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You are here: Home / Politics / America / Independence Day 2020

Independence Day 2020

by Adam L Silverman|  July 4, 202010:18 pm| 136 Comments

This post is in: America, Open Threads

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A Few Thoughts Before Tonight's Debate: Nobody Really Knows Much of Anything Yet So We All, Including Me, Need to Chill the Fuck Out!

Independence Day, followed by Thanksgiving, are my two favorite holidays. I’ve no stomach to celebrate either this year. But since we could use a new open thread, here you go.

“This meeting can do nothing more to save this country.”

Open thread!

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Previous Post: « ‘Independence Day’ Open Thread: Working Towards Keeping the Founders’ Promises
Next Post: Late Night Sad Trombones Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  1. 1.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2020 at 10:20 pm

    ?

    We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States ??! #2020VISION— ye (@kanyewest) July 5, 2020

  2. 2.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 4, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    Isn't it fun how the media has already moved on from the Trump complicit in the murder of American soldiers story?I think the whole Trump strategy has been to inundate us with so many scandals we get desensitized to them.— Helena (@thelastpinkcar) July 5, 2020

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    July 4, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    Enlighten me: Why did Americans feel the need for a patriotic song using the melody of God Save The Queen?

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2020 at 10:24 pm

    “A few thoughts before tonight’s debate”

    Huh?

  5. 5.

    randy khan

    July 4, 2020 at 10:25 pm

    Here’s hoping you have something big to be thankful for by late November.

  6. 6.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2020 at 10:26 pm

    Adam predicted this, and I for one am good with it if there’s no shooting.

    Stone Mountain, the damn birthplace of the KKK, just got marched on by protesters that refer to themselves as the NFAC (Not Fucking Around Coalition). We’re with y’all. #BlackLivesMattter ( ?: @jaorialese)pic.twitter.com/ObykNVkb9X— Ryan A Bell #BlackLivesMatter (@ryan_a_bell) July 5, 2020

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 10:26 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Congress needs a ‘rocket docket’ for impeachment hearings.  I mean, they needed it starting with day 1 and emoluments, but it’s never too late to get going

    ETA and then Jeffro remembers it wasn’t until 2018 that we recaptured the House.  Ok, day 1 of that Congress, iz what I meant…

  8. 8.

    West of the Rockies

    July 4, 2020 at 10:27 pm

    No links to Dogpatch, a lil’ something respite-ish?

  9. 9.

    satby

    July 4, 2020 at 10:27 pm

    Torn between enjoying the (probably illegal) professional level fireworks going on all over the neighborhood and hoping nothing burns down.  Not even thinking about taking the dogs out until three in the morning or so. Right now they’re in the basement under the pool table.

  10. 10.

    Wag

    July 4, 2020 at 10:27 pm

    Wow. That video is incredibly powerful.  I think most patriotic songs would benefit from a minor key treatment. The minor key would give us pause before reckless action.  

  11. 11.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 10:28 pm

    @satby: same problem here…fireworks earlier, thunderstorms moving through…sorry dog, you’re just going to have to sleep in the shower tonight.

    (I kid, I kid)

  12. 12.

    VeniceRiley

    July 4, 2020 at 10:31 pm

    yep. Would not shed a tear of stine mountain became a rubble pile. I had a friend from there that had no earthy idea. Was just a place for BBQ picnics to the area rubes anyway.

    Just got Door Dash to deliver a booze suppy because I am officially over today and also anticipate being over tomorrow as well. back to masked running the gantlet thus the covid drive thru into work Monday.

  13. 13.

    debbie

    July 4, 2020 at 10:32 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Wish the Queen would bequeath the music to us. My Country Tis of Thee should be the national anthem.

  14. 14.

    Wag

    July 4, 2020 at 10:33 pm

    @Amir Khalid:   Not all cultural appropriation is bad.

  15. 15.

    namekarB

    July 4, 2020 at 10:35 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Enlighten me: Why did Americans feel the need for a patriotic song using the melody of God Save The Queen?

    Americans back in the day could write poetry and sing, but they didn’t have very good musicians (mostly just drummers and pipers) that could write music. The best they could come up with musically was Yankee Doodle.

  16. 16.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2020 at 10:37 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    I think it was a punk song I heard as a teen that turned on the light bulb, “how the fuck did we get a song like ti’s of thee from the Brit anthem?”

    Then I rememberdd our national anthem is just a re-worded British pub song.

    We’re just very musical, OK?

  17. 17.

    namekarB

    July 4, 2020 at 10:39 pm

    @debbie:

    Wish the Queen would bequeath the music to us. My Country Tis of Thee should be the national anthem.

    My vote is America The Beautiful

  18. 18.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2020 at 10:42 pm

    @namekarB:

    Ray Charles heard you.

  19. 19.

    VeniceRiley

    July 4, 2020 at 10:43 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Every time I see a white teenager’s funeral (like, after a school shooting) and all the girls in school dance with streamers on stick to some traditional hymn. That’s the day I thank the nonexistent God that the peoples of African descent that we forced over here and forced into slavery healed and freed music itself for all of us to enjoy.

  20. 20.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:43 pm

    @Mary G: If he’s serious, there’s your third party spoiler intended to pull just enough African American votes away from Biden to allow the President to eke out another Electoral College victory.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:45 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: The term the President, and Bannon, and the President’s people use is “flood the zone with shit”. Make it impossible to cover anything because there’s too much of everything to cover. It is part of the strategy of creating the dynamic that nothing is true, therefore anything is possible that you’ve seen my write about before.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:46 pm

    @Amir Khalid: It was intended to show a relationship to the “mother country” of England at a time when there was a lot of immigration of ethnic Europeans. Who were also Catholic or Jewish.

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:46 pm

    @NotMax: I have no idea what you’re on about.

  24. 24.

    CaseyL

    July 4, 2020 at 10:47 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Do you think so? How popular is he? (I honestly don’t know; all I know about Kanye is that he’s a musician who regularly makes an ass of himself in public.) (Oh, and that he’s married to one of the Kardashians.)

    Who’s his constituency?

  25. 25.

    TomatoQueen

    July 4, 2020 at 10:49 pm

    A vote for This Land is Your Land here. Listening to so many versions today, a number of them with all the verses, including this one:

    Nobody living can ever stop me,
    As I go walking that freedom highway;
    Nobody living can ever make me turn back
    This land was made for you and me.

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    @Mary G: I texted the video below, with the following statement to a friend of mine about an hour ago:

    Apparently Stone Mountain, GA is in full pucker mode!

    The largest armed Black crowd I’ve ever seen in my life just crossed the front of my house in Stone Mountain. Bigger than any Black Panther engagement I’ve ever encountered #July4th2020 pic.twitter.com/4iH5qx77Ee

    — Jollof Rice Brand Ambassador (@_King_Akin) July 4, 2020

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2020 at 10:51 pm

    @Adam L. Silverman

    The screenshot.

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:51 pm

    If someone, anyone, doesn’t fucking fix the comment bug problem, I am going to be EXCEEDINGLY DISPLEASED!!!!!

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:52 pm

    @NotMax: That is not appearing on my screen on my MacBook. Nor on my iPad or my iPhone. I have no idea what is going on with your computer or tablet or phone.

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:52 pm

    @West of the Rockies:

    My Name Is, Apparently, Karen, SO PUT YOUR FUCKING MASK ON RIGHT!!!!!! 1

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:53 pm

    @satby: Mine are not amused!

  32. 32.

    geg6

    July 4, 2020 at 10:53 pm

    @namekarB:

    Right there with you.  Six feet apart and masked, of course.

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 10:54 pm

    @CaseyL: Low information voters.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    @Adam L. Silverman

    No blame on this end, that’s the alt text accompanying the photo you chose.

  35. 35.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    @VeniceRiley:

    Bach meets the Afro-beat.

    Musical heaven.

  36. 36.

    Ken

    July 4, 2020 at 10:56 pm

    Bigger than any Black Panther engagement I’ve ever encountered

    For me, that would mean one person.  I’m unfamiliar with King Akin – or is the name “Jollof Rice Brand Ambassador”? I don’t understand twitting – but does he have more experience?

  37. 37.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2020 at 10:58 pm

    @TomatoQueen:

    Strong, strong contender.

    Really strong.

  38. 38.

    Wag

    July 4, 2020 at 10:59 pm

    Here’s my vote for our national anthem. Patti Smith is a national treasure.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pPR-HyGj2d0

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:00 pm

    @NotMax: It’s a picture of the Liberty Bell that I’ve had in a folder for a decade.

  40. 40.

    Chyron HR

    July 4, 2020 at 11:01 pm

    @Mary G:

    Kanye 2020: Put an Angel in America’s Ultrasound

    Kanye 2020: I’ll Send that Country a Picture of my Dick

    Kanye 2020: Mostly Just Samples of the Trump Presidency

  41. 41.

    West of the Rockies

    July 4, 2020 at 11:01 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I think he probably just discovered that no one has been talking about him since late 2019 and decided he needed to make some noise.  But I hope he puts no serious effort into it.  We saw how slim the margins were in some states in ’16.  At least this time a Jill Stein isn’t pissing in the punch bowl and causing mucking up the results.

  42. 42.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2020 at 11:01 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m waiting for someone to mash up these fit people holding rifles the proper way with some of the slobs who were screaming about FREEDUMB invading the Michigan legislature with their guns hanging off them every which way or in their waistbands pointing at their crotches,

  43. 43.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Fox News has been sounding a little nervous about this whole 2nd amendment thing lately.

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:03 pm

    @West of the Rockies: This sums him up pretty well.

    Pre-Debate Open Thread: <em>What Is Bernie HIDING?</em>

  45. 45.

    Mallard Filmore

    July 4, 2020 at 11:03 pm

    @CaseyL: 
    I wonder how many states his sponsors want him to get on the ballot. It might be difficult to hide the source of his funding. Tracking it back to conservative groups will raise a lot of noise.

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    @Martin: Most firearm regulations in the US were traditionally intended to keep African Americans disarmed.

  47. 47.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:05 pm

    Same as with others, our fireworks shows all canceled, and it’s been continuous fireworks around me for the last 2 hours and we’re still a half-hour+ from nightfall. Nearly continuous sirens as well.

    We’re a little used to this. We’re close enough to Disneyland to hear their show every night. It’s not loud, but it’s a regular reminder of when it’s 9:35pm. But normally on the 4th we get a bit in the day, then a fuckton all at once between 8:30 and 9:30 and then a bit after that. If I didn’t know better I’d think there was an artillery line in Huntington Beach.

  48. 48.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2020 at 11:07 pm

    Some of you were participants in protests 50 years ago, here’s today’s youth.

    Baltimore loses a Columbus statue.

  49. 49.

    Ken

    July 4, 2020 at 11:09 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Such as California’s Mulford Act, introduced by a Republican state representative, signed by Republican governor Ronald Reagan, and supported by the National Rifle Association.

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:09 pm

    I did not know that chlamydiapalooza was being held in Michigan this year.

    Diamond Lake in Cass County, Michigan just now:

    A COVID-19 Petri dish…pic.twitter.com/rSzYHGTm0o

    — Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) July 4, 2020

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:11 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Loses as in they put it somewhere and forgot where that was? Loses as in it got up and wandered off, or in Columbus’s case, took a wrong turn and thought it was in India? Or loses as in torn down?

  52. 52.

    Kattails

    July 4, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: ‘Scuse me (checks level in can of IPA)–spotted this on a twitter sidebar and nipped over here, Mary G. was right on it. My first take had been oh fabulous, let’s follow one massively unqualified president with another. Bring the Kardashians into the White House. This should go swimmingly.

    Then I saw your reply, which was less sarcastic and more on the grim side. The ABV of this beverage is not high enough. Seriously, do you think Black voters would be sufficiently un-pragmatic this goaround to give this any credibility?

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    @Ken: Yep. A lot of skid marks were caused that day in the California state capitol when the Black Panthers arrived with their long guns while a bunch of suburban white kids were there for a field trip.

  54. 54.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    Man the pictures and video from DC’s 4th of July celebration are just pathetic (like everything else trumpov touches)

    There’s a video kicking around of one of the services’ bands trying to play a Bruno Mars song to a field full of empty chairs.

    Never mind that the real Bruno Mars gladly played to an Obama 4th of July celebration back in 2015, with thousands of folks dancing and enjoying the festivities.

  55. 55.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Oh, I am super well aware of that. Had a nice fill in the history gaps chat tonight with the family. It’s always interesting to see the right confirm the inherent racism of the 2nd amendment.

    I’m of the view that the 2nd amendment was for the specific goal of allowing armed slave patrols. And I’m an almost universal opponent to gun ownership, but if we gotta tolerate dipshits with AR-15s storming state capitals, then I’m going to support the NFAC Brigade marching through any gentrified neighborhood they desire.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:13 pm

    @Kattails: I think that if this isn’t a stunt, and the odds are it’s a stunt, then the target will be low information voters. But if enough low information voters decide to YOLO it this year, and they’re in the right states, it could have an effect.

  57. 57.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2020 at 11:14 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Or loses as in torn down?

    Come on, Bawlmer lost a shitty statue.

    Biden remembers, he’s the Pepperidge Farms of the current campaign.

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:14 pm

    @Kattails: And don’t forget that Jill Stein is out there. Bland, unzested, and ready…

  59. 59.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 11:15 pm

    @Kattails: next to zero Black voters will jump on a Kanye campaign, full stop, next question.

    It’s insulting that he’s “running”, it’s insulting that it’s even a possibility.  Hoping to fix that in the next few years ;)

  60. 60.

    Yutsano

    July 4, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: He’s too late. Wouldn’t he have to go through the process of getting on the ballot on each state? I can’t see him getting together a staff to do that kind of work. I’m going with stunt.

  61. 61.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: One of those was Reagan, bugging the fuck out of there.

  62. 62.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    @Martin: That was part of it. I highly recommend Saul Cornell’s – he’s a historian of the revolutionary and founding period – A Well Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America.

    https://www.amazon.com/Well-Regulated-Militia-Founding-Fathers-Origins/dp/0195341031/ref=sr_1_19?dchild=1&keywords=the+founders+second+amendment&qid=1593918937&s=books&sr=1-19

  63. 63.

    Alison Rose

    July 4, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I doubt there are that many Black people in this country who like Kanye enough to allow Trump to remain in office. Black voters, particularly Black women, are the absolute strongest and most reliable Democratic voters, and they’re some of the ones most harmed by this administration. Plus, this is anecdotal, but pretty much every Black person I know thinks Kanye is a fucking fool. So, you know.

  64. 64.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Just like the Boston Tea Party!

    BREAKING: Baltimore protesters have pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus and thrown it into the city's Inner Harbor. https://t.co/1vqeQp4Ptg— The Associated Press (@AP) July 5, 2020

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: I just want to be precise when I update the files.

  66. 66.

    Ken

    July 4, 2020 at 11:18 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: “Loses” as in “didn’t handle with care”, and the marble can now be bagged and sold for decorative borders.

  67. 67.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 11:19 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Are you seeing Kanye pull from Biden’s voters, trumpov’s voters, or all three of the undecided voters left in this country?

    C’mon…seriously?  Kanye, Jill Stein, they’re nothing and will affect about 5 votes in this country. You’ve seen the numbers.  What do they do, go big on a write-in campaign?  It’s early July already.

  68. 68.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:19 pm

    @Jeffro: Let’s be honest, Kanye running in 2020 is less absurd than Trump running in 2020, if you really stop and think about it.

  69. 69.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    @Yutsano: If he can get on the ballot in three to six key states, that’s all it would take.

  70. 70.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 4, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States!” West wrote.

    SpaceX founder Elon Musk quickly replied: “You have my full support!“

    so if delusionally grandiose, attention-starved assholes are forming their own party, will that pull votes from trump?

  71. 71.

    Ruckus

    July 4, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    At least you know that you can go in any direction and hear/see fireworks, don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home.

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    @Martin: He was in full pucker.

  73. 73.

    VeniceRiley

    July 4, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Guy, kanye the deadlines are passed and if you’re on 3 ballots you can’t get 270.  Good luck getting enough sigs to get on any during a pandemic

    Speaking of which, all BLUE States should now ban ballot access to any candidate mathematically eliminated from a winning number of electoral votes.

  74. 74.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:21 pm

    @Jeffro: Kanye won’t pull in any black voters of note. Probably just that demographic of ‘burn it all down’ voters that exists all across the political spectrum.

  75. 75.

    Yutsano

    July 4, 2020 at 11:21 pm

    @Ken: When I was in Germany in 1995, I manage to get a couple of pieces of the Berlin Wall and a part of Checkpoint Charlie for my grandfather. All the pieces can be souvenirs as far as I’m concerned.

  76. 76.

    Ken

    July 4, 2020 at 11:22 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: don’t forget that Jill Stein is out there

    Have the Greens had their convention and nominated her? For that matter, is there even a Green Party apparatus, or does she just call dibs every four years?

  77. 77.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:23 pm

    @Jeffro: You don’t want me to have this discussion or conversation. I’m in a very, very different place about what I think is likely to happen this October and November, and between November and January, than most everyone else.

    I hope I’m wrong. I want to be wrong. I’m not even sure how to put a probability on the possibilities I’ve worked up. I’ve been pushing this stuff through my one contact into the campaigns to no avail for over a year as what I’m seeing has made me increasingly concerned. Simply, all of my professional experience from working for the Army and DOD on these types of things in other states and societies is screaming at me.

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 11:24 pm

    @Martin: He will literally get a couple hundred write-in votes in each state, max, and that’s if he personally promises to host a party at each voter’s house.

    C’mon guys, this is silly.  Kanye’s going to pull about as many votes as “Seymour Buttz” and “I. P. Freely”.  Next topic.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 4, 2020 at 11:24 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    Plus, this is anecdotal, but pretty much every Black person I know thinks Kanye is a fucking fool. So, you know.

    I know one black guy who called him a jackass…. (not personally)

  80. 80.

    Edmund Dantes

    July 4, 2020 at 11:24 pm

    @Yutsano: yeah. His only real path would be to snag an existing third party that has ballot access already. But I think the ones that are on a fair amount of states already have their candidates.

    libertarian party already has theirs. Have the greens set their ticket yet?

     

    otherwise getting on the ballot third party is officially impossible in some states already due to deadlines for petitions and vetting.

    At least I thought so.

  81. 81.

    Yutsano

    July 4, 2020 at 11:24 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Do we have any evidence that he’s even aware of how to do this? Can he assemble a campaign structure? Open field offices in any of the states he could possibly get on the ballot? He’s no way serious. Tbh I have no evidence he’s intelligent enough to pull this off.

  82. 82.

    West of the Rockies

    July 4, 2020 at 11:25 pm

    @Martin:

    I was in Fullerton from birth until 6th grade.  We could see the fireworks of Disneyland from an upstairs window.

    We moved to Paradise where the fire (if not fireworks) would eventually cause ruin.  I hope we avoid anything remotely similar tonight.

  83. 83.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:26 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: This election will be a shitshow, and the resulting chaos opens up all manner of bad scenarios.

  84. 84.

    Captain C

    July 4, 2020 at 11:26 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: And they’re all dancing to late ’80s music.  Kind of like a 1987 party with everyone dancing to Bill Haley and the Comets and Little Richard Pat Boone.

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:27 pm

    @Ken:

    Listen, and understand. Jill Stein is out there. She can’t be bargained with. She can’t be reasoned with. She doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And she absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:29 pm

    @Yutsano: He’s intelligent enough. By all reports, he’s very intelligent. He’s just seriously mentally ill and he won’t either get treatment or stay in treatment and no one who supposedly cares about him seems to care enough to make him.

  87. 87.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 11:29 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I do, and I think most folks here do – especially if we can act now and across the rest of the next four months.  So let’s have it.

    It’s not exactly a secret that trumpov is going to spiral even further out of control between now and the election, and then do everything he can to claim that the election was illegitimate, rigged by China, etc etc.

    The key is the election, and making sure we show up and turn it all into a landslide.  This is not a popular regime, not even close.

  88. 88.

    Bruuuuce

    July 4, 2020 at 11:30 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: When Peter Thiel joins the club, it’ll make the earth tremble in fear [/sarcasm]

  89. 89.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:30 pm

    @West of the Rockies: One of my staff lived across the street from DLand. Her daughter’s bedroom faced the fireworks which she could see from laying in her bed. Every night they’d read until 9:35, watch the show, and then it was sleepytime.

    I warned her that when she moves, her daughter won’t know how to fall asleep without the explosions.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 11:30 pm

    @Martin: Um, no.  Kanye has a constituency of 1.

  91. 91.

    West of the Rockies

    July 4, 2020 at 11:31 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    Who does listen to Kanye?  Is it teenaged suburban white boys?  I saw him attempt to sing Bohemian Rhapsody; it was beyond terrible.

  92. 92.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:33 pm

    @Jeffro: He’ll get more. The ‘both parties are equally terrible’ constituency has been keeping Jill Stein going all this time. Kanye will peel some of those idiots off.

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2020 at 11:34 pm

    @Captain C

    Rock Around the Lock(down).

    ;)

  94. 94.

    Amir Khalid

    July 4, 2020 at 11:35 pm

    @Mary G:

    Somehow, I doubt that even Kanye’s most devoted fans see him as presidential material.

  95. 95.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:36 pm

    @Captain C: Ahh, the classics.

  96. 96.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:38 pm

    @Martin:

    I warned her that when she moves, her daughter won’t know how to fall asleep without the explosions.

    The making of an American pyro – the early years…//

  97. 97.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:38 pm

    @West of the Rockies: Well, two things.

    1. Really not Kanye’s genre.
    2. Almost nobody can sing Bohemian Rhapsody well. It requires a superhuman range.

    But it speaks volumes about his judgement that he even tried it.

  98. 98.

    CaseyL

    July 4, 2020 at 11:39 pm

    @Jeffro:

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Following up on Adam’s comment, one horrible possibility is that Kanye – or anyone, really – will be used as a “vote laundering” candidate, with machines programmed to automatically divert X number of Biden votes to the Spoiler Candidate (ie, Kanye).

    I often still wonder if that’s what happened in 2016, with Hillary votes being put in Jill Stein’s tally.  The only reason I’m not absolutely convinced that happened is that too many people more knowledgeable than me say it would be impossible to pull off that trick.  I still wonder, though…

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2020 at 11:39 pm

    @Amir Khalid

    Yeah, why anyone would treat it seriously for longer than it takes to count to one escapes me entirely.

  100. 100.

    opiejeanne

    July 4, 2020 at 11:40 pm

    @West of the Rockies: 
    Our previous house was in Anaheim, roughly 2 miles due north of Disneyland. We could stand in front of our house and see the fireworks that were the high-up ones.
    I kind of miss that every night show

  101. 101.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 11:42 pm

    @Martin: Biden is up by what, 10 points nationally?  More in many swing states?  I’m not seeing some significant chunk of those voters suddenly going, “You know what?  I’ve been looking at this all wrong.  Instead of voting for the stable alternative to trumpov…I should go with the mentally unstable rapper.  Or that Green lady who was sitting with Putin for dinner just before 2016’s election”

    Jaysus…let’s worry about real things, like trumpov inciting violence directly against lawmakers, trumpov thugs threatening the same at the polls, or Putin pulling the plug on our electric grid.  Kanye?  Stein?  Not so much.

  102. 102.

    Geoduck

    July 4, 2020 at 11:43 pm

    @namekarB: The tune for Yankee Doodle is a lot older than America, and the song was originally sung disparagingly by the British before being defiantly adapted by the Americans.

  103. 103.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:44 pm

    Floriduh! Man!

    Florida man tells “grim reaper” that Joe and Hunter Biden went to China and brought the coronavirus back with them. pic.twitter.com/0NkRojoxLe

    — Travis Akers (@travisakers) July 4, 2020

  104. 104.

    opiejeanne

    July 4, 2020 at 11:45 pm

    @Geoduck: Stealing tunes, or rather re-purposing them, is a very old tradition. Open a hymnal and note the names of the tunes of the hymns. Those are the names of the original tunes. Not everyone can write original music.

  105. 105.

    Origuy

    July 4, 2020 at 11:47 pm

    The Green Party had a few primaries this year. They are planning to have an online convention next week. Jill Stein wasn’t on the ballot this year. The leading contender appears to be Howie Hawkins, one of the party’s founders.

  106. 106.

    opiejeanne

    July 4, 2020 at 11:47 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I can hardly understand that guy. Is he drunk?

  107. 107.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 11:47 pm

    @CaseyL: I think that’s a possibility.  I also think that it’s possible that “just enough” occasional GOP voters in 3 key swing states “voted” for trumpov to put him ahead and “win” the election.

    Given the stakes, I cannot see Dems/the country letting this happen again without massive, incredible, state-by-state demonstrations and recounts and investigations IF they try something similar again.

    I don’t think they will.  I think the 2020 playbook (if there is one) is massive disruption in terms of voter rolls and polling places, followed by a hard core campaign by trumpov & Co about illegitimate votes.

    But whew they are really swimming against the tide here.  The groundswell to boot him out of office is enormous and growing by the day.  By the Covid infection.  By the slurred speech.

  108. 108.

    Geoduck

    July 4, 2020 at 11:47 pm

    @Ken: I just checked the Green Party candidate situation, and evidently there are several people you’ve never heard of competing for the nomination.

    EDIT: I see Origuy beat me to it.

  109. 109.

    Ken

    July 4, 2020 at 11:49 pm

    @opiejeanne: No, that’s Sarah Cooper pretending to be drunk while lip-synching the Biden conspiracy theory.

    Wait a minute… Sorry, it wasn’t that Floriduh! man.

  110. 110.

    Geoduck

    July 4, 2020 at 11:49 pm

    @opiejeanne: I’m not bashing the creation process of Yankee Doodle, just saying it wasn’t in any way an American who wrote it.

  111. 111.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2020 at 11:50 pm

    @Ken

    Green convention is later this coming week. Stein was not on any ballot in the primaries; Howie Hawkins has amassed enough delegates to get the nomination.

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 4, 2020 at 11:51 pm

    @opiejeanne:

  113. 113.

    Jeffro

    July 4, 2020 at 11:52 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: that’s a lot of work, even if both Bidens shouldered the load, eh?

    It’s going to be important to make GOP voters and leaners face the “Q” craziness head-on.  Connect Q and trumpov, endlessly.  Even if/when we lose a few of them…it still chips away at their voter base. Not all of them are on board with this obvious insanity.

  114. 114.

    HRA

    July 4, 2020 at 11:53 pm

    Kanye’s wife asked Trump to have a prisoner pardoned or released a few years ago. Trump did it. Some time later Kanye visited Trump in the Oval office. Who is helping Kanye?

  115. 115.

    Kattails

    July 4, 2020 at 11:54 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Honestly, I think the bulk of the voters who aren’t die-hard Trumpetariat will be quite disciplined.

    However, you are now not really talking about West or Stein. Does this refer back to your earlier series of posts about black psy-ops? I’m increasingly of the opinion that Trump is, knowingly, a Russian asset. Or so far gone between personality disorders and encroaching dementia that he’s just a loose little jumble of skin and bones to be manipulated by the puppeteer in Moscow. Or… thinking out loud… some unfathomable combination of personal arrogance insulted at the lack of worship, with Putin whispering sweet enhancements in his ears. The part of the speech I saw was deeply insulting.

    It’s the batshit crazy cult that is majorly concerning.

  116. 116.

    Martin

    July 4, 2020 at 11:54 pm

    @Jeffro: Yeah, Kanye can be ignored. But the GOP is going to sue to fuck up every Covid related voting accommodation around the election. When vote by mail ballots aren’t counted election day, they’re going to sue to stop counting. Heaven forbid same-day and early voting gives Trump a lead in the early counts and he declares victory, and then every other vote pushed as evidence of fraud. And because the consent decree is no longer in effect, expect to see the Proud Boys enforcing ballot security in your local black neighborhood.

    And if the NFAC decides to protect their voters, well, this is going to be something.

    The US relies on an orderly transfer of power. Absolutely everything is right now aligned for that to be as disorderly as we can imagine.

  117. 117.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 4, 2020 at 11:54 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Because Little Richard hadn’t written Tutti Frutti yet?

    A wop bop b-luma b-lop bam bom

  118. 118.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 5, 2020 at 12:00 am

    @Adam L Silverman: “Don’t blame me, I voted for Kanye.”

    “You stupid motherf#&#&&!”

  119. 119.

    Ken

    July 5, 2020 at 12:01 am

    @Geoduck: So, just like every four years.

    (I’m one of those annoying people who think the Greens and other third parties should show they can govern by winning a few elections for state legislatures, governors, or House, rather than jumping straight to the Presidency.)

  120. 120.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 5, 2020 at 12:02 am

    @satby: Poor doggos.  Things are blowing up pretty well here.  Must’ve been a crazy sale on mortars.

  121. 121.

    Jeffro

    July 5, 2020 at 12:03 am

    @Martin: true…but there’s only so much they can do.  We’ve had people “supervising” elections before, we’ve had people sue about election shit before, we’ve had issues with all kinds of things.

    There are more of us than them.  Every day, trumpov chips away at his own base with his colossal cock-up of Covid-19.  Every day, he motivates more women and suburban voters and seniors to vote for someone who’ll actually Do. The. Job.

    The election is the key.  The post-election lawsuits and China-blaming and mail-in-ballot accusations are going to happen, but there’s almost no way around that.  Be glad that Uncle Joe is up by 10 points already, GOP Senators are running for cover, and trumpov is flailing for reasons to be re-elected.  It’ll make for a much stronger case come the election and post-election, and then (please FSM) we’ll have plenty of investigations into what these scumbags were up to, and a new set of Dems ready to keep moving the agenda forward in 2024 and beyond.

  122. 122.

    Geoduck

    July 5, 2020 at 12:18 am

    @Ken: For better or (mostly) worse, everybody knows who Jill Stein is…

  123. 123.

    opiejeanne

    July 5, 2020 at 12:22 am

    @Geoduck: I got that. Just chiming in because of Amir’s question about why we used “God Save the Queen “.

  124. 124.

    opiejeanne

    July 5, 2020 at 12:26 am

    @mrmoshpotato: some of the loudest explosions here sound big enough to leave a crater.

  125. 125.

    opiejeanne

    July 5, 2020 at 12:30 am

    @mrmoshpotato: and now one of our cats is under our comforter, and the other is cuddled up to the lump in our bed. I’ve shut all of the windows to reduce the noise but it’s not enough. I’ve never seen them so bothered like this.

  126. 126.

    Martin

    July 5, 2020 at 12:43 am

    Approaching hour 4 of continuous finale level fireworks. As in, not a moments pause between them, overlapping explosions constantly for 4 hours. I’ve never heard anything like this and I was there for the statue of liberty and brooklyn bridge celebrations, which were pretty over the top, but not 4 hours long.

  127. 127.

    dimmsdale

    July 5, 2020 at 1:13 am

    @Adam L Silverman: Presumably you’ve seen this? https://www.newsweek.com/how-trump-could-lose-election-still-remain-president-opinion-1513975

  128. 128.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 5, 2020 at 1:39 am

    @Amir Khalid: It seems to have been the done thing. Russia, Germany, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Thailand and Hawaii have all used the tune of “God Save the Queen” in a patriotic song.

  129. 129.

    mcd

    July 5, 2020 at 1:54 am

    @Adam L Silverman: is it possible to communicate privately with you?

  130. 130.

    Jay Noble

    July 5, 2020 at 2:26 am

    You’ve all forgotten the Libertatrians! (I was so surprised when they popped up on the results on Primary night!)

    https://www.npr.org/2020/05/30/866059206/libertarians-name-2020-candidate-meet-jo-jorgensen

  131. 131.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 5, 2020 at 6:42 am

    @satby: Not even thinking about taking the dogs out until three in the morning or so. Right now they’re in the basement under the pool table.

    Some pyromaniac SOB in my neighborhood apparently stumbled upon a hitherto-overlooked cache of ordnance that needed detonating at 3:15 AM. Only a couple of minutes, and I needed to perform certain, shall we say, hydraulic activities anyway – but it reminded me why it’s a good thing I don’t keep lethal weaponry in the house.

  132. 132.

    Another Scott

    July 5, 2020 at 9:56 am

    @mcd: https://balloon-juice.com/contact-us/

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  133. 133.

    J R in WV

    July 5, 2020 at 10:48 am

    @mcd:

    @Adam L Silverman: is it possible to communicate privately with you?

    There’s a built-in tool to allow B-J commenters to contact any front pager. If you look at the upper right-hand corner of the front page (balloon-juice.com) you will see a link called “Contact us” right between “Lexicon” and “Our Store”.

    So you can communicate with any front pager. If you act deranged, they are under no obligation to reply, of course.

    ;-)

  134. 134.

    frosty

    July 5, 2020 at 11:06 am

    @Jeffro:

    I also think that it’s possible that “just enough” occasional GOP voters in 3 key swing states “voted” for trumpov to put him ahead and “win” the election.

    Anecdata here. Replace “occasional” with “first-time” and that’s exactly what I saw in 2020 in the South PA precinct that I worked as a poll watcher.

  135. 135.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 5, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    @mcd: Of course. As several have said, please use the contact a front pager tool and send me an email.

  136. 136.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 5, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    @J R in WV:

    If you act deranged, they are under no obligation to reply, of course.

    How could we tell the difference from the actual comments?//

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