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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

The revolution will be supervised.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

People are complicated. Love is not.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

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

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

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

Open Thread

by John Cole|  March 6, 20257:34 pm| 149 Comments

This post is in: John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House"

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I am sorry for my intemperate post earlier, I am just so fucking mad and frustrated right now.

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Previous Post: « GOP Deep Trench Bench Open Thread: Meet the Millers!
Next Post: War for Ukraine Day 1,106: Trump & His National Security Team Seek to Subvert Ukraine spy v. spy flyouts»

Reader Interactions

149Comments

  1. 1.

    Anne Laurie

    March 6, 2025 at 7:39 pm

    You just don’t want to embarrass the Millers and their boytoy, do ya?!?

  2. 2.

    Juju

    March 6, 2025 at 7:43 pm

    @Anne Laurie: I really don’t think one could embarrass the Millers.

  3. 3.

    Lily

    March 6, 2025 at 7:44 pm

    For no reason except reviving myself tonight after a bad month:  Live Aid for Ethiopia famine 1985 Queen live concert

  4. 4.

    thruppence

    March 6, 2025 at 7:44 pm

    Intemperate? Screaming rage is appropriate now.

  5. 5.

    chrisanthemama

    March 6, 2025 at 7:45 pm

    Only thing wrong with your previous post was not enough F-bombs.  Do better, Cole!

  6. 6.

    Ohio Mom

    March 6, 2025 at 7:48 pm

    Just took a quick look at that thread. Another circular firing squad. Glad I had other things to do today besides hang out here.

  7. 7.

    Bulgakov

    March 6, 2025 at 7:49 pm

    I saw nothing intemperate. Apology not needed.

    After 50+ years as a registered Democrat, raised by a mother who held an office in the MO Young Democrats during Truman’s years, and generally supporting the most progressive Dem candidate in the Presidential primaries and then voting for whomever the party nominated, I disaffiliated with the party in February.

    Enough with these corporate tools leading the party and allowing our country to be destroyed from within by Republicans without putting up a fight.

  8. 8.

    flagpole

    March 6, 2025 at 7:50 pm

    Soul of temperance, I should say.  If the Dems have a plan, it isn’t apparent, and, if they don’t, then fuck’em sideways with a pulaski.  At this point, I’m putting them in the same basket as Dandy Dan Newhouse,  my shitbird Rep who introduce the censure motion and, generally speaking, has never seen a MAGA ass he didn’t want to kiss (having committed a paroxysm of morality by voting for impeachment).

  9. 9.

    LeonS

    March 6, 2025 at 7:51 pm

    That seemed pretty tame by Cole post standards, and certainly not far off what most of us are feeling.

  10. 10.

    PaulWartenberg

    March 6, 2025 at 7:55 pm

    Everybody’s angry… except for the Dem leadership, which is shockingly unfocused and barely doing anything in opposition to the trump/Musk disaster run.

  11. 11.

    am

    March 6, 2025 at 7:56 pm

    You used to eat coal and shit diamonds on this blog. You are needed in this moment, and you are up to the challenge. Go read Timequake or a summary of it.

    “You were sick, but now you’re well again, and there’s work to do.”

  12. 12.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    March 6, 2025 at 7:58 pm

    As I said below, it was Gilliard-esque and  that’s not been a feature on this blog, unfortunately, for a long time.

  13. 13.

    Viva BrisVegas

    March 6, 2025 at 8:00 pm

    Sitting here in Noumea a thousand miles from home because a tropical cyclone is bearing down on Brisbane.

    At least the cyclone is supposed to be bearing down, it seems to have stalled just offshore for the last two days.

    The problem with that is that local waters are unusually warm and the cyclone may pick up strength and moisture.

    The slower it goes, the longer it sits over one spot, and the more rain and flooding in that spot.

    At the moment I’m on a cruise ship that can’t go home until the cyclone goes away.

    Still there are lots of people worse off. Like Democrats. At least the cyclone will go away. Trump won’t.

  14. 14.

    Bill Arnold

    March 6, 2025 at 8:06 pm

    @Viva BrisVegas:
    Your cruise ship (and others) made the international news, BTW.
    How big are the swells?

  15. 15.

    TBone

    March 6, 2025 at 8:07 pm

    Ya gotta raise a little hell music for J.C.

    m.youtube.com/watch?v=uiZtXvECE_Y

  16. 16.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 8:07 pm

    Trump pausing tariffs on some Canadian goods until April 2
    Canada to keep counter-tariffs in place, delay additional levies

    cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-trump-trade-war-deal-1.7476311

  17. 17.

    bbleh

    March 6, 2025 at 8:08 pm

    @thruppence: yeah this

  18. 18.

    Betty

    March 6, 2025 at 8:09 pm

    Not sure if it matters to you, but Chris Hayes is making a strong case in favor of more loud resistance to the Trump-Musk fiasco.

  19. 19.

    Viva BrisVegas

    March 6, 2025 at 8:10 pm

    @Bill Arnold: Out here at Noumea the swells are probably less than a meter. Off of Brisbane the wave recorders are showing more than ten meters.

  20. 20.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 8:12 pm

    I am sorry for my intemperate post earlier

    Hey, when you’re right, you’re right.

  21. 21.

    Bill Arnold

    March 6, 2025 at 8:14 pm

    My mood: a cloud of angry murder hornets.
    And that is self-censored more than a bit.

    Yet another Wired story. It’s somewhat complicated; agencies are being asked to assess the impact of cuts of various sizes. But still very very bad. The Orange Antichrist’s demonic minions:
    Pentagon Cuts Threaten Programs That Secure Loose Nukes and Weapons of Mass Destruction – Documents obtained by WIRED show the US Department of Defense is considering cutting up to 75 percent of workers who stop the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. (MAR 6, 2025, Wired)

  22. 22.

    Baud

    March 6, 2025 at 8:14 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    When has he ever been right?

  23. 23.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 8:15 pm

    I mean, the leadership spent an entire summer telling us (quite rightly) that a Trump re-election was an apocalypse, but then wet their pants so badly they couldn’t say one good word about their own candidate. So I’m not really expecting much better now.

  24. 24.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 8:15 pm

    @Baud: Seriously, he knew “EMAILS” was going to be a big deal before any of the rest of us believed it.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    March 6, 2025 at 8:17 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Isn’t that because he fell for it like many other people?

  26. 26.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    March 6, 2025 at 8:18 pm

    @thruppence: I do not disagree

    So long as the rage is directed at the people trying to shred everything good and beautiful about our Union.

  27. 27.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 8:18 pm

    @Baud: Wasn’t my read at the time. Cole knows what the rubes are going to fall for, even if he no longer falls for it himself.

  28. 28.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 8:19 pm

    People appear to be in the mood for a circus. We’re dead if Trump gives it to them and we just sit there. Dignity is dead — Trump has killed it.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    March 6, 2025 at 8:19 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    I just remember a bunch of people here treated it as a serious issue on the merits.

  30. 30.

    Bill Arnold

    March 6, 2025 at 8:20 pm

    @Viva BrisVegas:
    Ah, not bad where you are.
    In WWII the Queen Mary (ocean liner) was used as a troop transport, without escorts because it was faster.
    My father was on it, eastbound to England. They packed like 10 men per cabin, and his ship hit a storm; every cabin had vomiting GIs.

  31. 31.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 8:21 pm

    @Baud: What I remember is that Cole said it was a stupid blunder, and even though it was a totally minor transgression it would get blow up into a major thing that wouldn’t go away. He really nailed it right off the bat.

    I remember it pretty vividly because… I didn’t think he was right.

  32. 32.

    frosty

    March 6, 2025 at 8:22 pm

    @Bulgakov: Circle, forming up now!

  33. 33.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 8:23 pm

    Rumours of massive layoffs in the Wisconsin and Dakota coalfields coming.

    The backstory is that it’s thermal coal, sold to China for power plants. It’s shipped through Vancouver, tax free, as no US Ports will handle it. Point Roberts Coal Port was created in the 1970’s to only handle BC and Alberta coal exports. BC is looking at shutting the shipments down entirely. BC and Alberta coal these days is only metallurgical.

    Ontario’s 25% power tax goes in place Monday.

    Sask has climbed on board with a potash, (fertilizer) tariff.

  34. 34.

    Martin

    March 6, 2025 at 8:25 pm

    @Jay: This is the stuff that is going to start really mattering.

  35. 35.

    New Deal democrat

    March 6, 2025 at 8:25 pm

    Well, it looks like I picked a good day to make a road trip to a couple of specialty nurseries to pick up some unusual plants for spring.

    There is no good rule book for how a minority can resist a fall into tyranny, if the would-be tyrant retains popular approval (I know, he’s under 50% now, but not nearly by enough). So from time to time there are going to be outbursts of frustration. The time will come, and very soon, for an organized ideological counter-offensive. But we are still finding our footing.

    As an aside, has anyone seen any actual polling on how T—-p’s threats against, e.g., Canada are being received within the US?

  36. 36.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 8:27 pm

    @Martin: As always, my suggested statement of sympathy is, “ARE YOU ENJOYING YOUR CHEAP EGGS, DUMBFUCKS?”

  37. 37.

    MagdaInBlack

    March 6, 2025 at 8:28 pm

    @Jay: Saw something about B.C. working on legislation to toll U.S. commercial trucks traveling to Alaska?

    eta: nm, got my answer, ty.

  38. 38.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 8:28 pm

    @Martin:

    Oh, and road taxes for trucks crossing BC to Alaska. The Yukon’s adding their own, all based on GVW

    Magda,

    both ways, 4 taxes. 2 in BC coming and going, 2 in the Yukon, coming and going.

    Also a transit fee for fishing boats heading up to Alaska or coming back.

  39. 39.

    Bill Arnold

    March 6, 2025 at 8:33 pm

    @New Deal democrat:
    Digby linked this, which doesn’t cover tariffs or threats, but is interesting.
    Americans Don’t Support Autocrats – Trump’s Illiberal Actions are Unpopular and Politicians Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Say So (RYAN ENOS AND SAM FULLER, MAR 06, 2025)
    Charts detailing the following:

    In particular, we asked people how much they support the following authoritarian actions (full questions can be seen at the end of the post):
    – Working with Elon Musk to purge the government of disloyal civil servants.
    – The closing of USAID without Congressional approval.
    – The firing of FBI agents and DOJ attorneys who had investigated the January 6th, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
    – The proposal to close the Department of Education by executive order.
    – The firing of 18 Inspectors General without cause.

  40. 40.

    Eric S.

    March 6, 2025 at 8:33 pm

    @Ohio Mom: I was also busy. I read Cole’s OP. I’m not going to venture into comments.

    It was Avery tame post when compared to Cole’s historical standards.

  41. 41.

    Eric S.

    March 6, 2025 at 8:36 pm

    @Baud: Prior to Schiavo?

  42. 42.

    New Deal democrat

    March 6, 2025 at 8:38 pm

    @Bill Arnold: Thanks. It’s a start, anyway.

  43. 43.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 8:38 pm

    @New Deal democrat:

    Doesn’t really matter.

    Canada is full on pissed off.

    King Charles III hosted President Zelenskyy on a Brit aircraft carriers to watch F-35 launches. The King wore his honorary Canadian Admiral uniform with his Canadian medals.

    On the bright side for the US, Pete Hegseth has promised to buy all the US booze that Canada isn’t buying. On the bad side, it took 3 months for the CEO of Jack Daniels to figure out that pulling all US booze off Canadian shelves, was much, much worse than a 25% counter tariff.

  44. 44.

    zhena gogolia

    March 6, 2025 at 8:41 pm

    @HopefullyNotcassandra: RIGHT. WHY IS THAT SO HARD?

  45. 45.

    Bill Arnold

    March 6, 2025 at 8:42 pm

    A few of Trump’s pre-election promises (September, 2024):
    “Vote Trump, and your incomes will soar. Your net worth will skyrocket. Your energy costs and grocery prices will come tumbling down.”

  46. 46.

    glc

    March 6, 2025 at 8:42 pm

    @LeonS:

    That seemed pretty tame by Cole post standards, and certainly not far off what most of us are feeling.

    I could endorse some of the harsher formulations in this thread but this is the one that appeals to me.

    Also – Hakeem Jeffries is sick of hearing from liberals…

     

    .

  47. 47.

    New Deal democrat

    March 6, 2025 at 8:45 pm

    @Jay:

    Doesn’t really matter.

    Canada is full on pissed off.

    I suspect it *would* matter to a lot of Canadians, regardless at how angry they are at T—-p’s threats, if 90% of Americans opposed him vs. only 50%.

    And it would matter even more to internal US politics orchestrating domestic opposition to his threats, which would help ensure he doesn’t try to make them a reality.

  48. 48.

    Eric S.

    March 6, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    @Jay: Any news link to share on the coal story?

  49. 49.

    Kayla Rudbek

    March 6, 2025 at 8:49 pm

    @Jay: so King Charles III learned from his mother after all…

  50. 50.

    Betty

    March 6, 2025 at 8:49 pm

    Chris Hayes just announced that his podcast this week is with Elle Reeve about her book. That’s cool!

  51. 51.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 8:52 pm

    @New Deal democrat:

    Nope, doesn’t matter to us. The Canada/US relationship is done and over. USMCA is dead.

    NATO and NORAD are on life support.

    Article 5 in regards to the US will be a big Canadian Nope.

    5Eyes is dead.

    The F-35 contract may be cancelled.

    There was a Washington State licensed Tesla in the parking lot the other day. All 4 tires were slashed, Nazi symbols and other stuff was spray painted all over the body and glass, with epoxy paint.

    All the glass will have to be replaced, the body sandblasted and repainted, about $10k damage to a $15k car at best.

    The car was sitting there for a couple of days, because BC tow trucks won’t tow it and BC Bodyshops won’t take it, so the vandalism got worse.

  52. 52.

    satby

    March 6, 2025 at 8:53 pm

    @zhena gogolia: because they don’t care. We can only wound people on our side because they do. And hurting people seems to be a passtime that has become popular since it distracts from our own hurt. It isn’t being harnessed productively though.

  53. 53.

    SW

    March 6, 2025 at 8:54 pm

    Look I don’t mind some confusion.  I’m confused.  But censoring Al Green was a bridge too far.  Leadership should have had his back even if they disagreed with the tactic.

  54. 54.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 8:54 pm

    @Eric S.:

    Search the Tyee site.

    thetyee.ca/

  55. 55.

    TurnItOffAndOnAgain

    March 6, 2025 at 8:54 pm

    We talk all the time about how the Liberal Media never existed. So why do we let so much unsubstantiated BS get to us?

    Going forward we can develop more stringent standards for stories or sources we trust. Any story’s that’s just “he said she said” or comes from a source that’s previously and repeatedly demonstrated they like pitting the left against itself should probably be treated with caution at best.

    @glc:

    I’m slow. That story about Jeffries is from 2021. Was that the point?

  56. 56.

    Baud

    March 6, 2025 at 8:58 pm

    @SW:

    Leadership voted against censure.

  57. 57.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 9:04 pm

    @Baud:

    10 alleged Democrat’s voted for censure.

    No even enough spine to vote “present”.

  58. 58.

    New Deal democrat

    March 6, 2025 at 9:04 pm

    @Jay: Ok, at this point I really don’t care what you think about Canada’s internal reaction.

    As an American, I want to know what Americans’ internal reaction is. And whether you like it or not, Americans’ internal reaction will make a lot of difference in terms of how real the threat is.

    Have a nice night.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    March 6, 2025 at 9:04 pm

    @Jay:

    None of the 10 were in leadership.

  60. 60.

    glc

    March 6, 2025 at 9:05 pm

    @TurnItOffAndOnAgain:

    (It’s been a theme lately – but it was obscure to toss that in like that. apologies.)

  61. 61.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 6, 2025 at 9:05 pm

    The 2013-14 “Revolution of Dignity” in Ukraine that forced out the corrupt and brutal Yanukovych government was not initiated or led by members of the legislature. It came from the streets. Just saying. Members of Parliament or Members of Congress are never the vanguard of anything.

  62. 62.

    Elizabelle

    March 6, 2025 at 9:06 pm

    And:  another Space X Starship has blown up.  Good thing he’s got a day “job” with “DOGE.”

    The Guardian:

    SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft exploded on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, dooming an attempt to deploy mock satellites in the second consecutive failure this year for Elon Musk’s Mars rocket program.

    Several videos on social media showed fiery debris streaking through the dusk skies near south Florida and the Bahamas after Starship’s breakup in space, which occurred shortly after it began to spin uncontrollably with its engines cut off, a SpaceX livestream of the mission showed.

    The failure comes just more than a month after the company’s seventh Starship flight also ended in an explosive failure. The back-to-back mishaps occurred in early mission phases that SpaceX has easily surpassed previously, indicating serious setbacks for a program Musk has sought to speed up this year.

    The 403ft (123-meter) rocket system had lifted off at about 6.30pm ET (2300 GMT) from SpaceX’s sprawling Boca Chica, Texas, rocket facilities, with its Super Heavy first-stage booster returning to land as planned.
    But minutes later, SpaceX’s livestream showed the Starship upper stage spinning in space, while a visualization of the rocket’s engines showed multiple engines shut down before the company confirmed it had lost contact with the ship.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    March 6, 2025 at 9:06 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Except the Continental Congress.

    But generally you’re correct.

  64. 64.

    TONYG

    March 6, 2025 at 9:10 pm

    That’s OK.  As the old joke goes, if you aren’t pissed off you aren’t paying attention.

  65. 65.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 6, 2025 at 9:11 pm

    @Elizabelle: I think Elon should test drive the next one. Show some confidence in your work, man.

  66. 66.

    Martin

    March 6, 2025 at 9:12 pm

    @Jay: At the end of the day, pretty much the only thing Americans care about is their wallets. A million dead to covid – we don’t bat an eye. Raise the cost of your egg salad sandwich ingredients to $1, and we’ll throw the constitution out.

  67. 67.

    New Deal democrat

    March 6, 2025 at 9:13 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Members of Parliament or Members of Congress are never the vanguard of anything.

    And in the long run, that has been one of the fatal flaws in the Madisonian presidential system, and why almost every single one has fallen into periods of presidential tyranny.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 6, 2025 at 9:14 pm

    @Jay: I am pretty sure the Wisconsin coal fields will be fine.  There are none.

  69. 69.

    Martin

    March 6, 2025 at 9:15 pm

    @Elizabelle: I wonder if he’ll regret building extremely explosive and not remotely hardened rockets a mile from the Mexico border where anyone with a high powered rifle can likely shoot and destroy them.

  70. 70.

    SW

    March 6, 2025 at 9:19 pm

    @Baud: I should hope so!  But what were the consequences for the ten who voted for it?  That is a leadership or rather lack of leadership issue.

  71. 71.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 9:19 pm

    @New Deal democrat:

    Sadly, no it won’t

    I am Canadian, we hold grudges.

    DJTdiot may have paused tariffs for now,

    You probably haven’t noticed, but Canada hasn’t.

  72. 72.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:24 pm

    @Jay: Look, we’ll be fine. Eventually things will be repaired when we get rid of Trump and… okay, never mind, I can’t do this…

  73. 73.

    geg6

    March 6, 2025 at 9:25 pm

    Why?  Why would you be sorry?  You said what I’m screaming in my head about a hundred times a day.  All the so-called elites of this country have failed us.  This is one instance where you can actually say both sides are the same.  Cowards on both sides of the aisle.

  74. 74.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:25 pm

    @Martin: Unless, of course, it’s a Republican in charge when the egg salad sandwich goes up, in which case we’ll [checks notes] forgive the Republican and then throw out the constitution anyway.

  75. 75.

    Elizabelle

    March 6, 2025 at 9:26 pm

    @Martin:  Now that is an interesting concept.

    Usually like to see science succeed.  But not Elon’s.

  76. 76.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 9:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    thetyee.ca/News/2025/02/27/Eby-Looks-Tariffs-US-Coal-Shipped-BC/

  77. 77.

    Noskilz

    March 6, 2025 at 9:29 pm

    These are terribly frustrating times.

    Every day seems to bring a new catalog of viscious stupidity, and we are in that awkward period where we can see everything accelerating toward a brick wall, but things haven’t totally hit the fan yet.

  78. 78.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 6, 2025 at 9:29 pm

    @Jay: Wisconsin and Wyoming are actually different places.  I hope that helps.

  79. 79.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 9:30 pm

    @New Deal democrat:

    There is no “American” internal reaction.

    Y’all can’t even find Canada on a map.

  80. 80.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:31 pm

    @Noskilz: I share your frustration, but… “Block that metaphor!”

  81. 81.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:31 pm

    @Jay: That’s because it’s been renamed “Upper America” by Dumbfuck Hitler.

  82. 82.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:32 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Wisconsin and Wyoming are actually different places.

    But not much.

  83. 83.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 9:32 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I know and remember a lot of stuff, so when I off the cuff things, it’s not always bang on, too bad.

    Look at me, being polite and civil to an enemy of my country.

  84. 84.

    Glory b

    March 6, 2025 at 9:32 pm

    @SW: What consequences would make you happy?

  85. 85.

    RaflW

    March 6, 2025 at 9:36 pm

    @TurnItOffAndOnAgain: Yes. Axios is shit-stirring. It’s fun for them, and takes some of the heat off Trump just floundering around on tariffs and the economy.

  86. 86.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 6, 2025 at 9:36 pm

    @Jay: And yet you doubled down.  And if you want call me an enemy of your country, you can kindly go fuck yourself.

  87. 87.

    New Deal democrat

    March 6, 2025 at 9:36 pm

    @Jay: I grew up 4 miles from Canada and visited frequently.

    Have a nice night.

  88. 88.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 9:37 pm

    @Glory b:

    A Susan Collins worried frown,

    a letter of disappointment.

    No dessert?

  89. 89.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 9:38 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You are an American, you are now an enemy.

    Helps to keep things simple.

  90. 90.

    RaflW

    March 6, 2025 at 9:38 pm

    @different-church-lady: “Wyoming, the Other Dairy State”

    Maybe that’s not it.

  91. 91.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:40 pm

    @RaflW: Wisconsin: Wyoming, but with crooked edges.​

  92. 92.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:41 pm

    Y’all are having a fight with a Canadian, and it’s not even a hockey game.

  93. 93.

    RaflW

    March 6, 2025 at 9:42 pm

    delete

  94. 94.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 6, 2025 at 9:43 pm

    @Elizabelle: Elon Musk isn’t doing science. SpaceX is doing engineering, and for a while they were mostly doing *good* engineering from a purely technical point of view, but Starship has always seemed to me like a “keep Elon occupied” project that went out of control. It’s a boondoggle. Nothing scientific is going to be learned from it.

  95. 95.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:44 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: We learned more about how rockets blow up.

  96. 96.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 6, 2025 at 9:46 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: How much taxpayer money has been wasted?

  97. 97.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:46 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: All of it, Katie.

  98. 98.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 9:52 pm

    Canada to keep counter-tariffs on $30B worth of U.S. goods after Trump’s partial pause

    cbc.ca/news

  99. 99.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:54 pm

    @Jay: Other than bourbon what the hell do you even buy from us?

  100. 100.

    Glory b

    March 6, 2025 at 9:55 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Funny, long before “all this” I remember a story that said a lot of tome & energy at SpaceX was spent running interference so that Elon could think that he was being consulted & his great ideas implemented so that the actual employees could work in peace.

  101. 101.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:55 pm

    @different-church-lady: Now that I think about it… other than bourbon what the hell do I ever buy?

  102. 102.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 9:57 pm

    In case anyone’s interested, it looks like egg #3 has hatched.

  103. 103.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 6, 2025 at 10:00 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: So, NASA had this program to go back to the Moon, called Artemis, and even before Trump got back in it was kind of fucked up in many ways. But one of the ways was that for the Artemis moon lander (at least as one possibility), they picked SpaceX to give them a derivative of Starship adapted as a colossal crewed lunar module.

    This is kind of a dumb idea just on the face of it. I think the plan was to do a bunch of Starship launches with some kind of orbital refueling depot scheme just to get this thing into orbit with enough fuel to get it to the Moon. But my understanding is, SpaceX has been using that Artemis lander funding just to do Starship development, including capabilities that NASA doesn’t really care about.

  104. 104.

    New Deal democrat

    March 6, 2025 at 10:00 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Y’all are having a fight with a Canadian, and it’s not even a hockey game.

    When I was vacationing in Arizona last month, I had occasion to get into conversations with several snowbirding Canadian couples. I was going to offer to buy them drinks as guilty reparations for T—-p’s comments, but I didn’t have to. They were chatty and friendly just like all the other times before T—-p I have ever encountered Canadians on the road.

    So our interlocutor might possibly not be representative. Shocking for a blog commenter, I know.

  105. 105.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 10:01 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Over $277 billion dollars of “stuff”.

    A little over half of what you used to buy from us.

    It’s all going to the EU and China now.

  106. 106.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 10:03 pm

    @New Deal democrat:

    Funny how a month can change things.

  107. 107.

    RaflW

    March 6, 2025 at 10:07 pm

    I’m reading the latest from James Fallows, and the following really struck me.

    I’ll preface this by saying that I loathe GW Bush. How he got in office is despicable. One of the shitty Brooks Brothers Rioters is now on the Supreme Court. But all that and so much more (Iraq, grotesque tax cuts… blah blah bah) aside, can anyone imagine the following happening with current Republicans. And I mean any of them in office. Governors, senators, so on.

    Consider this example from George W. Bush. In early 2007, Bush addressed a Congress that had switched to Democratic control, after big Republican losses in the midterms. As prescribed by ritual, new Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the chamber to order, and said that she had the “high privilege and distinct honor” of welcoming a president to the Capitol. Bush’s first words were these:

    “Thank you very much. And tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own—as the first President to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker.” (Applause.)

    Impossible now. Because a woman rising to this level of power today would be attacked in a total conservative Jihad. But then, GW Bush said what he did, wether he meant it or not, in front of probably 100,000,000 viewers. The GOP was bad then, but it’s orders of magnitude worse now.

  108. 108.

    Glory b

    March 6, 2025 at 10:13 pm

    @RaflW: ALL of the Brooks Brothers rioters got judicial appointments.

    What a coincidence!

  109. 109.

    JoyceH

    March 6, 2025 at 10:20 pm

    I guess it’s sequel season. Another Elon rocket explodes and another measles death – this one an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico.

  110. 110.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 10:22 pm

    @JoyceH:

    RFK jr has it in hand, with cod liver oil.

  111. 111.

    Gloria DryGarden

    March 6, 2025 at 10:24 pm

    @Baud: what’s your take on those 10? Was there a strategy under it, for why they voted to censure? How does it benefit whom?

  112. 112.

    Citizen Alan

    March 6, 2025 at 10:25 pm

    @glc: That’s from 2021

  113. 113.

    RaflW

    March 6, 2025 at 10:28 pm

    @Glory b: Yeah I was pretty sure it was more than just Boof, but I didn’t want to look it up and feel more depressed.

  114. 114.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 6, 2025 at 10:29 pm

    @Baud: 95% of House Dems voted the right way.

  115. 115.

    Gloria DryGarden

    March 6, 2025 at 10:36 pm

    @Jay: half of what we used to buy from Canada, that seems like a big deal. These changes may hurt, a lot.

    At the same time, I’m really glad to see Canada and Mexico standing strong, stepping up to not be jerked around by a strange unskilled president.

    It occurs to me, it would be an effective strategy to import products from blue owners, blue states. To help bolster what might be effective resistance, to make a statement. As a long term strategy.

    It makes sense for Canada to be prepared for unthinkable things. It makes no sense to buy into rhetoric that we’re enemies now. Sure, mr Cheeto-Lago’s intentions are that of an enemy.
    And 49% of USians are not in his camp. I hope people are just being silly with the snarkiness toward one another here.

  116. 116.

    M31

    March 6, 2025 at 10:38 pm

    @Glory b: I heard there was a whole administrative layer at spacex whose sole purpose was to insulate the real work from elon’s bullshit

    Tesla probably gave him cybertruck to keep him away from the actual cars

    Twitter, of course, had no such barrier, it’s 100% elon and therefore a useless nazi hellhole

    his goal is for the US to be a nazi hellhole too

    we balloonjuicers might have to start being bigger and more abrasive assholes, reaching under the counter for the baseball bat or else it’s a nazi bar all the way down

    (not to each other, of course, that would never happen)

  117. 117.

    M31

    March 6, 2025 at 10:41 pm

    @Jay: jesus christ, cod liver oil, it’s like we’re going back to quack 19th-C patent medicine

    soon it’ll be William Kellogg style health care — everyone gets a coffee enema every morning, eats only corn flakes, listens to lectures about the perils of masturbation, and dies of TB

  118. 118.

    columbusqueen

    March 6, 2025 at 10:54 pm

    Just learned tonight that a couple I used to be close friends with have FOFO thanks to voting for Trump. She was the primary breadwinner for years, but her job at Battelle was eliminated Tuesday because of losing federal funding, & she’s not eligible for rehire. He’s on disability after a lifetime of various jobs, & needed more back surgery he now doesn’t have insurance to do.

    I feel callous as hell, but I feel like telling they’ve asked for this. I was able to ignore their politics for a long time, but he turned into a complete asshole thanks to Trump. She was always a kinder person, but her Catholic pro life beliefs made her vote conservative. Now they’ve cut their own throats, & I just can’t offer a scrap of sympathy.

  119. 119.

    different-church-lady

    March 6, 2025 at 10:58 pm

    @columbusqueen: See me at #36.

  120. 120.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 11:17 pm

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    Unfortunately, there is only a few way’s in certain areas, to Blue State/Red State things. While Ontario’s shelf cleansing hit Red State distillers, it also hit Napa Valley wines.

    And it’s not a Red State thing.

    It’s the US government doing it.

  121. 121.

    YY_Sima Qian

    March 6, 2025 at 11:17 pm

    @Jay: Uhh, the owner of the Washington State plated Tesla is probably a Dem voter, & it isn’t like there are that many choices for EVs in the US (& Canada for that matter), outside of Tesla, for the environmentally conscious.

    On the USMCA, there was a poison pill in there that gave the US veto over Canada & Mexico concluding FTA w/ non-market economies (read, the PRC). Probably just as well that the deal is now effectively defunct. The PRC has formally submitted applications to joint the CPTPP, & all the messaging internally suggest that it is serious effort. Canada, along w/ the UK, was sure to veto the application on the US’ behalf. That might change now, in light of the new reality (not sure about UK). Of course, that assumes that the PRC is really willing to sign up to the CPTPP’s tough terms.

    Might want to drop that 100% tariff on Chinese EVs/PHEVs that Trudeau imposed last year to stay aligned w/ Biden, if Canadians are no longer wiling to buy Teslas.

  122. 122.

    YY_Sima Qian

    March 6, 2025 at 11:19 pm

    @columbusqueen: A disabled person voting R… Talk about voting against your self-interest.

  123. 123.

    Aziz, light!

    March 6, 2025 at 11:22 pm

    Fuck all y’all who are shitting on Jay. Our closest friends have been told their country isn’t real. Fucking American superiority complex.

  124. 124.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 6, 2025 at 11:36 pm

    @Aziz, light!: Who is shitting on  Jay?

  125. 125.

    YY_Sima Qian

    March 6, 2025 at 11:39 pm

    @Aziz, light!: Last week(?), in the last round of internecine fight, I mentioned in one of my posts about different kinds of privilege at work. The last one was privilege that comes from being a resident &/or citizen of the US, & thus benefiting from its hegemonic (military, economic, cultural, financial) position in the world & its exploitation of the ROW (including, at times, its allies & partners). That applies even to marginalized minorities (even the Native Americans) in the US, in relation to the ROW.

    Jay is being cantankerous today, just like all of us have at various times, when each of us feel we are the marginalized & victimized. Best to remember that, in other contexts, we might be the privileged & the victimizer.

    The sh*t that happen in the US does not stay in the US, it spills out to the world almost instantaneously, & the more vulnerable countries are often even less well equipped than the US to withstand the onslaught. Almost all of the domestic pathologies of the US find their expression in foreign lands at the same time as, some times prior to, their emergence at home. Unlike USians, though, people in other countries are not protected by US laws or checks & balances, & have had little influence over the events in the US that affect them.

  126. 126.

    Quiltingfool

    March 6, 2025 at 11:48 pm

    I read ElectoralVote.com and found this tidbit rather interesting.

    Please don’t throw tomatoes at me…

    electoral-vote.com/evp2025/Items/Mar06-8.html

  127. 127.

    Jay

    March 6, 2025 at 11:52 pm

    @Quiltingfool:

    Broken link

  128. 128.

    columbusqueen

    March 7, 2025 at 12:00 am

    @YY_Sima Qian: He was brought up conservative, & refuses to rethink anything. Another mediocre white man who would rather vote for his illusionary privilege & die for it, than click the lever for a black woman. Bloody-minded jackass. Given that his grandpa was Russian, I’m tempted to tell him to move back since he wants a dictator.

  129. 129.

    Another Scott

    March 7, 2025 at 12:34 am

    @Jay: (Link works fine here in NoVA.)

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  130. 130.

    Jay

    March 7, 2025 at 1:28 am

    @Another Scott:

    Works now, was missing a period.

  131. 131.

    MobiusKlein

    March 7, 2025 at 1:39 am

    @Quiltingfool: Tomatoes? Have you looked at the prices lately? I’ll be throwing something I can afford.

  132. 132.

    sentient ai from the future

    March 7, 2025 at 1:47 am

    @M31: keep in mind also that the cod fishery that would have supported a nostrum like that was way earlier in its collapse from overfishing

  133. 133.

    Gloria DryGarden

    March 7, 2025 at 1:52 am

    @M31: the government needs to stay out of my bedroom, and out of my pants.
    how about the perils of not masturbating? If it weren’t on the edge of after dark word play, I’d say that whole way of thinking and the persons behind it, need to fuck off.

  134. 134.

    Gloria DryGarden

    March 7, 2025 at 1:59 am

    @Jay: i sure hope the folks from this new government feel the consequences of what they’ve done to the nation.
    Other nations are doing what y’all need to do, and I’m rooting for you.

  135. 135.

    sab

    March 7, 2025 at 2:19 am

    @Gloria DryGarden: I fully expect that soon these bozos will lose us our current status as the world’s reserve currency. Then we will really learn about FAFO.

  136. 136.

    sab

    March 7, 2025 at 2:27 am

    @YY_Sima Qian: My black middle aged hairdresser bought a Tesla years ago because EV, Now he is stuck driving it around because he cannot give it away. He is embarrassed but he needs a car and can’t afford to ditch it.

    Scary as hell to live where when the richest man in the world could and did buy our government but is so rich and ketamine addled that he doesn’t even care about his customers or his potential future markets or his shareholders or anything besides his own drug addled emotional needs.

  137. 137.

    YY_Sima Qian

    March 7, 2025 at 2:53 am

    @sab: Also, a lack of choice, as a consequence of the decisions by the US (& Germany, Japanese, Korean) auto companies, as well as USG.

  138. 138.

    sab

    March 7, 2025 at 3:01 am

    @YY_Sima Qian: Yes so much. We have wanted an EV car here in USA for years, but all that was available was expensive (even with tax credits that come and go annually by the whim of Congress)  and Tesla. I have always been an extreme Musk sceptic.

    We bought a Honda hybrid last month, and now we wonder if we will be able to get parts. Hopefully by then we won’t be driving anymore. So far our experience with Honda is ten years before you need parts. Trustworthy little tanks.

  139. 139.

    WhatsMyNym

    March 7, 2025 at 3:13 am

    @Jay: ​
     
    Problem Canada has is it doesn’t have oil refinery capacity. On the west coast it ships down to the refineries in Washington state before it can sell it.

  140. 140.

    Ruckus

    March 7, 2025 at 3:30 am

    I am just so fucking mad and frustrated right now. John Cole.

    We haven’t been here before but we’ve been here before.

    Humanity gives a lot of room for people to be good or to be complete and utter assholes, no matter who they are. And we are a variety of humans, a wide variety. We have people that think we are all the same and should all be alike (horse poop). We have people that think that we should all be massively different, which considering we are all human – OK many of us are, so maybe not quite so possible. And we have a monetary system, and an ability to become rather wealthy. Or be given the wealth after someone shakes off this life and we get to act as if we earned every damn dime. But mainly we have the human concept of wealth and that money is the first and only side of life that is important, humanity be damned. This makes us come up with words to describe the symptoms of greed and importance. For me it is money is nice but for most people having way too much money makes them complete and utter assholes, because they measure life not with how we fit in or how we help it get better but by how much we have. And this has been going on since the concept of neighbors. For many it isn’t how the money came to be ours, it’s about the number of numbers to be wealthy or massively wealthy so one can hold it over the heads of others.

    Humanity can be great, or humanity can completely suck. And every stop in between.

  141. 141.

    Elizabelle

    March 7, 2025 at 4:17 am

    @columbusqueen:  Just tell them we are all praying for them.  That should help.

  142. 142.

    David_C

    March 7, 2025 at 5:31 am

    I missed out on reading comments on these two threads, but even though I’m taking today off I still have 5 accomplishments, despite spending 15-20% of my time complying with wasteful “new requirements.” Being in the crosshairs gives one focus. The RIF hammer is supposed to come down on NIH early next week.

    So last week I attended a local climate summit to learn what can be done locally and today I’m Standing Up for Science in DC. Our local (freshman) Congressperson has been active and supportive of federal employees, and our church will offer two events – a talk by our denomination’s social justice leader and a service to offer support for those of us being affected by events.

  143. 143.

    pajaro

    March 7, 2025 at 8:36 am

    @SW:

    There were only 8 of over 200 Democrats who supported the censure, for God’s sake.  96% of the caucus opposed it.   Honestly, for all of you, why isn’t the 96% the story?  You all are doing the media’s and Republicans work for them.

  144. 144.

    pajaro

    March 7, 2025 at 8:42 am

    @SW:

    What on earth do you think should happen to the Reps who voted for censure?  Removed from Committee assignments?  Who should replace them?  Support a motion to expel them?  Does it not occur to you that leadership wants this story to go away, rather than turbocharge the Dems in Disarray narrative?

  145. 145.

    Ella in New Mexico

    March 7, 2025 at 9:38 am

    I am so over these spineless cowards. They’re going to be grumbling about decorum as they get frogmarched to the firing line. Leadership might allow them to coordinate lapel pins for their execution, so that will show the Republicans.

    Uh, don’t apologize. What you said above is 100% correct.  But I’m sure some will interpret it as racist because the leader of the Decorum Democrats is Jeffries.

    Kudos to Al and Melanie and Jasmine and AOC and all the brave ones who are ignoring them.

  146. 146.

    Paul in KY

    March 7, 2025 at 2:05 pm

    @Bill Arnold: My dad was on one of those. Said there was a 50 gallon drum (open top) in center of each room the GIs were in. Said the puke would overflow it and then would be on the floor sloshing around.  Good times…

  147. 147.

    Paul in KY

    March 7, 2025 at 2:24 pm

    @different-church-lady: Ha!

  148. 148.

    Paul in KY

    March 7, 2025 at 2:26 pm

    @RaflW: No shit.

  149. 149.

    Paul in KY

    March 7, 2025 at 2:27 pm

    @columbusqueen: I hope you get to tell them that.

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