• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

We will not go back.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

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

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July

by John Cole|  July 4, 20187:39 pm| 108 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

Balloon Juice commenter Booger forwards the following:

On This Occasion, Let Us Remember Those Who Have Fought, Sacrificed and Died For Our Freedoms:

A. Philip Randolph; Alex Odeh; Alice Paul; Amelia Boynton Robinson; Andrew Young Jr.; Barnett Slepian; Bayard Rustin; Bernard Lafayette; Betty Friedan; C.T. Vivian; Cesar Chavez; Charles Evers; Charles Morgan Jr.; Charles Sherrod; Clara Luper; Claude Black; Claudette Colvin; Coretta Scott King; Crystal Eastman; Daisy Bates; David Gunn; Diane Nash; Dolores Huerta; Don Bolles; Dorothy Cotton; Edgar Nixon; Eizabeth Peratrovich; Elijah P. Lovejoy; Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Ella Baker; Eugene Debs; Fannie Lou Hamer; Franklin Kameny; Fred Shuttlesworth; George Moscone; George Tiller; Gloria Steinem; Gordon Hirabayashi; Harvey Milk; Hosea Williams; Humberto Noe Corona; Ida B. Wells; Jack Herer; James Bevel; James Farmer; James Forman; James Lawson; James Orange; James T Meredith; Jo Ann Robinson; John Britton; John L. Lewis; Joseph Lowery; Judy Shepard; Julian Bond; Julius Wilson Hobson; June Jordan; Lola Hendricks; Lucy Burns; Lucy Stone; Madalyn Murray O’Hair; Malcolm X; Mamie Till Bradley Mobley; Marie Foster; Martin Luther King Jr.; Marvel Cooke; Medgar Evers; Myles Horton; Nellie Stone Johnson; Prathia Hall; Ralph Abernathy; Robert F. Williams; Robert Hill; Robert Moses; Roger Baldwin; Rosa Parks; Roy Wilkins; Ruby Hurley; Samuel Gompers; Susan B.Anthony; T.R.M. Howard; Thomas C. Wales; W. E. B. Du Bois; Walter Francis White; Walter Nelles; William S. McIntosh; Wyatt Tee Walker.

This is a brief and cursory list of those brave individuals, who without color of uniform, power of authority or compulsion of force, have placed themselves in harm’s way to expand the promise contained in our founding documents—The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution.

It always has been, and always will be, individuals who risk everything to expand the scope of rights we enjoy. Civil Rights are not zero-sum; rights expanded for one are rights expanded for all.

We need to take a moment and think with awe, respect and gratitude about those brave people who stopped and turned among the teeming mob and said “Enough. This cannot stand; We must change.”

And while many are renowned for their efforts on behalf of a single cause, it is heartening to see how many worked across boundaries to expand the rights of all. Apparently “A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats” does not simply apply to ‘supply-side economics.’ This is how it should be.

We will remember what you have done and what you have sacrificed, with gratitude.

I didn’t check the whole list because I’m lazy, but his name is Booger so who knows what troll shit he might have slipped in there. Today has been uneventful, just the way we like it. Woke up and aggressively cuddled Lily, who really just wanted to go back to sleep:

Had a couple iced coffees, ran the sprinklers, watered the indoor plants as well, made an orzo salad (orzo, avocado, zuch, squash, mushrooms, green onions, feta, green pepper, cherry tomatoes from the garden), grilled a pork loin in a sriracha bbq sauce, and feasted:

Got some strawberries and Rainier cherries and some WV peaches to choose from for dessert. I’m feeling kinda like cherries is gonna be the winner. I’m now about to settle in and watch the WHITEST SHOW ON EARTH, the annual Capital Forth on PBS.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us,
Next Post: Independence Day in Perspective: Frederick Douglass’s Understanding of the Day Speaks to Us Through Time »

Reader Interactions

108Comments

  1. 1.

    Yarrow

    July 4, 2018 at 7:44 pm

    That meal looks delicious. If I’m feeling energetic I’ll make eggs for dinner. Otherwise it’ll be cereal. The ditch digging took it out of me.

  2. 2.

    khead

    July 4, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    Not a bad week in American history:

    Declaration of Independence – July 4, 1776
    Frederick Douglass Rochester speech – July 5, 1852
    Battle of Gettysburg – July 1-3, 1863
    Surrender of Vicksburg – July 4, 1863
    Invasion of Sicily – July 10, 1943
    LBJ signs Civil Rights Act – July 2, 1964

  3. 3.

    eemom

    July 4, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    a couple iced coffees

    Cole, in the spirit of the post, and your own considerable service to the preservation of our freedoms, I hereby forever renounce my lifelong dedication to the cause of the word “of”. Happy 4th. ?❤️?? #godbless

  4. 4.

    khead

    July 4, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    Not a bad week in American history:

    Declaration of Independence – July 4, 1776
    Frederick Douglass Rochester speech – July 5, 1852
    Battle of Gettysburg – July 1-3, 1863
    Surrender of Vicksburg – July 4, 1863
    Invasion of Sicily – July 10, 1943
    LBJ signs Civil Rights Act – July 2, 1964

  5. 5.

    ixnay

    July 4, 2018 at 7:54 pm

    Booger is the manatee in “Naked Came the Manatee.”

  6. 6.

    lollipopguild

    July 4, 2018 at 7:54 pm

    Lily-“I want to be left alone!”

  7. 7.

    Shell

    July 4, 2018 at 7:56 pm

    I made a shrimp and avocado roll. The original recipe called for lobster but,hey, like Im made of money?
    ******
    Hey, looks like Lilys fur is growing back.

  8. 8.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 4, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    @lollipopguild: No, that’s Garbo.

  9. 9.

    khead

    July 4, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    Sorry for the double post. Thought the first post was deleted.

  10. 10.

    noncarborundum

    July 4, 2018 at 7:59 pm

    @ixnay: Oh. The huge manatee?

  11. 11.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 4, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    @eemom: At least he didn’t say “a couple three.”

  12. 12.

    Shell

    July 4, 2018 at 8:03 pm

    Hmm, raspberries or chocolate ice cream? With this heat the ice cream’s been winning out.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 4, 2018 at 8:06 pm

    @Shell: I vote for raspberries. In case you care.

  14. 14.

    indycat32

    July 4, 2018 at 8:07 pm

    @Shell: why not both

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    July 4, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    Wait…what…
    Somone said the victim on CNN said Jordan also took showers with them!!!

    Has anyone seen this interview?

    @lovealaska1105
    “Jim Jordan also took showers with us”, said, sexual victim Mike DiSabato ex-Ohio State Wrestler. WHAT????? OMG! @Jim_Jordan

    2:11 PM – Jul 4, 2018

  16. 16.

    Mnemosyne

    July 4, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    I was going to defend “A Capitol Fourth” since they seemed to have a fairly diverse list of performers, until I discovered that the Broadway cast of “Escape to Margaritaville” is one of the featured performances.

    Yep. Hopelessly, embarrassingly white.

  17. 17.

    Mnemosyne

    July 4, 2018 at 8:10 pm

    @Shell:

    Put the raspberries on the chocolate ice cream. It’s a classic combination.

  18. 18.

    schrodingers_cat

    July 4, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    I too wrote a blog post, Happy 4th, celebrating my first anniversary as a citizen.

  19. 19.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 4, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The ideal that we were all created equal is a principle worth fighting for. The American ideal is worth fighting for.

    QFT

  20. 20.

    jeffreyw

    July 4, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    When it’s too damn hot to go the the amusement park.

  21. 21.

    EBT

    July 4, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    @Shell: Why not both?

  22. 22.

    Shell

    July 4, 2018 at 8:21 pm

    Put the raspberries on the chocolate ice cream. It’s a classic combination.

    Once again, BJ has proved invaluable.

  23. 23.

    khead

    July 4, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    So far, the only way that that “A Capital Fourth” could get any whiter would be to send out Up With People.

  24. 24.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 4, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    @khead:

    The Dancin’est Hemisphere of Them All!

  25. 25.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    July 4, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    @khead:
    What’s wrong with Up With People?

  26. 26.

    JPL

    July 4, 2018 at 8:29 pm

    @khead: That’s why they have the Temptations. They add a little bit of diversity.

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 4, 2018 at 8:30 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: We don’t have all night.

  28. 28.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    July 4, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    @lamh36:
    Uh oh. Sexy time with young men. Jim, I think your goose is cooked.

  29. 29.

    lamh36

    July 4, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    @Mnemosyne: did you see the article about how Chump co couldn’t find ANYONE to play the WH 4th celebration…lol.

    Just sad…at least Capitol 4th has somewhat big names to draw folks in

  30. 30.

    A Ghost To Most

    July 4, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    40 years ago, I was about to leave the service, getting my first look at RMNP, and about to meet my future wife.

    /old

  31. 31.

    Shell

    July 4, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    the annual Capital Forth on PBS.

    Im delighted to see you can stream it live on YouTube.

  32. 32.

    JPL

    July 4, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    Renee Fleming is sing You’ll never walk alone. Ever since the first time I heard that song, I said bullshit, and will continue doing so.

  33. 33.

    cwmoss

    July 4, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: If you have to ask, you’ll never know.

  34. 34.

    CarolDuhart2

    July 4, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    People are already setting fireworks off in my neighborhood, and the sun hasn’t set yet. What’s the point, neighbors? Just setting off any extra for the fun of it? In any event, spent the fourth in my airconditioned house, refusing even a family barbecue. Don’t need the grief or the heat.

    Kudos to the girl who climbed the Statue of Liberty today. And boos to the MAGAs. So she endangered her life. The Freedom Riders did so too, and three of them died. Liberty always has some risk to it, or at least some inconvience.

    Ceres, busy grooming herself, isn’t disturbed by the booms at all. She must know they are far away from her (and they are), and she certainly can’t see them.

  35. 35.

    ThresherK

    July 4, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I’m afraid to ask, is that a Jimmy Buffett jukebox musical?

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 4, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    @ThresherK: What else could it be?

  37. 37.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    July 4, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    @cwmoss:
    If none will answer how will I ever know? I’m at work so I can’t look it up.

  38. 38.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 4, 2018 at 8:42 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Hit YouTube when you get home.

  39. 39.

    efgoldman

    July 4, 2018 at 8:45 pm

    I’m now about to settle in and watch the WHITEST SHOW ON EARTH, the annual Capital Forth on PBS.

    My kids are on the roof of her office building on I St NW. They can’t see the TV production, which sucks (not that they can’t see it – the production) but they have a view of the fireworks, straight toward the Washington Monument.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2018 at 8:45 pm

    Probably just the picture quality, but the pork looks suspiciously on the pinkish side.

    Who to think of from that era? Crispus Attucks.

  41. 41.

    SWMBO

    July 4, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    @jeffreyw: Kayla’s dad is awesome. I want a big laundry basket and someone with cast iron knees to do that with me!

  42. 42.

    Gelfling 545

    July 4, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    About 1 day a year it gets hot enough for me to get in a swimming pool. Today was the day. It hit 97 here, hot enough to prod me to drive to my sister’s and get in the pool. She banished the grand kids for an hour so the olds could relax in comfort.

  43. 43.

    dmsilev

    July 4, 2018 at 8:47 pm

    Sitting on the Boston Esplanade, waiting for the fireworks. Concert just started, but it’s traditionally pretty bad so the fact I can barely hear it down near the Mass Ave bridge isn’t much of a loss. Pretty crowded already, and still two hours until the pretty lights.

    Guy on the blanket behind me brought his dog. I’m not sure I approve of that; I doubt the dog is going to have a good time once the loud noises start.

  44. 44.

    lamh36

    July 4, 2018 at 8:48 pm

    Much as I love Captain America:Winter Soldier, I CANNOT ABIDE First Avenger…I can NEVER watch it from beginning to end…it bores me out of my mind…takes TOO long for the action to start…and by the time it does, I just am too bored to even care or continue!

  45. 45.

    zhena gogolia

    July 4, 2018 at 8:48 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    It was kind of a cult. I think Glenn Close was in it.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    July 4, 2018 at 8:49 pm

    @JPL:

    Also, CeCe Wynans, Chita Rivera, and some other names that did not stick in my head when I glanced at the page. But they can’t escape the bright white light cast by “Escape to Margaritaville.” ?

    @lamh36:

    Like Kay keeps saying, they want to be able to insult and belittle us and yet still demand our love and respect. I’m very glad that even right-wing performers have realized how toxic the current White House is. They’re more afraid of us than they are of the deplorables who make up their actual fan base! ?

  47. 47.

    danielx

    July 4, 2018 at 8:49 pm

    The BEST national anthem, in my unhumble opinion:

    James Brown Living in America

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Oh, you’re so very, very young. Suffice it to say just reading the name of the group triggers the gag reflex.

  49. 49.

    B.B.A.

    July 4, 2018 at 8:51 pm

    @JPL: Not a Liverpool fan, I take it?

  50. 50.

    efgoldman

    July 4, 2018 at 8:53 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Sitting on the Boston Esplanade, waiting for the fireworks

    I broadcast from around 200pm to the concert for about ten years, tent behind the shell.
    Got so blase i left at the start of the concert to beat the traffic.
    Better than the year we took the T, and by the time we got out of the Alewife garage, it was three ayem.

  51. 51.

    dmsilev

    July 4, 2018 at 8:54 pm

    Oh Lord. A couple of people right next to me are earnestly discussing how cool Rand Paul is and how people like him are the saviors of the Republican Party, and that Social Justice Warriors are evil.

    Would it be wrong of me to shove them into the river? It’d be easy; we’re right on the bank. Probably would be wrong. Sigh.

  52. 52.

    efgoldman

    July 4, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Would it be wrong of me to shove them into the river?

    Stick them in front of the howitzers.
    Concert has gone to hell since Mugar gave it up.

  53. 53.

    dmsilev

    July 4, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    @efgoldman: Once they started national tv broadcasts, it became filled with the same sort of white bread anodyne pop music mentioned upthread. They still do the 1812 though.

  54. 54.

    dmsilev

    July 4, 2018 at 8:59 pm

    @efgoldman: I’m pretty sure those are shooting blanks. Mostly sure, anyway, there’s always the chance that Boston will mount a surprise bombardment of Cambridge as a prelude to invasion.

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2018 at 9:00 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Let’s put it this way: the whole schmear (pseudo-wholesomeness, blatant jingoism, transparent marketing created by monied interests) was troweled on so thick it made the Osmonds look like the Manson family in comparison.

    Bleargh, I say.

  56. 56.

    efgoldman

    July 4, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    @dmsilev:

    They still do the 1812 though.

    We celebrate our independence day with music marking the victory of one European Imperial country over another, quoting their national anthems.
    Always made sense to me.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2018 at 9:02 pm

    @dmsilev

    Point directly at them and laugh. Loudly. An extended bwahhahahahaha. Repeat each time they open their yaps about it.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    July 4, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    @JPL:
    Ahem. You’ll Never Walk Alone is sacred music to fans of Liverpool FC.

  59. 59.

    Yarrow

    July 4, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    @NotMax: Apparently Up with People is still a thing. I googled it. There are tour dates.

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2018 at 9:06 pm

    Rachel M. doing her show on the 4th? Unexpected, that. Maybe pre-recorded?

  61. 61.

    efgoldman

    July 4, 2018 at 9:09 pm

    I clicked over to PBS to see the fireworks… and found some klowns pretending to be the ghosts of the Beach Boys. Blargh indeed. Mute button time.

  62. 62.

    JPL

    July 4, 2018 at 9:09 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I still don’t like it.

  63. 63.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @Yarrow

    Well, <em.somebody other than varsity tennis players and cricketers has to keep the V-neck sweater makers in the black.

    ;)

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2018 at 9:12 pm

    @efgoldman

    ghosts of the Beach Boys

    Little Boo Coupe?

    :)

  65. 65.

    Suzanne

    July 4, 2018 at 9:14 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    they want to be able to insult and belittle us and yet still demand our love and respect

    Yes. They realize that they are no longer central to American life and instead seek to humiliate us because they’re bitter AF.

    Kinda wish I was British right now, not going to lie.

    However, I have a nice story to share. My third-grade teacher is now retired, and is now the chair of my local Dem LD. She has also been a candidate for local office herself. She is just awesome. One of my favorite people in the entire world. Anyway, she lost her husband two years ago, and her kids and grandson are the light of her life. Last week, her daughter and her son-in-law welcomed a new baby girl, and her son-in-law is being naturalized today.

    It’s been such a shitty couple of years, and these kinds of things are all that make it bearable.

  66. 66.

    feebog

    July 4, 2018 at 9:15 pm

    @NotMax:

    It seems to be prerecorded, but the segment with Steve Kornaki is interesting.

  67. 67.

    Shell

    July 4, 2018 at 9:16 pm

    and found some klowns pretending to be the ghosts of the Beach Boys.

    They do look a little brittle.

  68. 68.

    grillo

    July 4, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    This is my song for this day until further notice (which may be forever): The House I Live In

  69. 69.

    raven

    July 4, 2018 at 9:18 pm

    The Crisis
    by Thomas Paine
    December 23, 1776
    THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rate

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2018 at 9:19 pm

    @feebog

    Almost anything is better than those prison shows which were MSNBC’s fallback position.

  71. 71.

    raven

    July 4, 2018 at 9:23 pm

    “A Very English Scandal,” is really good.

  72. 72.

    zhena gogolia

    July 4, 2018 at 9:25 pm

    @raven:

    We really liked the first episode. We’re parceling it out.

  73. 73.

    Amir Khalid

    July 4, 2018 at 9:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    I think Greta Garbo’s actual words were, “I don’t want your botheration! Get away, leave me be!” Or something to that effect.

  74. 74.

    raven

    July 4, 2018 at 9:25 pm

    @zhena gogolia: We blazed because we’re trying to make Bosch last!

  75. 75.

    Duane

    July 4, 2018 at 9:32 pm

    @dmsilev: Not only would it be not wrong, as a Patriot it’s required. Do your duty!

  76. 76.

    EBT

    July 4, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    Spent my afternoon dunking on a transphobe with 20 times my followers (after judicious use of block chain on his followers). Enjoyment was had by all.

  77. 77.

    eemom

    July 4, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    You’ll never walk alone

    Isn’t that the thing Jerry Lewis sang tearily at the end of the Labor Day telethon for like a thousand years?

  78. 78.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 4, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    @lamh36: Jordan needs to step down.

  79. 79.

    Ben Cisco

    July 4, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    Fireworks going off (even though they’re illegal here). It’s ok though.

  80. 80.

    eemom

    July 4, 2018 at 9:39 pm

    @raven:

    I’ve belatedly been watching Ken Burns’ Vietnam miniseries. Understand why you hate LBJ, despite the good that he did.

  81. 81.

    raven

    July 4, 2018 at 9:41 pm

    I spent the entire day taking apart and rebuilding this gigantic shop cart . It was 6 x 4 and now it’s 52″ by 36″. Three trips to Lowes for various needs and managed to make roast chicken, sweet potato salad and corn on the cob!

  82. 82.

    raven

    July 4, 2018 at 9:41 pm

    @eemom: Yup. There is a quick shot of a good friend of mine in the Wall segment.

  83. 83.

    efgoldman

    July 4, 2018 at 9:42 pm

    @Ben Cisco:

    Fireworks going off (even though they’re illegal here).

    The neighbors who try to blow their hands off every year are apparently away for the holiday.

  84. 84.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 4, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    Saw “Ocean’s 8” and then went to a BBQ at a neighbor’s house. Moving truck comes early tomorrow. I expect I’ll be out of touch for a couple of days.

  85. 85.

    Tenar Arha

    July 4, 2018 at 9:45 pm

    @lamh36:
    1) Aww, I missed the embiggening.
    2) I like it, but my fave will probably always be CATWS.

  86. 86.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 4, 2018 at 9:46 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Arsenal here. So, ick.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    July 4, 2018 at 9:49 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Hope it goes smoothly!

  88. 88.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 4, 2018 at 9:54 pm

    @raven: I watered the tomatoes. And drank a couple of gin & tonics. It’s too damn hot here.

  89. 89.

    Anne Laurie

    July 4, 2018 at 10:01 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Concert has gone to hell since Mugar gave it up.

    In his defense, Keith Lockhart said Rachel Platten was the headliner because “This Is My Fight Song” was his daughter’s favorite song in the world. Given how you feel about your own daughter, I thought that might be slightly mitigating…

  90. 90.

    geg6

    July 4, 2018 at 10:03 pm

    I want to extend a big thank you to Adam for his inspiration today. At my family gathering, we took turns reading parts of the Declaration. We all agreed that we are firmly committed to fighting, however we may be forced to, the ideals and sentiments first declared by our founders 242 years ago. It was quite emotional for all of us. A lovely reminder on a holiday we have usually considered a summer party day that we must be prepared to live up to our vision of a righteous nation.

  91. 91.

    Bill Arnold

    July 4, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    For the Facebook haters, this is quite good, and rather funny if one likes their funny dark.
    Cory Doctorow: Zuck’s Empire of Oily Rags

    It’s fashionable to treat the dysfunctions of social media as the result of the naivete of early technologists, who failed to foresee these outcomes. The truth is that the ability to build Facebook-like services is relatively common. What was rare was the moral recklessness necessary to go through with it.

    …But it was also obvious from the start that amassing huge dossiers on everyone who used the internet could create real problems for all of society that would dwarf the minute gains these dossiers would realize for advertisers.

    …A decade later, everything is on fire and we’re trying to tell Zuck and his friends that they’re going to need to pay for the damage and install the kinds of fire-suppression gear that anyone storing oily rags should have invested in from the beginning, and the commercial surveillance industry is absolutely unwilling to contemplate anything of the sort.

  92. 92.

    debbie

    July 4, 2018 at 10:09 pm

    My town’s fireworks just started, about a block from my apartment. They don’t sound like they used to when I was a kid. Louder and crasser. Maybe it’s more about explosions than colors.

  93. 93.

    efgoldman

    July 4, 2018 at 10:09 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    Given how you feel about your own daughter, I thought that might be slightly mitigating…

    Used to ba a sort of classical Pops concert with a pop or country act thrown in.
    I know, lawn get off it, swing my onion….

  94. 94.

    Felony Govt

    July 4, 2018 at 10:10 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: God luck with the move!

  95. 95.

    sukabi

    July 4, 2018 at 10:10 pm

    @jeffreyw: lol. Too damned cute.?

  96. 96.

    sukabi

    July 4, 2018 at 10:12 pm

    @dmsilev: what’s a little water? Baptism, it’s what Jesus would do.?

  97. 97.

    Felony Govt

    July 4, 2018 at 10:14 pm

    @Felony Govt: Good luck. Stupid fat fingers

  98. 98.

    Achrachno

    July 4, 2018 at 10:14 pm

    @lamh36: This is more than I’d heard. The media are not yet covering this very well — more protection of Republican hypocrites? Went searching and found this on Yahoo news sports:

    “Dr Strauss was one of those that took a lot of showers and soaped himself a lot,” DiSabato said. “So, when you look at the definition of sexual abuse and sexual assault — and Jim Jordan just went on record saying he knew about the facilities — he took showers with us. He saw Dr. Strauss and others perform these kinds of acts in front of us.”

    Still some clarification and detail needed, but this is not looking good for Jordan. I wonder if these reports are coming from Republican circles opposed to Jordan’s reported efforts to become House Speaker.

  99. 99.

    debbie

    July 4, 2018 at 10:16 pm

    @debbie:

    Now I know what else is different: celebratory gunfire. ?

  100. 100.

    Steve in the ATL

    July 4, 2018 at 10:18 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Apparently Up with People is still a thing. I googled it. There are tour dates.

    Jesus Christ. We have trump AND them?

    @Omnes Omnibus: how was that not in your dossier, fellow Gooner?

  101. 101.

    J R in WV

    July 4, 2018 at 10:20 pm

    Fried up some hot Italian sausage with a sweet onion and peppers, and cole slaw with horseradish in. Gin and Tonic before dinner, lager with. Chillin now. Dawgs are in and a little restless, we can hear booms in the distance, which is at least 15 miles away.

    Could be neighbors, I guess. We can’t ever see the pretty flashes in the sky for being in the little cove, dark hollow in the woods. But the booms, There was one just now that I felt instead of hearing.

    Have some champagne for later in the week, saving some good stuff for a special occasion… leave that to your imagination…!

  102. 102.

    mad citizen

    July 4, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    In recent years it always sounds like a war is going on in my neighborhood during these couple of hours. I need to move to the country away from people. They’re the worst.

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    July 4, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    They just want to hear the immoral words “Yas sir, boss!”

    Fuckem.

  104. 104.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 4, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: I was an artillery officer. Gunner?

    ETA: The posh-ish are always Arsenal or Chelsea. And even with Joe Strummer’s support, I can’t do Chelsea.

  105. 105.

    H.E.Wolf

    July 4, 2018 at 10:52 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:
    Happy anniversary! I’m honored to be a co-citizen of yours. :)

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2018 at 10:55 pm

    @Bill Arnold

    Awaiting the John S. Damrell of the digital world.

  107. 107.

    Drunkenhausfrau

    July 4, 2018 at 10:57 pm

    My 13 year old pug is freaking out. Why does celebrating indepence have to sound like war?

  108. 108.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 4, 2018 at 11:10 pm

    @Drunkenhausfrau: Fireworks are seen as celebratory. They happen on other holdiays.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - beckya57 - Copper Canyon, Mexico, April 2025
Image by beckya57 (7/31/25)

World Central Kitchen

Donate

Recent Comments

  • Martin on Goebbels In, Goebbels Out (Open Thread) (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:48pm)
  • chopper on Wednesday Night Open Thread (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:46pm)
  • kalakal on Wednesday Night Open Thread (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:44pm)
  • Melancholy Jaques on Wednesday Night Open Thread (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:38pm)
  • TurnItOffAndOnAgain on Open Thread: Good for Rep. Jeffries (Jul 9, 2025 @ 11:37pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!