Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

I really should read my own blog.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

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

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

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

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

This blog will pay for itself.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Lunar Eclipse Open Thread

Reader Interactions

101Comments

  7. 7.

    CaseyL

    Very nearly total now (Seattle) – I’m watching from my back deck. It’s chilly but not too cold.

    What I really love about red moon eclipses is how, for a brief time, the moon actually does look like a sphere, due to the shading

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    Somebody told us it would be visible here at about 9:40 PM, but I just caught it a minute ago. Wife is already asleep, so no joy for her. You snooze, you lose.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    Damnit, heavy cloud cover. Will keep going outside to check for breaks–it would be super clear conditions following the last storm.

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    Got a nice view up to the beginning of totality, and then some clouds started to roll in. At least they waited until totality started.

  12. 12.

    CaseyL

    Oh this is cool: along the right edge, some areas are very red – almost like the coronal/diamond effect in solar eclpses.

  14. 14.

    Matt McIrvin

    We would not go out in the butt cold but we have a good view of the weird bloody moon out our patio door, if we lie on the floor and look straight up.

  15. 15.

    Yarrow

    It’s very cool. I kept hearing a voice through a phone speaker and finally walked out further and saw my neighbor Facetiming with his girlfriend.

  16. 16.

    jackmac

    It’s just 1 lonely degree outside my house (west of Chicago) but it was worth the trip outside to catch views of the eclipse. Very cool!

  17. 17.

    Ken

    Always interesting, but this time it’s too cold to watch the progress. At least I can say I saw it.

  18. 18.

    Skepticat

    Poof! It’s gone. I can only imagine how terrifying this must have been before there was a scientific explanation.

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Skepticat: Let me call some people I know who live in Mississippi and Alabama and see what they’re saying. Pretty much should get you the same type of response.

  20. 20.

    Mike J

    With dad playing with his camera he got for xmas. Will see if I can get some of his pics Can’t believe we don’t have clouds in Seattle.

  23. 23.

    Matt McIrvin

    I’d thought there were a couple of planets visible nearby but now that the eclipse is total I can see all the constellations and get my bearings: it was Sirius and Procyon.

  24. 24.

    khead

    My ears are still ringing from just a little time out in the wind and cold – kinda chilly here in NE MD – but the blood moon eclipse really is quite spectacular.

  26. 26.

    Ohio Mom

    Ohio Dad and I took a quick walk down the driveway about twenty minutes ago — it’s something like 6 degrees outside so no dilly-dallying.

    The moon was mostly orange, with a thin bright white crescent. Very lovely.

  30. 30.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mike in NC: 9:40 was the beginning of the moon passing into the penumbra, which you basically can’t see, because the Sun is very bright and light perception is logarithmic. I could only really see anything happening once the umbral part of the eclipse was about to begin, which was around 10:30 EST.

  33. 33.

    tobie

    @jackmac: you’re braver than me! It’s 10 degrees in Maryland. I went out, couldn’t see anything, and chickened out and came back in. Loved the silly muzack PBS chose to accompany the video of the lunar eclipse.

  34. 34.

    Salty Sam

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Let me call some people I know who live in Mississippi and Alabama and see what they’re saying.

    Lawd ha’ mercy, you COLD Adam… but I like it.

    Speaking of cold, I stepped out into the frigid 49° night air of S.Texas to enjoy the eclipse. Beautiful.

  36. 36.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Adam L Silverman: There are some religious dimwits who make a big deal out of sequences of “blood moons” as prophetic signs even when they’re predicted years in advance. John Hagee peddles this stuff.

  38. 38.

    prostratedragon

    Cloudy with lake effect snow here in Bronzeville, Chi. Local news showed eclipse video from Santiago de Chile.

  39. 39.

    Jay

    A few moments ago, we got the full red/blue spectrum warling effect with the moon 15 degrees above the horizon.

    Because many of y’all are freezing, balmy -1c here,

    And the coyotes’s are in full opera from all 5 hills.

    Epic.

  42. 42.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    @Skepticat:

    Poof! It’s gone. I can only imagine how terrifying this must have been before there was a scientific explanation.

    Or … thrilling, right? It’s like the pre-historical version of the universe shouting “Boo!”

  43. 43.

    Fair Economist

    Clouds rolled here in OC CA just as it was reaching totality. Sigh. When’s the next one? 2 years or something like that?

  44. 44.

    remima

    It’s -15F here and we would have needed to trek far out in the backyard in several inches of snow to see anything — too many trees in the way. But we did get to see the full moon in all it’s orange-red glory as it rose earlier in the evening.

  47. 47.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    Just saw it. Coolest thing in the world. It’s even better than the partial solar eclipse I saw back in 2017. I can’t describe how eerie it is to look up and see this pale red orb hanging directly above you in the sky. Glad I took a look, even if it’s 4 F outside. Perfect viewing weather here as the sky was completely clear.

  49. 49.

    khead

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Yeah, I know. Someone (here, maybe?) tried to explain to me how to get a good phone pic but mine still suck. And my ears are still ringing. I just went out again.

  50. 50.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Twatwaffle is tweeting about global warming being welcome because it’s cold right now in the US. I remember about five years ago being trapped in the house for a week because of the ice storm of all ice storms. And Twatwaffle is joking about “global warming”.

  51. 51.

    Redshift

    Very cool (and very cold) view here in Northern VA! I went out several times to see the various stages as it progressed, and took some not particularly great cell phone pictures (since that’s basically how I remember when I did things these days.)

    Also saw the rising full “supermoon” earlier, it was very impressive.

  52. 52.

    Matt McIrvin

    And there it was: part of the Moon’s limb gradually brightening into a sliver of full sunlight, gradually because the occluder here is the Earth and it has an atmosphere.

    I like to imagine what totality would look like, seen from the other end on the Moon. The Earth would be transformed into a fiery red ring, four times as wide as the Moon seen from here, lighting up the whole landscape in weird dim sunset light, maybe with visible solar corona streamers poking out from behind it. Probably you couldn’t see city lights and auroras and stuff with the unaided eye, but with a telescope, maybe.

  53. 53.

    scav

    It was an extended dance of the seven veiling clouds here, but a big clear patch just when needed after all the will-it, won’t it drama. Good one.

  56. 56.

    Radio One

    too cloudy to see here in NE just observing from my porch, thankfully the Patriots are going yet again to another Super Bowl

  58. 58.

    The Midnight Lurker

    I finally came in. Both damn camera batteries went tits up on me. Too cold. I think I got a couple of keepers. They pretty much look like Betty’s though. I need a bigger, better lens.

    The night is perfect. Calm and clear. And only 39 degrees right now.

    When you look at a lunar eclipse, the way it is illuminated, you can plainly see it’s a sphere. Now how the hell is it that the moon is clearly round but the Earth is flat? Dipshits.

    It’s beautiful BTW. So I’m going back out. Just to look this time.

  63. 63.

    Brachiator

    I just wanted to throw this out before I retire for the evening.

    One day, AOC will say or do something a little misguided. Today is not that day.

    It’s logical to fear that any politician with a semblance of humanity will eventually disappoint us. But somehow, in defiance of our low expectations, freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just keeps getting cooler. This evening she became perhaps the first Congressperson to ever appear on a Twitch stream, and certainly the first Congressperson to guest on a charity Twitch stream supporting trans rights.

    To the collective internet’s shock and joy, AOC joined Youtuber H.bomberguy to discuss trans rights during his epic, 50-hours-and-counting Donkey Kong 64 stream. The money raised during his stream will go to support Mermaids, a UK charity for trans children that has been the subject of a moral panic.

    Ocasio-Cortez initially tweeted about the stream, before joining it herself.

    Links

    https://splinternews.com/aoc-breaks-the-internet-by-dropping-in-on-charity-twitc-1831913167

  64. 64.

    CapnMubbers

    Downpouring rain in Rocklin (my temporary refuge while I figure out whether to rebuild in Paradise) until two minutes before the end of totatility. Good view for about ten minutes, then solid cloud cover returned. I like the 3D effect of the eclipsed moon—didn’t think to try my new phone’s camera.

  66. 66.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    That’s so beautiful! I tried looking at it through my binoculars but the coated optics ruined the effect (gave the moon an amber color). Thanks!

  67. 67.

    Mel

    @Betty Cracker: That is beautiful, Betty! It was just too damn cold here (currently minus 8 degrees) for me to dislodge cranky, sleepy cats and head outside for a moondance, so thanks for sharing that gorgeous photo.

  70. 70.

    frosty

    Rats, I forgot and missed the total!

    ETA: I’m not used to a clear sky this winter and didn’t have it on my to-do list. ;-(

  73. 73.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    I finally got a clear view of the moon between clouds just before the end of totality, although there was already some whitish light bleeding onto it. I love the way you can actually see it’s a sphere. Big red rubber ball.

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Damn. That is gorgeous.

  77. 77.

    Geoduck

    In my SW Wasington State town, I got a good look at the leadup, but everything fogged up at just the wrong moment and so no totality. And then cleared off again. Bah,

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    So the smirking douche from Covington Catholic — name of Nick Sandmann — has issued a lawyer-written statement on his behavior in DC. Which does not jibe much with video evidence. CNN link to statement, which is unbelievably self-serving.

    I look forward to this one playing out further. Get this kind of dominance display out in the open.

    Yes, the Black Israelite loudmouths were provocative. It is what they do. They video their protests; use the same tactics as Westboro Baptist.

    These kids are entitled little douches, but their teachers and chaperones failed them in not preparing them for what they would see in DC, that is protected by the First Amendment. Could have been a learning moment.

    And showing up, en masse, in MAGA hats? Sandmann’s statement:

    This is the first time in my life I’ve ever encountered any sort of public protest, let alone this kind of confrontation or demonstration.

    Kids need to get out more. Once they’ve been schooled in manners and to have a bigger worldview.

  83. 83.

    Elizabelle

    So glad so many of you saw the eclipse. I accidentally snoozed through it. Ah well.

    Appreciate Betty Cracker’s photo. It seems it was incredible, especially since it’s so brutally cold the sky is clear in a lot of the mid-Atlantic.

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    @Elizabelle:

    These kids are entitled little douches, but their teachers and chaperones failed them in not preparing them for what they would see in DC, that is protected by the First Amendment. Could have been a learning moment.

    Yep. White make bullies think that they have God-given right to be, well, white male bullies. These same dopes will mock other people as snowflakes, but run crying to their mommas and their lawyers when they feel abused.

    Some media, for example the UK Independent, are still mis-identifying the black group as “black Muslims” in headlines and the main parts of the story because this is the kind of scary black people that stupid white conservatives can easily comprehend, nevermind truth and reality.

  86. 86.

    gwangung

    @Elizabelle: Eddie Haskell. Those twerps are Eddie Haskell.

    @Mnemosyne: I’ve been blessed to see several of my acquaintances and friends rise to some pretty good milestones (like the guy who’s writing the Hunchback live action movie). Just so damn cool to see any friend make a splash, but even more so when it’s a long time acquaintance….

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @Elizabelle:

    The more I read about this whole incident, the more pissed I get at the adults who were supposed to be chaperoning. Fellas, Washington DC ain’t your safe little suburb where no one is going to mess with Nick Sandmann because his daddy is a lawyer. The guys your students were arguing with didn’t give a shit that you’re hot stuff in the Cincinnati suburbs and it definitely would not have saved your students from getting a beatdown, or worse.

    I don’t think any of the adults involved — parents or teachers — have any comprehension that Mr. Phillips saved their kids from a potentially very nasty fight, and they sure as hell don’t seem to realize that they should be fucking GRATEFUL that he intervened before there was violence.

  88. 88.

    Elizabelle

    @Mnemosyne: Yup. A lot of the kids’ problem is the school and community. They don’t realize how clueless they’ve been brought up. Real life just intervened.

    It appears Covington Catholic may have a totally white teaching staff. Interesting what you can get away with in private schools, no? I think CC is going to be in the news for a long time, and some of them might be forced to do some awakening over there.

    Also, in watching the videos: I never noticed any Park Police people in any of the clips, nor anyone who did not seem to be a tourist or protestor.

  90. 90.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    don’t think any of the adults involved — parents or teachers — have any comprehension that Mr. Phillips saved their kids from a potentially very nasty fight,

    Probably would not be a fight until the stupid little white pissants started something.

  91. 91.

    Elizabelle

    @Elizabelle: Nick Sandmann’s bullshit statement emanated from a PR firm. Not necessarily “lawyer-drafted”, but it is its own display of bullshit. Including this classic.

    I harbor no ill will for this person [Mr. Phillips]. I respect this person’s right to protest and engage in free speech activities, and I support his chanting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial any day of the week. I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make.

    Classic. He accuses the elder, whose name he never uses, of behavior he himself exhibited.

  92. 92.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    I dunno — these Black Israelite dudes seem to be pretty cracked, and I would not lay odds on them not being violent. Apparently one of the reasons Mr. Phillips decided to walk over and intervene was that he’d seen them at previous protests and knew they were bad news.

    @Elizabelle:

    Yep. Ungrateful little shits still don’t understand that they were heading towards serious trouble until Mr. Phillips intervened and saved their asses.

  93. 93.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    I dunno — these Black Israelite dudes seem to be pretty cracked, and I would not lay odds on them not being violent.

    What does “pretty cracked” mean? This group is provocative but rarely violent. Members have been arrested for theft and fraud, not often for assault. They are like a number of other groups that enjoy being public spectacles.

    Apparently one of the reasons Mr. Phillips decided to walk over and intervene was that he’d seen them at previous protests and knew they were bad news.

    Phillips said he saw the group arguing with the stupid white pissants and spitting at them. Where do you see him saying that he had prior knowledge of them being violent? Much of the news coverage I’ve seen has been crappy and incomplete, with a few honorable exceptions.

  94. 94.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    There are at least two offshoots of the Black Israelites that the SPLC considers to be actual hate groups. IIRC, some of their members show up at Native American events and heckle people because they believe that the Black Israelites came to America with Jesus but were massacred by the Native Americans. It’s some pretty weird shit:

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelite_Church_of_God_in_Jesus_Christ

    I don’t think it’s crazy to think that a group of suburban white kids could end up in over their heads trying to go up against a known hate group.

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    There are at least two offshoots of the Black Israelites that the SPLC considers to be actual hate groups.

    I know about the group. They like to heckle and be provocative. Their views are extreme. Still it is more probable that they would have tried to goad the stupid white pissants into doing something rather than throwing the first punch.

    Was the group armed or carrying weapons, as we’ve seen with some white fanatics?

    But yeah, the dumbass students were in over their heads. I guess they were supposed to wait for the bus to take them back home. But they got pretty cracked reacting to the Black Hebrews.

  96. 96.

    J R in WV

    These Convington KY folks seem to have never even watched a TV show from/about the big city. Like all the LEO tv shows about NYC, would show you that you need to know who you are fixing to mess with in the big city at a demonstration, which draws people willing to hit people to make a point.

    Look at poor little Richard Spencer, home grown American Nazi starting to make a speech, got punched right out on his stupid video feed by a black anarchist antifa dude in a black hoodie. On a day just like the day these kids apparently got close to a bunch of black religious nut-jobs.

    Our eclipse was clouded out. Clear as a bell now, all white though. 4 degrees, which is cold enough for me!

    All you Jackal photogs, you know who you are, thanks for sharing with those of us who got clouded out, or just couldn’t deal with the cold. Good work!!

  97. 97.

    J R in WV

    @Elizabelle:

    And showing up, en masse, in MAGA hats? Sandmann’s statement:

    This is the first time in my life I’ve ever encountered any sort of public protest, let alone this kind of confrontation or demonstration.

    Kids need to get out more. Once they’ve been schooled in manners and to have a bigger worldview.

    Yet this school planned a field trip to a day of demonstrations around an issue that has become contentious because of irrational hatred of a common and necessary medical practice fomented by theirs and other religions. Demonstrations known for people showing up all fired up to cause trouble for their perspective of their cause.

    Having never seen a demonstration before!!!??? WTF were they thinking to abandon this bunch of little arrogant unprepared uneducated pissants in the middle of what could have become a violent maelstrom????????

    Very lucky to have gotten out with nothing more than the despite of the nation for their behavior…

  98. 98.

    CarolDuhart2

    @J R in WV: Yes, maybe the Black Israelites as a whole may not have a policy of throwing the first punch. But a lot of these cult-like groups have at best loose discipline and attract people who aren’t all too tightly wound themselves. Just one individual flying off the handle would have started something they couldn’t finish without the help of the Park Police, a lot of whom have been furloughed. Not that things would have been good if at full strength, but a lot fewer cops means things would have gotten out of hand sooner.

    Cincinnatian here. What you are seeing is the product of Cincinnati white flight to the Covington suburbs and the insularity it breeds. Not very pretty. The city itself has turned blue now that it has emptied out a bit, and we now have a few more Hispanics and immigrants.

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    @J R in WV: For one thing, the kid (or Mommy and Daddy) paid to take a bus to DC to take part IN a public protest. An anti-abortion public protest.

    Whole statement is chock full of lies. I just might have to take a subscription to cincinnati.com for a month to see how this one plays out.

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