Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Innocent people do not delay justice.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

In after Baud. Damn.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Celebrate the fucking wins.

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: 

Hey y’all, just thought I would check in. I have been super busy just getting settled and reoriented in Tempe, and, of course, I managed to allow a week worth of anxiety and not sleeping because of the election combined with a drive across country to get sick as hell. Sinus, sore throat, headache. Fuck yeah!

Also, we need an Angies List for liberal contractors.

Hope all of you are well and I will check in tomorrow.

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    Hello to Joelle.  How are all the pets co-existing?

    Hope you feel better soon.  Rest and excellent company will do a lot for you.

  3. 3.

    Spanky

    @Miki: Yeah, just wait until they axe Medicare and Social Security. It might be a million Walker March, but we’ll all be PISSED.

  4. 4.

    Jackie

    Feel better soonest! Get caught up on your sleep and, I’m sure being reunited with all of your loved ones (Thurston, too!) will do wonders!

    Say hey to Joelle!

  6. 6.

    YY_Sima Qian

    The scramble to curry favor w/ Trump & those in his orbit continues. How does a golf course cost US$ 1.5B, especially in Vietnam?!

    Will a New Golf Course Near Hanoi Cement Trump-Vietnam Relations?

    Last month, the Trump Organization agreed to build a $1.5 billion course in Hung Yen, the home province of Communist Party chief To Lam.

    By David Hutt

    November 09, 2024

    I would not be surprised if Chinese interests are involved in the venture, too. It is in the interest of Chinese companies to maintain Vietnam as a conduit for transshipment/relabeling/final assembly of products destined for the US market.

  9. 9.

    frosty

    Angie’s List, sheesh. I signed on to find somebody, maybe a lawn service that wasn’t ChemLawn (aka TrueGreen). I didn’t think I’d ever get over the texts and emails but I think I’m finally shut of them.

  12. 12.

    LisaCat

    I’ve been a lurker since 2019, when my sister Jenny adopted Wilbur and Orville. The boys could not have fallen into better hands. They got the best love and care any cat could wish for until they crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 2022. I’m sorry to tell you that last year Jenny also passed away. They are all very much missed.

    Thank you for the reassurance, advice and information. My friends and I are mostly on the wrong side of 70, and grew up during the fight for civil rights and Vietnam War years. That same current of anxiety and uncertainty that ran under everything in our lives then, we’re feeling that now. Every bit of comfort and companionship we can find, we share. Balloon Juice may have new lurkers.

    And wow, that is just way too sad and doom-ful. I leave you with this: THE ONION BOUGHT INFOWARS! In your FACE, Alex Jones!

  14. 14.

    Ohio Mom

    @frosty: When it first started, Angie’s list was great. Then Angie sold the company and it’s been useless ever since. Finding a competent, trustworthy contractor is challenging, even before you add looking for ones that aren’t Trumpers.

    Hey Cole, now that you are Arizona, you can make an appointment with Suzanne’s ENT. Then one day, your complaints about your sinuses will be ancient history.

  15. 15.

    Miki

    @frosty: Took me 3 weeks and lots of labeling phone calls, texts, and emails as Spam. But I’ll admit I met a bunch of trades people who weren’t right for either of us, but we liked each other, a lot. (I was searching for someone to plow the alley – ended up with the guy who’s done it for decades (he decided to keep doing it)).

    AI was stupid for my search, kind of surprisingly. It really isn’t that big of an ask.

  16. 16.

    Bupalos

    Huh. I thought Angie’s list WAS the list for liberal contractors.

    But that’s not what we need. We need liberal people to stop being all like “I don’t do that” and we need conservative people to be like “Shakespeare? Sounds cool!”

    we need people to stop having such divergent, specialized lives.

  17. 17.

    p.a.

    My cousin, very conservative, plumber/pipefitter, despises tRump mainly because of the way he’s treated contractors.  (Wish I could add other reasons, but take the W where you can.)

    How small businesspeople can support that thief is 😵‍💫

     

    Then I remember someone saying something like: Americans vote as if they’ll all be millionaires someday.

  23. 23.

    m.j.

    It comes to mind, so the story is told, that Obama made trump run for President. Wouldn’t it be nice if the thing, the teasing of Trump, became a thing.

    The catalyst is the hatred of those teasing him. Obama exemplifies this.

    I suggest a roast. A very long roast. Weeks, months, years, it’s important.

    Trump has a superfagileegoisticexpialidocious sense of himself and he tends to hang onto slights. Why not tie him in knots?

  24. 24.

    Bupalos

    @Chet Murthy: Chet what up? First off thank you for your efforts financially to avoid the outcome we got, I actually thought more than once, while chasing students to register them…of the dude I always disagree with off in California fronting his money for the same cause I’m here working for,

    Don’t run. America needs you.

    We’ve got this. These weak fuckers..

  25. 25.

    mrmoshpotato

    @The Truffle:

    I heard a lot of GOP voters already have buyer’s remorse. True or false? 

    You mean like the morons who started searching for “What’s a tariff?” the day after they voted for the Soviet shitpile mobster conman?

  26. 26.

    Chet Murthy

    @mrmoshpotato: I don’t even know whether or why that would matter.  The MAGAts have at minimum two years, maybe four years, to cement their rule.  Whether their voters turn on them might not even be relevant.  I guess we’ll get to see.

  27. 27.

    Chet Murthy

    I have a question for everybody here: how many of you even know where you would go to attend a meeting of people in your neighborhood?  A physical, in-person meeting ?

    B/c here in SF, in Noe Valley, I have -no- idea.  I think that’s a problem for any “resistance”.

  29. 29.

    Bupalos

    @mrmoshpotato: Nah, I think that’s an ongoing attempt to monetize off our side. I mean one or two but people aren’t going to really reconsider in any meaningful way until they feel it. And when they do (probably through a hubbub around deportation) it will be a marginal kind of thing.
    Brexit is a pretty good parallel to what we just did.

    what would it actually matter if even 10% of the voters were like “maybe wish I didn’t…”

  30. 30.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @The Truffle:

    Whatever remorse they may feel will be assuaged by the suffering of the people they hate. After all, that was their main motivation in voting for Trump.

  31. 31.

    Jackie

    Well well well… He’ll fit right in TCFG’s administration:

    “Donald Trump’s transition team scrambled Thursday after Trump’s incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles was presented with an allegation that former Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee to be Defense Secretary, had engaged in sexual misconduct,” Vanity Fair reports.

    “According to two sources, Wiles was briefed Wednesday night about an allegation that Hegseth had acted inappropriately with a woman. One of the sources said the alleged incident took place in Monterey, California in 2017.”

  33. 33.

    Bupalos

    @Melancholy Jaques: who is “they?”

    I’m getting tired of this cosplay radio Rwanda stuff. There are so few people who are like “I don’t care what happens to me, just hurt the people I hate” and yet it’s the incessant drumbeat here. It’s so juvenile.

    Is it possible we need caricatures for our algorithmic online unreality almost as bad as the sad-sacks we’re talking about?

    They are motivated by pure hatred.

    We are motivated by pure love.

  36. 36.

    EZSmirkzz

    Hope you’re enjoying the herbs and spices John. Onward through the fog.

    Man.

    I’ve been pondering, (that’s Texan for thinking,) about what went wrong, and am inclined to believe that most of the analysis is based on whomever is pontificating on the Democratic religion since they all seem to be speaking ex cathedra about it. Obviously you and I haven’t put in our two cents worth so we can be confident in saying they can’t all be right.

    But they do address concerns within pews, as to which rump what splinter is puncturing whomever’s chapped ass. They may be right they might be wrong. Someone should write a song,, yet, I digress.

    Our job as I see it, (your work, or employment, depending on your class perception of yourself, ) is to address those concerns, whether they are emotional or intellectual in such a manner and force so as to bring which ever special interest concern they are prophesying  from their mountain tops to us plebes here on the hillside with our bread and fishes.

    We can obtain our goals only if we win elections, so I would think calling people names and disparaging their parentage, no matter how accurate or deserving the sons of bitches are of the abuse, is counter productive to our aims.

    At this point I have not articulated ant specific grievance or remorses, not because I can’t, nor because I am waiting for the Cambridge History of Elections in America in the Twenty First Century, but the more prosaic conundrum of needing to pinch a loaf and eat some peaches. I can follow this up later if you so wish, provided I haven’t croaked in the meantime. Not sure how well my posthumous missives  will hit the mark, due in part to a lack of experience in that sort of misadventure.

    Edited to increase the word count in case someone wants to pay me for this stuff

  38. 38.

    Quinerly

    @Chet Murthy:

    I now live outside of Santa Fe. I go to the bar inside the 1880’s train station in Lamy, NM near me to meet “my people.” Amtrak stops twice a day. We go out and greet the trains and wave when they pull a way. Amtrak used to own the station. In 2019/2020, “someone” started running an illegal bar in the old baggage storage area. Some Amtrak higher up discovered the illegal bar sometime during Covid Times. So that ended the bar where I had celebrated my birthday just before Covid hit.

    Then George RR Martin and some others bought the old station and now lease it back to Amtrak.

    Problem solved. We now have our bar back (it’s legal)….along with a place to connect with and meet our neighbors.

  39. 39.

    Chet Murthy

    @Another Scott: Indivisible is not what I mean.  I went to one of their meetings: it’s a small group, a bunch of political activists.  I mean a meeting of people in the same neighborhood, who meet to keep track of what’s happening in their ‘hood.  I know of no such thing in Noe Valley.

  40. 40.

    Jackie

    And…

    “President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate Doug Burgum, a one-time rival for the Republican presidential nomination, to run the Interior Department,” Politico reports.

    Tim Scott must be feeling slighted right now. He must be wondering if he didn’t kiss TCFG’s ass hard and often enough. I can’t think of any other reason…

  43. 43.

    Ohio Mom

    @Chet Murthy: There is a local Democratic Club that meets at my rec center. That’s one place I can meet up with people. Haven’t been there in a while though. There was an offshoot Indivisible group too. It petered out.

    City Council meetings are open, not that I’m interested in going. I live in a small suburban city (population about 11,000 I think), that might not work for you if you are in a bigger municipality. There are also open school board meetings. I went a couple of times when there were board candidates debates.

    Sometimes Congressional Reps have meet-and-greets. My previous Rep, the odious Brad Webster (R, obviously) used to have them, mostly in the rural (therefore Red) parts of the district.

    That’s off the top of my head.

  44. 44.

    Quinerly

    @Jackie:

    Well, I lost a $20 bet. I had my money on Don Jr for Interior.

    The Dakotas are winning big in the Cabinet lottery. First Noem, now Burgum.

  51. 51.

    Nelle

    @Chet Murthy: I started one in my neighborhood.  In warm weather, people come for porch wine on my big porch.  In the past, we don’t do much in the cold weather, but I’ll be starting potlucks.  Potlucks are key.

    I also started a women’s coffee group every other week in the morning.  I’ve since met some other women in my neighborhood, less politically active, who have expressed interest in gathering.  So I’ll likely host that at least once a month.  (I don’t much care if my house isn’t pristine;  I’ve got grandkids running through a lot.  And I’m over exacting cleaning.  I can whip out some nice linens and tea cups, a tray of nibbles, and if that isn’t enough, they don’t have to return.)

  55. 55.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: “I didn’t know the leopards would eat my face!” screamed the morons who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.

  56. 56.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Jackie: Inappropriate? As long as it’s with females or furniture, no problem. Age? Consent? None of that woke shit here, no sirree!

  57. 57.

    Jackie

    @raven:

    He’s a fucking schmuck preacher.

    So he’ll be praying for Veterans needing the VA for medical services?

    Does he have any experience with veterans? Or is he another random ass kisser being rewarded while completely unqualified?

    My dad depended on the VA for 100% of his medical care and this concerns me for all you Veterans dependent and relying on quality medical care.

  59. 59.

    Salty Sam

    @Chet Murthy: how many of you even know where you would go to attend a meeting of people in your neighborhood?  A physical, in-person meeting ?

    I can’t help you with Noe Valley.  But here in Austin, a new group sprung up immediately after the election.  Called “Unity”, they hosted an “Activist* Happy Hour” last Friday, and it really was that, just sittin’ on the back patio quaffing a few and getting to know folks.  No immediate agenda, but they are planning to organize more fully.  It wouldn’t surprise me to find that similar groups are in the process of forming elsewhere.

    * I don’t really consider myself an activist, but this meetup was only three days after the election, and Spouse and I were so full of rage and remorse that we felt like we HAD to gather with like minded folks.  We’ll see what develops

  61. 61.

    Salty Sam

    @NotMax: When Gaetz goes down in flames, expect Ken Paxton as a runner-up.

    About the only good thing I can think of if that happens is that he will not be focused exclusively on us here in Texas.  It’ll suck for ALL of us then.

    Wait- that’s not really good, is it?

  63. 63.

    Salty Sam

    @Salty Sam: I can’t help you with Noe Valley.  But here in Austin…

    Sorry Chet- I just re-read your original question and realized you weren’t particularly looking for political organization meetups.
    Our neighborhood here is pretty insular.  There is one family that hosts get togethers about every six weeks or so, but they are proselytizing for their evangelical church, so never mind.

    My step-daughter really wanted that sort of community when she moved here, and went door to door to talk it up and generate interest.  No takers.

  64. 64.

    sab

    @Chet Murthy: In Ohio our old neighborhood had monthly meetings. Not so much in our new neighborhood as far as I can telll so far. Buta our Ward councilman also has monthly meetings at the local branch of the library.

    Back when I lived in California one of my issues was that there really didn’t seem to be any interest in local things (government or just community.)

  65. 65.

    Chet Murthy

    @Salty Sam: It’s OK.  It is what it is.  I could describe why these “Democratic clubs” aren’t enough, but really, it doesn’t matter: it is what it is.  I -do- plan to go to the Noe Valley Farmers Market, and talk to the people who organize it.  Maybe there’s something that can be done there.  And I’ll do the same at the Castro Farmers Market.

    Civic associations != “Democratic clubs”.  It’s gotta be something bigger than that, b/c if we’re actually going to -resist-, then it has to be the entire populace.  It can’t be some vanishing fraction of the population: those can be scooped-up and sent to concentration camps.  You can’t do that to the entire population of The City.

  66. 66.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Apparently Doug Burgum has been picked to head Interior. I know he’s the Governor of a State, and he know his name was mentioned as a possible VP pick. Other than that, I know exactly nothing about him. Heading to Googlepedia to learn more, but if someone knows him on the ground, I hope you’ll share.

  68. 68.

    bluefoot

    @Chet Murthy: I used to know where to go when I lived in Somerville but not here in another Boston suburb. And when I lived in Somerville I knew most of my neighbors. It’s funny how I’ve only moved a few miles but everything is so different.

  69. 69.

    Peale

    @YY_Sima Qian: Let’s see here. Vietnam gets plenty of rain and there’s really not a shortage of water. And there’s not really a shortage of sand. So I’m guessing that the Bermuda grass is going to be imported and made of platinum.

  70. 70.

    Peale

    @Jackie: Yeah. Whoop de do. They ain’t rescinding a nomination for sexual misconduct with an adult. They don’t consider that a crime with non-adults. The whole “I’m a warrior who make gud warrior” schtick is about celebrating “manhood” by abusing women.

  71. 71.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Well, I looked him up and he appears to be a standard-issue, everyday, run-of-the-mill, B-flat, garden-variety Republican. He holds policy positions that I, and probably everyone here, would deplore, but he doesn’t seem to be a flamethrowing RWNJ MAGAt. At this point, that almost feels like a win.

    And — not to be lookist or anything — but his official photo accompanying the Wikipedia article is a bit off, somehow. His glasses and eyebrows have two entirely different opinions on what his face should look like, and he has rather … implausible … teeth. But that’s just that one picture; he appears to be quite affable in a couple of other pix I’ve seen of him.

    So, I’m going to bed knowing a great deal more about Doug Burgum than I did when I woke up this morning.

  72. 72.

    Roberto el oso

    @Chet Murthy: in response to your question about ‘resistance’ meeting places.

    Here in Houston (& it was the same when I lived in DC & Baltimore) meetings were usually held in churches (occasionally a Reformed synagogue)

    Sending you good vibes from the belly of the beast :(

  73. 73.

    Prometheus Shrugged

    @Bupalos: Yeah, their move first, though. My trick with contractors is to have overt signs of our political inclinations visible, while having my (very) dark skinned wife do the interfacing. It’s amazing how the unserious contractors weed themselves out for us. We had a Trumper fence guy say five minutes into his estimate visit “you know what–I’m not doing this.”

  74. 74.

    JoyceH

    @Peale: what I noticed was how the news orgs are weasel-wording a sexual ASSAULT allegation to a “sexual misconduct” allegation.

  77. 77.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Although Santa Cole won’t see this…

    Per above, Angie’s List is useless, has been since she sold it.

    The best way to find potential trades people who do work on a small scale and might not be a flaming right wing asshole is to find a neighborhood Facebook group.  We have them for the Registered Neighborhood Orgs (RNOs) in Denver and they’re a godsend (if you’re willing to search instead of the usual lazy shit who posts “I need a plumber”.

  78. 78.

    Gvg

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Even contractors who know better than to have public opinions or employees that do. People used to know how to be businesslike and not offend other people, which mainly meant keeping their mouths shut and not having obnoxious bumper stickers, t shirts and other such on the job.

  79. 79.

    Quinerly

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    Well, I came back to mention the  Supermoon. I thought THE Beaver Moon was tonight but Google tells me tomorrow. My JoJo las Orejas is fullmoon restless. Our neighborhood Songdogs are intune and in unison. JoJo is convinced that one lady coyote who comes up to his wall in the AM is singing to him tonight now under The Beaver Moon. My JoJo is naive.

    All of this aside, I find neighborhood specific community FB bulletin boards and very specific Next Door neighborhood groups incredibly helpful on finding help, artisians, craftsmen, electricians, plumbers, et al. You still need to do lots of screening. And, of course, recommendations.

    Angie’s List has been worthless for many years.

  82. 82.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Bupalos:

    They are motivated by pure hatred.

    We are motivated by pure love.

    Well, did you ever watch their gatherings and compare them to ours? Did you note the “Deport Millions” signs? Did you compare the words coming out of Trump’s & Vance’s mouths with those said by Harris & Walz?

  83. 83.

    Ramona

     

    @Chet Murthy: the branch of Arlington library is a two minute walk from me and they have a weekly mindfulness class, a writer’s class, a book club, board game club and the Central library a few train stops away have several activities. Some years ago, I even saw the author Zadie Smith speak.

    The adult education program offered Improv one year. I’ve taken Art classes. I’ve seen cooking classes offered and journaling classes.

    The trick is to meet a person who is a nice of a network.  I am still in mourning over my late friend who died of gall bladder cancer in 2010. She was my node and my efforts to get friend circles started since have gone awry.

  85. 85.

    Kathleen

    @Chet Murthy: People in my area use libraries. Ironically back when the Tea Party was a thing the Campbell County Kentucky chapter met at the local library they wanted to stop funding.

  89. 89.

    TBone

    @Chet Murthy: I’m going to the local church where gay people can marry under a roof covered in solar panels.  I bought some new clothes and I’m going to the hairdresser today so I can put my best foot forward on Sunday to meet the people in my community most likely to be of assistance to the vulnerable.  Also, the head person in charge giving the speeches there will stand on the real principles of Jesus, not some boogaloo white ‘Merkin prosperity bullshit.

    Also, your local library librarians are likely to know some defenders of democracy in your locale.  I’m going to mine to inquire about starting a Resistance Book Club group where we can brainstorm.

  92. 92.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Chet Murthy: the library, a mile away. The food bank community poetry reading place for my hood. This neighborhood used to have membership, a newsletter, meetings. I could glance at their Facebook page, or look for a sign at the food bank. It’s a 1 mile by 2-3 mile section of Denver. Great question. Maybe a school or nearby church would host something.

  94. 94.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @TBone: trying to get to sleep. The quest to get to bed and sleep earlier so I can work, continues. But then, I had myself a little cry, which I sure needed, but takes some inducing. Better after crying. Grief takes awhile.

  96. 96.

    TBone

    @Gloria DryGarden: I’m hugging you in my high hopes and dreams that we’ll perseveres through this.

    We didn’t get to the movies last night at 7pm to see The Wild Robot because we were too tired after waking at 3am.  I feel ya!

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