IN BOX: Big July 4 fireworks show cancelled but @Macys will stage “high-elevation unannounced fireworks displays from select locations across every borough” from 6/29-7/4 so “New Yorkers to experience fireworks without creating crowds.” Each will be 5-min.
— Joel Siegel (@joelmsiegel) June 23, 2020
HAVE THEY NOT HEARD?!?…
Watching the strategically-placed-pallets-of-bricks theory of the fireworks crisis emerge and start getting taken seriously by people has been an absolute wonder.
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) June 21, 2020
if you think people are setting off more fireworks because they’re bored and it’s fun you shouldn’t also be confused about why people are creating elaborate conspiracy theories about it, which is another fun activity when you don’t have anything else to do
— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) June 22, 2020
The Great 2020 Fireworks Protests have been happening in a bunch of cities (including Boston), all of them suspiciously within driving distance of major fireworks distributors looking to dump inventory made for public celebrations that aren’t gonna happen this summer. (At least two beach towns within driving distance here, Hampton Beach NH and Salisbury MA, usually have big weekly fireworks displays every summer, which have been cancelled. And that’s not to mention the dozens of ambitious backyard amateurs determined to one-up the neighbors, even if it involves setting the deck / lawn / random bystander on fire.)
But, of course, New York is where every Truly Important Media Personage lives, so that’s where an excess of hanabi (fire-flowers) becomes A Thing. Per the Washington Post (Style section) — “Who will solve the great fireworks mystery, and will we ever sleep again?”:
… Did you have “mystery fireworks” on your 2020 bingo card, after murder hornets and federal agents attacking peaceful protesters with tear gas so the president could pose in front of a church with a Bible? Congratulations. Yes, there are a LOT of amateur fireworks this year. Several cities where fireworks are restricted or illegal have reported an anecdotal increase in fireworks complaints. In New York, there are 80 times as many complaints as the city received in early June 2019. The New York City Police Department says it has logged more than 12,500 911 calls about fireworks this month.
Askin has no idea where all these fireworks are coming from. She has called the police, the mayor’s office and her state senator, to no avail. She’s used to unsanctioned city fireworks in the summer, but it feels different this year. She’s heard similar reports from friends in other cities.
It’s a mystery — and yet, midway through a year that has been marked by a deadly pandemic, massive protests and widespread anxiety about the future of American democracy, it seems like a fairly natural development…
Setting off illegal fireworks has been a beloved summer pastime in many city neighborhoods for years. As some neighborhoods have gentrified, newcomers may be more likely to be bothered by the noise. And with everyone spending a lot more time at home these days, and a pandemic and unemployment pressing on our nerves, maybe we’re all just a little more sensitive.
But the intensity of this year’s amateur fireworks, in the context of recent clashes between police and racial justice demonstrators, have made some people suspicious.
The weekend after Juneteenth — a big fireworks day in many cities — a theory exploded on Twitter. The author Robert Jones Jr., in a tweet thread that received tens of thousands of retweets, proposed that the fireworks were “a coordinated attack on Black and Brown communities by government forces; an attack meant to disorient and destabilize the #BlackLivesMatter movement,” he wrote.
Jones and commenters suggested that police and government were supplying the fireworks to black communities, to desensitize them to explosion noises so that “when they start using their real artillery on us we won’t know the difference.” They point to a New York Post story showing New York firefighters setting off fireworks at a station close to midnight last week. Also: unverified reports on social media of mysterious men selling fireworks at steep discounts, and pallets of professional fireworks being left in minority neighborhoods for teens to discover. (New York is planning a multi-agency task force to investigate the spike in fireworks there. A D.C. police spokeswoman said the department is not distributing fireworks.)…
Gosh, bored adrenaline junkies setting off newly-cheap fireworks during a slow shift. However could *that* happen?
Don’t blame people in the communities for being suspicious, but predictably this is Not Gonna End Well…
Maybe one piece of the fireworks puzzle? PA dealers dumping professional-grade stuff on the NYC market for whatever they can get because all the legit July 4 displays have been canceled. https://t.co/2AfgE2b1TD
— Angus Johnston ?? (@studentactivism) June 22, 2020
I know an older Republican couple who drive to Pennsylvania every year to buy these semi-professional grade firework sets for hundreds of dollars.
— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) June 21, 2020
More evidence to support @Flatbush_kloud‘s theory https://t.co/lAROvbOEep
— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) June 22, 2020
*Sigh.*
Just had a conversation with a young guy in Crown Heights about the fireworks situation in Brooklyn that might be helpful to folks trying to understand what’s happening — the source is a lifelong resident whose block has been featured in at least one viral fireworks video.
— Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) June 23, 2020
Some of the fireworks are being set off by competing groups of young people from different blocks and areas — there are battles. In addition to fireworks, young people are also attacking their rivals with squirt guns. It’s summertime in Brooklyn. People are trying to have fun.
— Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) June 23, 2020
Following lots of complaints and social media talk, the NYPD and the de Blasio administration are now launching a multi-agency crackdown on “suppliers, distributors and possessors” of illegal fireworks. This will include interstate “sting operations” to “disrupt supply chains.”
— Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) June 23, 2020
If there’s a conspiracy here, it seems most likely to emerge in the charging documents prosecutors will file sweeping up a bunch of young men of color who bought and resold some fireworks during a hot and stressful summer.
Just something to keep in mind.
— Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) June 23, 2020
Political compass for all the fireworks conspiracy theories: pic.twitter.com/DdWDghG3Cd
— Jules (@Julian_Epp) June 22, 2020
zhena gogolia
God, I hate fireworks.
I was just reading that hilarious meta-thread from 2012 and wondering why I wasn’t on it. Then I found myself at #385 commenting under my old nym:
rikyrah
Listening to fireworks right now???
Eunicecycle
There’s a fireworks store literally a half mile from our house. We were just commenting how many more fireworks than usual we have been hearing. We haven’t bought any in years, but I think the law in Ohio used to be that you had to sign a statement that you were taking them out of state. I’m such a weenie I felt terrible signing it.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
In Ohio, it’s technically illegal to buy professional grade fireworks, so you sign a form, promising to fire them off in another state and that’s it. Apparently the legislature is considering some bill to legalize sales to consumers entirely. I’ve been hearing fireworks off and on for the last few weeks where I live, something I don’t recall happening until at least the week before Independence Day
Kay
We had a political meeting on Zoom about the 6th district ct of appeals candidate, Judge Duhart. Our county won’t be where he will get the majority of his votes but if we can get Democrats to remember his name (judges on the ballot are not identified by Party) AND if we can get them to vote the whole ballot and not just the top two races he will probably win. It’s a Democratic hold for the seat but if we lose that court flips to majority GOP.
Judge Duhart did fine and they liked him, voted to give him 500 dollars, but Zoom meetings are sad, really. I miss meeting in person.
Major Major Major Major
Yeah, it’s not very mysterious why there are a lot of big fireworks going off right now. My friends in Brooklyn are absolutely beclowning themselves believing in these conspiracy theories. As are some big names in journalism.
In an unrelated note:
Patricia Kayden
Kropacetic
I thought the ones I saw the night seemed awfully…steady and at a predictable interval.
Incognegro (lurking since 2008)
@rikyrah: Same here! Right now as I type. I live in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati and I have been hearing random fireworks pretty much every night for the past three weeks or so. Which of course, is unusual.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I tweeted this just the other day, based on my experience growing up in Colorado and eastern Nebraska:
chopper
celebrate your country by blowing up a small part of it!
Martin
So, when I was growing up, fireworks in NY were illegal. I think you could get sparklers, but that was about it.
But, we had a source. The ice cream man would sell you fireworks. Not Mr Frosty, the other guy. He’d have one frozen case full of popsicles and 50/50 bars and like 2-3 others full of fireworks. We’d all courteously encourage the little kids to go ahead of us to get their ice cream, and then when there were only a few of us hanging back, we’d go up and get our M-80s and bottle rockets and whatnot, and a 50/50 bar as well. We didn’t have AC.
Luciamia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): same here. Somebody at the time said they’re probably graduation parties.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
Well obviously, it’s because you’re an evil centrist neoliberal who supports police brutality #StillWithBernie #BrooklynAutonomousSyndicalistCommune /s ; p
Unfortunately, the left isn’t always immune to conspiracy thinking
Martin
The last few nights we’ve been hearing a large fireworks show around 8:45. I figured that was Disneyland testing in anticipation of reopening, but maybe not. Disneyland’s show time is 9:35 when they’re open. I guess it could be Angel stadium testing as well.
Luciamia
@Martin: ohh, sparklers. I Miss them. Seemed kinda stupid to ban those little things.
Martin
@Luciamia: It was the 70s and it was a good day if a block in the Bronx didn’t go up in flames, so in hindsight I get it.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
I guess it’s not a common thing in NYC, huh? People setting off pro fireworks.
Is it as ridicious as it sounds that de Blasio is talking about doing “stings” to disrupt “interstate supply chains”? They make it sound like crack
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Luciamia:
Could’ve been. I think it’s just bored people tbh.
Sab
@Major Major Major Major: Back when I lived in Las Vegas the Boy Scouts sold fireworks from a stand in the Safeway parking lot. Weird town that was. Probably still is.
Some Cirque du Soleil people lived right across the street, and used to practice on the trapeze at sunset. We knew they were Cirque du Soleil because Quebec license plates on their cars.
Poe Larity
Here, we’re using the fireworks to cover the sound of the Soros Weatherpersons Regiments practicing with their QBZ-95s.
And now that the bugs have been worked out in Wuhan, we’ve gotten the final shipments of mobile crematoriums. The beauty of shelter at home is that nobody will miss you when the black quadcopters pick you up and toss you in.
Not even QAnon knows about this stuff.
Sab
@Major Major Major Major: My great grandfather only had one eye because of fireworks.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Saw this video the other night: Nature’s fireworks: lightning!
Major Major Major Major
@Sab: wild!
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): good impression lol
De Blasio is being a drama queen but there have also definitely been some rough incidents.
Fair Economist
I’m not hearing problematic fireworks here in OC CA. Might be something to the “getting dumped by desperate businesses” theory, since I don’t think any are made around here.
Yutsano
Since this thread be open: I have my eviction date from the hospital! I’m getting out 30 June.
prostratedragon
Was about to type that it was for some reason a quiet night here in Chicago, but according to fresh reports actually it’s just a later one. I’m in the old Grand Boulevard section of what’s now known to real estate brokers as Bronzeville, and we’ve had what seems like block-by-block competitions for the last couple of years, all year round but peaking at the usual holidays. There were many more Juneteenth displays this year than in the past. If they’re legal to buy in IL I’ve not heard of it, but for years people have been driving to IN or MI to buy. There even used to be roadside stands set up near state lines.
RandomMonster
I’ve been hearing them not so far from my Baltimore neighborhood. Every night unless it’s raining. Not so annoying when the windows are closed and the AC is cranked anyway.
Amir Khalid
@Yutsano:
Less than a week away. Hang on till then.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: As I noted on Twitter, there is Chinese food with my name on it waiting to be made…
trollhattan
@Martin:
My NH bro assures me there are PLENTY of fireworks stands just across the Mass border, serving oodles of Massholes. Live loud or die.
Martin
@prostratedragon: When we drove from IN on the way to Chicago, I swear the only commerce for the last 5 miles of IN was gun stores and fireworks stands.
James E Powell
@Yutsano:
That’s good news!
Martin
@Yutsano: Congrats!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
Jesus Christ! That’s awful
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Yutsano:
Not too much longer!
Delk
@prostratedragon: all quiet in Lincoln Square but there is a bonkers amateur fireworks display on the 4th. Lasts over two hours!
Kropacetic
You know what else we wear both to protect us from what’s around us and vice versa? Shoes.
Well fuck your shoes laws, maaaaaan. From now on; every food establishment; no shirt, no shoes, no big deal. Fight me, I got the Constitushin.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): we’ve definitely been in a state of civil unrest for a bit now.
sdhays
My god this makes me depressed. That and the previous thread. I’m glad this shit hasn’t hit my neck of the woods…yet.
Late night fireworks are already annoying on certain holidays.
Another Scott
ObOpenThread. Lots of us here are Harris fans. I am too.
But she needs to be better.
(Click through for her response to a question from Colbert.)
Come on, Kamala. Do better. Have better answers.
Cheers,
Scott.
Keith P.
Fireworks are illegal in the city limits where I live, but legal in the rest of the county. I’m technically outside the metro area, so I have a fireworks stand right outside my neighborhood and a fireworks warehouse about 3 miles away. Twice a year (three, really, counting Cinco de Mayo), Nextdoor blows up with neighbors complaining about the fireworks (“Please don’t fire them after midnight”, “I thought guns were going off”, “I have a special-needs child”, “I have a special-needs dog”, “I know they’re legal, but still…” (I’m not a big fan of Nextdoor)
Punchy
Can anyone explain this news about the EU blocking Americans from travel? Is that just for tourists, or business peeps too? Cuz if the latter….wow. When does it become official?
Redshift
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Pennsylvania is the same way. I was there in June one year and stopped at a fireworks place in the way home. They had all sorts of professional fireworks wholesale, that you needed a license to buy if you were a PA resident. If you were from our of state, if I recall correctly, you just had to sign a paper saying you were a fireworks dealer, maybe?
I wanted to be the person with the cool fireworks for once, but I was way too responsible. The shells said you needed a clear area for thirty feet all around, and I didn’t have that.
Steeplejack
@Yutsano:
Good news! Glad you’re on the mend.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yutsano: That’ll teach ya to pay your rent on time. //
Good to hear.
Chetan Murthy
@Punchy: I suspect it’s all flights originating from the US, and all travelers starting from the US. And …. well, it makes sense, right? We have an uncontrolled epidemic here, and they’ve got their suppressed. The damage that a single infected traveler could do …..
ETA: Yeah, it’s “travelers from the US”.
oatler.
And you still can’t find a quality cherry bomb to this day.
SectionH
I lived for a lot of years in a sane island, but am too familiar with GIANT FIREWORKS MEGASTORES!!! in surrounding states, well mostly south (and SE Missouri). Even there, I don’t think they usually sold serious professional shit to random idiots. (Could be wrong of course, cause I sure as fuck never went into one.)
We have a good friend who was an actual professional, worked some big shows – and still nearly got killed by something stupid. I’m not sure but I think he waded into a much worse potential mess, mostly rendered it harmless, but still ended in hospital with multiple months of recovery after discharge. Never went back to that sort of job. He was always self-recriminatory, the coupIe of times it came up in conversations with us, I think a bit unfairly.
So if a lot of that shit is getting loose, that’s not good. Sigh.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: She was good enough to win Tricky Dick’s Senate seat.
janesays
St. Louis city here. Fireworks have been going off nearly every night since the beginning of June. A neighbor a few blocks over must have gotten himself a shitload of those professional grade mortar shells, because those things have been going off pretty frequently.
laura
As I’m reading this fireworks are going off and both spouse and Chet have seen fit to notify me that fireworks are going off somewhere near by. That’s the on the ground report from East Sacramento, back to you other jackals. Also, we’re into fire season in California so what could possibly go wrong?
MisterForkbeard
@Another Scott: There’s been a couple of times where she didn’t have good answers to easily foreseen questions. This and her history as a prosecutor are the obvious points.
In general she does pretty well with questions and actually very well with unfriendly questioning. Oddly enough.
laura
@Yutsano: that’s some good news right there! Please continue in your rest and recuperation so that nothing interferes with your eviction- and from what I read, it sounds like BillinGlendale has stepped up to pay your rent, so you’ve got that going for you too.
Omnes Omnibus
Everything fireworks related has gone to shit since George Plimpton died.
Jay Noble
Official start for Nebraska sales is tomorrow, the 24th. Of course I had neighbors who started last night about 9:30 and will have to put up with them through the fifth. And we have near pro-grade stuff which used to be illegal but then it wasn’t. At one point, anything that went bang was pretty much eliminated. I think the change came about the time Obama took office. Out here in the Panhandle, Wyoming is the supply state and back east it was Missouri. State Patrol used to set up road blocks about a mile from the bridges coming from I29 Missouri and Iowa.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Scott: Twitter Nixon is truly incisive about Republicans. He often doesn’t get Democrats. At all.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@laura:
I did? With what, pictures?
gwangung
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Well, of the right people, at the right place, at the right time…
SectionH
@Yutsano: Oh, so happy for you!
NotMax
Felt like vegging out with something preposterous and heavily tinged with humor this afternoon while puttering around the cottage. Little Evil on Netflix filled the bill. Grabs silly firmly by the arm and runs with it through the darkness.
NotMax
Slight coding error above. Fix.
Felt like vegging out with something preposterous and heavily tinged with humor this afternoon while puttering around the cottage. Little Evil on Netflix filled the bill. Grabs silly firmly by the arm and runs with it through the darkness.
mrmoshpotato
@prostratedragon: Got some booms north of downtown too.
Soprano2
Here in Springfield, MO it’s pretty normal as far as fireworks go so far. They’re illegal in the city and have been since 1953 when there was a horrific fire at a grocery store involving fireworks where 3 people died, but they’re legal in the county and surrounding counties. We hear firecrackers, bottle rockets and Roman candles mostly, at all times of the day and night. So far I haven’t heard anything that sounds like professional fireworks.
Colbert’s interview with Bolton was somewhat interesting. Bolton actually thinks there were Republicans in the House who would have voted for Trump’s impeachment if only Democrats had done it more slowly and included more stuff; you know, like what happened in Watergate. And he said he was insulted that Colbert called him naive about something…????
Chetan Murthy
@Soprano2:
Did you mean to write Senate? B/c ….. of what value is GrOPer votes to impeach? What was needed, was GrOPer votes to -convict- …. in the Senate. If he really said “in the House” he’s even stupider than he looks.
NotMax
@Jay Noble
Swear to FSM on a stack of pasta recipes it’s a true tale.
Years ago, a friend (who happened to be clinically nutso, but that’s a different story) drove in his BMW from PA to MD, filled the trunk and back seat with roadside stand fireworks and headed back home on the interstate.
On the way he flicked a cigarette butt out the window and the wind blew it back in, right into the back seat area.
The upshot? Bye bye BMW. (He came out of it 100% intact.)
Another Scott
@Yutsano: Yay!
Try to stay away from there for a while, ‘kay?
Cheers,
Scott.
The Moar You Know
Great, all we need in CA this year is OUT OF CONTROL RAGING FIRES CAUSED BY MORONS WITH FIREWORKS.
Because that’s what happens when amateurs fuck around with pyrotechnics in my state. Every year. Pro-level shit making it down to the guys selling them out of the trunks of their cars? FUCKING AWESOME, THE STATE IS FULL OF DRY BRUSH, THIS WILL GO GREAT
Anotherlurker
I like professional fireworks displays. However, I despise the backyard amateurs.
These assholes delight in torturing innocent dogs and cats with their testosterone fueled firepower.
I had 2 Goldens who could only make it thru July 4th with 75mg of Acepromazine . If the holiday happened on a weekend, Bella and Ginger had to be dosed on all nights.
I hate July 4th.
NotMax
@Yutsano
Huzzah!
“Y’all don’t come back now, hear?”
cain
@Incognegro (lurking since 2008):
I have not heard of any fireworks here at all and we love our illegal fireworks. I guess there is still time left?
Another Scott
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Oooh. She should remind him of that, fer reals.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Alison Rose
I’d been wondering about this!! Started hearing them going off near me (northern Bay Area, CA) a week or so ago and I was like…the fuck? Thankfully they don’t go too late, but I still hates them.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: The last time a junior Senator from California was on the ticket he as talking about his dog on national TV.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
It’s definitely been a fireworksapalooza here in San Francisco for weeks. At first we attributed it to graduation parties and boredom, but oversupply + price cuts + rise of informal distribution networks + boredom + local culture (heavy Asian-Am population) explains it better. I never have to pay any attention to when Lunar New Year is, for example – I can always hear it coming.
We don’t have quite as much wildfire risk in the city, but there are a few open brushy slopes above the freeway near my house that get burned over at least once every year. We’re due. Not looking forward to it.
Sister Golden Bear
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: I’m further south on the Peninsula, and it’s also been fireworksapalooza for weeks, even late into the night.
Usually it just starts a few days before the Fourth (when it bad enough I usually stay home in case some idiot sets my roof on fire).
Not sure where they’re getting them, since usually it’s stuff that’s smuggled in from Mexico, e.g. roman candles etc., that aren’t legal even in the very few cities round here where fireworks are legal.
tomtofa
In Oakland they’ve been going off nightly since mid/late May. Starts at around 7 pm with salutes (noise rather than visual display); gets into commercial-grate pyrotechnics as darkness falls, back to salutes from about midnight till 2 or 3 am. Some shake the house and set off car alarms up and down the street from half a mile away. They must be selling them really cheaply. On Nextdoor some people involved promise it will continue through August . . .
Anne Laurie
Congratulations! And many happy UN-returns to you…
prostratedragon
@Martin:
Ah, then still. Last few road trips I made through IN were at the wrong time of year, maybe. Before that, for many years I regularly took Amtrak, where you don’t see as much of the road through there.
SectionH
@laura: yeah because no one ever set off a grass fire with stupid fireworks… fingers crossed nothing starts.
I love big, well-planned firework displays. NOLA Jazz Festival has some. I was in heaven watching 1999 turn into 2000. On the TV, in the Last Time Zone… Also love tiny once-a-year little ones in ppl’s back yards, where there’s mostly sparklers for the kids. Sue me, I do.
But I also know from irresponsible idiots, and I am so sick of why we can’t have nice things. HINT: other countries can teach their children, we could too!
Tehanu
Same here in mid-Los Angeles — usually it’s only a few days around the Fourth; this year it’s been going on for 3 or 4 weeks already. We usually go to my grandkids’ other grandma’s house in Echo Park for the Fourth as (a) it’s my older grandson’s birthday and (b) you can see numerous professional shows and even more numerous backyard displays there, some of which rival the pros. This year, not sure what we’ll do.
One of my favorite memories from a trip down South, oh, 25 years ago I guess: a sign for a giant fireworks emporium on the side of the road, saying “Tennessee Alabama Fireworks — Don’t Get Ripped Off Elsewhere.”
Anne Laurie
Can confirm. It’s a popular enough ‘pastime’ that the Boston-area news stations run stories every year around now warning that the police writing down plates at the border fireworks stands *will* bust your ‘concealed’ stash the minute you cross back into Masshole territory. And give you an expensive ticket in return for your goodies, too.
Which doesn’t stop the Indiana / Pennsylvania dealers sending out big flashy postcards telling MA residents exactly where to find their wares, conveniently juuuuust across the MA/NH border. This was the first year I remember getting 4-sheet, full-color flyers, though — should’ve guessed back in mid-May (‘Celebrate Memorial Day! Stock up for summer parties!’) that it would be a noisy summer…
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
It’ll be a long week, but I’m so glad to read this! Congratulations!
SectionH
@Martin: Possibly my favorite quote from Dave Barry, from one of his early New Year’s round-ups:
Speed limits should be set by how boring the territory is. For instance, the speed limit in Northern Indiana should be 135mph.
Anne Laurie
The joke around here is about the NH Trifecta: guns, smokes, and tattoo parlors. It’s funny because it’s true — if you miss the ‘Welcome to NH, visit our state-owned rest stop for low-cost liquor & lottery tickets next exit‘ highway signs, you’ll know as soon as you reach the nearest commercial strip.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m fine with fireworks on the Fourth. It’s an important part of the traditional way we celebrate independence, and for folks who have kids or pets who get triggered, there’s plenty of advance notice.
Heck, I’ll even give you New Year’s Eve.
But randomly setting off fireworks after midnight for weeks before and after the designated holidays is cruel and, to many, frightening. I love the big professional displays, but I’d really like to see the amateurs more tightly regulated. They can do some real damage.
Anne Laurie
A lot of EU countries aren’t letting outsiders in now, for reasons, even assuming an American can get a transatlantic flight. But by next Wednesday (IIRC), the European Union is supposed to come to an official consensus about cross-national travel.
And if you think the Americans are sweating blood about the chance of being blocked out, you can imagine how well the English parliament is doing right now; they can’t decide whether to be proud that ‘Brexit’ is such a challenge to the filthy wogs, or terrified that they’ll run out of everything & the proles will set fire to Westminster.
Jay
Jay
Anne Laurie
First time I traveled by car from mid-Michigan to Chicago, I decided Indiana only owned one mile of (extremely flat, boring) scenery. They just keep re-rolling that same mile, like the background shots in an underbudgeted anime.
TS (the original)
@Yutsano:
So nice to read some good news. A positive reason to have another glass of wine.
CaseyL
@Yutsano: Excellent news!
… what do you mean, “make” Chinese food? Chinese food is delivered. Always! You could maybe call ahead and have it on the way when you get home :)
Jay
trnc
@Chetan Murthy:
I didn’t see the interview, but if he actually said “vote to impeach,” he probably meant the House because only the House votes to impeach, and for all of his insanity Bolton is probably pretty pedantic. Aaaaand if some House republicans had voted for impeachment, that could have provided cover for senate repubs to vote to convict.
Once again, for Bolton to complain about what House dems did or did not do during impeachment should earn him nothing but derision.
West of the Rockies
I was away from the news today. Did Trump shit the bed again in Arizona? Did he say anything incredibly stupid once more?
Anne Laurie
Seconded. I’d make an exemption for professional displays on designated days (big theme parks, local holidays), but random fireworks is something adults should outgrow… and then start riding their kids about, to keep what adolescent stupidity they manage under some control. It’s safer for everybody, and more fun for the teens from thrill of breaking actual rules.
Calouste
@Martin: Going from Germany into Poland in the 1990s, the only thing that seemed to be on sale for miles were garden gnomes. There were stands along the road with hundreds, if not thousands of them.
Jay
Calouste
@West of the Rockies: Who?
Jay
The
Must be nice to be able to execute City Officials on a whim,……
SectionH
@Anne Laurie: Ooookay… all I can say some of that’s not legal in Kentucky. I think some idiots blew themselves and a lot of other ppl up quite a long time ago now, and the state leg. passed laws. Currently “The government website provides a list of fireworks that are and aren’t allowed. The list says sparklers, smoke and punk, fountains and other novelties are legally free-use, and bottle rockets, sky rockets, Roman candles and firecrackers are allowed only with a permit.”
I’m sure stuff gets set off illegally, but when your neighbor assholes are egregious about it, you have legal recourse. Ask me how I know… :->
Jay
lol chikinburd
The disastrous news from the Capitol Square in Madison — where “protesters” tore down not only the Lady Forward statue but also that of Hans Christian Heg, a Union colonel in the Civil War — will require not just an inquest locally but introspection across everyone supportive of the movement regarding the biggest problem with “organic” street protests: their indiscipline and susceptibility to infiltration. I find it hard to believe that this propaganda coup for the right, this threatened shark-jumping of the whole movement, was entirely an accident by dumb people; somebody with a clue of how it would be received had to have had a role putting the dumb people up to it, if not carrying it out directly.
ETA: link
Jay
The
Chetan Murthy
@lol chikinburd: If there were genuine BLM activists there, I hope they got video of the whole thing that can be analyzed to figure who the leaders/agitators were in getting those statues torn down. Use the same tools they use against the po-po, against these nihilist idiots.
Jay
Jay
Jay
opiejeanne
@Jay: I can’t remember the reason, but there was a several-day stretch when some of the hospitals in NYC were closed (was it a nurses strike?) and the death rate went down.
Jay
Jay
@opiejeanne: PPE,
Jay
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>The truth is NASCAR investigated a suspicious situation with great and deserving caution. In the mean time, they rallied around their lone Black driver and created a genuine moment of grace in a sport that has very few. <a href=”https://t.co/K02xmelP58″>t.co/K02xmelP58</a></p>— Benjamin Freed (@brfreed) <a href=”https://twitter.com/brfreed/status/1275612789797724160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>June 24, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
James E Powell
@Another Scott:
Women – especially Democratic women – always have to be better, don’t they. If Harris is our VP candidate, are we really going to spend the next four months nitpicking her, finding every error or flaw, and putting in the center of the campaign?
Pence is not only stupid, he’s evil. Does not having a good answer to a silly question really merit any discussion at all?
Origuy
An Alameda, CA man was stopped by the CHP on I-80 doing 100 mph with two unrestrained kids and 500 pounds of fireworks.
They are going off in my neighborhood every night. Someone already set a garage on fire. I don’t know if it was the pyros’s garage or not.
Chetan Murthy
@James E Powell: Now now, *these* women candidates -do- need to be better. Harris should have had answers to those obvious questions. Klobuchar ought to have been a better boss, really! And Warren? I mean where to start? That genetic test was a complete fustercluck! They all need to do better! I’m 100% for voting for a woman candidate. But just not these women. I am not a misogynist. Subscribe to my newsletter!
NotMax
@Origuy
“It’s all good, officer. I also bought a 12-pack of rabbit’s feet.”
:)
mrmoshpotato
OT – these dumb motherfuckers.
Yutsano
Thanks everyone. Gonna hit the hay now. 6 more intense days then we’re getting food from the Chinese place my family likes. Gonna be a bit before I get back into my apartment but it will happen soon enough. Again, grazie mille Jackals!
rikyrah
@Punchy:
I would ban Americans – period.
NOT worth risking their countries
rikyrah
@Yutsano: good ?
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: Especially given how small some countries are. You can drive through several countries in a day.
Also, the Soviet shitpile mobster manbaby currently in control of 1/3 of our government is a homicidal maniac who thinks testing is a total loser so…
JWR
@trnc:
Even worse, he blamed the rank partisanship on display during the impeachment hearings entirely on the Dems.
I watched the Colbert interview, and IMHO, no one should waste even the time it would take to order Bolton’s stupid book, because despite thinking himself above the fray, he’s purely a Goldwater-Cheney level of partisan Evil. Hell, he even compared the Dem impeachment effort to Trump, and said he really didn’t see any difference between the two. (WTF?!) Might as well read Sarah Palin’s autohagiography as this waste of paper.
And thus ends my review of John Bolton: American Trash. ;)
JWR
@mrmoshpotato:
Yeah, you really have to wonder where they’re getting the idea that this is a good idea, because this sort of behavior is going to backfire on the entire movement.
Uncle Cosmo
@RandomMonster: Been hearing them most nights – seem to be north of where I am (a long walk north of where Memorial Stadium used to be). Only occasionally later than 11 PM. Higher intensity than most years. Had no idea it was a regional (or national) phenomenon till now.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Try living around East Asians then, the summer is always a constant firework show. Though this year seems a little bit more energetic than normal.
evodevo
@Keith P.: I’m not a big fan either…my neighbor signed me up for Nextdoor, and I participated for awhile, but geez there are a lot of Karens out there…I live in the boonies and the whining from the ex-suburbanites was deafening…and boy was there pushback when I would even mention that they were not living in subdivisions any longer and it was different out here…I quit tuning in about a year ago…
J R in WV
@Luciamia:
IIRC what makes sparklers burn is also called thermite, which burns hot enough to be used to cut heavy structural steel. Could be wrong, but they do burn hot for sure!
I used to like to set off fireworks, last time was at a friend’s rural house party on a very rural ridge in the western part of our county, probably 30 years ago now. Some rockets, and two large mortars someone gave me.
I fired the first one off, and a tiny orange spark flew up into the sky. Nothing happened, and I about decided it was a dud, when, after a way long time, a huge star burst out in multi colors, way, way up in the sky. And I had one more, too!!
I bet still that if someone was on a ridge top in Kentucky and looked east at the right moment, they would have said “Darn, look at that!” Many miles away, since launched from a high spot. Glad not to do that any more, really dangerous, actually. But was SO pretty.
Another Scott
@Chetan Murthy: That’s not really fair.
It was a fair and easily predictable question, and her only answer being “it was a DEBATE” isn’t responsive. IMHO.
I’m a big fan of “More and Better Democrats”. Encouraging her, and Democrats in general, to get better isn’t some sexist position.
It’s not a big deal, but she should learn from it and do better. To prove dick_nixon wrong, also too.
Cheers,
Scott.