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

Tuesday Night Open Thread

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So where the hell have I been these past few days. Here, just living. As many of you know, I am a delicate flower who is very sensitive to my environment and change. I mean I handle it fine and will go through with whatever, but whenever there is significant change there’s internal turmoil for a while. So after a couple of weeks of that I finally became accustomed to the new normal and Joelle and I are in a good routine, so we’ve just been working, going to the pool, watching an episode or two of a show each night, and then calling it a day. And with the time zone difference, by the time I go to write something, it will be ten or eleven there on the east coast and I just say fuck it I will write tomorrow.

Joelle has her knee surgery on Monday, so we are not going to be going anywhere for a while so you will probably see much more of me.

***

I’m glad to see Mistermix posted that Popehat piece earlier. I had posted it on bluesky and have just sort of been shaking my head at the reactions to the UHC shooter (whom they have taken to calling the “Adjustor” on various social media.

The reactions were so bizarre. The first group of people who were acting the fool were the purity police, who any time you mentioned the shooting if you didn’t explicitly state it was wrong or show sympathy for the guy was to freak out and say “Murder is wrong I thought you were better.”

Well sure, murder is wrong and if you are following me you must know something about me and are aware I don’t support murder and in fact have been warning about this kind of shit eventually happening for oh I dunno twenty fucking years. Second, people die in the worst way possible every single day, and many of them are far more deserving of my sympathy. I mean ffs, maybe people should work harder to live a life that doesn’t lead to someone planning for months and then staying up all night to shoot you in the back? Don’t get mad at me because my reaction is “yeah that’s bad” and nothing more. Hell even the famous internet sleuths who love identifying people and tracking down shit said “nah we’re gonna pass we don’t care.”

The second group is the people who were treating the UHC shooter the way Republican low info voters treat Trump, which is to just use him as a blank slate for their hopes and dreams despite, you know reality. Lot of people are shocked to know that he is not in fact a left wing class warrior starting the revolution, but instead a rich techbro with a range of weird beliefs who apparently lost it when he personally suffered a great deal of pain. Of course he’s a weirdo. Doing what he did is NOT normal. It’s not normal behavior to spend thousands of hours devising a complicated plot to murder someone. I know our tv shows and books and whatnot make it seem super normal, or murder for hires, but in reality it is just not happening that often. It’s fucking abnormal behavior.

And the final group making me laugh are the people thinking this will lead to real change. It won’t. The only changes you will experience are insurers hiring more security and establishing more security protocols and probably hiring people to do frequent real time threat assessments for their top brass. And who does what in the organizations will be harder to find and they will become more private, and I bet their approval/denial decision making will become more opaque than it already is, but do I expect them to stop looting the American people. Good god no. There is way too much fucking money in medicine, health insurance, and pharmaceuticals, and we are now on the edge of widespread looting of every sector for the next few years.

So no, I don’t think there will be any change. I think things are going to continue to get gradually worse and people will get used to it, and then it will get even worse and people will adjust. This is what happens in plutocracies. We know this because we watched it happen in Eastern Europe for decades and history is rife with examples. It’s why this fantasy some left wingers have about the revolution is so absurd. And maybe in the distant future there will be some sort of uprising, but for now I just expect things to get shittier and shitter for the average American for at least the next 2-3 decades. The party of the rich will just keep chumming the waters with other targets, like those Springfield residents eating your dogs or the Mexicans taking your jobs or the handful of transgender kids in your state who are ruining everything.

I mean this has worked for them since 1980, why stop now? Hell, now they even control the media.

***

To end on an up note, here is Thurston Howl in his new thundershirt for the holidays:

Tuesday Night Open Thread 7

Wretched beast.

Reader Interactions

103Comments

  6. 6.

    Other MJS

    Didn’t know about Joelle’s knee. Best of luck for a successful surgery and a smooth recovery.

    Also, somehow I’d never picked up that Thurston’s surname was Howl.

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: No, that can not be a rotating tag, even though it made me laugh out loud.

    Also, I wonder what the people who read from the bottom are going to think when they get to your comment. :-)

  13. 13.

    frosty

    I just expect things to get shittier and shitter for the average American for at least the next 2-3 decades.

    If that’s the case , then I’ve lived the best part of the American experience I will ever live. I won’t be around for any turn-around 20 years from now.

    Seems like every post today has either been downbeat or the commenters brought it down. Time to do something else. (Wait, I said that in my last comment a couple of threads ago. Lessee, I was gonna make dinner, that’s done. I guess I’ll go work on harmonica lessons.)

  17. 17.

    Miki

    Thoughts, deep fucking thoughts, for your Bride’s knee surgery. Recovery is brutal, but worth it. We’re here for both of you. Protein drinks are easy and good for healing. Prunes work for the horrific constipation if she needs opiates for a while. Sleep on the couch or recliner until she’s ready to move on.

    It takes a while but it’s ultimately worth it. And much better to go through it with a loving partner.

  18. 18.

    cmorenc

    Any leftists longing for this or some other incident to start the revolution should keep in mind that far more often than not, successful revolutions against purported tyrannical regimes get hijacked by other ruthless authoritarians – the founding of the US is one of the exceptions, to which we owe enormous gratitude to George Washington for steadfastly refusing to be made President-for-life.  Russia is a great counter-example of a minority faction hijacking a much broader revolution.

    Regardless of what you think of Woody Allen personally (schmuck?) one of the main themes of “Sleeper”, one of his best comedies, was that the charismatic leader of the rebels against a tyrannical establishment would, within 6 months after taking over, turn into the same thing he replaced.

  19. 19.

    Nukular Biskits

    I’m glad @Miki reminded me:

    Joelle has her knee surgery on Monday, so we are not going to be going anywhere for a while so you will probably see much more of me.

    If I may ask, John, what is going to be done?

    My youngest had to have knee surgery several years ago because of a severe patella location he suffered while playing soccer.

  24. 24.

    Nukular Biskits

    @John Cole:

    They’ve made huge improvements in knee replacement surgery.  She should be up in no time, able to kick your ass with that leg within a couple of days, tops!

    <insert laugh emoji here>

    Seriously, tell her get well soon!

    ETA (dammit):

    My youngest had to have knee surgery several years ago because of a severe patella DISlocation he suffered while playing soccer.

  25. 25.

    cmorenc

    @John Cole: As a veteran of having two replaced knees, I caution you and Joelle that the first two weeks post-op are a real bear, but sticking religiously to the very uncomfortable PT is extremely important to get a good result.  Her leg will be stiff as a ski post-op, but she’s gotta, gotta force it to bend as the rehab exercises dictate, and not let her talk herself out of skipping or slacking on any rehab sessions, even the self-guided ones at home.  As my surgeon put it, you are in a race with internal scar tissue.

    It’ will seem hugely worth it two months out, but first couple of weeks she may be inclined to curse her surgeon, everyone who talked her into it and the horses they rode in on.  Been there, done that.

  29. 29.

    Ruviana

    @cmorenc:  Yes! I told my orthopedist that I wanted to spend the first two post-op weeks in a medically-induced coma. And yes do ALL the rehab. It helps tremendously.

  30. 30.

    frosty

    @John Cole: Ms F did a double knee replacement about three years ago. Both at the same time. Did the PT, and everything is fine now. We’ve been going on hikes and bike rides during our travels, which she couldn’t do before. My best wishes to Joelle!

  31. 31.

    Joy in FL

    Thanks for the post, John.

    I like Thurston’s photo.  It’s nice he’s doing well.

    Good luck to Joelle. It’s good you’re there.

  33. 33.

    Quinerly

    @Baud:

    I’m a proud bottom reader.

    It’s really the only way to follow the comments since they aren’t threaded.

    Throwing in some emojis for emphasis.

    😎😎😎😎😈😈😈😈😈

  34. 34.

    Josie

    Thurston always looks anxious to me. I’m glad he has a pretty thundershirt.

    Good healing vibes to Joelle. I know you will take good care of her.

  37. 37.

    Quinerly

    @frosty:

    Found a cool off the tourist trap place in Bisbee, AZ today.

    Music at 2pm. Open Mic. I have video. But not of the mouth harp player. My phone ran out of juice.

    The Hitching Post.

    2 pool tables, jukebox, and foosball table. B&W tvs.

    Hamms Beer!

  39. 39.

    geg6

    @frosty:

    Same with my John’s double replacement (also both at once).  It was a bit painful at first, but he was diligent with the PT and was off the opiates within a couple days.  He took Advil for the rest of his recovery.  He was driving and back to work in five weeks and he was almost 70 at the time.  Joelle is much younger and she’ll do fine as long as she doesn’t slack on the PT.  Go Joelle!

    And now…THURSTON!  OMG he looks adorable!  Lovey sends her love!

  42. 42.

    geg6

    @Josie:

    Nah, that’s just how he looks.  His sister, my Lovey, also has that same look.  And believe me, that is not her anxious look.

  43. 43.

    Miss Bianca

    Thurston! Is he in one of the calendars? I saw Steve’s pic but didn’t see Thurston.

    Best of luck to Joelle on the surgery and the post-op regimen!

  46. 46.

    Quinerly

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Yes!

    A top 10 dive bar ever. (And I consider myself a true connoisseur)

    Yet an extraordinarily beautiful mural in the girl’s bathroom. Mind blown.

    Plus, I got the duo playing at the 2PM Open Mic to do one of my father’s favorite songs. “Walking The Floor Over You.” (Ernest Tubb 1941).

    A very good day indeed.

  49. 49.

    Quinerly

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Well, that confirmed my very first impression. Glad you can now feel comfortable enough in your skin to admit it…here…out in the open…on a Cole thread.

    Congrats!!!

  54. 54.

    Glory b

    A moment of remembrance for poet Nikki Giovanni,  who died yesterday at 81.

    Her poetry is amazing. A friend of mine (waaay back futher than I want to remember) had her album & we played it endlessly.

    She was a professor of English Literature at Virginia Tech. She refused to have the infamous mass shooter in her class & warned the administration about him.

    NikkiRosa & Ego Tripping bring tears to my eyes for auld lang syne.

  56. 56.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Quinerly: Born and raised out in the cornfields of northern Illinois, dive bars were all we had, so I’m naturally inclined to love them.

    Some higher on the scale of “dive” than others, but they’d all be called that now.

  57. 57.

    HinTN

    @John Cole: These days they are generally routine. I had both of mine done with great results. Mrs H had one great result. Make her do the PT. Every last bit of it. Pain, you forget. Function is forever.

    Best wishes to you both.

  59. 59.

    zhena gogolia

    @Glory b:
    In the comments, the obituary author gives this quotation from NG:

    “There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don’t expect you to save the world I do think it’s not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.”

  61. 61.

    Kayla Rudbek

    Worried that I may have fallen for a scam through NextDoor (the county stopped picking up glass in recycling, you have to take it to the county recycling center yourself, various entrepreneurs are springing up on NextDoor to provide recycling bins and pickup of glass for you). Mr. Rudbek thinks it’s too expensive for the amount of glass we use and wants me to cancel. So I sent the email saying, sorry I talked this through with my husband, we don’t need it, please come pick up the bin and give us a refund.

    So frustrating when I know that glass is the most easily recycled substance out of anything that you can put into the recycling stream, and it’s that the county doesn’t want to make the waste collection companies actually do their jobs.

  62. 62.

    Maxim

    @cmorenc: I remember that from when my cousin’s wife had her knee(s?) replaced. Tough, but vital, to do all the PT.

    Good wishes to Joelle for the best possible outcome.

  63. 63.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Kayla Rudbek: ​
    Probably more likely that the county doesn’t want to pay. Recycling is a net cost to municipalities; the “better” you want it, the more it costs.

  64. 64.

    Randal Sexton

    My wife spent 3 hours today on the phone to ensure that the infusion she gets every 6 weeks is authorized.  Last year when she changed insurance CUZ SHE HAD TO the insurance companies used some administrative BS to deny her infusion for 16 weeks. Each infusion is like 50 grand or so, so this saved them maybe 100k. She got lucky and did not have a ‘flare’ of her symptoms.   My wife, the lovely K, is a very sweet and empathic person.  Her summary of this Luigi/UHC guy situation is “the healthcare companies make money off of denieng treatmenets and  killing people. They are reaping what they have been sowing.” Im thinking I could do a chart that shows y axis: profit margin, X axis denied coverage.  It would look inciteful.  Not insightful, inciteful.   I think a lot of institutionalPunditionalMediaEliteful have NO idea what may be coming.  Ok, Imma a bit het up.

  65. 65.

    Quinerly

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yes. MN beer with a story.

    I like beer trivia. I like all those old labels. I like cheap, can beer at certain times, in certain spaces. Today, a cold Hamms was perfect while a band played their hearts out in the middle of the day.

    Thought Hamms was dead. Then in February, I was in Bisbee for my first trip here. “New” old bar in The Gulch had just reopened after 30 years. First I had seen Hamms in 20 years.

    Some bars keep canned PBR as their cheap beer. In Bisbee, they do Hamms.

    I find it incredibly cool and enchanting. Now, to find a bar somewhere with Carling Black Label. The unicorn of bars.

  66. 66.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Quinerly:

    We have an old-ish bar here in the midst of a typical hyper-gentrified Denver neighborhood that has an actual Hamms beer truck parked outside.

    Actually, I think they found an old milk delivery truck and repainted it.

    A+ for effort.

    If you ever make it up here, unlimited Hamms is on me!

  67. 67.

    Quinerly

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Heart emoji!

    Almost 40 years in St. Louis. Some great dive bars (and strip joints) in Southern Illinois. They were just a hop, skip, and a jump over the Big Muddy.

    Always nice to read your comments on these threads. Keep on keeping on….that’s all we really can do. Take care.

  69. 69.

    mrmoshpotato

    And the final group making me laugh are the people thinking this will lead to real change. It won’t. The only changes you will experience are insurers hiring more security and establishing more security protocols and probably hiring people to do frequent real time threat assessments for their top brass.

    They’ll probably jerk off even more at their investor meetings devising new ways to fuck over policy holders.

  71. 71.

    Phein64

    BlogMaster Cole:  It’s not normal behavior to spend thousands of hours devising a complicated plot to murder someone. 

    I beg to differ, sir.  It is in fact the career goal and sole purpose for health care denial executives, among other would be aristocrats in the next version of America.   Every rent-seeking bastard is a murderer many times over, and as long as they hold everyday Americans by the short-hairs, they should have to cope with the bulls-eye on their foreheads.

  74. 74.

    divF

    @Quinerly: Reminds me of the lines from L.A. Confidential :

    Bud: (Sees cushion on Lynn’s bed) Bisbee ?
    Lynn: I grew up there. Couple years I’m going back and open a dress shop. The girls in Bisbee need a little glamour.

  75. 75.

    Phein64

    @Quinerly: Back when I was a young alcoholic, say, 50 years ago, a couple of my friends owned stores dedicated to . . . beer can collectors.  Imagine that:  A store full of empty beer cans (lids intact) from all over the world, and a clientele that kept them in business.

    And this was in north St. Louis County, (Ferguson-Florissant to be exact) where the cops were as cruel as the white community needed them to be, brain sandwiches on Fridays, and beer buckets for the locals.

  76. 76.

    Phein64

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: From the Land of Sky Blue Waters, comes the beer refreshing, comes the beer refreshing: Hamms!

    That tune provided the basis for a Loren Green skit on Laugh-In:  Pow-wow the Indian Boy, Loved all the animals in the woods.

  77. 77.

    RevRick

    Having had both my hips replaced, my advice to Joelle is take a Tylenol or Ibuprofen an hour before your therapy and do it religiously. Pain relief can be her friend. Also, if she needs to use a walker or cane for a while, remind her it’s okay. If it helps her get mobile, it will pay dividends.

    Given the looming disaster of the Trump administration, I believe it’s important to take whatever small steps you can towards a better world, so as head of our church’s Green Team, I’m investigating the possibility of acquiring some sustainability grants. Evidently, the Inflation Reduction Act made provision that nonprofits can claim a direct credit in lieu of the tax deduction, but, well, we will have to see how that shakes out. Anyway, I spoke to a guy at the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection who offered a bunch of helpful advice, sent me a follow up email, then another email to follow up that. And tomorrow I will be participating in a webinar sponsored by our national UCC church on “Reclaiming Our Democracy.” Small steps.

  79. 79.

    Phein64

    @Omnes Omnibus:  My dad drank Hamm’s when I was young, and I would “borrow” a twelve-pack every so often to share with my fellow dissolute 12-year olds.  Kind of fit in with the True cigarettes we also borrowed.

    And, yes, the canoe joke is appropriate, but what do you want from 12-year olds?

  83. 83.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Jacob Helberg has just been nominated for an Undersecretary of State role. He is currently senior advisor to Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, which is owned by Peter Thiel. He is married to Keith Rabois, a senior executive at Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley VC firm. Their marriage was officiated by Sam Altman of OpenAI.

    Helberg has been instrumental in pushing the TikTok ban through Congress. Plenty of Dems treat him as a good faith actor in “countering the CCP”.

    Both Helberg & Rabois had been supporters of Pete Buttigieg in ’20, before pivoting to Trump in ’24.

    The techbros & techno-authoritarians will have a lot of influence in the Trump Administration.

  84. 84.

    Quinerly

    @Phein64:

    My first taste of beer was Country Club Malt Liquor. Pony can.

    First puff of a cigarette was a Kent. “Micronite filter” (translation asbestos)

  87. 87.

    tobie

    @YY_Sima Qian: It’s hard after this election not to think that there’s a correlation between the dumbing down of Americans and the rise of AI. Who needs intelligence or creativity for the jobs of the future? That at least seems to be the dream of the techbros.

  88. 88.

    Quinerly

    @divF:

    Ha!

    There’s an area of Bisbee (Lowell) with antique cars, trucks, and buses parked on the narrow street. Great breakfast spot called Bisbee Breakfast Club.

    AND…a window storefront with vintage ladies hats and gloves. Store isn’t in business. Just the vintage hats and gloves in the window.

    This section is a bit off the beaten path. Great old police car by an old police station.

  91. 91.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Quinerly: I live restaurant bathroom art. I hope you got a photo. Or that you go back for one.
    I do sometimes photograph art I find in such places, it can be spectacular stuff.

  95. 95.

    WTFGhost

    And the final group making me laugh are the people thinking this will lead to real change. It won’t. The only changes you will experience are insurers hiring more security and establishing more security protocols and probably hiring people to do frequent real time threat assessments for their top brass. And who does what in the organizations will be harder to find and they will become more private, and I bet their approval/denial decision making will become more opaque than it already is, but do I expect them to stop looting the American people. Good god no. There is way too much fucking money in medicine, health insurance, and pharmaceuticals, and we are now on the edge of widespread looting of every sector for the next few years.

    Okay, but….

    Okay, but everyone is tired of me saying stuff like this?
    Maybe but I’ll say it anyway.

    Okay, but, while, the shooting of one wealthy bozo won’t change a heck of a lot, we can now start demanding better health care, cheaper, and way better, and the God Emperor has concepts of a plan, so, start demanding lower refusal rates.  Call it the “Trump Don’t Care Dare,” to reduce unjustified rejections by 50% within the first year.

    Remember, we can ask for ANYTHING from the God Emperor. He’ll bring us 7% GDP growth, all through the power of tariffs, those beautiful words that mean other countries give us money, for no reason other than, you know, we put tariffs in place, and soon we won’t have to pay a nickel in taxes.

    Childcare too: *FREE* childcare, since we’re going to be so indescribably wealthy.

    Inflation 2% or lower can be part of the Trump Don’t Care Dare. Why pretend we’re going to work with them on *their* priorities? Let’s demand what was *promised*, right?

  96. 96.

    Wanderer

    @John Cole:  Been there done that.  Post op PT is what gets the joint limber.  It’s hard but certainly worth following the therapists’ instructions.  Recommend a few pairs of WIDE LEG yoga pants ($12.00/pair or so) this way no need to undress at the orthopedic follow up visits.  Trust me – saves pain and time at the visits.

  97. 97.

    Chris Johnson

    I think the fascinating thing about the UHC shooter is that he’s radicalized by Tucker Carlson, who I consider a propaganda arm of Russia doing what Russia does. He’s literally a product of that (and various other things).

    In that light, I’m delighted to see evidence that sometimes when you radicalize people and make them insane stochastic terrorists, sometimes they don’t target who you want them to target. I suppose it’s too much to expect Tucker Carlson to radicalize someone who then goes out and hunts Tucker Carlson, or Putin or whoever. But it would be neat if techbros, AI peddlers etc who ally with Russia and their people, in order to get their way, get immediately endangered by exactly what they enabled. A bunch of people enabling the Carlsons of the world seem very confident that the terrorism they bring about, will always be targeted at only their political enemies. They have a touching faith in the magic words of their own bullshit, but seem sheltered from conditions out there in the actual world.

  99. 99.

    Quinerly

    Thanks for all the great comments. Off to Nogales today.

    Cole, wishing for Joelle’s speedy recovery. Glad you are there with her.

  100. 100.

    evodevo

    @John Cole: Just had one in July – I’m 5 months post-op.  The first two weeks are the worst – you think you’ll never get better…but it does.  I’m still stiff, but walking on flat surfaces is fine (stumbling about in the woods cutting firewood, not so much).  I postponed my first PT appt. for several days – they were wanting to do it two days after surgery, no thanks!  They want to keep the tendons, etc. stretched so the leg doesn’t “freeze” in a straight position.  PT is painful, but gets you moving again.  I took no opioids (they disagree with me anyway) – they didn’t do that much for the pain and they  make you dizzy and a fall risk.  if she can take ibuprofen, that helped a lot. The hardest part is the toilet routine – make sure you have one of those handicap toilet frames that fit over the john – godsend lol.  She’ll need arm strength and a strong other leg to get around for a couple months.  It gets better then…

    OR what cmorenc said lol – that is good advice and what I found to be true…Good luck!!

  101. 101.

    terraformer

    It’d be helpful if *the idea* of health care execs NEEDING SECURITY was perhaps considered by low-info people. That might lead down the path of, “wait, what?” and perhaps a “WTAF” realization.

    But, alas we don’t live in that world.

  102. 102.

    WTFGhost

    @John Cole: You may end up needing a transport chair – not a *wheelchair*, which allows the patient to move it. The transport chair is to make it safer and easier to move someone who can’t move themselves.

    Why do I say that? So you can look through the house, and make sure you could wheel her through any area, with extra room for you to maneuver. Don’t buy or rent a chair yet – just, plenty of room, so you’re ready, and NOW… your pathways are mostly clear enough for a walker, as well, or, just for a cane, but cane and feet won’t slip or stumble.

    Of all the things I wished I had when I helped someone with knee replacement, wider pathways was what I wanted most. (I mean, other than the obvious – effective pain relief, etc..)

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