Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

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

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

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

The revolution will be supervised.

Let there be snark.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Republicans don’t trust women.

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

Wednesday Night Open Thread

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A cursory review of the news shows that today, like yesterday, was an unending assault by the forces of stupid and evil. The Ukraine thing is so maddening I can not even think about it with my blood pressure rising to dangerous levels. And the congestion pricing? I’m so old I remember when Republicans said you should leave local issues to locals.

Other than that, not much going on. Just work and prepping for some company coming this weekend. Today’s t-shirt was quite popular:

Today’s shirt

[image or embed]

— John Cole (@johngcole.bsky.social) February 19, 2025 at 2:02 PM

Fuck these people.

Reader Interactions

60Comments

  1. 1.

    different-church-lady

    HOW FUCKING STUPID DO YOU NEED TO BE TO BELIEVE BILLIONAIRES ARE GOING TO GIVE YOU CHEAP EGGS?

  5. 5.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Re-upping from Tom Levenson’s post downstairs…..

    Public comment is now open for passport gender marker changes, so something concrete you can do now to fight trans erasure is going to each of the three proposed passport rules, and submit comments.

    The Department of State has published 30-day notices for public comment for changes to the following passport forms:

    DS-11 new passport application
    DS-82 passport renewal
    DS-5504 name change or data corrections

    In all these cases, the changes made include changes related to the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” executive order, and requesting the biological sex at birth.

    My suggestion: be unique, argue for trans-inclusive policies, against the constitutionality of the changes, etc. Even if it’s sand in the gears, we need every little bit of help we can get.

  6. 6.

    different-church-lady

    Today the president of the United States DECLARED HIMSELF KING AND EVERYONE IS JUST FUCKING STANDING AROUND GOING “Uh… well…”

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    FYI. Intensifying institutional ignorance. (WaPo link)

    The State Department has ordered the cancellation of all news subscriptions deemed “non-mission critical,” according to internal email guidance viewed by The Washington Post. The move aligns with the Trump administration’s crackdown on media companies that count the U.S. government as paying customers.

    A Feb. 11 memo sent to embassies and consulates in Europe described the mandate as part of an effort to reduce spending. The email read, in part, “Considering this priority, posts are asked to immediately place Stop Work Orders on all non-mission critical contracts/purchase orders for media subscriptions (publications, periodicals, and newspaper subscriptions) that are not academic or professional journals.”

    The mandate applies globally, to hundreds of U.S. embassies and consulates, according to a State Department official who spoke with The Post on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. Embassy security teams rely on news coverage to prepare for diplomatic travel in conflict zones. The cancellation of subscriptions — including to local news outlets — could hinder their assessments of threats, the official said.
    [snip]
    A Friday memo directed procurement teams at embassies and consulates to prioritize the termination of contracts with six news organizations in particular: the Economist, the New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg News, the Associated Press and Reuters.
    [snip]
    A State Department employee who received the memos and shared them with The Post expressed concern that terminating news subscriptions — particularly to local outlets — would deprive embassies and consulates of information necessary to complete their mission. “This will endanger American lives overseas because we are being cut off from news sources that are needed on a daily basis,” said the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to comment to the press. Source

  10. 10.

    Suzanne

    an unending assault by the forces of stupid and evil

    Don’t forget their friends mendacious, mean, and contemptible.

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    don’t let anyone – social media commentators, your family/friends, co-workers – off the hook, or let them blow it off

    JUST TODAY

    • trumpov made yet another nod to being ‘king’
    • trumpov made yet another nod to letting Putin win in Ukraine

    If you have to, go all in and RUB IT IN THEIR FUCKING FACES that the libs were right (and have been right, for the past 9 years now) that trumpov was and is a fucking fascist completely in thrall to Putin.

    MAKE THEM SQUIRM!!!

  15. 15.

    Jeffro

    btw early today my MAGA dad, on a routine check-in call this morning, mentioned in passing that “this RFK Jr guy catches a lot of flak but maybe it’s a good idea to review these vaccine schedules and things…”

    HELL

    NO

    I probably let him off easier than I should have (especially considering that I’ve told him for 9 years now that supporting trumpov means following his corruption ALL the way down the spiral, to places he never imagined he’d be) but I stopped it all right then and there.

    “You’ve heard about the measles outbreak in Texas, right?  This is something we conquered DECADES ago.”

    “You know that most people just key off of what their leaders tell them, right?  What does it tell Americans when a person in power begins to publicly slam vaccines that have been keeping us safe for decades??!?”

    It’s getting easier to write off MAGA relatives and friends by the day.  With RFK Jr at the helm, they’ll be writing themselves off when the next pandemic hits, that’s for sure.

  17. 17.

    satby

    How about this? Thinking of having my friend make me a shirt that says:

    Ok, Which of You Bozos Voted for Musk?

  18. 18.

    different-church-lady

    @Jeffro: Question: would you be willing to say to your father, “You’re a fucking idiot” ?

    Because that might be what it takes.

  21. 21.

    bluefoot

    My Congressperson has been saying “More for billionaires, less for you” to explain the Republican agenda.  I like that it’s direct, clear and to the point.  I hope it catches on since things like rule of law, balance of powers, equality, etc doesn’t seem to matter but maybe people direct monetary self-interest will.

  22. 22.

    Jackie

    @different-church-lady:

    Today the president of the United States DECLARED HIMSELF KING AND EVERYONE IS JUST FUCKING STANDING AROUND GOING “Uh… well…”

    I’m so sickened, I can’t read more than headlines… NOT ONE REPUBLICAN IS SPEAKING AGAINST THIS.

    I truly wish I wasn’t alive to see this.

  25. 25.

    Suzanne

    @bluefoot:

    My Congressperson has been saying “More for billionaires, less for you”

    One of the dynamics that has been hard for us is that many people think billionaires are cool and thus our attacks do not land as we wish.

    Class resentment is so weird. It’s related to race, but also its own thing. I notice the most resentment in people to those just one click higher or lower on the socioeconomic scale. I am curious why that is.

  26. 26.

    Betty

    @Jackie: Governor Hochul came out with a strong statement against his claim when announcing they will fight his effort to cancel the NYC congestion pricing.

  28. 28.

    wjca

    @Suzanne:  I notice the most resentment in people to those just one click higher or lower on the socioeconomic scale. I am curious why that is.

    What it comes down to is that it’s easier to see yourself moving up or down one notch.  (Or those just below you moving up one notch.)  Close enough to be a threat.  Close enough to resent not having gotten there yourself.

    For most people, billionaires are so far away as to constitute a different planet.  In short, irrelevant to their lives.  No matter how big an impact they are actually having.

  29. 29.

    Suzanne

    @different-church-lady: It’s unfathomable to me that some people have deluded themselves into thinking that billionaires care about them at all. But lots of people look at the world through the lens of aspiration, probably more accurately described as covetousness.

  30. 30.

    Lyrebird

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Thanks for posting this here, so good to have something that I can do!

    My suggestion: be unique, argue for trans-inclusive policies, against the constitutionality of the changes, etc. Even if it’s sand in the gears, we need every little bit of help we can get.

    It’s been a while since I studied the Constitution – I remember something about bills of attainder, but I don’t think this would quite fit.  It’s cruel, wrong, immoral and fking evil, for sure, but would any of the legal Jackals be willing to put some legal talking points in a comment here for us Not A Lawyers?

  32. 32.

    narya

    Okay , jackals, I need to move my retirement funds. The broker I use (because my parents did/do) is apparently a Republican. How do I find someone who aligns with my values? And then move everything?

  33. 33.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Billionaires don’t care about you and yet, many of their policies are pimped by self professed, white progressives to the great detriment of POC.

  34. 34.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Suzanne:

    Class resentment is so weird. It’s related to race, but also its own thing. I notice the most resentment in people to those just one click higher or lower on the socioeconomic scale. I am curious why that is.

    In addition to what wjca mentioned, people one click higher/lower are the folks that they interact with the most. If you’re factory worker, you probably rarely if ever interact with the factory manager, let alone the CEO whose company owns the factory (or the equivalents if you’re a service worker or cube dweller). But you do interact with your manager, your kid’s teacher, the server at your favorite diner. the sales clerk at your local store, etc.

  37. 37.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @Sister Golden Bear: I remember reading about this when the Serbs were slaughtering their neighbors in the 90’s. There was a lot of prejudice against long-term neighbors & expression of joy upon the slaughterings of ancient enemies, while the killing of absolute strangers felt like an accident. We never evolved to be aware of distant or non-human-scale events. This is why the death of an individual can feel like a tragedy while the deaths of millions is only a statistic.

  38. 38.

    Kelly

    @narya: No Broker, No Guru, No Method. Well I do have a Method, buy and hold index funds. Sign up with Vanguard online. Many choices, Vanguard Total Stock Market, Vanguard Total Bond Market, Vanguard Balanced are good places to start. Balanced is 60% Total Stock 40% Total Bond in one convenient package. I’m currently mostly Balanced with enough Total bond to be 50% Stocks 50% Bonds. I don’t bother with Non-US funds. All the big US corps are international.

  41. 41.

    Jay

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop:

    In the Rwandan genocide, most of the victims, (Houthi and Tutsi) were landowners. Custom was that upon inheritance, land was divided amongst all the children. Population growth left many families with a postage stamp size of land, unable to support the family, while others, had managed to buy additional land.

    Those were the majority of the victims.

  44. 44.

    satby

    Train running 2 hours late, will finally get to Flagstaff by 11. Man, I enjoy Amtrak, but I’m ready to get to my hotel!

  46. 46.

    WTFGhost

    Fuck these people.

    If I may – I would fuck a $0.50 whore before I’d fuck *these* people. (Um. I wouldn’t fuck a $0.50 whore. I’d give her a $20 and say “can I beat the shit out of your pimp? I’m not afraid to die.”)

    Fucking is for people who, at the moment, you don’t think are Coyote Ugly, if I may make a cultural referent. “These” people are *always* Coyote Ugly.

    Um. Not being an activist, just… I fucked a woman I love more than life itself today. And I don’t want to have that share a word with “fuck these people.” No offense, my personal pet peeve, I actually left six months ago, so it’s okay to offend me if you want to, and,” if I may say, “I am Groot.”

  47. 47.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @satby:

    That’s hilarious! Here’s mine

    It’s interesting that MapQuest and the company that owns them is taking this tack. I was hoping the memeing they were doing on Twitter a week or so ago wasn’t just some intern and it was the company’s actual stance

    How long before Trump or some GOP political starts bitching about MapQuest?

  49. 49.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    It’s unfathomable to me that some people have deluded themselves into thinking that billionaires care about them at all.

    This needed to be repeated.

  51. 51.

    prostratedragon

    @Mr. Bemused Senior:

    One part of Krugman’s remarks that struck me:

    But Trump’s vision reminds me more of old-fashioned imperialism, in which powerful nations tried to seize the wealth of less-powerful nations just because they could. This doesn’t look to me like Weimar Germany in the 1920s; it looks like the Belgian Congo in the late 19th century, a personal possession of King Leopold which he brutally exploited for its rubber and ivory.

    Trying to carry out that kind of exploitation in the 21st century, in a nation that, once again, has been fighting for our freedom, is just depraved. So it seems almost inappropriate to point out that it’s also deeply stupid.

    Whatsisname seems to think US could extract 500b from Ukraine in the “deal,” and that this amount is a huge selling point for the country. But aside from defacing our name for generations, that sum would amount to nearly twice the 2021 GDP of the country; or at least as great as estimates of reconstruction cost when the war ends, which cost is of course rising daily. As Krugman points out, this would more onerous relatively than the postWWI costs imposed on Germany, which had been the aggressor, and of course those costs were not feasible either.

  53. 53.

    catclub

    @Ksmiami: Vanguard is owned by its investors, so I suspect  there might be one or two Republicans in the mix.

    Also, there was a poster who complained about terrible customer service, I think getting a will settled.

    I have not experienced bad customer service there.

  55. 55.

    AM in NC

    @Jeffro:  Russia/Ukraine – “why are Republicans aligning us with the Axis of Russia/North Korea and Iran against the Allied Powers of Western Europe and the rest of North America? ”

    Gen-X and older were formed by memories of WWII grandparents and parents and war movies on TV, and Russia being our BIG BAD enemy.

    Going for the “Patriotic Americans don’t support Russia” argument  could pay big dividends (I hope).

    I’m using that at FOX website to try to peel Veterans and older readers away from the fold.

  56. 56.

    Barry

    @Suzanne: ”

    Class resentment is so weird. It’s related to race, but also its own thing. I notice the most resentment in people to those just one click higher or lower on the socioeconomic scale. I am curious why that is.”

    They can see those people, and how they live.  They have no idea of how billionaires live.

  60. 60.

    WTFGhost

    @prostratedragon: The other part of it, is, if Trump had asked for development rights worth mere “hundreds of billions,” with an appropriate share going to Ukrainians, and with security guarantees and an invite to NATO, he’d have been an effing hero like few others before him. “The only President to literally punch Russia, right in the nose, and get away with it!”

    Instead, “might makes right” and that’s all he knows. He’d rather fail like a tyrant, than succeed like a liberal.

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