Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

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

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Find someone who loves you the way trump and maga love traitors.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

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

“They all knew.”

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

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

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

You are here: Home / The Decadent Left In Its Enclaves on the Coasts

Reader Interactions

201Comments

  1. 1.

    MobiusKlein

    People who yell on subway trains are usually insane, and it’s best to look the other way.

  2. 2.

    cleek

    yo, so i’m on the fuggin train and this fugging dooshebagk starts yellin “USA” or some shit and i’m like… keep that up motherfukka and i’m gonna jam that cellphonecam down ya fuggin throat, cause i just trying to get the fuck home, ya know, an i dont want no part of whatteva crazy makes a fucker start yellin like that. ya-no?

  3. 3.

    stuckinred

    God I hope the release of any photo’s doesn’t spark another round of the fake MLK quote from all my granola Facebook friends!

  4. 4.

    Cat Lady

    I don’t know who the cornfed Larry was that thought that was going anywhere, but he must be new to NY subways, and to New York.

  5. 5.

    Yutsano

    NYC subway trains have definitely improved from when I was there as a kid. They almost look clean in that video.

    And the looks he was getting are priceless. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” in one glance. Beautimous.

  6. 6.

    nepat

    This is proof of what exactly? That tired commuters dismissed the crazy guy…as a crazy guy?

  8. 8.

    MikeJ

    I remember being in a crowded bar in Seattle in November, 2008. The most appropriate USA USA chant I’ve ever heard.

    Yelling in the subway is almost always a bad idea though.

  10. 10.

    Turgidson

    also, too. Will Sullivan award that subway car a group Moore award? Drop a fifth column reference or two in there? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  13. 13.

    bago

    MikeJ: did you make it up to neighbors? The rooftop singing of the anthem followed by “Don’t stop believing” was rather epic.

  14. 14.

    Suffern ACE

    The patriotic bloodlust that has overtaken Americans that on display to the world is appalling. Apparently, it lasted 2-3 hours. Shocking.

  19. 19.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I just hate the whole thing. Too reminiscent of scenes from Leni Reifenstahl movies.

  22. 22.

    Suffern ACE

    @stuckinred: Exactly. Only the most vile of the vile would be moved by such shameful displays. It’s why everybody hates us. Pam Gellar…firefighters…neocons…all the same.

  24. 24.

    Richard Fox

    I love being a New Yorker. You never know what interesting people you might meet on any given day. Now the folks on this train, though quiet, were to my mind quite fortunate. This shouting guy was not someone playing a trumpet, for example. Squeakily. And– off key. Playing while the roof leaked from above. Between lengthy stops. With a scared child crying in the distance…. No, they are quite blessed, indeed. Go USA!

  25. 25.

    ranger3

    @Mnemosyne: You could be right. But then, the delivery of the alleged snark was somewhat awkward.

    At any rate, I was wondering how long it take the actual America haters at the Great Orange Satan to start posting the US Military are babykilling rapists stuff, and it seems it took about 48 hours or so.

    Teatards and Firetards are two sides of the same coin to me.

  28. 28.

    stuckinred

    @Suffern ACE: Did you see the pictures of LT. Choi at Ground Zero? Drummed out of the Army for being gay but the grunt in him made him celebrate!

  29. 29.

    beltane

    Yep, that’s my hometown. The USA chanter guy could have pulled his pants down and taken a dump while doing it and he still would have gotten the same amount of attention. If the foam finger crowd doesn’t like it they can all just go back to Jersey, the nearest outpost of RealAmerica.

  30. 30.

    jeff

    I just want to note, as another New Yorker, that 100% of the passengers acted in accordance with our standards of behavior. Several outstanding New Yorkers gave the finger. Well done. The douche who posted and filmed this probably drew conclusions about New York from the experience, but I can’t help but suspect they’re the wrong ones.

  31. 31.

    Sly

    A common misconception of New Yorkers (and urban populations in general) from people who don’t live there is that the act of walking around while pretending no one else exists is a sign of the cities adoption of rudeness as a fundamental cultural practice. The reality is quite the opposite. The population density of NYC is something close to 28,000 per square mile. Pretending that other people don’t exist, under those circumstances, is the height of politeness. It’s a sign that you respect the personal space of others, because that personal space is practically non-existent.

    If you put 8,000,000 ultra-polite Amish in an area smaller than 500 square miles, 90% of them would be dead in a week. And the 10% that remain will have eaten that other 90%.

  32. 32.

    beltane

    @Richard Fox: And at least he didn’t pull the emergency brake or keep the doors from closing or anything, that’s just the worst.

  33. 33.

    stuckinred

    @ranger3: Sorry, I spent yesterday arguing with people who just totally freaked out because of the celebrations. All that shit is not for me but unless someone knows exactly why someone else is celebrating I don’t think it’s any of their business. My post was more a reaction to that.

  34. 34.

    cat48

    Evidently they all read the “proper” blogs which TELL people HOW they must react. Good thing for them.

  35. 35.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    @Sly: Yeah, for some reason “real” Americans think it is essential to avoid their own problems and insert themselves into other people’s business. I’ll take urban dwellers over exurban dwellers any day.

  36. 36.

    jeff

    @Sly:

    Quite right. I haven’t seen that study, but being from Alabama originally, I am sure that it’s roughly correct. That marine or wannabe marine failed not only to elicit mindless chants, but failed to understand how rude he was being.

  37. 37.

    PurpleGirl

    New Yorkers on the subway want quiet, they want other people silent. They just want to get home (or wherever they are going) as quickly as possible.

  38. 38.

    jeff

    I can’t help but adding that it’s the L and the information sign is flashing next stop Beford Ave. LOL>

  39. 39.

    JCT

    @PurpleGirl: Especially on the freaking L train — that’s a long squished ride at rush hour.

    That was classic. The STFU looks were pure NY.

  41. 41.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    I’m quite certain Bubba in backwater town wouldn’t like a New Yorker climbing into his Chevy pickup and shouting. In that case the shouting would be rude. They’re the right kind of people and most of us here seem to be the wrong kind of people. It’s a simple as that with the primitive tribal cultures.

  43. 43.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    I don’t blame these folks for being wary. Wasn’t it on the NYC Subway where some culture warrior was using “Merry Christmas” as a threat and swung at somebody for replying “Happy Hanukkah?”

    ETA: Indeed it was.

  44. 44.

    Cat Lady

    @stuckinred:

    Watching her – smart analysis. The only question to ask about the whole sorry decade from 9/01 to 9/11 – cui bono?

  46. 46.

    drew42

    Did grocery shopping today, and the checkout clerk spent the entire 20 minutes while ringing up the customer ahead of me and myself, giving us his suddenly expert opinion on the Pakistani government and the influence of radical Islamists and what Obama needs to do to set them straight. Kept repeating the term “radical Islamists” when all I wanted was to finish up so I could go take a piss. And he kept insisting on confirmation on all his points of view.

    The was no escape from the pain — it’s not like I could just put all my stuff back in the cart and wheel it to another lane, without looking like an asshole.

    So I feel for that bald guy in the video. Path of the tornado, just put your head down and bear it out.

  50. 50.

    Martin

    @Barb (formerly Gex): Have you ever seen the video when the Top Gear guys went to Alabama with “Man sex rules” and ‘Hillary for President’ painted on the sides of their vehicles?

    They’re lucky to have gotten out in one piece.

  52. 52.

    The Main Gauche of Mild Reason

    I’m pretty sure the same thing would happen in San Francisco. Seriously folks…if people in cities had to acknowledge the existence of every other person we came in contact with on the train or in the street, we’d be go nuts. The only way you can deal with being on a crowded train daily is by ignoring people.

    That and, the people who make noise and try to get attention in public places are normally unstable homeless types, who we’ve learned to avoid.

  53. 53.

    TooManyJens

    @drew42:

    The was no escape from the pain—it’s not like I could just put all my stuff back in the cart and wheel it to another lane, without looking like an asshole.

    I’ve been that asshole. Totally worth it.

  57. 57.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @stuckinred:

    I saw that when it first came out. Scary–and not just because Ed McMahon, of all people, was in it. Beau Bridges was good in it.

  61. 61.

    ChrisNYC

    I’m mildly surprised no one screamed out that they didn’t want to be filmed. Every time I’ve been on a subway with someone taking video or photographs, someone makes that objection and loudly. It’s awesome.

  63. 63.

    soonergrunt

    @cleek: I actually served with a guy in Italy who talked exactly like that. He was from an Italian neighborhood in New York City.
    He was so disappointed in the food in the local restaurants off base.

  64. 64.

    merrinc

    @TooManyJens:

    Absolutely, I would have done the same as you. Unless I was having a severe PMS day in which case I would have informed the clerk that I was there to buy merchandise, not listen to his uninformed political views. And if he gave me any shit about it, I would have asked to see the manager. Fuck that noise.

  66. 66.

    Shoemaker-Levy 9

    Anybody else getting the SwimWearSpecial.com ad off to the side? Damn, you could do Shakespeare off that balcony.

  67. 67.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    @stuckinred: Not at all. Nor people named Bubba. Or backwater towns. Unless they are all invested in the real vs. fake American meme.

    ETA: I am mildy to strongly against anyone getting in my ride and yelling. You definitely don’t want to be doing that crap on my morning commute.

  69. 69.

    OzoneR

    Oh John, this is New York, no one pays attention to people yelling on the subway.

  70. 70.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    The “USA, USA” chant jumped the shark with me when it was chanted at a World Championship of Poker tournament. Besides I enjoy the You Tube video of a jerk who wore a LeBron James/Miami Heat jersey at a Cleveland Indians game last year.

  72. 72.

    Mike G

    “The middle part of the country—the great red zone that voted for Bush—is clearly ready for war. The decadent Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead—and may well mount what amounts to a fifth column.”
    — Andrew Sullivan, 9/16/2001

    Once again: Fuck you, Andrew Sullivan.

  77. 77.

    Kyle

    “The middle part of the country—the great red zone that voted for Bush—is clearly ready for war blustering empty rhetoric from a puerile man-child playing dress-up in a flight suit. The decadent Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead—and may well mount what amounts to a fifth column getting the job done of killing the No.1 terrorist in the world, quietly, effectively and without juvenile theatrics.”

    Bush: All hat, no cattle
    Obama: No hat, all cattle

  82. 82.

    Loneoak

    OT, but man did I enjoy reading this classic from David Rees. He just brutalizes Michael Ignatieff (who is in the news for leading the total Liberal FAIL in Cannukistan, or White Mexico as we call it in my household).

  84. 84.

    suzanne

    LMAO. I may live in Phoenix now, but I’m a native New Yorker, and shit like that makes me miss home so fucking bad. About a year ago, I was walking in Tempe near ASU, and some crazy dude exposed himself to me. I just kept walking, seemingly oblivious. I think he was disappointed. But it’s so ingrained.

    For some reason, I get called “aloof” a lot.

  85. 85.

    MikeJ

    @Martin: That was my thought. Yes, the hinterland may have better cold cuts than the deli sparse west coast, but the east coast is the place to be for for a nice sammich.

  87. 87.

    Martin

    @Calouste: My ads here closely track what I google for. When I was working on our kitchen remodel, all of the ads were for faucets, sinks, etc. with periodic swings through power tools. When I was looking for a new broker, the ads immediately switched to brokerages.

    I’m guessing that you’re in the market for a new cellphone and Shoemaker-Levy 9 has been seeking softcore porn.

  88. 88.

    themann1086

    @Richard Fox: wasn’t a mariachi band either. I only visit NYC from time to time (I’m from its older, less accomplished brother down I95), but I’ve seen that. Most people just laughed.

  89. 89.

    Hawes

    The Faking of Pelham 1,2,3…

    ImproveEverywhere can barely get recognition when they pull their subway stunts. Some asshole with a cellphone camera?

  91. 91.

    Suffern ACE

    @Omnes Omnibus: Following the great midwestern tradition, you don’t really forgive. You just don’t want it to be talked about again, and therefore everything is settled. But darn, the Cole’s little headline was bearable and kind of funny…but the whole damn thing…Grrrrr. I hope someone carves something as nasty on his tombstone.

  92. 92.

    MagicPanda

    If I am reading this right, Obama is the one who pushed for extra helicopters to be added to the mission. And as we know, a helicopter malfunctioned and the extra helicopter was needed to get our troops out.

    I am beginning to think that Obama is a character from one of those movies where someone comes back from the future and has to prevent all the bad stuff from happening by changing the past.

    swampland.time.com/2011/05/03/obama-pushed-for-fight-your-way-out-option-in-bin-laden-raid/

  93. 93.

    fraught

    This is on the L train pulling into Williamsburg. The video is probably part of an art project on alienation or intimidation or the isolation of the urban experience. Everyone is always videoing everyone else in Williamsburg.

  98. 98.

    Cat Lady

    @MagicPanda:

    My sister thinks he’s the Kwisatz Haderach. I think that’s buying too much into the 11 dimensional chess meme on her part, but there’s a part of me that wonders how in this idiotic country of ours he got elected in a landslide, and what an extraordinary individual he is. Extraordinary. It really does make you wonder, and understand a little why so many otherwise normal people have lost their shit.

  99. 99.

    marv

    “If you put 8,000,000 ultra-polite Amish in an area smaller than 500 square miles, 90% of them would be dead in a week. And the 10% that remain will have eaten that other 90%.”

    I actually liked your post until this part. A common misconception of urban dwellers is that they know anything at all about what it feels like to live in the country. I’m non-Amish with Amish neighbors and they’re no more likely than I am than you are to do what you just said. Will now step into the dear beautiful eternal night right outside
    my back door and think about subways.

  102. 102.

    MagicPanda

    @Loneoak: Thanks for the link. I LOVE David Rees (but then again I realize it’s not for everyone — I am a glutton for humor masking as stupidity. Also, pencil sharpening!)

  103. 103.

    Jim, Once

    I refuse to link to this, which is still literally nauseating me – a picture of OBL dead is on Facebook now, poster claiming it’s from Wikileaks. I’m glad he’s gone…but this is horrible.

  104. 104.

    suzanne

    @fraught:

    Everyone is always videoing everyone else in Williamsburg.

    That’s why I hate “artist” communities. Everyone’s so damn unique, just like everyone else.

    Williamsburg = SNORE.

  105. 105.

    soonergrunt

    @drew42: The best way to deal with that is to confront it.
    “Well, I’m sure that when you get off your shift scanning my groceries, you’ll finish up that position paper for the Council on Foreign Relations. In the meantime, you’re holding me up and I got a cake in the oven.”

    Or one time when I was coming in through the gate at Tinker AFB right after they hired contract security people to cover for the Security Forces Squadron that was deployed. I’m driving through the gate in the rain and I hold out my ID card to the rent-a-cop, and he says to me “so how about this global warming?” to which I replied (and I’m almost NEVER this quick on the uptake, which made it even sweeter) “It’s a lot like your professionalism. It’s normally happening, just not today. Can I go now?”

  107. 107.

    MagicPanda

    @Cat Lady: I agree that the 11 dimensional chess talk is bullshit. A more plausible explanation is that Obama just happens to be a politician who is really smart, has great judgement, and the humility and patience to see things through and settle for lots of small victories instead of preening around and hyperventilating like your typical politician.

    Wait a minute. “A politician who is really…” um… wait.. uh.. That doesn’t really sound plausible either.

  108. 108.

    Martin

    @Jim, Once: There’s going to be a lot of fakes out there. Just ignore them. So far, this operation has been run very tight, so I’m skeptical that something like that has leaked out.

  109. 109.

    Steve

    I was walking by Ground Zero last night on my way home. All kinds of media, police blockades, etc., and of course a thousand commuters trying to get home just like me. Crossing the street, some guy suddenly starts yelling “U-S-A!” I think maybe two people took him up on it for one beat each. You know, you can’t force it.

  113. 113.

    MagicPanda

    @Suffern ACE: The midwest has great cold cuts? Where? (I’m not doubting you.. just curious)

    @Martin: All my favorite Ne York sandwiches are hot (pastrami, et al). Does that count as cold cuts? Oh wait. Italian combos are cold.

    San Francisco, unfortunately, is a barren wasteland of sandwichlessness.

  114. 114.

    Jim, Once

    @Loneoak: Thanks very much, guys … you’re right. I’m embarrassed for being so easily taken in. Carry on …

  115. 115.

    Shoemaker-Levy 9

    @Calouste:

    No. What kind of websites do you frequent that the advertising gods serve you that?

    I’m definitive proof that these ads are not directed by an individual’s online habits. I’m not female, I’ve never shopped for swimwear online or off, and I haven’t even been to the beach in a half dozen years. Some of the other ads I frequently get are for online dating. I’m not single and I’ve never been to an online dating site, not even by accident. Referencing a couple of ads on the page as I type, I’ve never shopped for tee shirts online or any other kind of clothing, and though I have bizarre sexual tastes I sure as hell don’t want a life size cardboard cutout of Sarah Palin.

  118. 118.

    Loneoak

    @MagicPanda:

    San Francisco, unfortunately, is a barren wasteland of sandwichlessness.

    WTF? IKE’S! IKE’S! Favorite sandwich evar.

  119. 119.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Shoemaker-Levy 9:

    though I have bizarre sexual tastes I sure as hell don’t want a life size cardboard cutout of Sarah Palin.

    I am an open-minded person, but that goes well beyond bizarre and straight into sick, if you ask me, which you didn’t. But still.

  121. 121.

    MikeJ

    @MagicPanda:

    If I am reading this right, Obama is the one who pushed for extra helicopters to be added to the mission.

    Obama has seen what happens to presidents when high profile missions go south for lack of a helicopter.

    And thank god St Teddy isn’t around to second guess him. Nobody really gives a shit what Greenwald has to say.

  122. 122.

    soonergrunt

    @Shoemaker-Levy 9:

    though I have bizarre sexual tastes I sure as hell don’t want a life size cardboard cutout of Sarah Palin.

    Dude, I was told by a good friend that once you’ve tried caribou, you’ll never want to go back.

  127. 127.

    MikeJ

    @jeffreyw:

    You can find a decent sammich just about anywhere.

    1. Do you have a google alert for sammich set up?
    2. Yes, you can make a decent sammich anywhere, but it’s just easier to a)get one premade or b)get some nice cold cuts from the deli on the east coast.

  128. 128.

    MagicPanda

    @MikeJ: For sure Obama was cognizant of black hawk down + carter’s failed rescue attempt.

    I think I have just gotten myself to the point where I look at basic competence and stare slackjawed in amazement.

  129. 129.

    Gozer

    @MikeJ: I think these comments are critically ignoring the wonderful shrimp, oyster, roast beef, etc. po-boy.

  130. 130.

    Martin

    @Gozer: Well, there are good regional sandwiches everywhere. Philly cheesesteak, for example. But if you want to see cold cuts as an art form, in a wide variety of formats, only Manhattan will do.

  131. 131.

    Suffern ACE

    @MagicPanda: O.K. after 15 years in NYC and outside, I’ll say. O.K. D&W and Boar’s head are fine brands…but they are everywhere! And I’d like some actual, you know, summer sausage and ring baloney sometimes…and a little variety. So…um…Southeast Wiscosin still has lots of little meat markets. Somehow, the town I grew up in still manages to support five or six sausage makers. Each of them different, and each…just horrible from a health perspective (I’m glad I go home only twice per year)…but darn tasty…

    Old Fashioned Loaf…yum.

  132. 132.

    Cat Lady

    @MagicPanda:

    Just to recap, while I was recovering from a hangover and barely got off the couch to do some errands and a load of laundry last weekend, Obama revealed Trump as a buffoon, delivered a commencement address, visited tornado torn Alabama, attended a red carpet event where he was the keynote speaker, golfed, and put the final touches and the go ahead on a plan to get bin Laden, the most wanted man in the world. I’m sure he also made love to his wife and helped his kids with their homework. He actually is the most interesting man in the world.

    /Obot

  133. 133.

    Yutsano

    @Gozer: Seems like all we do well in Seattle is fish. But oh man do we do fish good. I am a Pacific salmon evangelist. I tell anyone anywhere if they can get a hunk of it buy it. It’s worth every bite.

  135. 135.

    MikeJ

    Balloon-juice should open a deli with all the sammichs named for people we hate. “Gimme an Althouse, just scrape something off the floor and gimme a box of wine.”

  136. 136.

    MagicPanda

    @Suffern ACE: I agree about Boar’s Head being everywhere. Never heard of D&W but I assume it’s similar.

    NYC pastrami can’t be beat. Same with good rye bread, smoked fish, etc. Sandwich rolls from NYC somehow don’t make it to the west cast, and SF style bread (Acme, et. al.) is great, but not the same.

    I know about Wisconsin brats (went to school in nearby Indiana) but I don’t know about summer sausage (except for Hickory Farms, which I’m sure doesn’t count) and never heard of ring baloney. That sounds bizarre.

    SF has great charcuterie, which is not the same as cold cuts as far as I’m concerned. Fra Mani Mortadella is awesome.

    @Gozer: Agree about po’boys. And while we’re at it, I should mention Chicago style Italian Beefs…

  138. 138.

    Gozer

    @Martin: For sure. I’m a fan of all sammiches from the lobster roll to the Italian beef to the noble Cheesesteak (I live in the Philly area now).

    But the Po-boy will always be number one for me. Growing up I’d walk to Domilise’s for an after-school po-boy. In fact my mouth is watering now thinking about all the salty goodness of fried gulf shrimp covered with hot sauce.

  139. 139.

    MikeJ

    @Yutsano: Shhh. The good stuff is already $30/lb here. If any of it actually managed to get away from us the price would skyrocket.

    I love living in a place where the taco chain has a proper season for the salmon tacos to be served, with jingles and people in bear suits[1] in the tv commercials.

    [1] not to be confused with a Sullivan from my above cited mythical balloon-juice deli.

  140. 140.

    MagicPanda

    @Cat Lady: Yes, it has been a good week for Obama.

    But that follows several years of serving as a punching bag to the right. Hopefully, it is part of his pattern of looking weak in the middle and finishing strong (as in the primary against Hillary) but I would not say that Obama regularly outdoes his opponents week by week. It’s more like he regularly does reasonable things in the face of hard choices, and most of the time, he gets the crap beat out of him as a thank you.

  141. 141.

    soonergrunt

    @MagicPanda: The Iranian hostage rescue fiasco was the father of today’s success. Nothing teaches like failure.
    And for the record, Carter, as a commander should, took the blame for the op, but it was nowhere near his fault. Contrast that with George W. Bush, whose administration actually tried to blame the Army for not doing things Rumsfeld wouldn’t let them do, with all of the bullshit claims that “the Generals haven’t been requesting any new troops or vehicles or any other changes or anything else” when he was asked by troops were being killed in Iraq in unarmored trucks after “mission accomplished.”

  142. 142.

    MattR

    @Gozer:

    I think these comments are critically ignoring the wonderful shrimp, oyster, roast beef, etc. po-boy.

    If I may quote the Book of LOLviticus.

    Fine, u go to teh Macdonaldz and u can has feel-lay (lol) O feesh sandy-wich. Eeew, y u want shrimp basketz? It r BLECH, trust me. It r serously DO NOT WANT.

  146. 146.

    sfinny

    Late to the conversation, but honestly the idea that a guy would create a “USA” chant on the subway is about as likely that an average guy would create a ‘wave’ on the streets of NY. In other words, not happening. Most would be looking on with exasperation or ignoring the act.

  147. 147.

    Gozer

    @Yutsano: I’m itching to get back to the Northwest. Last time I was there was as a teen. But it’s definitely one of my favorite regions of the country.

    I was trying to convince my dear wife to consider looking for employment there so we could maybe, possibly, sorta sometime move to Seattle, but she’s convinced she wouldn’t like the weather. I’m needling her to vacation there sometime in hopes that she’ll fall in love.

  148. 148.

    suzanne

    @Yutsano:

    Seems like all we do well in Seattle is fish.

    Oh hell yes. Every time I’m in the Pacific Northwest, I freak the hell out on salmon and crab. And when I go back to New York… LOBSTER.

    And then I come home and eat my weight in Mexican food.

  151. 151.

    kdaug

    @Martin:

    My ads here closely track what I google for.

    WTF? I’m getting online nursing degrees ads and one for “The Patriot’s Toolbox – THE source for teaparty activists”

    Might want to refine that search algorithm a bit.

  152. 152.

    goblue72

    @MagicPanda: WTF are you talking about? We San Franciscans have two of the most awesome sandwiches in the universe – they just don’t happen to be made white people.

    Awesome Sandwich #1 involves a crunchy rice flour baguette, grilled meats, pickled carrots & daikon, cucumbers, cilantro, chilis, mayonnaise. All for like $3. Its called a banh mi. The Vietnamese make it and its AWESOME.

    Awesome Sandwich #2 involves meat of your choice, rice, beans of your choice, cheese, salsa, sour cream, & guacamole. The Mexicans make it and its called a burrito.

  153. 153.

    Gordon, The Big Express Engine

    I lived in Manhattan for three years and have seen some funny shit on the subways. The commenters above are right: people tend to ignore any commotion around them, but sometimes it is too much.

    Quick story – crowded morning train pulls into Penn St. and there is push to get on before the doors close. Snootyish women loudly accuses blue collarish man of trying to push on ahead of her.

    Snooty (Jersey accent): I saw what you did, you pushed me out of the way!
    BC Man: (silence, ignoring her)
    Snooty: Is that how you treat women?
    BC Man (in full New Yawk): Screw You!
    Snooty: You are disgusting!
    BC Man: Fuck You!
    Snooty: That IS how you treat women. You probably beat women too!
    BC Man: Yeah, and I like to kick puppies into electric fans!

    That caused nearly everyone in that half of the car to bust out laughing. The doors opened at Times Sq and everyone went on their merry way…

  154. 154.

    MagicPanda

    @goblue72: I like the concept of banh mi, but I’ve never really gotten into them for some reason.

    SF Burritos can’t be beat, for sure. There are a reasonable number of places to get arepas and pupusas, as well. I just don’t think of these as sandwiches.

    Tortas, of course count. For some reason, I’m used to beans on my tortas and most SF places don’t use beans. Maybe that’s more traditional? I have no idea.

  157. 157.

    Yutsano

    @Gozer: Start in Vancouver, spend at least three days there, rent a car, drive over the border two hours south, spend a couple days in Seattle, drive further south to Portland, and fly out from there. You really are selling yourself short unless you experience all three places. Then, depending on what you and your wife do, decide if you want to move this way. If either of you do anything medical the community here is pretty damn awesome for that. And maybe the weather will decide to behave itself for once.

    @suzanne: I do admit I had really good Mexican food in Phoenix. Otherwise the whole damn place is chain restaurant central. Though I did find a decent Jewish deli in Scottsdale that I ate at like three times.

    @MagicPanda:

    There are a reasonable number of places to get arepas and pupusas

    ZOMG I HEART PUPUSAS!! There was a great El Salvadoran place before I moved that had them and WOW they were serious nom. Amazingly simple food too. The national food of El Salvador. Discs of stuffed masa FTW.

  158. 158.

    Nutella

    @MagicPanda:

    NYC pastrami can’t be beat. Same with good rye bread, smoked fish, etc.

    True. It used to drive me crazy when I lived in Boston that their pastrami and rye bread were so appallingly bad. They could have sent a truckload up from NYC every morning!

    Actually Boston doesn’t have rye bread at all. They have two kinds called ‘light rye’ and ‘dark rye’ that are complete wastes of time because they’re not rye bread at all.

  160. 160.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @MagicPanda:

    Pretty obvious that Obama bothered to read up on Carter’s “Desert One” catastrophe.

    Reserves are important.

  161. 161.

    MattR

    @Yutsano: Can’t remember. You in Seattle or Portland? My roommate from my time in NYC is moving out to Portland with his family at the end of the month.

  162. 162.

    Yutsano

    @MattR: Seattle. But the drive between here and Portland is like three hours. So it’s not very far at all.

  163. 163.

    Steeplejack

    Can’t believe no love so far for the New Orleans muffuletta. Preferably from the Central Grocery on Decatur Street.

  165. 165.

    Gozer

    @Yutsano: I’ve been to BC and spent about a week in Seattle, but that was it and it was like 15 years ago.

    Weird thing is that Dr. Mrs. Gozer adores Portland, ME and Vermont, area that get more precip. on average than the Northwest. Go fig.

  166. 166.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Yutsano: I’ve done Vancouver (Victoria as well) and then taken the train along the coast to Seattle. Sis-in-law lives there. Never been to Portland.

  167. 167.

    MattR

    Ths shiba pups are up and playing.

    And to add my story, I did Vancouver and Victoria quite a while ago. I flew into Seattle for a business trip to BC and drove up so I could take a direct flight, but never spent any time there. Never been to Portland though I assume I will be heading there in the next year or so (and I will be putting my friend’s dog on a plane to Portland once he gets settled in)

  168. 168.

    MikeJ

    @Gozer:

    I was trying to convince my dear wife to consider looking for employment there so we could maybe, possibly, sorta sometime move to Seattle, but she’s convinced she wouldn’t like the weather. I’m needling her to vacation there sometime in hopes that she’ll fall in love.

    The summers are perfect. Never any rain, never too hot. Every day is perfect. Sunny and 68°. No humidity so when you go hiking, you might work up a little sweat, but nothing like the hell holes I’ve lived in. You can go to the beach and catch dungeness crabs and geoducks and eat like kings.

    Winters are generally pretty good. The rain is really only drizzle, but it never, ever stops. You can literally walk out of your house and not notice rain falling on you, but you’ll see it on your windshield. Usually only one significant (> 1/8″) snow per year, but that will cripple everything.

    @Yutsano:

    The national food of El Salvador.

    You’d like DC. More Salvadorans there than in San Salvador. I found my love of home cooked latin food from the granmas of various girlfriends there.

  169. 169.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: If you go a few steps further down Decatur, you get to Coop’s Place. It is ratty and run down looking They have a too-die-for jambalaya, very traditional (includes rabbit) and they have fantastic bloody marys. Just saying. Great music as well.

  170. 170.

    suzanne

    @Yutsano:

    I do admit I had really good Mexican food in Phoenix. Otherwise the whole damn place is chain restaurant central. Though I did find a decent Jewish deli in Scottsdale that I ate at like three times.

    We have all kinds of non-chain good food. I haven’t eaten at a chain restaurant in months. You just gotta be in the know.

    I have three words for you: Los Dos Molinos.

  171. 171.

    Gozer

    @Steeplejack: I love them things. And my dad makes a most excellent hot boudin sammich.

    My own personal fave is to get a huge link of andouille and put it on some french bread. Smokier than simple hot sausage and with a really nice crunch from the casing.

  172. 172.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gozer:

    My own personal fave is to get a huge link of andouille and put it on some french bread. Smokier than simple hot sausage and with a really nice crunch from the casing.

    Damn, that sounds good. Are you from NOLA?

  173. 173.

    Yutsano

    @MattR:

    I flew into Seattle for a business trip to BC and drove up so I could take a direct flight, but never spent any time there.

    Classically trained fugu sushi artists. Seattle is worth the trip for that alone. It’ll cost you…but talk about bragging rights for decades there.

    (There’s a few other things to do around here too.)

    @MikeJ: You’re forgetting the official caveat: it sucks to live here. It never stops raining, there is literally nothing to do, the people are always depressed, and all our sports teams bite. We have to keep up the legal necessities here.

    @suzanne: Odds are I will be going down that way at some point, though I’m not certain of exactly when yet. Probably not until 2012 the way things are looking right now.

  175. 175.

    Gozer

    @MikeJ: The temp. isn’t an issue for me. My wife however CANNOT deal with heat yet hates a lot of clouds and rain.

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yep. Born and raised, but went to high school and college in the Midwest. EDIT: And I never moved back after college.

  179. 179.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: I was there for the first time since Katrina last January, not too long before the Saint won the Super Bowl. I really loved the strip of bars and restaurants on Decatur deep in the Quarter well past Cafe du Monde and all that. Far from Bourbon, it still had tourists, but a different type.

  180. 180.

    Steeplejack

    @Gozer:

    We lived on Neely Street, between Metairie and the river. My father was doing his residency at the Ochsner Clinic. This was way back in the 1950s. Neely Street was a gravel road then, with deep ditches on each side that we loved to play in when they filled up with rainwater. I was five when we left there in 1957.

  181. 181.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Aw, you’re killing me. When I was a cub reporter in Mobile in the ’70s I used to zoom over to New Orleans for the weekend on any pretext at all–mostly music, food and, oddly enough, movies. This was before DVDs–hell, it was before videocassettes–and I used to make pilgrimages to this great little art house in the Garden District to see the latest foreign movies. They had a bar license and served alcoholic beverages, which I thought was the coolest. Nothing like watching The Story of Adèle H. while sucking down sipping a gin and tonic.

    I really loved the strip of bars and restaurants on Decatur deep in the Quarter well past Café du Monde and all that.

    I remember the area well. Dunno if it’s the same now. I used to love to get a sandwich from Central Grocery and take it up to the levee to eat while watching the big ships go up and down the river. And we would plan what we were going to do that night.

  182. 182.

    Gozer

    @Steeplejack: Heh…I lived there a little later than you. I lived on Soniat about a block lakeside from Magazine, in the 80s and 90s.

    My folks have been in that region since the 1720s.

  184. 184.

    Gozer

    @Omnes Omnibus: All you need is a Hansen’s Sno-Bliz every once in a while and all is well. :)

    EDIT: It’s been fun talking to y’all, but I’ve got to turn in for the night.

  186. 186.

    Suffern ACE

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    And magically this has become a food thread.

    It’s really a strategy session for the next time we’re confined to enclaves. The 5th column will be organized around smuggling local delicacies across the red seas.

  187. 187.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    @Cat Lady: It’s a sad commentary on our politics that a leader who is calm, thoughtful, and thorough is considered in such a fashion. I think we are now used to the W. days, when everything got pushed out right away if the political angle could benefit them.

  189. 189.

    MattR

    @Suffern ACE: In that case, we need to get some New York pizza added to the list. I’m not such a pizza snob that I won’t allow Chicago pizza to be included as well.

  190. 190.

    JenJen

    @Cat Lady:

    I don’t know who the cornfed Larry was that thought that was going anywhere, but he must be new to NY subways, and to New York.

    As a cornfed, I heartily endorse this post. God I love New York.

  192. 192.

    KevinNYC

    That’s my subway line and this weekend I was on the train and some guy starts yelling. Shortly thereafter another guy starts yelling. Turns out they were doing the death scene from Romeo and Juliet.

    By the end they had people clapping and they earned a few bucks.

    I have to say I was impressed with the guy laying on the floor playing dead on a moving subway car that was rocking his head back and forth pretty vigorously.

  193. 193.

    WereBear

    @Cat Lady: there’s a part of me that wonders how in this idiotic country of ours he got elected in a landslide, and what an extraordinary individual he is

    I think that having a President Obama at this point is proof there is a God, and that She loves us.

    Taking nothing away from his intelligence and high standards; WTF has that become such a rare thing in this country? It’s on purpose.

    Someone (that same someone) can’t win a Nobel Prize (it’s always Lefties, have you noticed) without deafening whining and denigrating filling the airwaves. It’s on purpose; our Overlords have decided we cannot see anyone at the top of their game unless its in an actual sports event, where it does not threaten them.

    Everyone else; scientists, activist, contestants in the Bake Off with a great brownie recipe… they are ALL off the radar and hidden, lest we remember what pride and accomplishment look like; and that it should be celebrated everywhere.

  194. 194.

    U.G.

    what an as*hole. He got the perfect response to his asshattery — silent contempt, and everyone on the train thinking, “what an as*hole…”

  195. 195.

    kay

    @WereBear:

    What has gone unnoticed in the re-write of the Bush Administration response to terrorism is the fear-mongering they did. That includes former President Bush himself, who used to regularly lean forward at the podium and warn us all about the grave threat, constantly. All of his ridiculous minions did the same, including and especially Dr. Rice.
    WTF was that all about? They knew perfectly well the average person could do not one thing about this nebulous threat, yet they invoked it again and again and again.
    The Obama Administration hasn’t done that. No member has done that. They recite the facts they know.
    It’s a world of difference, and no one mentions it.
    If we’re going to be ordered to get all teary-eyed at Bush with the bullhorn, I think someone should mention that Bush and his “team” spent the next 7 years making sure ordinary people were full of fear. That was wrong, and it isn’t leadership. It’s manipulative and cynical and was purely political.
    I think the Obama Administration approach (treating people like grown-ups) has as much or more to do with people’s sense of relief or closure as the actual OBL event.

  197. 197.

    kay

    @WereBear:

    Ugh. I see those Bushies back on tv and it comes back. The full-on PR assault designed to scare the shit out of people that went on for years. Every time they’d arrest anyone even possibly remotely connected to terrorism they’d all fan out to tell us we’d dodged another bullet, thanks to their vigilance. Three weeks later we’d find out the “terrorists” were some collection of clown-car locals that the FBI had entrapped.
    Just disgusting. It’s an absence of fear-mongering for political gain, rather than any affirmative act, so maybe that’s why it isn’t obvious to people, but I noticed the change beginning in 2009.

  199. 199.

    toujoursdan

    @stuckinred:

    The real one is far more profound:

    Why should we love our enemies”? “The first reason is fairly obvious. Returning hate for hate multiples hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness;only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.” “Another reason why we must love our enemies is that hate scars the soul and distorts the personality. Mindful that hate is an evil and dangerous force, we too often think of what it does to the person hated. This is understandable, for hate brings irreparable damage to its victims.” “But there is another side which we must never overlook. Hate is just as injurious to the person who hates. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true” “A third reason why we should love our enemies is that love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy be getting rid of enmity. By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; by its very nature, love creates and builds up. Love transforms with redemptive power”

    Source: expressionsofsoul.com/article-WhyLoveOurEnemies.htm

    I can see OBL’s death as a rather superficial symbolic victory, but all we’ve done is make the world a much more dangerous place, not a safer one. Those who followed his rhetoric will feel even more compelled to strike back to show that they are a force. More innocent people in the Middle East, and perhaps here, will die now.

    It doesn’t bring back anyone who died in 9/11, or in the wars since then. It doesn’t improve the political situation in Pakistan (on the contrary.) It doesn’t address the reason why so many young people find life so bleak that they’d choose to become suicide bombers at all. It doesn’t hurt the Taliban (on the contrary.) It doesn’t move us off our dependence on oil, which is why we care about that part of the world (and they care, in a hostile way, about us in return) in the first place.

    It gives Obama a lift in the polls, and I support him, but I very much don’t like the cost involved.

  200. 200.

    gene108

    @OzoneR: People do pay attention to crazy shouting people on the subway, because they want to make sure the crazy shouting person won’t follow them home and murder them.

  201. 201.

    Origuy

    For the best tortas, look for the places that advertise chilango style. That’s from Mexico City. There’s a place in East SJ that makes a sandwich the size of a dinner plate.

Comments are closed.