Fucking Fuck XIV: F-Bombs Away!

August 21, 2018 1:25 PM

Fuck it, I can't thinking of anything fucking witty to say. This is the new fucking fuck venting thread.

As ever, please feel free to use this thread and MetaChat to share your anxieties, your coping strategies, your hopes and fears. And many thanks for helping to keep the ongoing US politics mega-threads information-dense and for reducing the workload for the ever-patient mod team. Everyone needs a hug.

posted by Doktor Zed to MetaFilter-Related at 1:25 PM (163 comments total)

Holy fuck it feels like everything is happening today and I want to fucking celebrate and dance but I don't know if it is premature and I don't understand what it all means yet and I don't know if anyone does but holy fucking shit Cohen and Manafort on the same day and I think shit is going to get weirder now somehow but this feels like a victory and is it can we celebrate this moment just this moment?

*passes out for lack of oxygen
posted by nubs at 1:59 PM on August 21, 2018 [8 favorites]

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 2:06 PM on August 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

45's campaign rally tonight is going to be quite...something.
posted by holborne at 2:10 PM on August 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

It's great that things are happening but I still don't believe they will lead to the things that need to happen. I just can't believe it's politically possible, short of a lot of even more unlikely things happening.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 2:15 PM on August 21, 2018 [4 favorites]

Get ready for the pardons. If those come, it's all boots on the street time. Holy crap.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 2:16 PM on August 21, 2018 [11 favorites]

The twenty to twenty-five minutes in the car on the way home during which NPR said, there is a verdict in the Manafort trial, proceeded to dick around about unrelated news stories to buy themselves time, and the few moments when I arrived, gave my dog a piece of a leftover hot dog to bribe her to pee really really quick and then ran upstairs to change into a soft bra and then down to pour a beer and find the actual fucking news on Twitter WAS A LONG FUCKING TWENTY MINUTES.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:17 PM on August 21, 2018 [9 favorites]

I came here to say that I really miss pictures of cake and gifs and I'm hopeful that today's court news will supply me with those. That is all.

(Also, FUCK Silent Sam and FUCK the republican invasion and poisoning of the UNC system.)
posted by yoga at 2:22 PM on August 21, 2018 [4 favorites]

fucking FUCK!
posted by mazola at 2:23 PM on August 21, 2018

I guess the glove didn't fit...
posted by mule98J at 2:24 PM on August 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

The Profanity Embroidery Group is on the same page as this thread.
posted by Rumple at 2:25 PM on August 21, 2018 [15 favorites]

I know it's become comical at this point but just imagining what Republicans would be saying right now if this was President Obama makes me go all rage spluttery and I try to rant but I just can't word at all
posted by the turtle's teeth at 2:26 PM on August 21, 2018 [10 favorites]

My best cat was eaten by owls this summer and for some reason my mind has filed it away with the season's other political memories.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:26 PM on August 21, 2018 [38 favorites]

I just returned from a nice vacation in Saint John and the Kingston penninsula, New Brunswick (what a beautiful part of the world!) and now LOTS OF DEBT AND BACK TO WORK AGAIN ARGH

I dented my car too, luckily no paint damage but still even more $$.

Why can't I just drive all over North America, always??! :(
posted by Melismata at 2:26 PM on August 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

I made this today about today. I hope it cheers you up.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g6kv3aymacajq25/bad%20day.001.jpeg?dl=0
posted by 4ster at 2:30 PM on August 21, 2018 [21 favorites]

It still makes my head fucking hurt to think of the relentless outraged howling from the GOP that would be happening if the lawyer and campaign manager of a Dem pled guilty and were found guilty of the sorts of charges that Cohen and Manafort were. I'm chagrined to realize that I still think that the world should be fair and that Republicans' rank hypocrisy should matter. I imagine the sort of howling that could power a small city and yet in this stupid fucking timeline, it's only the occasional vague chuffing sounds of concern. It makes me very fucking angry.

Rust Moranis, I'm sorry about your cat.
posted by danielleh at 2:30 PM on August 21, 2018 [12 favorites]

Fucking hell, this seems like small potatoes, but I always underestimate the psychological toll of reviewing the week's news prior to drafting another POTUS45 FPP. I was essentially out of commission this morning and came back online just in time for the Cohen and Manafort news to break. The newsvortex carries on spinning…
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:33 PM on August 21, 2018 [11 favorites]

Well, it is a huge pain in the ass that I am staying up way past my bedtime to eat watermelon (instead of cake) and read the mega thread and hit refresh on twitter. I will regret it tomorrow. Hell, I regret it today. I was especially enraged earlier over the EPA's plan to make coal great again by easing various laws so more children can die. (Only 1,630 more premature deaths a year by 2030, so why bother counting?) So I am enjoying the recent court news but I am still enraged, outraged, and wondering how much more shit we all have to get through before Trump is out. 2020 feels like a long time from now. But today has been a good day, kicking-crooks-wise.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:40 PM on August 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Doktor Zed, that was an epic job you did for the latest and have done earlier. Don't keep doing it, if it is too hard. Truly appreciate your efforts! Take care of yourself.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:41 PM on August 21, 2018 [9 favorites]

A tweet from July:

Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) - almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!
posted by stonepharisee at 2:53 PM on August 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Just signed up for official training to do voter registration in my state, Georgia. If you're in the US and can volunteer some time to do this it's very rewarding and important, I've done it before. You can probably find out how to do this in your state through the League of Women Voters, lwv.org

We can't let those fucking scumsucking motherfuckers get away with any more of their fucking shit, so we need to get out the fucking vote and vote the fuckers out.
posted by mareli at 3:00 PM on August 21, 2018 [12 favorites]

I so appreciated PenDevil’s call for a paper bag - I could use one today. In addition to the Trumpy crime-a-palooza on display today, my region had severe weather yesterday (one nearby town got 13 inches of rain) and I had the misfortune of landing in the storm in a small plane. New vocabulary words: wind shear, microbursts, go-around. For maybe 30-40 minutes I thought there was a good chance I was going to die. I cope by reading — all hail MeFite eriko for some incredibly detailed writing on this site about planes and weather.
posted by eirias at 3:04 PM on August 21, 2018 [3 favorites]

I have abruptly and dramatically broken out in amazingly itchy, all-over hives in the last hour for no reason I can determine. That’s really not the reaction I expected to be having to today’s news. Maybe it’s been so long since there’s been good stuff happening that my body just doesn’t know how to cope.
posted by thebrokedown at 3:52 PM on August 21, 2018 [9 favorites]

I'm avoiding news things by playing video-games and posting about video-games as per normal. I went for a nice run this afternoon and it smells like autumn.

Also, FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The lesson of the day. Go distract yourself with something nice. Fuck politics.
posted by Fizz at 4:22 PM on August 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

I am nervous laughing.
posted by srboisvert at 4:45 PM on August 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Iowa politics is about to get really ugly, and I need to stay off Facebook for about three weeks, at the very least. I am also supposed to knock doors this weekend, and I need to figure out how I am going to do it without losing my shit at people who really deserve it.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:49 PM on August 21, 2018 [4 favorites]

It's great that things are happening but I still don't believe they will lead to the things that need to happen. I just can't believe it's politically possible, short of a lot of even more unlikely things happening.

Well, enjoy the convictions while they last, at least! Because at least for one day Manafort and Cohen feel like shit.

I am very pleased to hear of the existence of a Profanity Embroidery Group, btw.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:56 PM on August 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Being in California, the apocalyptic nature of both climate change and income inequality is... on my mind. Driving through the fire regions, walking through tent-city encampments, I am just so aware of so much suffering, so close.

You grow up white and middle class in the US and you are shielded from having to know suffering. No longer! The suffering has come home. Of course the same people suffer the most, but we who were shielded can't avert our eyes anymore.

Neither of these horrors are trump specific or even particularly worsened by trump - as compared to other administrations. This is where things have been heading. The ICE prison camps and creeping infiltration of our judicial system by crazed misogynists and fascists are still in build-mode - we'll only see the true impact after more time I suppose.

I don't have anything wise to say. I think about Riddley Walker a lot. And Parable of the Sower.
posted by latkes at 7:08 PM on August 21, 2018 [20 favorites]

I picked a fine week to finally delete my twitter account!
posted by Gadgetenvy at 7:40 PM on August 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

When the fuckly fuck will this fucking itching stop? Head, face, back, arms, legs, for about a year. Ruled out allergies and neuropathy, tried every topical anti-itch on the market. I use all unscented/hypoallergenic products and moisturize regularly and thoroughly. Ice packs help some, bat are impractical for the scope and duration of the problem.

I mean, it's nothing earth-shattering like losing a job or a family member; but fuck, it just affects everything.

And yet I'm up scratching all night.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:59 PM on August 21, 2018 [3 favorites]

This is the first week that I'm daring to hope that it's all starting to end. Something in the wind, blood in the water perhaps. I hope he and his cronies see it all crumble around them and justice is served. Once it's done though, need to keep the momentum so it can't happen again and use the energy for good.
posted by arcticseal at 11:56 PM on August 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Fuckity, fuck, fuck fuck.

So I just got my first SSDI denial. I applied for an appeal. I luckily have a lawyer I'm signing paperwork with this week. I have a doctor that was totally on board and filled out a form for me. But the whole thing is so fucking stressful. Our government (and people in general) don't give a single flying fuck about disabled people. The guess is that I was literally denied because I'm 28. They think I can work full time office work. My doctor scoffed at that. I couldn't even manage half a day at an office, ever. Wouldn't I keep fucking working rather than go through all this shit if I could?!

The systems are fucking broken. So please vote. Please talk about disability. Even most liberal people don't get disability or illness or accessibility. I know I'm still learning.
PS: 1/4 US adults live with disability per the CDC.
PPS: The straw ban is ableist.
posted by Crystalinne at 11:56 PM on August 21, 2018 [23 favorites]

My best cat was eaten by owls this summer

Poor cat. I love to step outside and listen to the owls at night, but now I'll worry whether my cat is home and safe.
posted by pracowity at 12:36 AM on August 22, 2018

The Australian Liberal Party (who are conservative, and currently in government) are trying to make the most racist, fascist piece of shit that they have the Prime Minister this week, even though it will for sure cost them the next election because he is a humanoid potato wearing an ill-fitting skin suit. After a failed coup yesterday, they’re still trying. They’re so eager they can’t even wait until morning. He’s been saying today that immigrants cause traffic jams. He’s spent the last month blaming fictional ‘African gangs’ for crime and claiming that people are too scared to go out to dinner. He’s been denying medical care to sick children that he holds in offshore concentration camps. He wants the power to deploy the army against protests. I don’t know what I will do if this motherfucker is tapped to lead the country, even if it will only be for a few months.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:21 AM on August 22, 2018 [10 favorites]

I saw an owl eying my cat and it was pretty scary.
posted by thelonius at 6:37 AM on August 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm being let go by the person I love. It's horrible, but honestly it's not the worst thing happening (see above comments, and you know, stuff). I dunno.
posted by wellred at 7:00 AM on August 22, 2018 [12 favorites]

I have abruptly and dramatically broken out in amazingly itchy, all-over hives in the last hour for no reason I can determine.
...
When the fuckly fuck will this fucking itching stop?

I had otherwise-unexplained itching in my hands and it turned out to be autoimmune. Steroid cream was effective.

I had the misfortune of landing in the storm in a small plane.

Goodness! No dying, y'hear?

all hail MeFite eriko for some incredibly detailed writing on this site about planes and weather.

Is he back? I haven't seen him commenting in a long time.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:02 AM on August 22, 2018

*hugs for wellred*
posted by Melismata at 8:21 AM on August 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

Schadenfreude: it's what's for breakfast.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:56 AM on August 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Owls are assholes.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:56 AM on August 22, 2018

FUUUUUUUCKING FUCK BULLSHIT WHAT THE FUCKING UNRELENTING SHIT CRAP.

Well, I'm tuning up my bike and sorting and refreshing my camping gear. I keep finding myself saying clearly and aloud and in the company of friends and strangers alike things like "I really need to get the fuck out of town for a while." so I appear to be doing that.

I seem to be saying this most often when I keep tripping over past ghosts of myself around town. Example: I recently revisted my old job, the actual venue itself for the first time since I quit under duress. I was on a mission with the housemates to get coffee, and just the feel of the tiles underfoot and the "room tone" and acoustics was a major and unexpected memory trigger.

It was also a very weird dream or Inception-like moment because they had subtly shifted the whole counter and bar out by about 3 feet, but it was a whole new counter that was otherwise identical, so I stood there gaping for 30 seconds thinking "I don't remember there being that much room back there. I know there wasn't because it was crash derby back there. Is this what getting old feels like? Am I finally actually going mad?" and it bothered me for like two days until I could confirm with a fellow ex coworker that it was indeed an entirely new countertop with much more room behind it.

If anything the bike tuning and gear-sorting is a familiar meditative practice that helps me feel more prepared and secure.

I kind of want to bike (or lazy bus-bike) to the coast to camp somewhere, anywhere else. The compulsion is so strong that the only thing that's kept me from just taking off is because everything is smokey and we're having the worse air quality and haze the area has seen in decades, if not centuries.

It's been so bad that it makes your eyes sting just sitting inside at home. Apparently the air quality around Seattle actually surpassed both Hong Kong and Beijing the other day. I've been very slowly biking or walking around to run errands and it's just horrible, like I'm chain smoking on a jog.

I've seen normally non-smoking friends of mine start bumming cigarettes as a joke about wanting a breath of fresh air and then actually smoking them. And, well, no one is fooled that this works but it's at least a brief relief from the pervasive stale bad weird campfire smell we've been living in for days now.

Ok, back to bike tuning and camp gear sorting. Hoping the air clears by this weekend, and really hoping for some rain.
posted by loquacious at 10:35 AM on August 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm fucking home; beyatches. Two weeks of 'R U sanes?' classes; and back to wandering around (er; rolling around on a set of kevlar Schwalbes) and pretending to be an adult. Fuck. Yeah.
posted by Afghan Stan at 11:32 AM on August 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

I'm at a conference with a good friend, whose second cousin is the poor girl in Iowa whose body was just found. She's progressive, her cousin was progressive, and it's just so fucking infuriating that she's turned into a political pawn. All these people arguing about what her death means and how to use her death to ban immigration or do x or y, and it's so easy for people to lose track of the fact that she's a real person with a real family and right now my friend is trying to come to terms with what it means when your cousin is kidnapped and murdered. And, how to cope with the fact that she received so much attention after going missing, and squaring that with indigenous women and black women and trans women and so on and so forth... it's just been awful. I was with her when her folks called, and I was hanging out with her when she saw the stuff Trump had been saying, and just ... fuck.
posted by ChuraChura at 12:27 PM on August 22, 2018 [26 favorites]

Fuck, ChuraChura, what is up with that conference?
posted by Etrigan at 12:53 PM on August 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

(I mean, the conference itself is pretty great! So many monkeys!)
posted by ChuraChura at 12:53 PM on August 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've seen normally non-smoking friends of mine start bumming cigarettes as a joke about wanting a breath of fresh air and then actually smoking them. And, well, no one is fooled that this works but it's at least a brief relief from the pervasive stale bad weird campfire smell we've been living in for days now.

Were they ex-smokers?

I've been wondering how much all this smoke in the air is making people who've given cigarettes up need a nicotine fix because when they breathe in this much smoke, their bodies instantly revert to dependence and get ready for the pulse of nicotine which never arrives, and then they really have to have it.
posted by jamjam at 2:29 PM on August 22, 2018

Owls are assholes.

I don't hold it against the owls and still have a lot of respect for them. If I had to be killed by a predator and a giant owl were among my options, I'd choose it: they're so delicate and fragile that they're really invested in killing large prey quickly and humanely. A great horned owl's talons are proportionally five times stronger than the jaws of a german shepherd and unlike a mammalian predator they won't eat you alive.

I also think that for a tough old outdoor barn cat like her, turning into owls is probably a best-case end-of-life scenario in terms of suffering and recycling. The hoots I'll hear coming across the prairie at night will be coming from her matter.
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:16 PM on August 22, 2018 [20 favorites]

for anyone wondering how their local air compares to cigarette smoke, there's an app for that.
posted by halation at 3:23 PM on August 22, 2018

Being in California, the apocalyptic nature of both climate change and income inequality is... on my mind.

I think I'm further south than you, latkes, but it's on my mind, too. All the fucking time, in an endless, accelerating loop at a pitch that makes it impossible to focus on anything else. It has driven me to distraction to the point that it might tank my marriage, because it's all I can think and talk about and now it's stressing my husband out and the fact that he is NOT more freaked out makes me wonder if we're on the same page about how serious all of this is, and if not, whether it only felt like we were because both of us could avert our eyes and now I just can't. And it's so small compared to everything else that's happening, but feeling a nine-year relationship start to evaporate, after trying to start a life out here and having all of the other relationships in my life fade bit by bit due to the distance, makes everything feel even more hopeless. Fuck.
posted by Anita Bath at 3:27 PM on August 22, 2018 [5 favorites]

My mom is in the major of a medical crisis, and it seems kind of end stage. She has to go thru assesments, and move her home, and i'm four provinces over.
posted by PinkMoose at 3:41 PM on August 22, 2018 [6 favorites]

It's the busiest time of year for my work and the news coming fast and furious on top of that is making me feel like I'm losing it. And school starts for my kid in two days, which adds a whole other matrix of busyness and insanity. EVERYTHING HAPPENS SO MUCH

Its small comfort, but this is what's playing at my local theater tonight. Three movies written and directed by people of color, and Mr. Rogers. I'm here for it. (Kid is at grandma's right now which is how seeing a movie is even possible. We're here for BlackkKlansman, but I could have just as easily broke for any of those other films. Might try and get free for a night this weekend for solo Crazy Rich Asians.)
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:04 PM on August 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

I dropped an official (metaphorical) pile of bricks on my boss yesterday (why yes, I did author an anonymous ask me recently). And the Dean "hasn't decided" yet whether to put him on leave while the external investigators are doing their thing. So he's probably at the office and I don't know whether or not he's been notified yet, but it will happen some time today. Meanwhile, I'm too scared to go to work. Fucking fuck.
posted by lollusc at 6:06 PM on August 22, 2018 [16 favorites]

I quit my reliable job because the sexism and the homophobia were getting too much to bear, and I've been relying on freelance work to pay the bills, and it isn't. We have a rental property that isn't renting, and I'm wondering how we're going to get through the next month while also feeling like a complete freeloader. I was banking on getting a call back from a part-time job that I was assured I was a shoe-in for, but that didn't come through, and now I'm like, damn, I really can't do anything right. Fuuuuuuuck.
posted by coppermoss at 7:23 PM on August 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

I am spending a truly appalling amount of time dreaming about the junior trumps and trumps-in-law going to prison.

(Morrissey is awful, but please please please let me get what I want)
posted by grandiloquiet at 7:24 PM on August 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

So here I am in Hawaii and Hurricane Lane is closing in and I'm thinking "If this stays as bad as it looks, are we going to be treated like Puerto Rico by the Republican regime?" And the answer is, "of course we are." So if I'm absent for a few weeks/months, please do everything in your power to make the whole Republican party from the base to the basest lose elections, lose support and basically lose at life. I'll expect a full report when I get back.

Also, I resent this hurricane closing in just as stuff is starting to get really ugly from the Trump part of the Republican regime.
posted by Joey Michaels at 7:51 PM on August 22, 2018 [9 favorites]

That same company that claims to be progressive just fired like twenty people for unionizing and I am basically feeling nauseous all the time over it, and I have to face them across a table and pretend like I don’t hate them so much I can barely breath. And they have the nerve to ask “how can you do this to us, GoodCompany, in a year when Trump is president?”
posted by corb at 8:02 PM on August 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

I am really, really tired. I think this might be my last campaign for a while. The fire has just gone out of me. And that really sucks.
posted by dogheart at 9:27 PM on August 22, 2018 [7 favorites]

Hold tight all of you, hugs to you all.
PinkMoose, sorry to hear about your mum.
posted by arcticseal at 3:18 AM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Spouse was exposed to poison ivy on Sunday. Instead of dropping what he was doing IMMEDIATELY and showering he elected to solider on. He is now wrapping his arms in paper towels at night to keep himself from scratching.

I developed a cluster (THREE!) of cold sores in the dead center of my lower lip on Monday.

Cranky old man cat Wigford is taking his wrath over Rosie out on the upstairs carpet. So I shall be re-arranging litter boxes and shutting up the kittens at night for a few weeks so Wigford can eliminate in peace.

The application code to support new AFL changes is not working correctly and sprint AND development close is tomorrow. Oh yes, and one of the devs decided to add a little something extra that needs tested. Today.

I did get to see Crazy Rich Asians and loved it.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:05 AM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Fucking Dutton. Please, LNP, I know whoever you choose is going to be terrible but please, anyone but Dutton. This malignant potato needs to be dug from the dirt and disposed of post haste. Not even composted, just thrown into landfill and destroyed. I can't fucking believe that he's even a contender and even if he does finally make it possible for Shorten to win, just imagine the horror of him in charge for months. It's too awful, I'm seriously very upset about this.

I know people are enjoying all the memes and shit but I'm really sick of trying to laugh at politics. The only political cartoons I can enjoy are drawn like horror cartoons. It's an absolute shit show out there and I think it's just going to get worse as the Earth continues to degrade and our governments continue to ignore it.
posted by h00py at 7:19 AM on August 23, 2018 [5 favorites]

So I have shingles, apparently, and while I whined about being only 33 the doc gently asked about the stress levels in my life. FAIR POINT, DOC. HAVE YOU LOOKED OUTSIDE??
posted by lydhre at 7:38 AM on August 23, 2018 [12 favorites]

I remain secure in my convictions that nothing is going to change until we see his nose fall off during a rally.

And then it will be like two day news cycle at most.
posted by The Whelk at 9:28 AM on August 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

Some of you may remember me saying this in the last FF thread:

I just went into today's company sales meeting and stepped forward as That Guy, asking how management could reconcile sending out a newsletter that bragged that revenues and profits are up substantially with a new comp plan that means commissions are down across the board.

I got my answer! They're moving the office an hour away and don't really give a fuck what I think, since they expect me to quit anyway.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:18 AM on August 23, 2018 [7 favorites]

I live in a completely dysfunctional society and the people who arranged this won. And will continue to win. I will be alive for the end of the American experiment.

The Audacity of Hope really takes on a different flavor as a title these days, doesn't it?
posted by East14thTaco at 10:55 AM on August 23, 2018 [5 favorites]

I blocked a couple of people on facebook. Maybe I should have trimmed my friends list down years ago. I probably still should. But this artist I know... and I know a lot of artists, but I've known this guy since he was reading poetry at 15, contributed to one of his projects once, got him a sweet job once, etc, even though I don't know him too well, and thought he was quietly crazy a few times too... So he's an acquaintance, but we've got a little history. Fucker makes a post like "Alex Jones is getting a bad rap, so I'm going to listen to him for 48 hours. No one need reply to this message." But of course people do and he replies with (paraphrasing) "triggered liberals just don't understand him, he isn't racist, he's just from Texas" and then I look over at my kids and think about Sandy Hook denialism for the rest of the morning and fuck it dude, you are blocked, buh-bye. From his post I also blocked another very sweet shy old lady that was in the same arts collective because her fb feed was full of right wing religious racism.

I have avoided posting in the fucking fuckfuckfuck threads though I read em, but fuck. When you've known some crazy artist since he was 15 and then he's like 'maybe hatemongering will get me a dental plan.' Fuck no buddy it won't and maybe I'll see you on some visit out there in half a decade, but fuck no I don't care about any of the drama you are squawking on about if that's the direction you want to go. I mean I don't think he was being ironic with any of it. It's like, ok, you are a broke-ass missing tooth artist and that's probably all you are ever going to be and so embracing some blowhard's stupidity is not going to win you points with me. Fucking fuck!
posted by Catblack at 3:23 PM on August 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is a relatively low-level "fuck", but still.

See, we have this one terrible open-source application at work that has basically been abandoned by its creators and is no longer supported. We would have gotten rid of it ages ago if a certain academic department that rhymes with "schmengineering" weren't clinging on to it with all four limbs like an infuriated cat.

Finally, though, we got the go-ahead to take it out behind the barn and shoot it at the beginning of this month...and then pretty much at the same time some bastard in Edinburgh took it upon himself to upgrade the thing to the latest version of PHP and extend its lifespan.

So now, since apparently I'm the only one in the entire damned university who has the expertise/skills/mojo to work with this thing, I'm being called in from my time off next Tuesday to install the new version of this techno-albatross on our dev server and see if anything breaks or falls over.

I mean, okay. I'm actually pretty bored with my time off by now. (I had a month's worth of days to take off before the end of September or I would just lose them, so they had to be taken...but I'm two weeks in, and there's only so much XBox and action-movie viewing the human body can absorb.) The diversion is actually kind of welcome. Also, I appreciate feeling needed and the job security and everything.

Still, though. Fuck.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:28 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Also, I resent this hurricane closing in just as stuff is starting to get really ugly from the Trump part of the Republican regime.
...
OMG IT'S Q-ANON'S "STORM"

As a Madisonian I thought the writers were going a little over the top after this week's bombshells by adding a breaking dam to the mix. Yes, yes, we get it, dramatic things are coming to a head.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:23 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Dear Mom: I can't just turn on Genuine Happy like it's a fucking water faucet. Or snap my fingers and just be happy, either.
I get so sick of naturally cheerful people Just. Not. Getting It.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:31 PM on August 23, 2018 [9 favorites]

I make an effort to keep some visibility into right-wingers who I know are real people and not just bots or troll farms (i.e. I haven't facebook-blocked literally everyone from high school yet) just so I can keep a sense of, well, what we're up against.

The day the Cohen plea and Manafort verdict came down, I had my "Surely this" moment and went to check in, and they were confidently claiming that well actually Hillary was the one colluding with Russia, the Steele dossier *came* from Russia you see, that's been proven; Trump's collusion is just a theory with no evidence behind it, and anyway "collusion" isn't a crime but just try telling a liberal that! And the *really* scary thing is that the FBI has chosen a side and is no longer a neutral observer, and what happens when the government sets its sights on the little guys like us? Anyway this Manafort stuff is all just financials that predates Trump, nothing to do with anything, doesn't matter. And the immigrants! Look at all these violent immigrants, the [fox] news is just full of murderous immigrants today. This Cohen thing can't be that important, it barely rates a mention on the front page. And so on.

These aren't fools or crazy people I'm talking about. They're not moon-law militia prepper types. They're normal middle-class people who sat through the same history classes I did, but who tune in to Fox instead of CNN, and apparently that's all it takes.

We keep trying to argue on the facts but they have their own set of facts which they like more than the actual facts, endlessly reinforced by fringe commentary sites they believe are news organizations, and their mistrust of the real journalism that they believe is Fake News.

And every time we block someone because we're too exhausted to deal with it -- because it's exhausting to deal with and depressing to see, and who wants to be confronted with that every day? so of course we block them, and they block us, and the problem gets worse, the consensus realities continue to diverge.

I'm not real hopeful that there's a way back from this. Short of everyone who works for Fox simultaneously keeling over with a heart attack or, like, a sudden contagious burst of empathy
posted by ook at 8:49 AM on August 24, 2018 [9 favorites]

Update: Apparently old man Wigford is not the only feline taking their wrath out on the upstairs carpet. So now I get to do triage to figure out which kitten is using the upstairs as a litter box.

And I had to ask my miserable spouse-with-the-oozing-arms to clean the carpet tomorrow (the Kirby is too heavy for me to handle) He is not happy. I am not happy. Fuck.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:34 PM on August 24, 2018

I'm not real hopeful that there's a way back from this. Short of everyone who works for Fox simultaneously keeling over with a heart attack or, like, a sudden contagious burst of empathy

My hope is that once the following two conditions are met, Fox will stop being what it is. 1. Rupert Murdock dies, and 2. Whoever leads Fox after his death (who will not be as committed as Murdock) no longer thinks the conservative POV is the shortest path to money.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:19 PM on August 24, 2018

I'm casually checking out the job market and the next fucking time I see a job description that fucking asks for a 'rock star' I'm going to email them and ask if they would ever use 'pop star' because I fucking think 'rock star' is coded male. I'm not dying on that fucking hill, but I think it needs to be called the fuck out.

oh my god this so perfectly calls out the visceral eyeroll I've had but not been able to explain with these types of postings, THANK YOU. Rock stars or Cool Girls only, because all lady rock stars are Cool Girls.
posted by nakedmolerats at 8:17 PM on August 24, 2018 [5 favorites]

IS IT TOO LATE TO JOIN THIS?
I am going to a NARAL rally in Wilmette, IL today, but feeilng hopeless. In fact, every time I see someone post a petition I think, what is the POINT? THEY DO NOT CARE about anything but their already decided evil agenda. They are flaunting laws, norms, stacking the courts, stealing 2 Supreme Court picks, torturing immigrants - and the police from most accounts in many places are also in full fascist mode. Fascist agenda, full steam ahead. It's not like Trump is actually making any decisions. This crap was all planned by very rich white men who believe ethics and morals are for plebs. Can Mueller save the Supreme Court? Can I not see the repulsive, lying faces of Betsy DeVos (in particular) and Susan Collins for a few days, at least? Will the Democrats ever realize that they are going to have to play dirty since that's all the other side ever does?

And then I think well, the arc of history IS positive, eventually. Mostly? Except the time we are now living in? motherfuckinggoddamn.
thank you for the space for ranting. : /
posted by Glinn at 6:59 AM on August 26, 2018

So, after re-reading my comment I thought I should stop to recognize that despite the overwhelming abundance of craven, Putin-licking white men in this administration, I have singled out two women. I guess cause women who do not support other women totally suck, particularly supposedly pro-choice women selling out into complete moral bankruptcy. Maybe they have threatened the family of Susan Collins. It would not be a surprise.. GODDAMMIT I DON'T EVEN KNOW.
posted by Glinn at 7:05 AM on August 26, 2018

The otherwise adorable sweet soft cat who suddenly took against one of the other cats month ago and wants to murder him has still not calmed down despite prolonged separation, carefully supervised re-introduction attempts with extra-stinky food (and a clear barrier between them), etc, etc.

Also I bought a blacklight to track down (mostly unrelated) incidents of cats spraying in the house and I can find them but even after I scrub them down with Nature's Miracle they still fluoresce under the black light so I don't know if they are cleaned off *enough* and I kind of lose track of what I did and didn't try to clean already.
posted by dilettante at 1:45 PM on August 26, 2018

I'm traveling soon and freaking out so hard about it that my face has erupted in massive, painful, oozing zits when it has been clear and chill since LAST OCTOBER. I hate traveling and I am having to balance partner and friends and money on a trip I don't even want to take and partner doesn't even want to take and I don't know why we're doing any of this anymore, lord knows we don't need to spend the money. I'm almost 40 and I don't even have a retirement ACCOUNT much less any dang money in it and I'll never afford a house and somehow when I tell people this they're like oh you'll be fine and I'm like NO YOU ASSHOLES I WILL NOT but they don't believe me and I hate them for having so much fucking money and so much fucking peace of mind because I'm a bad person like that.

Oh right and the clock is winding down on my ability to have health insurance thanks to those epic butter-dildos in the white house and congress.

Guys I'm just so fucking tired.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 4:30 PM on August 26, 2018 [4 favorites]

The Jacksonville Madden shooting is hitting me super hard. Everyone here knows how important video games are to me and I'm feeling this more than most. I hate how I am feeling right now and that so many people are hurting and that this is the normal now, that this is just a thing. Fucking fuck fuck fuck.

Fuck.
posted by Fizz at 6:04 PM on August 26, 2018 [4 favorites]

Assuming a Dem is voted in as PotUS in 2020, can we declare Jan 21, 2021 a national Federal holiday, like National Nap Day? Everyone gets the day off, and we all try to catch up on our sleep.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 11:14 PM on August 26, 2018 [4 favorites]

Peggy Noonan is the fucking worst.




Man, that felt good.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:59 AM on August 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm still trying to figure out how she won the Pulitzer Prize last year.
posted by octothorpe at 6:17 AM on August 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

It’s becoming more of a thing on a daily basis having to tell myself it’s ok to cry and it might help. Shits fucked up and scary. We went and visited some friends in trump country Wisconsin and they are very much the polar opposite of trumpers. One is a CNA in the local healthcare system and told me that she is surrounded daily by trumpers. In healthcare. She teared up when I told her she isn’t crazy and she’s not alone and yes this all happening and fucked the fuck up. I used to like going to Wisconsin. CNN was actually right down the road interviewing a soy bean farmer. Spoiler! She’s still voting republican and crossing her fingers! My birthday is next week and I wanna bake a god damn cake.
posted by Bacon Bit at 5:55 PM on August 27, 2018 [2 favorites]

This fucking shitstain’s fucking comment on Jacksonville and he can’t fucking muster a shred of human decency AGAIN is...is... yeah, typical.

kirkaracha’s comment “Mass shootings. Boy, I don’t know” made me laugh out loud when I needed it most, so thank you for that.

For months now, the only way I can receive news about this administration is by side-eyeing it via the political mega-threads so thank you for everyone who looks at all the stuff I can’t and brings it back to those of us who want to know what’s happening but will flame out if they so much as see his god damn fucking pathetic face.
posted by _Mona_ at 7:21 PM on August 27, 2018 [5 favorites]

Another low-level and actually pretty minor one, but I can't really vent about it anywhere else...I've just discovered that my predecessor in this job had a really eccentric versioning system. As a slightly-anonymized example, in /var/www/data, we've got:

webapp
_webapp_
__webapp__
__webapp_

The only way I know which one is the right goddamned one to work on is by manually searching the Apache config files. FUCK.

This is also the guy, by the way, whose "documentation" is so rambling and full of false starts and pointless asides that it reads more like The Life and Times of Tristram Shandy, IT Gentleman.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:22 AM on August 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

I was in training all day yesterday. I got to my office this morning and found that they rearranged some furniture and THEY MOVED MY FUCKING DESK.
posted by elsietheeel at 6:51 AM on August 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

Just as a follow-up...

I got the bastard thing working after far too long of banging my head against it. (Turned out the developer forgot a crucial line when publishing his code that made the entire thing fall over. Argh.)

So that's all well and good, but now I'm worried that I'm getting the reputation at work as The Weird Shit Guy. "I have no earthly idea how to get this working. Better call Mr. Bad Example."
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 10:27 AM on August 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

I just don't like anyone or anything any more.

I swear, there was a time when I wasn't this way and if my social media is any indication, 2015-16 was really the turning point on that.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 11:16 AM on August 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I didn't ask for an exploding uterus for my birthday, I asked for 45's fucking impeachment.

52 and I'm bleeding like I'm 25. At least I'm not pregnant.
posted by Space Kitty at 12:31 PM on August 29, 2018 [5 favorites]

surely this
posted by bq at 1:53 PM on August 29, 2018

shit, I saw down to get some work done and I red that article and my whole system is now flooded with adrenaline and I can't focus on anything except fascism.
posted by bq at 2:03 PM on August 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

It's about time to write Wisconsin off.
posted by Sphinx at 9:44 PM on August 29, 2018

I took a small moral stand and unfriended an immediate family member on Facebook For Reasons Political and I hope they don't notice before they go to my lawyers office today to sign some paperwork because they're an integral part of my case in a lawsuit I'm filing so maybe this was a bad time for a moral stand because this could become a Thing in my family, but on the other hand, fuck it, it needed doing. Actions have consequences and that goes all ways, I guess. If this person decides to perjure himself to get back at me, I suppose I'll know just how far it's gone.
posted by Ruki at 7:21 AM on August 30, 2018 [4 favorites]

It's about time to write Wisconsin off.

In what way? Too racist? Too wet? What?
posted by eirias at 7:48 AM on August 30, 2018

Just before midnight, local time here, my little old man (shown here not appreciating Daddy’s music habit) collapsed outside in the cold, in great distress and having difficulty breathing. My partner and mother-out-law rushed him straight to the vet hospital, where he was sedated and stabilised. My partner and her mum came home to wait for the X-ray results, which came at about 1am.

His lungs were filled with cancerous masses.

We went back to the vet, and held him close, cupping his face with an oxygen mask. We told him we loved him. And we put him to sleep. He died just before 2.

My heart hurts.
posted by prismatic7 at 10:18 AM on August 30, 2018 [10 favorites]

I'm so sorry, prismatic7. Losing a pet is just so fucking hard. I'm glad he had you to look after him as long as you did.
posted by suelac at 10:26 AM on August 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

So sorry for your loss, prismatic7. We're blessed to have them in our lives, but losing them hurts so very much. Hugs to you.
posted by arcticseal at 11:38 AM on August 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

Worst part about losing a pet is coming home.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:39 PM on August 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm so sorry to hear it, prismatic7.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:45 PM on August 30, 2018

I got my first ever racist hate mail today, after participating in a super low-key public-facing event. I reported the email to the event organisers and left it at that but I’m surprised by how shaken I feel—the entire email is 3 words long (all slurs) and yet some part of my brain reacts to it like a serious act of violence.
posted by Aravis76 at 1:31 AM on August 31, 2018

Hugs to you, Aravis76.
posted by arcticseal at 5:39 AM on August 31, 2018 [3 favorites]

Does everyone else feel like that, ever since the beginning of the last election and certainly after 11/2016, that they have to walk around with two selves?

1. Self 1: the set that looks at our current reality and screams a lot. Thinks that humanity is probably done. Wonders how much they/their family will have to suffer. Despairs because there is nowhere to run to, no power to prevent or change our doomed future.

2. Self 2: the set that has to pretend that everything is semi-ok so that you can function, go to work, care for family, not scream all the time. Self 2 still cares about TV shows and bills and socializing and normal things as though everything were going to work out/be normal at some point.

I don't want to say "schizophrenic" because that's not accurate or fair to people with that problem, but I need some way to describe my current state of having two wholly separate selves in my head all the time. I'm disturbed that I can do this. I wonder how many other people are doing this, and how many are simply not noticing or believing what Self 1 notices.

I miss having just Self 2. I remember what that was like but it seems like a million years ago.
posted by emjaybee at 8:01 AM on August 31, 2018 [21 favorites]

Watching and reading eulogies for Sen. McCain, I'm thinking about how much Trump is an empty shell, incapable of being human.
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:07 AM on September 1, 2018

please enjoy this video of Reverend Professor Michael Eric Dyson speaking at Aretha Franklin's funeral, where he blasts the "orange apparition"
posted by numaner at 5:33 PM on September 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Just had to log out of Twitter on my computer and uninstall it from my phone. Not really Twitter's fault, I just can't be that connected to current events right now without freaking out.
posted by octothorpe at 10:19 AM on September 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Just had to come in here and say FUCK YOU NYT! FUCK YOU RIGHT IN YOUR STUPID “BUTTER EMAILS” FACE! AND FUCK WHATEVER SYCOPHANT WROTE THAT LOAD OF PURE CRAP.

I feel a little better.
posted by Bacon Bit at 1:03 PM on September 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

for some reason the "resistance inside the trump administration" article makes me think of the last scene of inglourious basterds.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 1:52 PM on September 5, 2018

The nonsense in that NYT op-ed is functionally equivalent to, even if I take that jackass at his word (which I do not) taking a rifle away from a dangerous lunatic, replacing it with a pistol, and then expecting to be hailed as a hero.

Fuck that anonymous shitheel and his onanistic self-lionizing. What a pile of garbage.
posted by tautological at 6:15 PM on September 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

You can't fool me, NYT Op-Ed. Its mendacious fuckers all the way down.
posted by nubs at 7:14 PM on September 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Take heart: we can no longer be anonymous in this time, the writer will be outed and fired within a week, tops.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:12 PM on September 5, 2018

Hey now, you're a lodestar, get your words out, don't wait
Hey now, you're a lodestar, leak in secret, get paid
And all the shitters is gold
Only the lodestar break the mold

i'm sorry for self linking and for the song, so so sorry
posted by numaner at 1:38 PM on September 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

fluttering hellfire, that sucks. I'm sorry.

As far as the rest of the world goes, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
posted by nubs at 10:46 AM on September 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Does everyone else feel like that, ever since the beginning of the last election and certainly after 11/2016, that they have to walk around with two selves?

Absolutely. Except I couldn't maintain the things-aren't-that-bad face in public very long, and I've probably alienated a lot of friends by sharing the same opinions and analyses of the news that I post in the mega-threads.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:05 AM on September 7, 2018

FUCK FUCK FCK FUCK FUCK?!?! THE SERENA WILLIAMS MATCH. FUCK ALL OF THAT AND TIRED ASS PEOPLE DEFENDING BULLSHIT RULES WHEN THEY KNOW THERE'S A GOD DAMN DOUBLE STANDARD THAT EXISTS FOR CERTAIN SEGMENTS OF SOCIETY. I HAET THIS FUCKING ABUSE OF POWER AND PRIVILEGE. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY. I JUST WATN TO RAGE. FUCK FUCK FUCK
posted by Fizz at 11:21 AM on September 9, 2018 [13 favorites]

I thought I might have escaped the SAD this year, but I've spent the entire fucking weekend staring at the fucking tv and doing absolutely fucking nothing and I'm exhausted and sad and I fucking hate it.
posted by elsietheeel at 12:04 PM on September 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Fizz, I entirely agree.

I'd like to add that I am disappointed, but not surprised at many of the responses. I wish that I wasn't.
posted by monopas at 12:13 AM on September 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

aannnddd fucking CBS This Morning just interviewed fucking Ken Start about his new book about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky

Really CBS? All the fucking crap that happened in the last 4 years and you're giving daylight and oxygen to the fucking favorite scandal of fucking Republicans from the fucking last century!
posted by jointhedance at 6:05 AM on September 10, 2018

Spent my birthday alone at home. No one contacted me except one call from a relative that needed a few questions answered, unrelated to said birthday. Mac Miller died a few days ago and it's like... I wish we could trade places. All those people that wished he were still alive. It's not fair. I'd love to give someone a second chance but life doesn't work like books.
posted by Freeze Peach at 6:14 AM on September 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

Does everyone else feel like that, ever since the beginning of the last election and certainly after 11/2016, that they have to walk around with two selves?

Nearly always. And that reminds me of this remark from Michelle Lhooq's profile of Martti Kalliala and Ville Haimala of Amnesia Scanner

“The contemporary experience is schizophrenic and contradictory,” he continues. “This anxiety or abstract horror that comes about from the political times and climate change we’re living through — every day there’s a crisis. But at the same time, there is this narrative being fed to us through Silicon Valley, that we would be delivered through incredible technologies around the corner that will somehow lift us up from misery. This kind of dark euphoria is a new emotion that is really present here.”

So if it's any comfort, we're probably not the only people who feel this way.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:33 AM on September 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

Freeze Peach, belated happy birthday wishes! Hugs if you want them, warm handshake if not. Sorry it was a bad day
posted by nubs at 8:12 AM on September 10, 2018 [4 favorites]

Many happy belateds, Freeze Peach! (Mine was on Thursday - all the cool kids are born in early September. ;-D)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:21 PM on September 10, 2018

sneaking into the room to release the scream spawned from watching DONALD FUCKING J FUCKING TRUMP being all self-congratulatory on 9/11, because it's bad enough that politicians seem compelled to exploit the worst day of my life for their own gain, but it's worse that it's THAT GUY and it's even worse that HE WAS PROBABLY IN NEW YORK CITY TOO ON THIS SAME DAY AND SHOULD KNOW BETTER but even worst of all is that BACK IN 2001 HIS REACTION TO THE ATTACKS WAS TO BRAG THAT HE NOW HAD THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT SERIOUSLY SOMEONE JUST LET ME KNOW HOW I CAN GET CLOSE TO THAT MAN SO I CAN SLAP HIM UPSIDE THE HEAD LIKE CHER IN MOONSTRUCK

....Okay, better. Thanks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:27 AM on September 11, 2018 [7 favorites]

So I just had to send an email to my boss (who is on holidays) about the actions of another employee, who is busy fucking around with the work my team is doing behind the scenes while this employee is on fucking medical leave. I pointed out that I would normally just address this directly with the person, but since he is on medical leave and shouldn't be talking with our partners and making plans and arrangements to begin with, I didn't want to compound his fucking problem of not being able to actually stick to being on leave by sending him an email about work.

Jesus fuck, this guy. When he went I leave I told my boss that if we were taking over some of what he was responsible for (which includes a major project in mid-October), I couldn't have him doing stuff and making commitments behind the scenes, which he is already been called out for several times. And I fucking hate feeling like I'm tattling on people, but shit - if he's not listening to his boss on this, why the hell is he going to listen to me?
posted by nubs at 9:54 AM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've finally found a use for smooth jazz: soothing my feelings when I start screaming FUCK YOU at pubic radio.
posted by bq at 6:16 PM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

One thing that really bugs me is apathy and cynicism helping the Republicans.

My boss frequently talks about how, in his view, capitalism itself is the root cause of a great many problems. It's his hobbyhorse, in a general conversation just about any problem that is under discussion will eventually be linked to capitalism by him.

He identifies as a Republican and has indicated that he votes straight ticket Republican.

I don't much talk politics with him, if anything I try to be non-committal and steer the conversation away from politics, but he's also fond of talking about how money is everything and both sides are the same and how it doesn't really matter who's in office because capitalism will mean we all get screwed no matter what.

Cynicism, apathy, and inertia combined to make an anti-capitalist vote straight ticket Republican.

He's specifically mentioned Trump and how he dislikes him and how even though he's a Republican that doesn't mean he agrees with Trump. But he voted for him, and will vote for every Republican on the ticket in November. Because he's at this weird intersection where he votes, but feels that his vote both doesn't matter and that who he votes for doesn't matter.

If I had hair I'd be pulling it out.

Oh, and he's Hispanic, pretty white looking but he identifies as Hispanic, speaks Spanish perfectly fluently and says that English is his second language (he also speaks English as well as I do and with no particular accent). So he can pass, I suppose is what I'm saying. Which maybe helps him with his cynical apathy. I don't know.
posted by sotonohito at 10:26 AM on September 12, 2018 [3 favorites]

What LobsterMitten said in the main thread: THESE FUCKERS
posted by theredpen at 11:43 AM on September 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

My best friend is 70. I wish he didn't watch the news. He called me in near tears yesterday, just enraged and dismayed at that inappropriate ' victory' fist bump. I said, well, I guess he's just happy that you can't blame Russia for 9/11. But fucking fuck!
posted by Catblack at 12:00 PM on September 12, 2018

I have the grimmest thoughts running through my head today, but I am glad this thread is here.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:13 PM on September 12, 2018

FUUUUCK I should be out ORGANIZING but I woke up with tonsils like hot coals and now I’m stuck in bed imploring people to vote via the tools I have at my disposal.
posted by The Whelk at 12:44 PM on September 12, 2018

Every timeline I have is filled with people yelling past each other. Someone's behaviour can be poor and the reaction to it can be racist and sexist. A cartoon that looks like the worst kind of racist shit is indeed shit and racist, whether the person who did it meant for it to be or not. Insisting that it's all about the tantrum so therefore everyone is just overreacting to the racist shit and proceeding to have a tantrum about it is infuriating.

I was born in Australia. The anthem was voted for in my lifetime. Change is possible. Same with the day Australia Day is celebrated. None of this shit is set in stone and besides, they're just *symbols*.

Everyone screaming at each other, over each other's shoulders. We shouldn't change the date because I love Australia. Why don't you love Australia? Stand up for the flag! Stand up for the anthem! Stand up because it's school and you have to obey the rules without question, unless, that is, they include trying to be inclusive. Why are the PC police always telling me what I can and can't think? Why are you wearing that/acting like that/not acting like a real *insert gender here*? Don't trust politicians! Or Journalists! Or cartoonists! Unless I agree with what they're saying on a particular day. Don't run if you're not guilty. Don't accuse me of sexism or racism or *insert other -isms here* because that's infringing on my right to call you *deleted*. Censorship! Be yourself but not too much because then you're weird and I'll get hurt if you respond to my insults and disdain and tell me to stop. Also, only be yourself if you have assimilated correctly. And I hold all the cards in my pocket so you better not think of pulling any.

Murdoch's foul stench lingers over every outrage that plays out in comment sections across the globe.
posted by h00py at 5:34 PM on September 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

I just had to check my period tracking app to make sure that I was premenstrual, because I am not allowed to be this inappropriately weepy and enraged if I am not premenstrual. (I'm premenstrual. Phew.) I would like to take a fucking break from saying fuck you to the entire global political system and take a fucking minute to say fuck you to my reproductive system, which is a fucking fuck.

That is all.

Actually, it's not. That fucking cartoon is the most disgusting piece of trash I have ever seen, and I am not just saying that because my hormones hate me.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:57 PM on September 12, 2018 [2 favorites]

PenDevil just linked to DJT's latest tweet. He didn't include the text so I went and read it. It was:

3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000...

What a fucking idiot.
posted by rdr at 5:54 AM on September 13, 2018

Oh yay I guess my grandpa really isn’t dead and this has been a long fucking hallucination! I’m going to call him up and tell him about my new job he would be so proud of!

Fuck you, you fucking monster.
posted by corb at 6:38 AM on September 13, 2018 [13 favorites]

You know that scene in The Princess Bride where an old lady is screaming ‘boo’ at Buttercup? I dreamt I was doing that to Trump.
posted by bq at 9:13 AM on September 13, 2018 [3 favorites]

That's really been bothering me. How are these assholes not booed out of every room they enter in public?
posted by ob1quixote at 9:39 AM on September 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

How are these assholes not booed out of every room they enter in public?

Because a good chunk of the public either agrees with them or has decided "if it gets me what I wan't I don't care what else happens".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:47 AM on September 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

This week has been total shit, as usual. The only way I've gotten through it thus far is filtering out the headlines as much as possible and rationing my Internet use in general. Unfortunately, the backlog of muck that keeps turning over in the news has overflowed, and if I don't metaphorically start up the sump pump now, I'll be inundated in info-sewage. I just don't know how long I can keep bailing.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:05 PM on September 13, 2018

My sister got diagnosed with cancer today. It's a less aggressive, more survivable one than the one I thought she had at first, so...yay, I guess?

She starts chemo in a few days once she's recovered enough from surgery, and I'm not sure how to take it all, and I feel kind of selfish for being this worked up about it when she's the one with the problem.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 1:34 PM on September 13, 2018

Mr. Bad Example - do NOT feel guilty or selfish for your pain and concern. You love your sister and you want her to be healthy. The only thing you should remember is that she is not the person to be hearing that from you - she needs your love and support. You express those feelings to others further out, not to her. Comfort In/Dump Out

Hang in there. Sending you love.
posted by acidnova at 2:56 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Lost my cool at work today. Kept it bottled up, let it out online :(.
posted by ZeusHumms at 4:36 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

A thought that pops into my head every day recently:

FUCK ANTHONY KENNEDY!

Seriously. Don't these fuckers realize what they are doing. I mean obviously they don't give a shit about human rights, but you'd think they'd at least care about America's standing in the world. Even under Obama, our allies started slowly backtracking away from us because of the constant partisan bickering that was impeding our legislation. Giving even more power to the overrepresented minority will only exacerbate all of this. Of all the people to not notice or give a shit, a SCOTUS Justice is just unforgivable.
posted by p3t3 at 4:58 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

After today's Manafort plea deal, I wonder how much a Kickstarter would need to raise to get Genesis to record a "Land of Collusion" single and have Spitting Image make a Trump puppet for the music video?
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 8:19 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

I just listened the the latest Pod Save America episode and I am just tired of people dumping on huge generalized groups. In this episode, the hosts were shitting on elderly people. Like, people get old. If they are lucky. Honestly, that does not make all of them responsible for Trump. Same episode in which the Republicans were rightfully taken to task for “othering” and for Trump’s failure to not treat others with respect. The fuck? Thank you for allowing me to vent. Be well, good people. Wishing your sister a speedy recovery, Mr. Bad Example.
posted by Bella Donna at 8:46 PM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

So.. recently, in Dallas, an off-duty police officer who claims she thought she was entering her own home entered the apartment of her neighbor, an Afro-Caribbean immigrant, and shot him dead for the crime of.. being in his own home.

The victim, a naturalized U.S. citizen, worked for an accounting firm, sang in his church choir, and came from a prominent family on the island of St. Lucia and, of course, was shot in his own apartment while minding his own business, but Dallas police have apparently executed a search warrant on the victim's home and claim to have found 10 ounces of marijuana which is relevant to the case how, exactly?

I'm fucking tired of police shooting unarmed black men and I'm REALLY fucking tired of them sweeping it under the rug by sullying the reputation of the deceased. I don't think this one will be all that easy to make go away, but releasing the result of the search warrant seems like it has no relevance to anything but an attempt to slur the victim. It's disgraceful.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:17 AM on September 15, 2018 [7 favorites]

Since for all I know I'm being stalked again, I'm just going to say that someone did something extraordinarily creepy and I am mad and filed a police report.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:53 PM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sean Demery, co-creator of 99.7 WNNX Atlanta "99X," passed away yesterday and I'm really bummed about it.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:32 PM on September 16, 2018

On the plus side, I learned a lot about Mario Kart today.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 1:07 PM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

Whenever I see Kavanaugh's mug, I can't help but recall Glenn Sturgis from 'Superstore' and expect a squeaky whiny voice - and I'm not disappointed.

Geezum, he looks like the despicable coward type, the kind who grew up thinking they were funny/ charismatic but were just being used for social/ financial gain.
posted by porpoise at 2:54 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

My dad had a stroke three weeks ago, we have to move him into assisted living and sell his condo full of stuff he's had for 15 years, and I have to turn in my tenure dossier in less than a month.

And this fucking country, FUCK.

I canvassed this weekend for the upcoming primaries. One nice old guy who I ended up chatting with for a while told me "keep your hustle." I'm trying to internalize that but it's so hard.
posted by mostly vowels at 3:26 PM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

On the plus side, I learned a lot about Mario Kart today.

I didn't get a chance to check in at all today. I'm usually able to pop in here or at least read my twitter news account during small breaks I take during the day.

Got home after a long and mentally taxing day and started catching up.

Wait what?

*goes and checks wtf Toad is all about*

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

I broke.

Been laugh/crying in waves for the past hour.

This is real life right?
posted by Jalliah at 3:29 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

fuck my brain is so frazzled it wasn't the primaries, it was the midterms. I am usually a detail oriented persnickety person and I keep fucking stuff up like this all over the place and UGH.
posted by mostly vowels at 3:33 PM on September 18, 2018

Quoting m-x-shell from another thread: Halloween's just around the corner...
posted by octothorpe at 5:06 PM on September 18, 2018

but Dallas police have apparently executed a search warrant on the victim's home and claim to have found 10 ounces of marijuana which is relevant to the case how, exactly?

I re-read my comment from earlier, and I believe I had the amount incorrect -- they found 10 *grams*, which is considerably less than a single ounce. (Not that it would have been a justified shooting even if they had found 10 kilos, but I still feel I owed a correction to the victim and the victim's family.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 5:29 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

When I was 15-16, I was repeatedly assaulted and then aggressively gaslit about it, while attending a single-sex preparatory school, by a boy who attended a single-sex preparatory school. I am not doing great right now. I was doing furious-but-okayish until the "oh it was just a spot of rambunctious horseplay" angle started making the rounds. That aligns so closely with the strategy of my abuser that I only made it through the work day without crying by riding a wave of rage. I'm not okay.

How many of us are now thinking about what we'd do if our assailants and abusers popped up in a role of public trust? I mean, like, honestly legitimately I don't know what I'd do. I want to send Dr. Blasey Ford a cookie tray and also a one-way ticket to an indefinite stay in a private villa in the Seychelles. I am so terrified for her. And I could be her, if one 17 year old boy had been a bit more ambitious and inclined towards the law.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:47 PM on September 18, 2018 [6 favorites]

Ten grams is about a third of an ounce; 2 ounces or more is a felony in Texas.

But ultimately, felony, misdemeanor, or otherwise, that poor man did not deserve to die because some cop fucked up. Fuck the thin blue line. Cops should be punished in accordance with the law just like everyone else.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:01 PM on September 18, 2018

Metafilter: various thinky things
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:29 AM on September 19, 2018

I am so angry that we are having a national conversation about whether attempted rape is really all that bad. Like that we even have to have this conversation. Again.
posted by Princess Leopoldine Grassalkovich nee Esterhazy at 4:13 PM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

I just wanted to share something that happened to me last week. I went to the doctor for some general health complaints, and when the appointment was over he asked: so, is there anything else that is troubling you? And I kind of broke down and told him that I was worried I might have OCD because I can't stop obsessively thinking about the migrant children and how terrified they must be, and how much their parents must be suffering. Of course I cried while I told him this, and I hated myself because the doctor was male and I felt like he would laugh at me.

But he didn't. He looked at me seriously and said that his professional diagnosis was empathy. Then he said to do what I can to help if that is possible, and to give myself permission to redirect my thoughts to more pleasant things.

I wanted to pass this on to you guys in case you have been feeling this way. He was a very kind doctor.
posted by Tarumba at 6:29 AM on September 20, 2018 [10 favorites]

so I pretty much lost it upon reading that ICE sez they've misplaced 1488 children.

fucking nazi fuckers putting fucking nazi code in their fucking nazi announcement of the fucking nazi shit they've been fucking doing.

I can't fucking handle it. can't fucking deal. at all. don't know what to do, don't know if there's anything we can do. I know I need to stop reading about what the ICE nazis are up to, cause the "are they nazis y/n?" question has been answered in the affirmative and once that question's been answered in the affirmative there's no particular reason to look for more details. like it's just going to be more affirmation that they're nazis, y'know?

we've been taken over by nazis and the nazis are killing children and the nazis are bragging about it.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 1:05 PM on September 20, 2018 [3 favorites]

Fuck him. Fuck him and the whole system that brought him to us and everyone, me included, who didn't fight just a little bit harder to keep him out.

I am incandescent with rage in ways that I didn't know I could be, and I have had people try to blow me up.
posted by Etrigan at 6:54 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have not availed myself of one of these threads before, but today, ugh,

dear trump, from everyone who has ever been assaulted and didn't report it because either they were to too young to understand or were old enough to know they would probably just be blamed for it anyway,

!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK. YOU. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by antinomia at 7:52 AM on September 21, 2018

Our president's tweet this morning about loving parents made me incandescent with rage and I just can't fucking deal with it. I'm so so so angry and I feel so completely powerless.
posted by ChuraChura at 8:23 AM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Our current nightmare is so unhappy-making that the a documentary about the Stasi that I watched last night cheered me up.

Apparently my happy place is fucking Stalinist East Germany like what the fuck.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 9:09 AM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Our president's tweet this morning about loving parents made me incandescent with rage and I just can't fucking deal with it.

I had the exact same reaction. I'm able to just shake my head at most of this spew, but that one was just so vile and so cynical that I wanted to scream.
posted by holborne at 9:36 AM on September 21, 2018

if kavanaugh gets confirmed after all this it will be such an obvious slap in the face to all women and decent human beings and such a total confirmation that the fix is in that i will start puking and never stop

BUT I'M ALL OUT OF PUKE
posted by murphy slaw at 10:02 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

If anyone needs a cheering thing, today's Google Doodle is a stop-motion claymation tribute to Mr. Rogers.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:05 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]