Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Giving up is unforgivable.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

The words do not have to be perfect.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

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

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

T R E 4 5 O N

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

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

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

Wednesday Night Open Thread

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The heat has arrived early here in Tempe- it was 95 yesterday and in the 90’s again today, so of course yesterday was the perfect time for the central air conditioning here to die. Love it. Called the repair guy, and he claims there is no power going to the unit at all, so now we have to have an electrician come tomorrow to check that out. Really excited to figure out how many thousands of dollars this is going to end up costing. Meanwhile, we have two small portable units in the bedroom and living room, so we will have to make do with that for now. It’s always fucking something. And then in a couple weeks I get to go home to WV and discover all the shit that just decided to give up the ghost while I was gone. Fucking hell.

In other news, fuckboy has announced 25% tariffs on foreign cars. Whether he will follow through or if this is unknown. Remember when they accused Biden of sundowning?

In other news, the Gestapo has kidnapped another foreign student for thought crimes:

According to the NY Times, this is her big sin:

Ms. Ozturk was listed as one of several authors of an opinion essay published last March in the Tufts student newspaper. The essay criticized university leaders for their response to demands that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and divest itself from companies with ties to Israel.

She is one of several students who have been targeted for deportation by the Trump administration. Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian citizen and doctoral student at the University of Alabama, was detained off campus by federal immigration officials, the school said in a statement on Wednesday. It was not clear why the student was targeted, and U.S. immigration officials did not immediately respond to questions on Wednesday evening.

Every one of those mask wearing brownshirts should be identified and their names added to the public record.

Fuck this country right now.

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  1. 1.

    The Audacity of Krope

    Wait, to hear them tell it, the Trump administration wants educated, capable immigrants.

    What, oh what, could be the disconnect here?

  2. 2.

    Kristine

    Today’s featured photo by Steve from Mendocino is stunning and I’m glad I have it to look at.

    I hope the A/C repair turns out to be an easier fix than expected, Cole.

  3. 3.

    brendancalling

    I’m going to start carrying pepper spray or mace for protection. It’s immigrants today, all of us tomorrow.

  4. 4.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Good on that guy for questioning them.

    “How do I know you’re the police?”

    “Why won’t you show your faces.”

  5. 5.

    Lyrebird

    I get emails about mask bans, and I did not understand at first.  I thought it was Trump saying we can’t have PPE.  Then I hear it’s about protests.  Good!  I thought, foolishly.  Maybe the neofascists won’t get to wear masks with their khakis.  Don’t worry, if you’re reading this, I now have more of a clue, but still I say, yes, ban the masks on these kidnappers.  Make every ICE or DHS person wear an identifying badge and a body cam dammit.

    Bring this lady back to Tufts already!  And Mr. Khalil to Columbia!  I probably disagree with them on all sorts of things, and I thought this was a country where respected that right to disagree!

  8. 8.

    lamh47

    Ok BJ… I guess it’s time to let the cat out the bag. I was offered the job at from the 2nd position I interviewd for last week!

    Sent in my information for the background check today and going next week for the pre-hire physical exam and testing.

    Long as the background comes back in 2-3 weeks and there are no flags, my start day should be early May!

    The lab is about a 35-40min commute which is actually not uncommon for the Bay area as ya’ll know..but I may also look into moving somewhere that can cut the time about 15 or so minutes.

    It’s an evening position though, so I kinda expect the traffic should be manageable thx all you guys for sending me good thoughts and vibes…I’m still dealing with the fed bullshit, and I still have a 2-3 week period before the background check should be back…so keep the thoughts and vibes coming.

    But right now… for the first time in a while, I feel like I can breathe again.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    25% tariffs on foreign cars

    Slight correction. 25% tariffs on imported cars.

    A giant EFF YOU to Ford and GM.

  11. 11.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @lamh47:

    That’s great news, lamh47! Hope things go smoothly for you and glad you can breathe a little easier now

  14. 14.

    bluefoot

    That video – what the hell? Why do they have their faces covered? The entire thing is horrifying. Local news says something like 400 people were “detained” here in MA over the weekend.

  19. 19.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @bluefoot: If they’re refusing to identify themselves, anyone witnessing this should be calling the police on these abductors.

  20. 20.

    trollhattan

    @lamh47: The lab is about a 35-40min commute which is actually not uncommon for the Bay area

    So, three miles it is. :-)

    Happy for you, well done!

  22. 22.

    bluefoot

    Local news says she’s a Fulbright scholar. She’s been shipped to a for-profit detention center in Louisiana. Just….fuck.

  27. 27.

    bbleh

    It would appear right now that HATE NOT MURKANS is pretty much all they got.

    Tariffs. Gestapo roundups. Can’t but wonder when the contemporary Tulsa Massacre will happen.

    They’re stupid monsters with nothing motivating them but hatred and greed.

    I do hope that the recent crop of special elections is a sign of things to come.

  28. 28.

    Bupalos

    “fuck this country” is something to say when you’re disclaiming responsibility and agency, as a way to disclaim responsibility and agency. Our collective failures have allowed this moment. We need to do better.

  40. 40.

    CaseyL

    @Timill: ​I remember watching that as it aired in 1984, being awestruck and spellbound.

    @lamh47: ​<

    Woo hoo! Congratulations! I hope you love the new job for itself, and not simply for being able to get out of a bad situation.​

  42. 42.

    MobiusKlein

    That video makes me mad. WTF with the secret police shit, star chamber, daylight kidnapping.(and some of the comments on the video are shit too)​ eta Ok, on a different version of that video

  44. 44.

    lamh47

    I’m a silent worrier so I know my stomach will be in knots for next month, but I’m going to try to be pessimistically optimistic

    Thx guys

  46. 46.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    In other news, my fuckhead of a US Rep Rulli, is up to some bullshit:

    Rulli working on Department of Education bill: Plans to dismantle federal agency

    Rulli, R-Salem, said Tuesday he’s been working on drafts of the proposed bill, making changes, and it could be introduced in the U.S. House as soon as Friday. If there are delays, it might be proposed Monday or Tuesday, he said.

    “It’s all about the language,” Rulli said. “We’re trying to avoid pitfalls and be compassionate with it. We want to codify the elimination of the Department of Education.”

    Trump, a Republican, signed an executive order last week to begin the elimination of the department, created by Congress in 1979. But only Congress has the power to close the department.

    Rulli, who attended Trump’s executive order signing event ceremony Thursday, said his Education Restoration Act would guarantee that the DOE’s budget, which is $268 billion, would go to states and local school districts.

    “The holdup is making sure it comes back to school districts,” he said. “I want to make sure that it is codified. I don’t want it going back to the U.S. Treasury coffers. I need this allocated to the states.”

    A member of the House Education & Workforce Committee, Rulli used to serve on the Leetonia Board of Education.

    Rulli said: “If someone came up to me when I was on the school board and said, ‘Hey, Rulli, I can get you $3, 4, 5, 6 million extra for your school district just by eliminating the Department of Education that didn’t exist before, I’d be happy to take it. It isn’t a weaponization or deterioration of education. If anything, I want to give power back to the local school districts where it belongs.”

    He added: “If you’re in the opposition party and you are reading this bill and losing your mind, you have to realize the Department of Education doesn’t actually provide anything to service the (611) school districts we have in Ohio. They don’t give you anything at all if you are a local school district. It doesn’t help you at all.”

    Federal funding makes up about 14% of public school budgets, according to the Associated Press.

    […]

    Rulli said his bill would ensure that school districts that receive Title I funds would still receive that money. Title I provides money to schools with high numbers of students from low-income families to help them receive a fair and equitable education.

    […]

    “I have to almost write this for the Senate approval and so there’s poisonous pills that are in some of the language that I’ve already been shopping it around saying, ‘Hey, what’s going to kill this in the Senate?” Rulli said. “If I can get a version to get those votes in the Senate, I’ve got quality policy.”

    Rulli said, “The No. 1 goal is to make sure the money goes back to the local schools. My philosophy on this sounds really good. But if I can’t make the philosophy tangible, what kind of bill is this? I think that’s the only way I win the day. If I can secure that where that is channeled right to the locals and that’s a huge W for us, especially the kids.”

    He’s a real dishonest piece of shit. He was also my state senator, and when he was first elected in 2018, he talked a big talk about reaching across the aisle. So much for that! “Losing your minds”, how fucking condescending. Nobody fucking voted for this

    The DOE doesn’t provide anything to school districts, except enforcement of the nation’s civil rights laws for schools

    I imagine this bill would be dead in the water in the Senate thanks to the filibuster

  48. 48.

    cain

    It’s troubling that someone can be just taken off the street. They have committed no crime they would involve deportation.

    Being pro-palestinian is not being anti-Semitic.

  51. 51.

    cain

    Cole, I left Phoenix just in time yesterday. You can keep that hot weather. I’m glad I  back in the Northwest!

  52. 52.

    lamh47

    @NaijaGal: Like I said I def feel like I can breathe again, but I might still have fits of worry and panic attacks until all the background stuff and April passes.

    After I do the physical next week, I might make a plan to go home to NOLA for like half of April, just so I can be away.

    It will depend on budget tho, of course!

  53. 53.

    Bupalos

    No power to the unit is even odds to be a $5 self fix. My money is on rodent over the winter chewing a line.

  54. 54.

    Loveofcoffee

    lamh47– congratulations!- I really hope all these incidents of these clowns stepping on their dick gives us more than a laugh.

  55. 55.

    JaySinWA

    Apparently there is a group called Canary Mission that acts as a black list of sorts that listed Ozturk

    Ozturk’s lawyer noted that information about her client was recently posted on Canary Mission, a website that compiles information about pro-Palestinian activists accused of antisemitism. Ozturk co-wrote an op-ed in the Tufts student newspaper criticizing the university’s response to the pro-Palestinian movement and supporting calls for divestment from Israel.

    https://archive.is/0xjcN#selection-2299.0-2299.362

  61. 61.

    Scout211

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): “Big Balls” has entered the chat

    About that guy . . .  (Web archive version) Reuters

    Exclusive: DOGE staffer ‘Big Balls’ provided tech support to cybercrime ring, records show

    The best-known member of Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters.

    Edward Coristine is among the most visible members of the DOGE effort that has been given sweeping access to official networks as it attempts to radically downsize the U.S. government.

    Past reporting, […] had focused on his youth – he is 19 – and his chosen nickname of “bigballs,” which became a pop culture punchline […]. Musk has championed the teen on his social media site X, telling his followers […] last month that “Big Balls is awesome.”

    Beginning around 2022, while still in high school, Coristine ran a company called DiamondCDN […] that provided network services, according to corporate and digital records reviewed by Reuters and interviews with half a dozen former associates. Among its users was a website run by a ring of cybercriminals operating under the name “EGodly,” according to digital records preserved by the internet intelligence firm DomainTools and the online cybersecurity tool Any.Run.

    Background checks?  Did lamh47 mention background checks? I guess those only for us little people.

  65. 65.

    VFX Lurker

    @lamh47: Ok BJ… I guess it’s time to let the cat out the bag. I was offered the job at from the 2nd position I interviewd for last week!

    YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!!

  71. 71.

    frosty

    @The Audacity of Krope: I’m an old bald fat white guy and I’m an illegal immigrant. My family on both sides snuck in before there was a TSA, ICE, or CBP.

    But I’m a citizen, right? Except the fact that I was born here means I’m a birthright citizen. Oops!!

  72. 72.

    frosty

    @lamh47: Congratulations! I’ve had shorter and longer commutes, 35-40 isn’t too bad, especially if you can find a carpool or at least one other driver to share the commute with – I did that for awhile in SoCal. I’m glad it’s working out for you.

    ETA “I’m going to try to be pessimistically optimistic” I love that, I think I’ll steal it!

  73. 73.

    Craig

    Slight OT, What is a good phone up for uploading video live, on the fly, like for covering the khaki pants Okhrana in their crimes?  I used Livestream years ago, but is there something better now?

  75. 75.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Notice how the secret police all started. Putting on masks when they saw they were being videoed. But masking while protesting is punishable.

  80. 80.

    Ceci7

    @YY_Sima Qian: it’s footage from a neighbor’s security camera. Doesn’t change your point: they assumed (correctly) rather than realized they were on camera.

  82. 82.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @YY_Sima Qian: Masked agents grabbing people off the streets is normally associated w/ authoritarian regimes, & ones w/ low state capacity at that (because they are afraid of identification & reprisal). I can only hope that these ICE agents pulled on masks because they felt shameful of their actions.

  85. 85.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Craig: not off topic, at all. I guess we all need to be ready to film and upload, at least get videos out internationally.

  86. 86.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Betty Cracker: indeed. Wide as fucking hell.

    my mind is offering me cat stevens, wide world, as a musical respite. Radio in my head. Wide, or wild world, not sure.
    but yes, what the actual fuck.

    and so smooth and well done, except for being propaganda, but sanitized and pretty.

    i hope snl and Colbert get a hold of this

  88. 88.

    Ramalama

    Is this the work of ICE picking up this student? I don’t get who has the authority to kidnap students off of the street. And Gov Maura Healy has no say in this?

  89. 89.

    Liminal Owl

    @lamh47: Congratulations on the very good news! (And I would have thought a commute that short to be unheard-of…. no sarcasm intended; my last full-time job in the Bay Area was over an hour on a good day, two and a half hours in busy-traffic times.)  I hope you’ll keep us all posted on how it goes.

  90. 90.

    Liminal Owl

    @bluefoot: Yes. With initial comments that they all had been charged, and some convicted, with/of violent crimes. Which was of course a lie… and it turned out that nearly half (last I heard) had no criminal record, with the inHoman blathering about “collaterals.”

  94. 94.

    David Collier-Brown

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    In Britain, where there a *lot* of security cameras, the police typically try to follow assailants both backwards and forwards in time, to see if they can get a license plate, pictures of an uncovered face or other identifying information.

    I rather hope the people recording them on cell phones followed them to their car (:-))

  97. 97.

    Betty

    @lamh47: So happy for you. So sad for the US government as it continues to bleed talented, dedicated employees who can’t wait for normalcy to return and move on.

  98. 98.

    Barry

    a href=”#comment-9569919″ data-mce-fragment=”1″>@lamh47: ​
     
    “But right now… for the first time in a while, I feel like I can breathe again.”

    I sympathize.

  99. 99.

    Barry

    BTW, since this is an open thread:

    I was furloughed (with benefits, but without pay) from my job. They are a CMS contractor dealing with Medicare/Medicaid quality improvement in hospitals and nursing homes.

    I was doing data management, reporting and occasional analyses.

    Leads would be appreciated.

  101. 101.

    WaterGirl

    @Barry: That sucks.  Do you know how long the furlough will last?  Probably helpful for us to know if you are looking for something / anything short-term to pay the bills or if you are looking for a new permanent job.

  103. 103.

    Barry

    @WaterGirl: I have benefits through the end of April.

    From talking with a co-worker, the odds are poor.

     

    I am open to temp or permanent positions.

  104. 104.

    cope

    On the .001% chance that you come back to this post Mr. Cole, I am surprised that the house doesn’t have evaporative (swamp) coolers to cool it.  They are so much simpler and easier to repair and maintain.  Is that common down there?

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