Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

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

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

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

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

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

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

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

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

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

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

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

Usually wrong but never in doubt

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

“But what about the lurkers?”

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / Thursday Night Open Thread

Thursday Night Open Thread

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This post is in: 

I have no energy today. Feels like it is going to rain and my whole body is just blah. Not tired enough to sleep, not energetic enough to do anything.

Speaking of low energy, Trump looked worse than usual in his press conference.

Like I said, I am tired and have not much to say. Watching a documentary called Cowboy Cartel about the Mexican cartels and quarter horse racing.

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  12. 12.

    SW

    Quarter horses.  Think quarter mile drag racing.  Originally ranch horses bred for short bursts of speed to chase cattle.

  15. 15.

    SpaceUnit

    Just finished watching the women’s volleyball team vs Brazil.  Real nail-biter, but they advance to the gold medal match.  Go team!

  18. 18.

    Ruckus

    I’m wondering what is wrong with the republican party.

    This guy is the best they can do?

    This guy, who is far worse than useless. Useless would be about a 5 mile step up for him. At minimum.

    This is what they want to conserve?

    I mean they have never been all that and a box of crackers but still, this far down the rat hole?

  22. 22.

    KatKapCC

    Gov Newsom was doing a press conference of sorts after an encampment clean up somewhere in Los Angeles. Most of the questions were on topic (which is a rarity) about housing issues, funding, etc. But someone of course had to bring up the fact that apparently in his looney tunes comments today, Trump once again called him “Newscum” which I know he and the bunch of idiots in Instagram comments think is just the height of hilarity. Newsom first said he thinks a kid called him that in 7th grade, and then added, “So, that’s something a manchild would say, someone who’s running for attention.” YEP. That’s what I want to see more Dems doing. Talk about Trump like he’s a child, because that’s what he’s acting like.

  29. 29.

    tam1MI

    Gongwer News Service published a rundown of the results of Michigan’s primary elections.  It’s paywalled, so I will the key stuff I want to talk about here.

    These are the results of the US Senate race:
    U.S. Senate Track
    Vote counted: 100% | Last Updated: 8/7/2024 1:45 PM

    Hill Harper (D)
    216,920: 23.81%

    Elissa Slotkin (D) (Winner)
    694,213: 76.19%

    Justin Amash (R)
    130,239: 15.21%

    Sherry O’Donnell (R)
    99,295: 11.59%

    Sandy Pensler (R)
    77,193: 9.01%

    Mike Rogers (R) (Winner)
    549,640: 64.18%

    I did some math to get to total number of votes for Democratic candidates and the total number for Republican candidates.  They are as follows:

    Democratic votes – 911, 113

    Republican votes – 856, 367

    I think we are in pretty good shape for the general.

  31. 31.

    wjca

    @Quinerly:  i don’t get it either. I used to think Trump was blackmailing all of the Repug leadership.

    The obvious question is, now that Trump is clearly non compos mentis, who has access/control of the blackmail material?

  35. 35.

    Jackie

    @schrodingers_cat: Did you see Vance’s attempt to laugh yesterday when a reporter asked if he ever had fun? Shave off the facial hair and I saw Pudd’n Boots, and his forced fakey laugh. Weird.

  39. 39.

    bbleh

    @Ruckus: @Quinerly: @wjca: HE’s not blackmailing them.  He doesn’t have the sophistication for that.  It’s just like his grifting — he’s penny-ante (versus his son-in-law, who did it right).

    He is the LIVING AVATAR of the mouth-breathing base, and the Republican Party has declined to the point that pretty much EVERY national-level Republican official (and many state-level ones as well) is at the mercy of the mouth-breathers.  Almost without exception, they simply CAN’T SUCCEED if the Avatar does not bless them.  (I’ll be interested to see how GA Gov Kemp does.)

    As to blackmail, what has long been discussed — and investigated — is the role of (blatantly illegal) foreign money in funding Republican campaigns, particularly Russian money.  “Moscow Mitch” is not called that for no reason, and both Uday and Qusay have admitted — without prompting and on separate occasions — that a big chunk of the Trump Org’s money came from Russian sources.  So if there’s blackmail at work (and I would suspect IMPLICIT blackmail behind some of the Felon’s more obvious Russia-friendly actions), I would look to Russia.  I don’t credit the Felon himself with the ability to do anything more than mobster-level shakedowns.

  41. 41.

    Quinerly

    @bbleh: all good points.

    Nothing anyone will say will ever convince me that Trump doesn’t have something on Lindsey Graham.😉

  44. 44.

    Geminid

    @wjca: I think Trump is blackmailing Republican leaders with the threat of turning his voters against their candidates.

    They got a taste of this in the Jan. 5, 2021 Georgia Senate runoffs, when an abnormal number of Republican voters stayed home. Observers thought the no-shows were punishing Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue for the state leadership’s refusal to go along with Trump’s efforts to subvert the November election.

    Trump made two trips to Georgia that December, ostensibly to support Loeffler and Perdue, but he spent much of the time disparaging Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger. Trump knew that he was effectively suppressing the Republican runoff vote but he did not care.

    That scared Republican politicians. They are still afraid to cross Trump publically for fear he’ll sandbag down-ballot Republicans out of spite.

  45. 45.

    CaseyL

    @tam1MI: On the one hand, that’s good news because more people vote in the general than in primaries.  On the other hand, primary voters are the most party-loyal; general election voters are more changeable, less well informed, and likelier to vote based on “vibes.”

    I dunno.  I’m getting more and more nervous, just as everyone else is getting less so.  I don’t know if it’s just me.

  47. 47.

    lamh47

    So basically the media is mad because the Harris/Walz campaign is too quick and out front with response to the attacks Chump and company trying to sling at them. As soon as the attack comes, Harris campaign swift messaging HQ sprints into gear before the media can set their narrative. The media is hating and their love for letting agent orange set narratives are currently being bested by the Harris campaign and they are hating it!

    Harris campaign like…AHT…AHT…AHT…

  48. 48.

    sab

    My stepdaughter and granddaughter are stuck in a flooded parking lot in our valley (Cuyahoga River in Akron.) There was absolutley no warning in advance that there would be flooding.

  52. 52.

    Jackie

    @sab: YIKES! Hopefully they are safe as possible under the circumstances and will be rescued SOON!🤞🏻

  53. 53.

    kalakal

    @schrodingers_cat:

    He reminds me most of Steerpike in Gormenghast. Not physically but in character

    if ever he had harboured a conscience in his tough narrow breast he had by now dug out and flung away the awkward thing — flung it so far away that were he ever to need it again he could never find it.

  54. 54.

    sab

    @John Cole: We are a half a mile up the hill from them in our new house. If the water goes down a bit they could walk up here.

    She does insurance adjustments for a living, so she knows a lot about what to do and what not to do with cars in floods, because she hears stories all day.

    She managed to pull into a parking lot, so that got her an additional foot of elevation

    ETA At least the rain has stopped.

  55. 55.

    sab

    If you find yourself in a situation where you are driving in floodwaters, you are supposed to drive as slowly as possible, because the wake from faster driving will flood your engine and also the cars around you.

    Many idiots think that they can outrace the flood waters. That doesn’t work. It just creates a surge of water.

  56. 56.

    wjca

    @Geminid:  I think Trump is blackmailing Republican leaders with the threat of turning his voters against their candidates.

    I’ll defer to the lawyers here, but I think that’s extortion, rather than blackmail.  :-)

    The good news is, nobody else has a handle on his cult members.  And there’s no sign at all of a potential successor.  Which means his real influence dies with him.  They may still be reflexively worried, but that’s just cowardice and bad nerves.

  59. 59.

    sab

    They are still stuck in the parking lot. The water is receding, but slowly. Cars on the street still have water over their hoods.

  60. 60.

    Scout211

    @sab: That sounds awful. Will there be anyone to rescue them? Have they called for help?

    I checked your news and they are expecting the flooding at least until 1:15 am

    The US National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a flash flood warning for parts of central Summit County in northeastern Ohio through at least 01:15 EDT Aug. 9. Areas under the flash flood warning include Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, and Stow. Officials could update or amend the warning for the impact areas or surrounding regions in the coming hours.

    Sustained heavy rainfall could trigger flooding in low-lying communities near rivers, streams, and creeks. Urban flooding is also possible in developed areas with easily overwhelmed stormwater drainage systems. Sites located downstream from large reservoirs or rivers may be subject to flash flooding after relatively short periods of intense rainfall. Landslides are possible in hilly or mountainous areas, especially where the soil has become saturated by heavy rainfall.

  61. 61.

    Jackie

    Did anyone watch Lawrence O’Donnell tonight? He RIPPED INTO ALL NETWORKS  – including NBC/MSNBC for refusing to fact check TCFG in real time. He was LIVID! And then scathingly fact-checked TCFG’s press conference. He was PISSED. Slammed down a stack of papers so hard, his desk shook.

  62. 62.

    sab

    @Scout211: She called us a while ago and they are fine. We then saw on the 11 o’clock news that the police were out rescuing people. Since her car is not flooded, just stranded, she’ll probably be there for several more hours. But the two are safe,which is what we were worried about.

  63. 63.

    Manyakitty

    @sab: scary! We’re at the top of Smith Rd. hill and it rained like crazy up here. Not surprised about the flooding at all. Glad they’re okay 🙂

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