Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

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

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

I really should read my own blog.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

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

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

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

Sunday Night Open Thread

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Found an old picture of me and my platoon from back in Fulda- I’m pretty easy to spot as I am the only one out of uniform:

Lots went on this weekend and I kept taking pictures and meaning to post but got distracted. Gerald and the kids had dinner here Thursday-Saturday, and today they were able to FINALLY move in to their new house (paperwork had them in limbo for about three weeks). They are so excited, and I am too- it’s really nice. Yesterday we went berry picking again in the morning:

I made more jam, and made some raspberry ice cream for dessert (dinner was brisket, beans, tomato/cuke/onion salad, and something else, I forget).

Deck is almost completely done:

I don’t know if the color is coming through in this picture, but it is a grey with hints of blue (it’s name is shark loop from Valspar). Finally, a pretty flower from dad’s garden:

Oh, and last night we had a series of very violent storms. I’ll upload some videos tomorrow.

Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    Ohio Mom

    I hope the new house is close enough that the kids can still hang out with you. And do we know who will be moving in next door yet?

  3. 3.

    lahke

    Yard and all look nice too, with the white wicker chair out on the lawn.
    I’m in La Serena, Chile for the eclipse on Tuesday. Any other Juicers here?

  5. 5.

    CaseyL

    How many members of the old platoon are you still in touch with?

    Is your Dad recovered enough to be puttering around in his garden again?

  7. 7.

    RandomMonster

    Cole, I will give you credit for inspiring me. When you first encountered your deck issue, you were ready to bolt the back door and let the whole thing rot. But you turned the dang thing around. I’m now looking at my deck issues in our new home in Baltimore thinking, ‘I’ve got this.’

  8. 8.

    Mary G

    Dammit Cole, I have 20+ paint samples on my bedroom wall and all the housemates have had their colors chosen for months and I’ve been mixing blues and greys trying to find the shade I see in my head. I thought I had it, but now I want to buy a sample of your shark loop and start over.

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Why were you in BDUs instead of Nomex? I am guessing you were the Troop CO’s driver.

  10. 10.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Going ahead with the deck and adding the shade was a good idea. I hope you get much use out of it for the rest of the season!

  11. 11.

    Jay

    Today, Marshae Jones was indicted for homicide when someone shot her in the stomach while she was pregnant, ending her pregnancy. They said she "started it." The shooter went free. This what 2019 looks like for a pregnant woman of color without means in a red state. This is now.— ilyse hogue (@ilyseh) June 27, 2019

  14. 14.

    Mike in NC

    I lived on a US Navy warship for three years and have stayed in touch with exactly nobody in the crew.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    Is it just my monitor’s color display or did you paint the wicker the same color as the decking?

    I am the only one out of uniform

    Extreme hesitancy in deciding whether or not to allow images to load based on that description.

    :)

  18. 18.

    Jay

    @Lyrebird:

    It’s the I’ve got mine , fu argument.

    Back when I got mine, it cost me $352 a semester, texts included.

    Minimum wage was $3.35, ( adjusted for inflation, $29.47 today)

    Minimum wage is $9.25 today, and we are considered “progressive”.

    Current costs at the so called “university” in town, really just a community colledge, is $15,030 a semester, plus $1782 in textexbooks.

  19. 19.

    Jay

    @Lyrebird:

    BTW, back in “the day”, my Student Loans were with the Bank of Canada, at prime.

    Now adays that would be 1.25%,

    Except now adays, it’s commercial, not the BOC, so it varys from 14.8% to 36.5% per year.

  20. 20.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Jay: Outrageous. Once again, the Cult of the Fetus shows that they only care about the fetuses. The mother can go to hell.

  22. 22.

    Jay Noble

    Looks close to “Quartemaster Gray” that was used on the old Fort Sidney buildings floors and porches here. 150+ year old paint color. I got to spend a summer sloshing that around.

  23. 23.

    Raoul

    @Jay: Vile and outrageous on multiple levels. The rank racism, foremost. But also the notion that even if one did ‘start it’ that it should ever lead to being shot. Gun culture is off the rails. As is the whole ‘women get no autonomy’ shit.

  24. 24.

    James E Powell

    @Jay:

    I went to Ohio State 1977-1980 and the numbers I recall were a bit higher than yours – $400 & change per quarter for tuition and fees, $50-150 for books. But I was still able to pay for that and my living expenses with the kind of jobs college kids can get. In addition to the typical pizza shop, retail, etc., I did land a pretty sweet “clean up the construction site on Saturdays” job that paid $8 an hour, so I was flush compared with my fellow students.

    Full disclosure: when shit happened, my parents were there to bail me out. Not everybody has that benefit.

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Earlier tonight, I did Ivanka (Miniver Cheevy). As long as I’m in an Edwin Arlington Robinson mood, here is Jared (Richard Cory).

    Whenever Jared Kushner went abroad,
    We people in the U. S. laughed at him:
    He was a charlatan (ask House of Saud):
    Quite unprepared, imperially dim.

    And he was always skeevily arrayed
    In awkward-fitting suit and too-long tie,
    But still, he fluttered pulses when he said
    “Good day” (but since his lips moved, ‘twas a lie).

    And he was broke! Yes, broker than a Trump,
    But admirably schooled in Deutsche Bank.
    In fine, we thought a timely market slump
    Would cause all of his real estate to tank.

    And so we shrugged, and waited for the light,
    And went without the meat, and gave no fucks;
    But Jared Kushner, one calm summer night,
    Went home, and made another million bucks.

  26. 26.

    Mnemosyne

    We went out to dinner tonight and I blew our young waiter’s mind by ordering my chicken piccata over mashed potatoes instead of pasta. He’d never heard of that before and was super excited to hear that it was a tasty way to serve piccata, because he likes the restaurant’s piccata but doesn’t like pasta.

    I’ve been using my Instant Pot quite a bit. I may attempt Irish oatmeal tomorrow.

  28. 28.

    joel hanes

    I only see six in uniform.

    What are the rest of those troops doing out-of-doors without a hat?

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Yeah, “out of uniform” is pretty technical in that photo, as non-Army types would not get it.

  34. 34.

    SenyorDave

    I was at the gym on Friday morning and a guy who had the locker next to me asked me what I thought of the debate. This guy is an older gentleman, probably 75 – 80, very affable, will talk to anyone. I’ve chatted for a few minutes with him on a few occasions. Before I could answer he kind of mumbled that all they did was whine. So I started off by saying I am not a Trump person. He then asked if I was a veteran, and when I said no, he told me that he was in the military for 28 years, served in Vietnam, then was in Europe for a large part of the rest of his military career, and if you ask anyone in the military they will tell you that Trump is the best thing that has happened to the military in the last 50 years. He also said the military is still recovering after Obama’s attempt to destroy it. He almost spat the name Obama.
    I decided immediately I wouldn’t address his points about the military because that was his territory, and he would just say I don’t understand since I wasn’t a veteran. I brought up the rape allegation against Trump and said it is very telling that a rape accusation against the POTUS doesn’t even seem to be a major story. I said IMO it is because most people just assume it’s true, and while some of his supporters think she’s lying, most don’t even care. I then said he is a lying, corrupt, racist, amoral pig, and that is an objective statement. I was pretty calm, didn’t even raise my voice. I finished by saying I watched most of the debate, but I don’t rely on very much debates to make my decision as to who to support, and I would vote for pretty much any human being over Trump. That was the end of the conversation, I could tell he had no interest in further engaging me.

  35. 35.

    opiejeanne

    @Mnemosyne: We’re in Vicksburg until tomorrow morning. Today I had shrimp and grits for the first time.. the grits, I mean. Very tasty.

    The place I came to see is underwater and there’s no way to get there. The Yazoo River is so badly flooded that people living in the area have been evacuated. A cop stopped us and to get rid of us he told us there were snakes in the water and on the road, and alligators on the porches. The line about alligators did it for me, but I’ve stayed out of the unmoved grass the past two days and avoiding any pile of sand for fear of fire ants. It’s so humid here that even 76 degrees Fahrenheit seems like 90. Going back to Memphis Monday, staying at the Peabody. Might eat at the Rendezvous again. Not drinking anything alcoholic for the rest of the trip. Twice now I’ve had too much to drink after only finishing half.

  36. 36.

    opiejeanne

    @SenyorDave: You did better than I would have. Ive been in Mississippi for two days and I’ll be glad to leave, even though everyone here has been very nice. The poverty line, the line between black and white is just staggering when you drive through the older parts of Vicksburg. I think, “What can I do about it?” and it troubles me that I can’t do much more than tip well my black waiters and hotel room cleaners, and be polite to the nice people behind counters in shops.
    We’ll be back home on the 4th, in time to comfort our cats while the neighbors try to blow stuff up, and I’ll think about this place a lot.

    My husband talked to a nice young black man tonight who is a captain in the army, and he says that the military is spending more money on the northern bases than the southern ones. This is his opinion and I have no way of checking that, but it made us wonder if this is true and why.

  40. 40.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    Something terrible just occurred to me; maybe Trump isn’t isn’t simply setting up Ivanka for a 2024 coronation.

    Pence isn’t mentioned on Trump’s 20/20 campaign signs; they only say “Trump” because Ivanka will be his running mate.

    God, please let me be delusional . . . .

  43. 43.

    Gvg

    @hervevillechaizelounge: you are not the first to suggest that. We’ll have to wait and see. I don’t think it matters. He has to lose, we have to make him lose.
    I wonder if Pence asked or told him he wouldn’t run again. Pence actually has political experience and may think it’s time to exit.

  44. 44.

    Ohio Mom

    @Gvg: Czn we hope that if Pence is out, that gives enough Evangelicals reason to stay home on Election Day?

    Yes, i am grasping at straws.

  45. 45.

    JPL

    @Ohio Mom: Makes one wonder exactly how many women does trump have to rape, before they finally decide to stay home.
    Or better yet, how many children have to die at our borders before they wake up.

  46. 46.

    J R in WV

    @Mike in NC:

    I lived on a US Navy warship for three years and have stayed in touch with exactly nobody in the crew.

    Me too. Horrible times. I had friends, some of them helped me out, but once I was gone, I was gone.

  47. 47.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Villago Delenda Est: THANK YOU!

    (Honestly, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome makes for partial face blindness when fatigued, so I was looking for obvious-to-civilian – photos are even harder than 3d faces!)

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