis deals with on a daily basis.

    Let him learn from that.

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Roberto el oso:

    Right you are. I should have specified that it’s been going on a long time. But the “performative patriotism”, as Jon Stewart or somebody calls it, has really accelerated in the last few years.

  33. 33.

    Jackie

    Rudy’s “Pot of Gold”: Since when, when filing for bankruptcy, you get to call the shots?

    Bankrupt Rudy Giuliani’s “pot of gold” may be his prized Palm Beach condo.

    Creditors say they want to sell the pad, but have so far been rebuffed by the former New York City mayor.

    “Accordingly, the Committee respectfully requests that this Court compel [Giuliani] to take all necessary steps to sell the Florida Condo and obtain homeowners insurance in order to preserve and protect estate resources and abide by his duty to maximize the value of the estate for the benefit of his creditors,” according to court papers filed on Friday in New York’s Bankruptcy Court and first reported by Politico’s Kyle Cheney.

    It appears to be the same property that was placed under a $549,435.26 federal tax lien by the IRS.

    Creditors suggest they’re being stonewalled to add the Florida home to the collection offerings which also include a $25,000 Mercedes-Benz SL500, a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt and Reggie Jackson photo – unknown, three New York Yankees World Series rings worth $30,000, and over $1.4 million in retirement accounts.

    https://www.rawstory.com/rudy-florida-condo/

  34. 34.

    coin operated

    I usually watch MSNBC but tonight it’s fucking unwatchable. At the front of every show they’re highlighting white men saying that, for the good of the case, Fani Willis should step down. First Wisemann, then Litton.

    We still have a BIG fucking misogyny problem on the Left…don’t know how we’re going to address it.

  35. 35.

    Jackie

    I’m amazed! Apparently Pence’s refusal to endorse TIFG is a BIG F’n Deal.

    Apparently ALL Media outlets are covering it – especially the MAGA media.

    TIFG has to be hugely pissed – which makes me very happy! 😂

  36. 36.

    jame

    Cole is catching the same weather about to come our way in New Mexico; he just gets it first.

  37. 37.

    Ironcity

    @SiubhanDuinne: You know you are seeing performative patriotism when the number of U.S. flags is greater than the number of grifters politicians on the stage/dias with them.  Extra performative patriotism points for quantity of R/W/B bunting, speeches invoking apple pie, mom, American values, city on the hill, our forefathers ( or five fathers or fathers that never played golf).  Throwing up a little in your mouth is also a tell.

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ironcity:

    “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross” — Somebody a long time ago, but probably neither Upton Sinclair nor Sinclair Lewis.

  41. 41.

    hitchhiker

    Yeah, there’s no end to the bad faith, followed by people like Weismann insisting that we must behave as if this is not all a farce.

    Sorry, but it is a farce, which Willis knows and has known from the jump. That’s why she marched her ass into court and asked to be sworn in. A grown-ass adult woman who paid her own way, had a few months of sex, and was done when she wanted to be done.

    That’s not a scandal unless you don’t like adult women who enjoy sex and don’t need anybody’s permission to have it or to stop having it.

    I’m so sick of bullshit.

  43. 43.

    Anoniminous

    @coin operated:

    Sexism was rife in the Old Left and carried on into the New Left.     Columbia leader and future Weatherman Mark Rudd help trigger the late 1960s Feminist Movement when he famously said, “get me a chick to do some typing.”  And it’s meandered on down to today.

  44. 44.

    Bupalos

    @Brent: THE DETAILS AREN’T IMPORTANT WHAT’S IMPORTANT IS JUST…YOU KNOW…BEING ON THE RIGHT SIDE AND NEVER BACKING DOWN NO MATTER WHAT.

  46. 46.

    feebog

    I’m with Weissman on this.  Strategically it’s the smart thing to do.  No one may of noticed, but Kemp just signed into law the commission that can go after prosecutors for misconduct.  Willis may also face complaints to the Georgia state bar.  And you better believe it will be an issue at trial.  If she is removed from office the case goes poof.  If she recuses and someone from her office takes the lead, it doesn’t.  Recusal also gives her a buffer if the commission goes after her.  Not saying any of this is in any way fair. it isn’t.  But if she wants to ensure the trial moves forward and have the best chance of securing a guilty verdict, she should recuse.

  47. 47.

    eclare

    @feebog:

    She cannot recuse and have her office takeover.  Either she prosecutes the case or the case goes to that bullshit GA committee where it dies, like the case against the current Lt. Gov.  It has been something like twenty months and no new DA has been appointed.

    This is all beside the fact that asking her to recuse is utter bullshit.  The judge has spoken, time to get to work.

  48. 48.

    frosty

    @SiubhanDuinne: I looked it up. Apparently this particular exact phrase was never said or written by anyone … except internet commenters LOL.

    Which doesn’t mean it’s not true!

    ETA And I’m one of the few who read It Can’t Happen Here. In high school! I still have Revolution for the Hell of It on my shelf, right next to me. Also, too, my aunt Jean knew Abbie Hoffman when they were both working for Save The River (St Lawrence).​

    ETA2: Why do I always have good comments on stone-dead threads????

  50. 50.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @feebog: i think if the case ever makes it to trial it’s going to be so long, none of this initial stuff is going to be remembered. I heard someone say easily over a year because it’s a RICO case.

  52. 52.

    AlaskaReader

    Speaking of Republicans co-opting our flag as if it’s theirs alone,

    …I like asking people wearing flags on their lapels, or flying them in the yard, where they got their Biden/Harris 24 flags.

    The initial reaction is always, after a beat, a look of actual consternation, and so entertaining to watch.

    I leave them to consider whether they might have to reconsider their display.

  54. 54.

    AM in NC

    @Anoniminous:   And “the only position for women in the Civil Rights Movement is prone”.  Yeah, the misogyny on the left is and has been baked in deep, regardless of color.

  55. 55.

    grubert

    I’ve had it with Paul Campos and his chorus.. they’re totally sliming Willis and it’s disgusting.

    The kind of liberals Phil Oches sang about.

    Thought about creating a discus account just to tell them, but doesn’t matter enough

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