I just wanted to inform you all that I am not dead, just packing up for my trip tomorrow. back to West Virginny.
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Petty moves from a petty man.
They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.
When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.
Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.
Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.
Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?
Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.
Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.
The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.
He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.
The worst democrat is better than the best republican.
🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵
I really should read my own blog.
… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop
When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.
The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.
Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.
Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.
And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.
The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.
Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.
When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson
Let me file that under fuck it.
How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.
Elizabelle
Safe travels. Thurston is likely NOT leaping into your suitcase.
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
Hope it’s a smooth journey John.
jackmac
Safe travels, especially if your route takes you through Ruby Red America.
satby
Thought you might hang out one more day to take part in the May Day 50501/ Indivisible demonstrations. I’m going to one up here.
KrackenJack
HappyLess Ambivalent Trails to YouProfessor Bigfoot
Stay safe, big dawg.
sab
I thought you were leaving Thurston behind to convince Joelle this was all a mistake?
West Virginia, country roads. Akronites have so many West Virginia jokes mocking our own grandparents that it embarrasses me. My grandparents were from Pennsylvania Appalachia, so that didn’t count.
Thunderstorms and all, but the Spring greenery is really bursting out all over.
Gin & Tonic
That’s good news.
sab
@satby: We have a long Covid funeral this weekend, wife and mother of two teens., age 51. I just don’t have the heart for protests She worked counselling families on accepting gay and trans teens.
oldster
“I just wanted to inform you all that I am not dead….”
Ha! Just what an undead imposter would say.
Drive safe, Cole.
Elizabelle
@sab: I am so sorry. Too soon gone.
Ohio Mom
Ohio Dad is committed to protesting. I’m not really. I’m unconvinced that they are all that effective. But I’ll go along tomorrow.
I must admit though that the last one was fun for me, ran into several old friends. A big dose of nostalgia.
Jay
@sab:
I am sorry for your loss, and their loss.
Baud
frosty
Safe travels! Hope your packing goes smoothly. It will be interesting to read your first posts from W Va after being away for awhile.
schrodingers_cat
@sab: I am so sorry. It feels like you and your family have been going through a lot lately.
schrodingers_cat
@Ohio Mom: I just don’t have it in me to go and protest. People voted for this man, again. He was not shy about spelling out his intentions on the campaign trail.
WTFGhost
(Pauses in handing out party hats, noise makers, champagne bottles)
John Cole is NOT dead.
Oh.
(Starts gathering up party hats, noise makers, champagne bottles)
dnfree
@sab: I have mentioned before that my aunt from West Virginia once told me that in West Virginia, the three Rs were Reading, ‘Riting, and the Road to Akron.
dnfree
@sab: So sorry about your family’s loss.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Safe travels, Cole!
eclare
Wonderful photo, WaterGirl.
eclare
@sab:
That is so sad, I am sorry. Billy Joel proven right again.
WTFGhost
Hey, Cole, glad to see you still around! Safe travels! In no way was anyone planning to pull a Patty Murphy here, nosiree!
eclare
Have a safe trip! Are you leaving the cats with Joelle, too? I think you mentioned that.
Nukular Biskits
Good evenin’, y’all. Finally had a few minutes to drop in.
John, you goin’ back solo?
The Audacity of Krope
As described, it sounds like a reasonable arrangement.
Gonna have to watch closely, though, because Trump. I will not profit from Trump flexing American power to outright exploit other nations. I’m still working out the right places to boycott because of the way Trump is conducting his tariffs. The Ukraine situation could manifest as a shakedown on a whole other level.
New electronics is the only thing I know for sure I’ll need to give up. I best treat my USB chargers with the utmost delicacy.
Baud
@The Audacity of Krope:
Yeah. I just hope that somehow Ukraine can do what it needs to do to stay afloat during the Trump years. If this helps keep the US somewhat in the tent, that’s a good thing.
funlady75
Be Safe & happy travels on your way home…..
CaseyL
Safe travels, John. May your little corner of WV be an oasis from the rest of it.
sab
@dnfree: I never heard that! When we moved up from Florida we ran into serious prejudice against Southern accents. Ours was north Florida, nothing like West Virginia, and most of West Virginia doesn’t have Southern accents anyway. I bet Cole sounds more Pittsburgh than Virginia.
HinTN
As you plot to sell “This Fucking Old House” we want pictures of the fleurs that we willingly sent to brighten your days there.
Safe travels, good sir.
Raoul Paste
Travel tip: If you are at a rest stop in a red state, don’t start singing “Okie from Muskogee”
The Audacity of Krope
They’re a nation of people who want and deserve their own agency. Russia ought to already know it isn’t so easy to subdue a determined population.
Chigail
Safe travels, John.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: This is not the prevailing opinion in Ukraine yet, but certainly common, that the sooner the US steps away from any negotiations related to Ukraine’s future, the better.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
That may be right. I’m not sure how this deal affects that. I have no ideas. Just hope for as good an outcome as possible.
Baud
Jackie
Safe travels to you, Steve, and Maxwell! Watch out for tornadoes!!!
dnfree
@sab: My mother’s family was what she called “Pennsylvania Dutch”, which I now think was actually Deutsch. They moved from Pennsylvania to Buckhannon WV in I believe the 1930s.
You’re right that they had a distinct accent. When the Sago mine disaster happened, I heard the wife of one of the victims interviewed on NPR and I flashed back to hearing my grandmother’s voice.
prostratedragon
Happy trails to you🎶
I’m sure Thurston knows that if he did leap into John’s suitcase he’d get punted out of there in one smooth motion.
JMG
Safe travel, John. I look forward to your impressions on your return. I could be very wrong, but you have sounded more and more comfortable with Arizona. Of course, you’ve never been there in summer.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@dnfree: they were indeed Deutsche, they were Protestant Germans who settled in Pennsylvania because William Penn promised amnesty to religion in Europe, including every nutty Protestant sect. They spoke German until they were drafted for the Union army.
Denali5
Hope you have a good trip back.
danielx
That’s West by God Virginny to you.
dnfree
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: The family last name was Morgenstern, converted to Morningstar when they arrived in the US.
Harrison Wesley
@The Audacity of Krope: If it’s a reasonable agreement, Trump will break it within a month.
satby
@sab: That’s very sad. Condolences to all who loved her.
VFX Lurker
Associated Press (YouTube) LIVE: Kamala Harris delivers first major address since leaving office
Remarkable lineup. Deb Haaland just spoke.
Madeleine
I hope that you have a safe, smooth trip, John. I have experience with living apart. It’s tough.
Sister Golden Bear
Safe travels, John.
TS
@The Audacity of Krope:
No idea how anyone can trust him – within or without the US. He’ll just want more and more and more.
smike
Wow, this reminds me of that time I woke from an nap to find that everyone else had disappeared. Everyone else!! It was strange, since electricity still flowed and tv still played, but nothing happened. I laid low and enjoyed myself, waking the next day to find that the world was back to fucking abnormal. That’ll probably happen again… Oh, well…
BSChief
Almost Heaven. Good traveling.
WTFGhost
@Raoul Paste: Well, and don’t bring your basset hound into a biker bar where you’re trying to grab lunch, cause one of the fellows will claim the dog bit them, and there’ll be this big bar fight before you get out.
And all this to bring some Coors back from Texarkana.
Wait – am I confusing movies and real life again?
WTFGhost
@The Audacity of Krope: It’s not a terrible deal; Europe is likely to step up, and, Trump can pretend Ukraine is paying for weapons, the next President can renegotiate and let Ukraine off the hook.
It’s a shame that the freedom of good people are threatened by the actions of bad people, especially when the bad people are petty, venal, assholes. This is all because Trump tried to do the Zelenskyy what he did to Ms. Daniels, and couldn’t over the phone.
And we all know it. America will never again “stand for freedom”. It’ll Barcalounge around, unless freedom is profitable.