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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Point & Mock Open Thread: Trump Is *Trying* to Kill His Own Shock Troops (Again)

Point & Mock Open Thread: Trump Is *Trying* to Kill His Own Shock Troops (Again)

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Foggy Bottom denizens at the Washington Post take a little private glee in denigrating Florida’s late-summer weather:

… While no decision has been made, Republican officials are studying two outdoor professional sports stadiums near the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena where the convention is currently slated to be held. They are also looking more broadly into the logistics of pulling off an outdoor convention, according to two Republicans involved in the planning…

Trump was recently briefed on the options of moving the convention away from the indoor arena, officials said, and is expected to make a final decision in upcoming days.

Republicans involved in the planning believe there could be less risk of transmission and spreading for attendees in a larger outdoor arena than in the stadium, and attendees may be less concerned about taking part in such an event…

An outdoor convention could pose its own set of problems, however. Florida is particularly hot in the summer, with temperatures often climbing to 100 degrees, and rain is also a threat.

Republican officials have looked at the 121 Financial Ballpark, which hosts minor league games and seats about 11,000, and the TIAA Bank Field, which hosts the Jacksonville Jaguars and can seat more than 65,000. Both arenas are within a short walking distance of the VyStar Arena, an indoor facility that seats about 15,000. Republican officials recently toured both sites during a series of meetings in Jacksonville, officials say.

A spokesman for the Republican Party declined to comment.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested Thursday that it’s unclear what the circumstances will be in late August when the convention is held.

“I think the convention is a challenging situation, and a number of my colleagues have announced that they’re not going to attend,” McConnell said. “And we’ll have to wait and see how things look in late August to determine whether or not you can safely convene that many people.”…

The weekly count of admissions for coronavirus-like symptoms to health facilities in Duval County, where Jacksonville is located, has spiked to more than 700 from about 100 in early June, according to state health records. The county registered an average of 510 positive tests a day between June 29 and July 7, compared with 23 a day for the first nine days of June…

At this point, it honestly feels like McConnell and his minions are playing chicken with Dear Leader. You really wanna stand there at an outdoor stadium in the pouring rain, on camera, watching a bunch of amped-up old white people drop like flies?

Opinion from someone who has been to Jacksonville for professional reasons — Charlie Pierce, at Esquire:

… President Petri Dish wants his big moment and, by god, he’s going to have it, even if it kills people, and it probably will. That’s why he jilted Charlotte in the first place.

… Jacksonville is a terrible place to have anything. I was there for the Super Bowl a few years back, and the hotel situation was so desperate that they put some of the high rollers on luxury yachts along the waterfront. The weather was hot, sticky, and the breezes felt like Velcro on your skin. And that was at the beginning of February. August must be absolutely delightful.

And all of that was without the efforts of the president’s Igor, Ron DeSantis, to turn Florida generally into a bioweapons lab. If there is another way the president* could have clusterfcked this convention, I don’t know what it is…

It’s not too late to move the whole thing to a cruise ship, is it? I hear there’s quite a bit of idle tonnage right now, for some reason.

Meanwhile, the list of high-ranking no-shows gets longer…

… Sen. Pat Roberts, 84, told reporters he has matters to take care of in his home state of Kansas as he prepares for retirement. He is not sure if the convention will happen or not, he said, but if it does take place he is unlikely to be there.

“I have some things to do in Kansas that I’ve got to do,” Roberts said. “And unfortunately, I didn’t know what was canceled and what was not or whatever, so I will probably not be” attending…

Maybe they can make up some of those laminated cards saying they’ve got medical exemptions.

NYMag has a list of previous decliners:

… In the past two days, five Republican senators have declined their invitations to the coronation beginning on August 24. On Monday, Chuck Grassley, the oldest Republican senator at 86, stated that he would not attend “because of the virus situation.” On Tuesday, 80-year-old Lamar Alexander joined him, with a spokesman for the retiring senator telling the Washington Post that he will not attend “because he believes the delegate spots should be reserved for those who have not had that privilege before as he has had.”

Three more senators who occasionally buck the president’s legislative agenda —Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Utah’s Mitt Romney, and Maine’s Susan Collins — will also not attend. As the Post notes Murkowski “often spends August in Alaska,” while an aide for Collins told the paper that she has never attended a national convention in a year in which she is up for reelection. A spokesperson for Senator Romney did not provide a reason, though spending a week among the president’s most ardent supporters following his vote to convict Trump in the impeachment trial doesn’t sound like the ideal summer trip…

Reader Interactions

175Comments

  2. 2.

    Ken

    From the health perspective, it doesn’t matter whether they hold it in the 11,000 seat stadium or the 65,000 seat one. Trump will insist the attendees all be packed together so the crowd shots look good.

  5. 5.

    hells littlest angel

    “I have some things to do in Kansas that I’ve got to do.”

    A sentence which never has been, and never will be, spoken sincerely.

  6. 6.

    Sab

    When I was a kid in Florida in the 1960’s you could pretty much set your watch by the afternoon thunderstorms. There was always one, everyday, at about 4 p.m. Is that still true?

  7. 7.

    Aleta

    (Post) The Republican Party of Texas is suing the city of Houston and Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) for breach of contract after he canceled the party’s in-person convention due to the coronavirus pandemic.
    The Texas GOP claims the decision is politically motivated and requested the George R. Brown Convention Center be forced to adhere to the contract. It asked for a temporary restraining order to keep the city from restricting the convention center’s events.
    “Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s use of the force majeure clause is just a pretext to his intent to treat the Republican Party of Texas differently than other groups (…)” Republican Party of Texas Chairman James Dickey said in a statement. “It should go without saying that a political viewpoint cannot be the basis for unequal treatment.”
    … The three-day event was set to begin July 16.

    Turner has previously said, “The public health concerns outweighed anything else.”

    (According to data tracked by The Washington Post) The state reported nearly 10,000 new cases Wednesday and was one of only three states with more than 4,000 new cases. Harris County, where Houston is located, has the highest amount of total cases in the state and reported its second-highest number of new cases Wednesday.

  8. 8.

    Martin

    Jesus. Can’t we just rent one of the Princess ships to host them. Lots of lodging, open bar, no protestors. They can keep their rent boys down in steerage. Send them out east of Jacksonville.

  9. 9.

    BigJimSlade

    Sorry for the off-topic, but it just occurred to me that the whole Lady Antebellum / Lady A thing is easy to solve – I’m sure the name Lady KKK is still available.

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    100°-degree temperatures, high humidity, and afternoon/early evening downpours are all very well, but I really think a hurricane is in order.

    (I wish no harm to the innocent residents of Jacksonville and environs. I’m just saying.)

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    @Aleta: I propose a compromise: The Texas GOP will be allowed into the convention center, but the doors will then be welded shut until they go two continuous weeks without anyone testing positive.

  13. 13.

    Martin

    @SiubhanDuinne: Sign onto my idea, and you avoid all of those problems, and if a coast hugger hurricane can’t be arranged, we still have hope for a kraken.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Sab:

    I lived in Tampa for six years in the late ‘60s-early ‘70s, and the afternoon storms were absolutely like clockwork.

    They also had sharply-defined boundaries. More than once, I remember standing in the bright sunshine and watching it simply pour across the street (and vice versa, on one unhappy occasion).

  19. 19.

    Redshift

    @Aleta:

    Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s use of the force majeure clause is just a pretext to his intent to treat the Republican Party of Texas differently 

    Bwahaha, “treated differently”! Good luck proving in court that anyone else was allowed to hold a large indoor gathering.

  22. 22.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

     If there is another way the president* could have clusterfcked this convention, I don’t know what it is…

    Oh the day is young Mr Pierce.  A tornado that booth floods the stadium and then dumps a dozen sharks into the convention come to mind.

  23. 23.

    Roger Moore

    If there is another way the president* could have clusterfcked this convention, I don’t know what it is

    He could have waited longer before changing plans, but that’s about the only thing I can think of.

  24. 24.

    TS (the original)

    McConnell said. And we’ll have to wait and see how things look in late August to determine whether or not you can safely convene that many people.”…

    Leaving it rather late to organise something else – it seems we have republicans in disarray.

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @dmsilev:

    Oooooh, YES!! Has the added advantage that Trump is terrified of sharks (if you remember what Stormy Daniels told us).

  27. 27.

    Calouste

    @SiubhanDuinne: IIRC Jacksonville has never been hit by a hurricane, because of the geography and shallowness of the sea nearby. I.o.w. the hurricane can’t draw enough energy from the sea water to sustain itself in that area.

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    Republican officials have looked at the 121 Financial Ballpark, which hosts minor league games and seats about 11,000, and the TIAA Bank Field, which hosts the Jacksonville Jaguars and can seat more than 65,000.

    Eleven thousand, sixty-five thousand, potato, potahto.

     

    I see Turtle-faced Fascist Motherfucker is going to wait to see how many parents with dead children are ready with pitchforks and torches.

  32. 32.

    MattF

    @Baud: And then a great pyramid that the delegates climb up, committing suicide when they get to the top. Replaces the traditional balloon release.

  33. 33.

    chopper

    600 pasty State Senators getting heat stroke as Trump enters hour 3 of a soliloquy about the largest boat parade in history

    also there’s a category 3 hurricane coming. and killer bees that bred with murder hornets, and they got sucked up into the hurricane so now it’s shooting killer bee murder hornets at them at 130 miles an hour.

  34. 34.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    You know, there is the other burning question; what is Trump going to do to one up Clint Eastwood ranting at an empty chair like at the 2011 GOP convention? That is some pretty big clown shoes to fill. My bet; a Donald Trump impersonator dies after falling 50ft on to the stage after his safety harness breaks during a skit showing Trump ascending to Mt Rushmore.

  35. 35.

    Ken

    @Roger Moore: There’s still plenty of time for him to make more changes. A scenario:

    • They sign a contract for the 11,000 seat stadium.
    • Trump hears that a bigger stadium is available and insists they switch.
    • Two days before the convention, he finds out that fewer than 2,000 people are attending, and insists they go back to a smaller indoor venue so it won’t look empty.

    Result: The RNC ends up paying for four venues, including the “business meeting” in NC. Also all the delegates get coronavirus.

  36. 36.

    Sab

    Well, Gov DeWine is tightening up on us because the honor system didn’t work. My county now has mandatory masks ( yay) but not so yay because we are now red code (3rd level out of 4 levels where 4 is lockdown.)

    ETA: not a peep out of Senator Rob Portman about coronavirus or helping schools. He is concerned about the National Parks looking run down.

    I need to stop typimg with my thumbs.

  37. 37.

    Delk

    Hah! His hair product and orange face shit will be melting while he struggles to drink water.

  38. 38.

    Florida Frog

    @Calouste: it floods like mad in tropical storms even. There is even some beginnings of “sunny day flooding” but it is a miserable place to spend a hurricane.

  45. 45.

    Patricia Kayden

    Not the Onion.

    Trump just now: "I will stand arm-in-arm with the Hispanic community to make sure every child can grow up in peace." He seriously said that.— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) July 9, 2020

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Oooooh, YES!! Has the added advantage that Trump is terrified of sharks (if you remember what Stormy Daniels told us).

    I’m missing something here. Is there anyone who is NOT terrified of sharks?

  47. 47.

    JMG

    My parents retired to a golf community that’s a Jacksonville suburb, Ponte Vedra Beach. I have been there in late August-early September on a number of occasions. Going outside is insane. Even the ocean is at about 85 degrees.

  50. 50.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Calouste: Wouldn’t it just take a hurricane going along the Atlantic coast of Florida to bring days of rain to Jacksonville?

  51. 51.

    FlyingToaster

    I have to wonder why they can’t use Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.  Just sayin…

  54. 54.

    Sab

    Driving home through our little housing development I passed a weird looking tall piece of furniture on the devil’s strip for trash pickup. Got around the other side and realized it was an upright piano, standing on end, with all the keys showing down one side. I have never seen that before. Very sad, if you ask me.

  63. 63.

    JDM

    These guys need to rewatch “War Games”. Joshua told them everything they need to know now: “The only winning move is not to play”.

    They’re not gonna understand that.

  65. 65.

    Sab

    @Gin & Tonic: They weigh a ton.

    I think it’s sad it’s unwanted. This isn’t a rich neighborhood. I’m sure there is a kid that wants one. Expensive to repair and then tune, I suppose.

  68. 68.

    Ohio Mom

    Ohio Senator Portman has also declined. He stresses that even though he’s not going to the convention, he supports Trump.

    Considering what a namby-pamby he is, this fits him.

  71. 71.

    robmassing

    I am pretty sure Trump will insist on having it indoors because they tell him outdoors is safer (unless of course there is an eclipse for him to look at).

  74. 74.

    dmsilev

    @Baud:

    I see locusts.  Lots and lots of locusts.

    Yes, yes, but we’re looking for disasters _besides_ the Republicans themselves.

  75. 75.

    Calouste

    @Patricia Kayden: That’s one of the problems with dementia. You can’t remember anything you said a while back, and you can’t even imagine other people can remember what you said a while back.

  77. 77.

    Kropacetic

    @Patricia Kayden: Trump just now: “I will stand arm-in-arm with the Hispanic community to make sure every child can grow up in peace.” He seriously said that.

    First step: abduct all the children…

  78. 78.

    Another Scott

    Warning Politico – https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/09/flynn-judge-calls-on-appeals-court-to-review-355389

    A federal court judge is putting up a highly unusual fight against an appeals court ruling seeking to immediately shut down the prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn for making false statements in the FBI’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

    Lawyers for U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan filed a petition Thursday asking the full bench of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a 2-1 decision a panel of that court issued last month, directing Sullivan to cancel his plans for a hearing and instead grant the government’s request to drop the case.

    Sullivan’s petition says the steps he was taking, like setting a schedule for legal briefs, inviting friend-of-the-court submissions and scheduling a hearing, are commonplace. The appeals court panel’s earlier decision to shut down that process represents “a dramatic break from precedent that threatens the orderly administration of justice,” the judge’s submission argues.

    The move by a district court judge to ask for so-called en banc review of a panel ruling is exceptionally rare. However, it is just the latest in a series of extraordinary developments in recent weeks in the criminal case against Flynn, who spent just 24 days as President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser.

    […]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  79. 79.

    Albatrossity

    Pat Roberts has lived in Virginia for decades. As far as can be determined, he has no residence or business interests in Kansas. He is not running for re-election, so his “things to do in Kansas” isn’t fund-raising either.

    Pat has always been a lousy liar

  81. 81.

    Calouste

    @Ohio Mom: I wonder if any GOP Senator outside the South is going to show up at the convention. Pretty sure none of those who are up for re-election will.

  83. 83.

    Ohio Mom

    Sab: pianos are expensive to move, too. I sometimes look at Ohio Dad’s childhood piano in the foyer and think about how much it’s going to cost us to get rid of it, and sigh.

  85. 85.

    Geminid

    Maybe in addition to the Trump Baby Blimp someone will bring to trump’s rallies a replica of the Hindenberg, with LED lights simulating the fire.

  86. 86.

    Alison Rose

    I’ve only been to the southeast part of Florida (Delray Beach and the surrounding area, to be precise). Do they have canals up in Jacksonville? Can the convention be held in just a big ass field with canals in it so some of these fuckers will get snapped up by crocodiles? (Or is it alligators? Or both? I don’t care, whatever has big teeth and a bigger appetite.)

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    With apologies to Irving Berlin.

    We met in a heat wave
    A COVID-stuffed heat wave
    My temperature’s rising
    It’s not so surprising
    With no big crowd ban at hand
    .

  89. 89.

    CaseyL

    @dmsilev:

    The Texas GOP will be allowed into the convention center, but the doors will then be welded shut until they go two continuous weeks without anyone testing positive.

     

    Or: weld it shut and then just walk away. See how soon they start devouring one another.

  90. 90.

    Ohio Mom

    Calouste:
    I imagine Portman doesn’t want photographs that might indicate he ever supported Trump. He’ll be first in the “Trump, who?” line. Gotta maintain that image as a moderate, reasonable Republican.

    I like to daydream about going door to door in 2022 for whoever runs against him.

  91. 91.

    Sab

    @Gin & Tonic: I desparately wanted a piano as a child. I should have wanted a cheaper instrument, but I was not creative or cunning. I finally got a ukelele with green stamps and learned to play it badly with the instruction book that came with it. Got a classical guotar in college and a folk harp later. My dogs hated that.  Made by a retired steel worker who was tired of making dulcimers. I still have it.

  94. 94.

    Kropacetic

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Bortles!

    ???
    Sorry, I don’t know that word.

    Blake Bortles, Quarterback, formerly of the Jacksonville Jaguars. A character in “The Good Place” would call out his name when throwing something in the fashion of a football, similar to how one might call out “Kobe” when tossing something into a wastepaper basket.

  96. 96.

    Carlo

    Florida’s COVID daily case rate currently appears to have a 2-week doubling time. The convention is scheduled to begin August 24, 46 days from today. That’s about 3 doublings, a factor of 8 more than today.They should be seeing about 80,000 cases per day by then. Their hospitals will be delivering war-zone-grade care, their morticians will be back-ordered on caskets and out of freezer space, and nobody will allow flights from Florida into their airports.

    I’m going to go out on a limb and say the convention will be cancelled, irrespective of what Trump wants. He’ll melt Twitter, but everyone will have bigger problems by then.

  97. 97.

    mrmoshpotato

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s not like zucchini where you can just stuff it into a car that isn’t locked. 

    ??? Do you have tales of a misspent zucchini-hating youth that you’d like to share?

  106. 106.

    Cameron

    We haven’t really seen it yet, but a while back the National Weather Service predicted it’s likely to be a bad hurricane season.  Apparently the temperature in the Gulf of Mexico is several degrees higher than normal, and that means bad things.  Not for Jacksonville, but quite possibly for Houston.

  108. 108.

    Ruckus

    @CaseyL:

    Doesn’t matter, no one will have remembered to order the tests and the doors are welded shut so there’s no way to get them in to use.  They’ll just have to stay. Shame isn’t it?

  109. 109.

    sukabi

    It’s not too late to move the whole thing to a cruise ship, is it? 

     

    I suggest the Titanic, it’s pretty cool and the humidity is comparable to Jacksonville’s.

  110. 110.

    frosty

    @Patricia Kayden: Fuck! Goya was my go-to brand. Can’t these assholes keep their mouths shut? My father-in-law ran a furniture store for years and never put up a political sign or said anything to anyone. “Why would I do something to lose half my customers?”

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    @Another Scott: Yes!

    Looks like Sullivan gave the court a couple of weeks to decide to do this on their own, and when they didn’t step up, he made the move himself.

    I am so happy to hear this!

  112. 112.

    Calouste

    @Carlo: At that rate, they’ll have 2 million cases by the time of the convention, although I think it will be less as even Florida will run out of idiots before that time.

  113. 113.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I see Turtle-faced Fascist Motherfucker is going to wait to see how many parents with dead children are ready with pitchforks and torches.

    There is morely to be orphaned children, considering how rare it is for children to die from this.

  116. 116.

    Frank Wilhoit

    The tell is always buried.  In this case, it is McConnell’s use of the word “safely”.  Has the scream machine picked up on that yet?

  119. 119.

    geg6

    @Another Scott:

    Things about to get interesting.  The full panels is majority Dem appointees.  And I read an article (I think at TPM) today that Barr has been straining to keep Mango Mussolini from pardoning Stone.  Apparently, the entire professional staff at Justice has warned him that they will all walk if it happens.  Hilarious.

    As for the GOP having their plague fest in Jacksonville outside in the middle of August, that would really be a sight to see.  Must See TV, if you will.  Fat, pasty, old white people in the Florida sun and humidity in the middle of Ground Zero of a deadly pandemic…what could go wrong?  I’ve spent a lot of time in Florida, mainly because my sister lived there for a dozen years.  But the furthest into summer I was ever there was mid-June to be in a friend’s wedding and that was the most horrific weather I’ve ever experienced. The wedding was on the dock at Vero Beach at 4 pm and it was just unbearable.  I kept running off to find a place to privately pull up the stupid gown to dry off the sweat running down my legs.  And I was a young early 30s then and in probably my best physical shape.  These fuckers are doomed.

  122. 122.

    Calouste

    @LuciaMia: 6 named tropical storms so far, beating the record for the earliest occurrence of the 6th named storm by 12 days.

  123. 123.

    Rand Careaga

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Do you have tales of a misspent zucchini-hating youth that you’d like to share?

    That brings to mind the Great Zucchini Glut of the early/mid 1970s in Santa Cruz. If you accepted an invitation to dinner at a private residence, you could be certain that at least two courses would be zucchini-based, and at evening’s end it was considered an egregious breach of good manners not to feign gratitude when your hosts pressed a couple of shopping bags of the things upon you as you parted.

  124. 124.

    Kropacetic

    @HumboldtBlue: I listened to Glenn Miller’s greatest hits the other day. Our childhood house was filled with the sound of his music.

    @geg6He was my mom’s favorite.

    Boy, the way Glen Miller played…

  125. 125.

    Anotherlurker

    I lived in Fla. (Bradenton) for 3 years.  Summer is not a time to be there.  Or for me, anytime is not a time to be there.

  129. 129.

    CarolPW

    @Rand Careaga: I was there then! I never grew it, but had to develop a zucchini casserole I could actually stand to eat to handle all that was foisted off on us. We couldn’t toss food no matter how despised, being poor at the time.

    The casserole was actually pretty good; I’ll have to resurrect the recipe and see if I still like it because there is no shortage of zucchini at the farmers market.

  130. 130.

    WaterGirl

    @Martin: I believe that Sullivan is standing up for the rule of law, which not nearly enough people have done since Trump came into office.

    Our institutions wouldn’t have failed if the people in them hadn’t failed.

    And people who do, like Lt. Colonel Vindman have done right by their country, our country, and have gotten screwed in the process.  If there were more courageous patriots, I don’t think we would be where we are, on any front.

  131. 131.

    Jinchi

    600 pasty State Senators getting heat stroke as Trump enters hour 3 of a soliloquy about the largest boat parade in history

    Is it too much to hope that the event would end with hurricane force winds blowing the lot of them out to sea?

    I choose to be an optimist on this point.

  132. 132.

    Don K

    @Chyron HR:

    Didn’t you know it’s only conservatives who are allowed to boycott? Boycotts by non-conservatives are economic terrorism, and are forbidden under the Constitution something something.

  135. 135.

    Mike in NC

    One year we decided to visit friends in Tampa for the 4th of July. What a horrible mistake that was!

  136. 136.

    WaterGirl

    @CarolPW: I love zucchini, so I am not unbiased.

    But I have a great recipe that is basically zucchini and onions, sautéed, with swiss cheese and a bit of milk and egg, and spices.

  137. 137.

    catclub

    @hueyplong: NC won’t allow it.

     

    I am not sure they asked about it.  They still probably wanted it indoors when the NC Gov said no.

  139. 139.

    Suzanne

    @Don K:

    Didn’t you know it’s only conservatives who are allowed to boycott? Boycotts by non-conservatives are economic terrorism 

    Noooo, boycotts are “mob behavior”! A massive, illiberal, seething mob!

  141. 141.

    CarolPW

    @WaterGirl: I don’t dislike zucchini, but there were epic quantities. All the simple stuff (grilled, roasted, steamed, stuffed, with various accoutrements and sauces) got used up. The casserole served as a main dish and used up a lot of zucchini, kind of a cross between a quiche and a gratin.

  142. 142.

    Annie

    @Calouste: @HumboldtBlue: 

    The current Cy Vance is the Manhattan DA. His father Cyrus Vance was a diplomat for many years— among other assignments he represented the U.S. at the Vietnam peace talks in Paris.

  143. 143.

    Kropacetic

    @Geminid: American Patrol is a great Glenn Miller. Kind of a romanticized take on war, but people needed optimism at the time.

    Funny, up until this moment, I knew more songs that Glenn Miller is referenced in than songs he performed

    ETA: Scratch that, I’ve heard this song before.  Delightful little tune.

  144. 144.

    ThresherK

    @Geminid: I first noticed Glenn Miller when I picked up a record of my mom’s. I’m especially a sucker for the Modernaires, the Crew Chiefs, and any of that sort of tight backup singing behind Tex Beneke.

    This was in the 1970s, which made me even more of an odd sort of teen.

  145. 145.

    Eunicecycle

    @Don K: where I live (Ohio) the devil strip is the piece of ground between the sidewalk and the street.

  149. 149.

    ThresherK

    @Kropacetic: Bingo. Somewhere near the end along with the “She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah” incantations.

    Also fascinating that this WWII-era song found itself in so many 50s-set movies. Most of the Big Bands basically broke up a bit after WWII, and it was out of style in the 1950s.

  150. 150.

    misterpuff

    @Kropacetic: At least, Jason Mendoza learned that the answer to every problem is not Molotov cocktails.

     

    Would that Drumpf and the GOP would.

  151. 151.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Sm*t Cl*de:

    @Sab: An unwanted piano is a very difficult thing to get rid of.

    Trebuchets.

    Is that in Holy Grail? Or another Python sketch? I have a mental image of a flying piano.

    along those lines, I’m listening to Eric Idle’s memoir as an audiobook. I’ve always preferred John Cleese, but his get-off-my-lawn-with-your-political-correctness schtick is starting to wear on my fandom, and Idle definitely hung out with cooler people– George Harrison, Bowie, Carrie Fisher….

  153. 153.

    Ohio Mom

    Eunicecycle: Ohio Dad — a native of Cincinnati — was the first person I heard use the term “devil’s strip.” I see from google that this term originated in Akron, which is the other end of the state. It does seem to be an Ohio thing.

    I also see from google that there doesn’t seem to be one universally accepted term for the strip of land between the sidewalk and the street. “Verge” is listed, never heard of that one.

    Then again, growing up in New York City, in apartments, the sidewalks I trod upon went right to the curb.

  154. 154.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Anotherlurker: I spent a month in Cocoa Beach in August 1970 – our NASA tour of 30 college juniors plus associated hangers-on was waiting to get onto the Cape. It was actually only 3 days but it felt like a month – nothing to do in the meantime but hoof it from the Ramada down A1A for a couple of cases of canned beer, dump it in someone’s bathtub, add the entire contents of the ice machine, & proceed to marinate our GI tracts.

  155. 155.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @Ohio Mom:

    I also see from google that there doesn’t seem to be one universally accepted term for the strip of land between the sidewalk and the street.

    In sensible countries it’s a ‘berm’.

  157. 157.

    There go two miscreants

    Re: boycotts, my sister just told me that the owner of Maple Donuts (S. Central PA around York) is a big Trumpist. Sad because they make a good donut, but they will not be getting any more business from me! Not especially a Goya fan but I will skip their stuff now too.

  159. 159.

    Sab

    @Don K: Tree lawn. DS is sort of unique to my town, and we are fiercely proud of it.

    It is that strip of lawn between the sidewalk and the street that I am responsible for mowing, but the city and other citizens can tromp across. The city has an easement so it can plant trees or utility boxes at random on the strip. People parking cars can tromp across it to the sidewalk. Dogs can poop on it but responsible nighbors clean up afterwards.

    We had a five year feud with Indian immigrants who are good neighbors but didn’t understand the dog poop exception. We finally relented and left their yard alone.

    My husband felt like he was relinqueshing government rights. Silly men with turf rights.

  160. 160.

    joel hanes

    @WaterGirl:

    I actually LOVE zucchini

    Me too, though it’s easy to over-cook, and easy to let it get too big and ripe on the vine.

    But even so, it was a little hard to deal with Aunt Betty, who was an enthusiastic Victory Garden keeper as a teenager, and ever after persisted in planting six hills of zucchini each spring.

    So after July family get-togethers, we’d find a brown paper grocery bag full of zucchini already in the car when it was time to go home.

  162. 162.

    Zinsky

    May the Earth be cleaved asunder in Jacksonville and Trump and his foul minions be swallowed up and rendered to nothingness.  Alleluia and praise the Lord.  Amen ?

  163. 163.

    Miss Bianca

    ‘Scuse me.. way late to the thread and all, but…just gotta say, Charlie Pierce referring to DeSantis as “the President’s Igor” just made my fucking day.

    That is all, thank you!

  165. 165.

    dnfree

    @WaterGirl: and tomatoes!  Zucchini, tomatoes, and onion, and maybe cheese. Throw in some eggplant and maybe green pepper and youve got ratatouille.

  166. 166.

    dnfree

    @Sab: where we live it’s called the “tree bank”. I’ve never heard that anywhere else, but even the city uses that term.

  167. 167.

    dnfree

    @Sm*t Cl*de: here a “berm” is a raised area of land, like an artificial hill, that might be placed behind houses in a subdivision to cut down on road noise.

  168. 168.

    CaseyL

    I didn’t even know that strip between sidewalk and street had a name! I like “devil’s strip” and may use that when/if the subject ever comes up.

  171. 171.

    Joseph A Miller

    @SiubhanDuinne: I had a vision just now of Trump speaking to his open air convention, saying something repulsively idiotic like, “Look at this great weather! It’s the best! Fabulous! Very strong! Powerful weather! Just as I said it would be”, and then immediately being struck in the face by lightning.

    A man can dream, can’t he?

  172. 172.

    Heywood J.

    You really wanna stand there at an outdoor stadium in the pouring rain, on camera, watching a bunch of amped-up old white people drop like flies?

    I guess I’m going to find out just how much popcorn I can eat.

  175. 175.

    Citizen Alan

    @Geminid: Pedant alert: American Patrol is much older than Glenn Miller. His innovation was to take a traditional 19th century patriotic song and give a swing rhythm.

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