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You are here: Home / Politics / Open Thread: I Shouldn’t Have Laughed When I Saw This

Open Thread: I Shouldn’t Have Laughed When I Saw This

by WaterGirl|  July 4, 20218:06 pm| 121 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics

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I Shouldn't Have Laughed When I Saw This
just a photo, not clickable video

It was either laugh, sob, or bang my head against the wall.

What’s the appropriate response when seeing this?

‘We are in a race’: GOP governors implore residents to overcome vaccine hesitancy as delta variant rises.  (Washington Post)

GOP governors implored their residents on Sunday to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as polling shows that vaccine hesitancy has been driven by Republicans and as the virus’s new, more contagious delta variant has caused recent upticks in covid-19 cases in areas with low vaccination rates.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday expressed concern about possible “trouble” ahead for Arkansans if the state did not accelerate its vaccination rate. In Arkansas, about 53 percent of adults have at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with about two-thirds of adults nationally. The state has seen a recent spike in covid cases and hospitalizations, driven mostly by the delta variant.

“The solution is the vaccinations,” Hutchinson said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” adding that while many of the state’s senior citizens have gotten vaccinated, the delta variant was now hitting Arkansas’ younger, unvaccinated adults. “It is a great concern.”

I am happy to say I cannot identify these three Republican governor’s from their photos.  Name those governors.  I guess one must be Hutchinson.

Shorter version from Republican governors:  “We didn’t really care whether you lived or died, as long as a lot of the right people were dying.  But now if you don’t get vaccinated, it’s gonna make us look bad.”

Open thread.

Update at 10:05 pm:  Apparently one of the 3 is Jim Justice who has been good about Covid from the start.  So Jim Justice in particular may not be at fault for this, but certainly Republicans as a whole are.

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Reader Interactions

121Comments

  1. 1.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2021 at 8:11 pm

    I hoped the Apocalypse would hold off until I was gone from the world, but here’s another terrifying event:

    WATCH: Large explosion reported near oil platform in the Caspian Sea; officials say it may have been caused by a mud volcano pic.twitter.com/eqwNw110bF— BNO News (@BNONews) July 4, 2021

    ETA: Link to article on nature.com about mud volcanos:

    Here's an interesting article on the dangers of mud volcanoes, which are extremely concentrated in the Caspian Sea. https://t.co/1QF54N7HQy— յﻨllყ.ოձƈĸ (@JillMack30) July 4, 2021

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 4, 2021 at 8:14 pm

    I think the one on the left is Jim Justice of WV. And Hutchison is in the middle with an arrow over his face. No idea who the third one is, though.

    (edited)

  3. 3.

    Cheryl Rofer

    July 4, 2021 at 8:15 pm

    This is what Biden is working for.

    Politics is the slow boring of hard boards – Max Weber

    I think Hutchinson has been urging people to get vaccinated for some time now.

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 8:18 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I know I should be glad, and I am, but damn, it took them 15 months to figure this out???

  5. 5.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 4, 2021 at 8:20 pm

    I hope their constituents heed them.

  6. 6.

    H.E.Wolf

    July 4, 2021 at 8:21 pm

    The man on the right looks like Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_governors

  7. 7.

    germy

    July 4, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    Someone needs to secretly tape Tucker Carlson admitting “Damn right i got a fucking vaccine! I got it back in March, ya think I’m stupid like my viewers?”

  8. 8.

    Paul M Gottlieb

    July 4, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    Hutchinson has been OK on vaccination from the start, Jim Justice too. But they aren’t strong enough to counter the murderous propaganda from Fox, Newmax, and the rest.

  9. 9.

    RepubAnon

    July 4, 2021 at 8:25 pm

    Weird how these Republican governors just can’t understand why their followers don’t want to get vaccinated after Fox News, and Jabba the Gut told them that Covid was a hoax, and no worse than the flu…

  10. 10.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    July 4, 2021 at 8:28 pm

    Good. Let their own leaders worry about them dying because of their own inexplicable choices. I don’t have any more fucks to give. They wanted herd immunity the hard way, that’s their personal choice. Freedom and all that.

    Meanwhile I’m still learning about the economic carnage of lockdown. Just found out this week about two more beloved businesses that didn’t make it.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    Anything else newsworthy today?

  12. 12.

    germy

    July 4, 2021 at 8:34 pm

    Less than 2 weeks ago, I was mocked by Laura Ingraham and Florida Gov DeSantis for warning about the rise of delta variant in the Southern US https://t.co/IksXpkw8Me
    — Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) July 4, 2021

  13. 13.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 4, 2021 at 8:36 pm

    The one on the left looks like death warmed over

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    July 4, 2021 at 8:36 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I don’t think many will. I’m running low on empathy for the refusers to put it mildly, but I do feel sorry for all the rest of us who are put at risk because of their idiocy.

  15. 15.

    Ken

    July 4, 2021 at 8:37 pm

    There was a report a couple of weeks ago of one of these governors stating that everyone should get vaccinated, on the same day he signed a law making it illegal to require people to be vaccinated.

  16. 16.

    Sure Lurkalot

    July 4, 2021 at 8:38 pm

    I just read that article too. I don’t expect many converts. I read that the highest percentage of unvaccinated are young and they aren’t going to listen to these geezers. They populate my newspaper’s comment board and some apparently prefer to rely on their amazing immune systems, Vitamin D, Zinc and Ivermectin. And wishful thinking, I guess.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 8:38 pm

    @Ken: Wow, that’s bang-your-head-against-the-wall material.

  18. 18.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 4, 2021 at 8:40 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I’ve been meaning to catch Cheryl with this story, which I assume would interest her. I should probably email it to her:

    WaPo: China Is Building More Than 100 New Missile Silos, In It’s Western Desert, Analysts Say

  19. 19.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 4, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    @Ken:

    Isn’t that unconstitutional?

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    July 4, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    @Ken: No employer mandates or anything like that?
    Death by ideology.

  21. 21.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2021 at 8:43 pm

    Sousa wrote some damn fie marches.

  22. 22.

    Ken

    July 4, 2021 at 8:44 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): @dmsilev: Sorry, I don’t remember any of the details, but I’m pretty sure it came from BJ’s comments.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 8:47 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): cheryl-rofer at you know where.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 8:48 pm

    @Ken:  Balloon Juice, where no one is ever wrong.

  25. 25.

    dmsilev

    July 4, 2021 at 8:48 pm

    @Ken: I’ve heard of that news source. Totally untrustworthy.

  26. 26.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    both Texas and Alabama have signed laws barring the use of vaccine passports for access or employment. They only apply to State funded entities.

  27. 27.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2021 at 8:53 pm

    Liberty Bell may be my favorite, but of course I also get the odd sensation of wanting to walk funny and slap people with a fish.

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    July 4, 2021 at 9:00 pm

    GOP governors implored their residents on Sunday to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as polling shows that vaccine hesitancy has been driven by Republicans and as the virus’s new, more contagious delta variant has caused recent upticks in covid-19 cases in areas with low vaccination rates.

    I had previously seen some idiots in social media claim that Biden had “failed” in his goal to get x million people vaccinated by July 4. Fortunately, many people quickly pointed out that this was not due to anything that the Biden administration did wrong in making the vaccine available, but was because of the stupidity of anti-vax morons and GOP governors who refused to take reasonable steps to deal with the pandemic.

    I will add to this people who continue to misunderstand herd immunity and who believe that exposing unvaccinated people to the virus is the same thing as getting a shot.

  29. 29.

    boatboy_srq

    July 4, 2021 at 9:07 pm

    They only care when it’s the ones that would vote for them that are falling ill from this thing.

    Help the sick.

    Fvck the governors.

  30. 30.

    Spanky

    July 4, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    Well, the neighborhood explosions have begun, and the cats have headed for their favorite hidy holes. Luckily they’re all indoors

  31. 31.

    Ken

    July 4, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    @Jay: I think it was Texas that I was remembering, because the BJ commenter included the tweet from Abbott asking people to get vaccinated.

  32. 32.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    @Mary G:

    great, the Princess Bride Fire Swamp is real, what’s next, “Rodents of unusual size”?

  33. 33.

    boatboy_srq

    July 4, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Their constituents already heeded them when they demanded The Reopening of Murica. They heeded them when they told their states that the worst was over that The Great Normalcy was returning. The hesitant are too steeped in It’s All A Deep State Plot to heed them this time.

  34. 34.

    Spanky

    July 4, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    @Brachiator: I noticed yesterday that the WaPo framed it as the country failing Biden’s goal. I’m ok with that.

  35. 35.

    Ken

    July 4, 2021 at 9:12 pm

    @Brachiator: And to think that for years I thought people were joking when they suggested that Obama make a “don’t drink bleach” PSA.

  36. 36.

    zhena gogolia

    July 4, 2021 at 9:19 pm

    @Spanky:
    I hate the fucking fourth of July

    ETA: I tried to deal with it by thinking, “They’re just so happy that Biden’s president!” It isn’t working.

  37. 37.

    Benw

    July 4, 2021 at 9:21 pm

    @Jay: R O U S’s? I don’t believe they exist.

  38. 38.

    trollhattan

    July 4, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    Bicycle buildery diplomacy. A bit about the bike that Biden gave to BoJo on his cross-Atlantic trip. Sweet ride.

  39. 39.

    TomatoQueen

    July 4, 2021 at 9:25 pm

    In the 20 years I’ve lived here in Alexandria, I have never experienced fireworks going off in the woods behind me and the parking lot and the walkway at my front door all at once.  I hope none of these assholes are vaccinated.

  40. 40.

    zhena gogolia

    July 4, 2021 at 9:26 pm

    4th of July greetings from Pence and TFG, courtesy of JL Cauvin.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjVtUIhiGY4

  41. 41.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 9:27 pm

    @Ken:

    the only “teeth” the laws have are the revocation of State funding, so Corps will ignore them but Public Schools, etc are hosed.

    It just fuels the “grievance culture” they need to survive.

    the fully vaxxed will just walk on campus, the unvaxxed will have to daily run a gauntlet of nose swabs and check ins.

  42. 42.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    @Benw:

    thought the same thing about the Fire Swamp,…..

  43. 43.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    An American in London on the 4th of July.

  44. 44.

    James E Powell

    July 4, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    I think the one on the left is Andy Devine, character actor in numerous westerns. The one on the right looks like Michael Avenatti.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    July 4, 2021 at 9:44 pm

    These were the same

    OPEN THE ECONOMY

    OPEN THE SCHOOLS

    CUT OFF THE UNEMPLOYMENT

     

    MUTHAPHUCKAS ???

    They were all about stopping the mask requirements for local entities.

     

    But, never were they about getting the vaccine.??

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    July 4, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    @TomatoQueen:

    I feel you

  47. 47.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 9:46 pm

    Fun, radioactive, indestructible boar/pig hybrids running amuck,

    https://www.theregister.com/AMP/2021/07/01/radioactive_hybrid_terror_pigs_fukushima/?__twitter_impression=true

  48. 48.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2021 at 9:50 pm

    1975 had some groovy tunes as well.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2021 at 9:55 pm

    @WaterGirl

    Pretty dang newsworthy, in my book.

    Tyson Food Inc. is recalling nearly 8.5 million pounds of chicken products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, according to a press release on Saturday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Source

    Less dire yet deserving of notice:

    U.S. Secret Service has removed fencing and barricades that blocked people from being able to walk all the way up to the North Lawn fence in front of the White House. Source

  50. 50.

    Wvng

    July 4, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    @WaterGirl: Jim Justice pushed vaccinations hard from the very beginning, and instituted mask wearing and social distancing in WV, my state. As a consequence of WV planning, we were more successful at getting people vaccinated than any other state for several months. This is not his fault, this is national Republican fault.

     

    Justice understood that WV was at terrible risk from covid due to our demographics of older and sicker than most states.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2021 at 9:58 pm

    Sitting here quietly celebrating that there are no tanks on the Mall.

  52. 52.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 10:04 pm

    @NotMax:  Holy shit, that’s a lot of chicken, and a dangerous issue.

    And I just used the last of my chicken from the freezer.  Good to know before I shop this week.

    Yay on the fence removal.

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 10:05 pm

    @Wvng: Thanks for that information.  I’ll update up top.

    edit: If that’s Jim Justice on the left, he does not look well.

  54. 54.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2021 at 10:07 pm

    It’s unusually quiet here today; I had to check online that the city is having fireworks (on a barge offshore, with the fire department pre-deployed on the beach). I hear an amateur firework every couple of minutes, but they are cracking down hard, I guess, because none of the usual barrages have gone off so far.

    The only unusual thing was a guy weaving down the street with a saxophone, trying to play the riff from George Michael’s “Careless Whispers.” My housemate and I were outside, and he started up the driveway towards us. She ran into the house for her cell phone and our self-defensive pepper grinder, but I gave him the mean Mary G and told him to “get off my property,” as unfortunately I have no lawn. I also suggested more lessons to learn how to hit the high and low notes without blatting and other unmusical noises. He stopped playing, got back on the sidewalk, and as soon as he hit the wall between my house and the neighbors’ started it up again.

    One or more of the Karens who live amongst us must’ve called 911 and the sheriffs showed up when he had gotten about four houses down (the housemate standing guard at the end of the driveway hoping he would come back so she could take a TikTok of him and put it on FB so all her friends could hoot at the crazy gringo). He was white and wearing expensive clothes from some designer’s resort collection, so they handed him into the back seat of the cop car like a limo driver serving a starlet, and off they went.

  55. 55.

    Kayla Rudbek

    July 4, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    @trollhattan: far took good for him IMAO…

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    FYI. It’s a $#**# day in the neighborhood.

    A profane flag denouncing President Joe Biden and his supporters prompted several complaints in a small Tennessee town, according to the mayor.

    The flag, which says, “(expletive) Biden and (expletive) you for voting for him,” was propped up at least a month ago at a home in Munford, according to WREG, a CBS affiliate.

    Mayor Dwayne Cole said the city attorney looked into the matter and, despite the wave of complaints, determined that the homeowner is within his rights to fly the flag.

    “It’s vile. It’s vulgar. It’s protected speech under the Constitution,” Cole said. “If I had the authority to make him take it down, I would definitely do that.” Source

  57. 57.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 10:10 pm

    @Mary G:

    He was white and wearing expensive clothes from some designer’s resort collection, so they handed him into the back seat of the cop car like a limo driver serving a starlet, and off they went.

    Have you attended a Betty Cracker writing workshop? :-)

  58. 58.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 4, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    Haven’t read the thread, but let’s not forget the biggest idiot of them all, TFG, who thought that COVID would magically go away.

  59. 59.

    Wvng

    July 4, 2021 at 10:12 pm

    @WaterGirl: I’m really sensitive to this. I know how hard our WV health infrastructure worked to combat this disease. Our local health department worked tirelessly to protect our community, pushing to get businesses to support the mask mandate, pushing people to get vaccinated… and they are gutted that half the population won’t get vaccinated.

  60. 60.

    Kayla Rudbek

    July 4, 2021 at 10:12 pm

    @TomatoQueen: it’s really loud out here (Northern Virginia) in the county as well; I don’t recall being able to see lots of fireworks from the living room before, and I’m surprised that no one else in the neighborhood has called the county cops yet…

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    @Wvng: Knowing that, I have a lot more sympathy for him.  It would be frustrating.  I wonder if he is pushing back against all the republican-sponsored and republican-enabled disinformation about Covid and everything else?

    edit: I just checked, and I’m sorry to see that our rates have started to go up again in Illinois.  sigh.  Even in our county, with a university.

    It also must be frustrating for you to live in a state where vaccination rates are so low.

  62. 62.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 4, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    @Spanky: ​
     Naturally, the Vichy Times framed it as Biden’s fault, for some stupid Broderesque reason.

  63. 63.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2021 at 10:17 pm

    @WaterGirl: That is a true compliment, thank you. I am not anywhere near in her league.

  64. 64.

    frosty

    July 4, 2021 at 10:19 pm

    @Jay: Close enough to R O U S’s for me!

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 10:19 pm

    @Mary G: Well, that was one fine sentence!

  66. 66.

    WaterGirl

    July 4, 2021 at 10:20 pm

    Dogs are sleeping through the neighborhood fireworks, but the kitties are hiding.  Time for me to close the laptop and get in my PJs.   Happy Fourth, everyone.

  67. 67.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2021 at 10:23 pm

    This makes me irrationally happy and hopeful:

    New as of this morning: crowds can now walk all the way up to the White House fence. This area had previously been locked down for more than a year. pic.twitter.com/FPb92O8MYJ— Monica Alba (@albamonica) July 4, 2021

  68. 68.

    debbie

    July 4, 2021 at 10:24 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    FWIW, it’s all ready-to-eat products.

  69. 69.

    Ken

    July 4, 2021 at 10:25 pm

    A couple days ago, someone was speculating about a US-China war. From what I’m hearing, the US would have to surrender within a year, because we apparently can’t even celebrate our independence without a few billion dollars of Chinese-manufactured fireworks.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    July 4, 2021 at 10:25 pm

    @Jay

    “It’s a mealtime treat.”

    “No, it’s a nightlight.”

  71. 71.

    Suzanne

    July 4, 2021 at 10:25 pm

    @NotMax: I just drove home from DC yesterday. Took the kids around the sights. The fencing around the White House and the Capitol make it look like a shitty prison. Glad it’s coming down.

  72. 72.

    The Thin Black Duke

    July 4, 2021 at 10:33 pm

    @Mary G: It’s an elegant turn of phrase. Own it.

  73. 73.

    Ken

    July 4, 2021 at 10:34 pm

    @Jay: In fairness, the boar/pig hybrid is indestructible (or at least in-eradicable) all on its own, as Texas has found.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    July 4, 2021 at 10:35 pm

    The Surfside tower just came down. Looked textbook.

  75. 75.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 10:37 pm

    Covid wards in the D.C. area are almost empty. Doctors credit the coronavirus vaccine. https://t.co/DpbdAzCtIm— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 4, 2021

  76. 76.

    zhena gogolia

    July 4, 2021 at 10:38 pm

    I can’t remember who recommended “The Taming of the Shrew” in Shakespeare Re-Told with Shirley Henderson and Rufus Sewell (Catherine D.?), but we are really enjoying it! It’s hilarious, and Henderson and Sewell are brilliant.

  77. 77.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 10:46 pm

    @Ken:

    we were lucky here. There was a Russian boar/pig hybrid escape in the Aggessi/Mission area about 30 years ago and the BCWLS banned Russian boar imports/keeping/breeding and put in a open season, no limit. They were eradicated before they got established.

    now they are pushing up from Washington State.

    maybe the Murder Hornets will take care of them.

  78. 78.

    Dan B

    July 4, 2021 at 10:47 pm

    Almost no fireworks here in minority / majority South Seattle.  Ten years ago the neighborhood was World War IV!  50% Asian and immigrant who love fireworks but most of the kids are grown so there’s less excitement potential.  I’m glad.  It’s bone dry and 80 degrees so fire is a real possibility.  Still very sunny so it may change in a couple hours.

  79. 79.

    Ruckus

    July 4, 2021 at 10:49 pm

    @Mary G:

    I live in a less grandiose area than you do, the east end of the San Gabriel Valley. Yesterday, from sundown to about 1am sounded like a war zone. It’s started a bit earlier today. I expect that it will suck tomorrow night as well.

  80. 80.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 10:52 pm

    The LAPD would like to remind everyone no matter how small the fireworks are they can cause serious injuries.
    Please have a Safe 4th of July weekend.— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) July 4, 2021

  81. 81.

    Dan B

    July 4, 2021 at 10:52 pm

    @Jay: Perhaps Murder Hornets and Grizzlies will develop a taste for Boar.

    Seattle Metro just passes four million so we’re pushing things in all directions.  And real estate prices will drive the Boars to our borders.  Houses have tripled in price in our neighborhood since 2010.

  82. 82.

    Kattails

    July 4, 2021 at 10:52 pm

    @Wvng: That is a bloody shame.  It’s heartbreaking on many levels.   To work so hard and have people blow it off–your phrase “just gutted” is painful to read.  And for God’s sake, WV ranks so close to the bottom of the states on damn near everything.  I have no words.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    July 4, 2021 at 10:54 pm

    Sean Sullivan
    @WaPoSean
    ·1h
    POTUS and FLOTUS came back out to watch the fireworks.

    It’s nice. Just normal presidential fireworks watching.

    I don’t like the amateur fireworks but I do like the “official” public shows. I went to one last night and we had a two year old in our group, Naomi (her parents too- she wasn’t out alone) and we wondered if she would be afraid of the boom boom, or maybe just not be interested and fuss because she was up so late past bedtime. She loved the fireworks. Was transfixed – watching the sky.

  84. 84.

    TomatoQueen

    July 4, 2021 at 10:54 pm

    @Kayla Rudbek:  Or maybe somebody has, and had an experience similar to the one I just had: Post on Fbk on the Mayor’s page, he responds to call the non-emergency number. I call number, cop tells me due to being bombarded with calls about fireworks all over the city, officers have decided among themselves that they will respond to fireworks complaints only if the fireworks are being shot at people, not just at buildings. If people are inside the buildings, doesn’t that count? Apparently not. So I put a followup post on the Mayor’s page, just to let him know, because the police wouldn’t take my report. I also said that I’m a gov’t employee and am not authorized to decide which parts of my job are optional, no matter how busy and stressful it can be. What a nice perk for the cops.
    This has been a difficult evening, Blackjack after making a lot of progress is now hiding, and My Young Man is agitated and won’t calm down. I have a splitting headache, and my level of benevolence toward people is close to the dried up stage.

  85. 85.

    Nelle

    July 4, 2021 at 10:56 pm

    Constant explosions all around, near and far.  Some of it is pretty.  We got a good view from by one of our neighbor’s houses.  They are refugees- the father was murdered in the Serbenicia massacre.  There are at least fourteen refugee families in our small neighborhood.  Most are from Bosnia, but two from Vietnam, one from Palestine.  Also several combat vets, including my husband.  Not the most pleasant evening .

  86. 86.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 10:57 pm

    @Dan B:

    yurp, $550,000 gets you a 450sq foot studio in a concrete tower here. For a 3 bedroom single family home under $1.5 million, you have to go out into the valley.

  87. 87.

    Revrick

    July 4, 2021 at 10:58 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Here in Allentown, PA we get to hear a lot of Sousa’s body of work played by the Allentown Band, which is the oldest municipal band in the U. S. Sousa was friends with Albertus Meyer, who conducted the Allentown Band for 50 years.

  88. 88.

    zhena gogolia

    July 4, 2021 at 10:59 pm

    @TomatoQueen:

    That’s horrible!

  89. 89.

    Kristine

    July 4, 2021 at 11:02 pm

    Neighborhood booming has been pretty much nonstop for the last hour and a half. I dosed Gaby with trazodone and it did take the edge off. She’s able to sleep, although every so often she wakes up and paces. Meanwhile I’m thinking thoughts and wishing wishes that are decidedly unkind.

  90. 90.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 4, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    @Revrick: Very cool. This is the night for Sousa!

  91. 91.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2021 at 11:06 pm

    Shut down the internet, the blogmaster has won:

    I’m about five minutes away from becoming a youtube sensation for running down the street in my boxers and tshirt and ramming a fucking firework up a grown man’s ass— John Cole (@Johngcole) July 5, 2021

  92. 92.

    OldDave

    July 4, 2021 at 11:06 pm

    @Paul M Gottlieb: Hutchinson may be been OK on vaccine, but he’s one of the GOP governors who early on bragged about keeping their states open.

  93. 93.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2021 at 11:09 pm

    @Revrick: ​ 

    Nice detail.

    So what you’re saying is you’re sitting there in Allentown.

    The booms are starting to go off here, my poor cat was just fine sitting on a clean folded towel on the bed, now he’s hunched down at my feet. Almost every dog owner I know has their dogs on some sort of sedative.

  94. 94.

    Mary G

    July 4, 2021 at 11:12 pm

    @Ruckus: The fire danger up there is off the charts, and these fuckers still shooting them off? Are they still legal in some of the little towns?

  95. 95.

    dmsilev

    July 4, 2021 at 11:14 pm

    Standing with a few hundred of my closest friends on a narrow strip of sidewalk with a good overlook vantage for the Rose Bowl fireworks (Colorado Bridge, for those who know the area). I’m halfway convinced that I’m crazy, but whatever. I do like the real professional fireworks, so here I am.

  96. 96.

    Sure Lurkalot

    July 4, 2021 at 11:17 pm

    @Mary G: A very excellent tale!

  97. 97.

    Dan B

    July 4, 2021 at 11:22 pm

    @Jay: My old house that I bought during the Boeing Bust for $40,000 – paid off in 10 years, is appraised at 1.3 million.  Three bedrooms 1 bath, 3000 Sq. Ft. lot.  Foundation needs to be replaced due to the top 3 feet being non-reinforced masonry.  Glad I sold even if it was for a lot less.

  98. 98.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2021 at 11:25 pm

    @dmsilev: ​ 
    You still have a couple of hours to go, don’t you?

    Ours won’t begin until 10 or so.

  99. 99.

    MagdaInBlack

    July 4, 2021 at 11:27 pm

    Explosions have died down here in the leafy NW Suburbs of Chicago-land, but I still hear some skirmishes to the east. People really went nuts this year, the neighborhood stinks of gunpowder

    Eta: kind of reminds me of living in Melrose Park ( IL) where the smoke was just rolling down the alleys on the 4th.

  100. 100.

    dmsilev

    July 4, 2021 at 11:32 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Schedule says 9 pm, so supposedly not too long. It’s only just starting to get dark though, so we’ll see.

  101. 101.

    Jay

    July 4, 2021 at 11:32 pm

    @Dan B:

    YVR used to have the whole boom and bust, but since it’s become an “International City”, the past 30 years, it’s just up, up, up. Half the condo’s in my building are empty, they are just investments.

    The ex and I bought a place near Deer Park, for $280k, sunk $60 k into renos and upgrades, the year we separated it was assessed at $790k, the year it was sold, $280k.

  102. 102.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 4, 2021 at 11:36 pm

    And I wrote about this back in the day when I still wrote, but the fucking hot dog eating contest that’s been championed by ESPN and sponsored by Nat’s (a brand I used to enjoy) is the most disgusting spectacle that’s treated as some worthy competition.

    Just fucking nasty.

  103. 103.

    marklar

    July 4, 2021 at 11:55 pm

    @Revrick: I’m here near the Rose Garden.  We love going to the bandshell in West Park to listen to the band, and hope to hear them again in the future.

    I’m listening to non-stop pops and booms as I write this.  I hope it’s quieter in your neighborhood.

  104. 104.

    marklar

    July 4, 2021 at 11:58 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Ha!  Nice use of the lyric.

    Of course, Billy Joel was writing about Bethlehem, PA in that song (the closing down of Bethlehem Steel), but he wasn’t a clever enough lyricist to work out a rhyme.

    I could force one, but it’s not that good. “We’re living here in Bethlehem, where things will never be the same.”

  105. 105.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 4, 2021 at 11:59 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    And I wrote about this back in the day when I still wrote, but the fucking hot dog eating contest that’s been championed by ESPN and sponsored by Nat’s (a brand I used to enjoy) is the most disgusting spectacle that’s treated as some worthy competition.

    Just fucking nasty.

    Eating contests are just disgusting – period.  As are the “Eat this 52oz steak, or 8lb burrito, or 10lb burger and get it free!” specials at some places.

  106. 106.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    July 5, 2021 at 12:19 am

    @HumboldtBlue:

    As a former Sousaphone player in a marching band, I agree!

  107. 107.

    Gary K

    July 5, 2021 at 1:02 am

    @Revrick: In nearby Reading, Sousa is remembered for having died there in the Abe Lincoln Hotel.

  108. 108.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 5, 2021 at 1:03 am

    @dmsilev: A better location would be in the hills above the Rose Bowl.  There’s a little stretch of Figueroa up there where you can park and very short hike up to a good overview of the Bowl.  I shot up in the hills above Glendale, no view of the Rose Bowl, but a good view of the basin.  It’s very loud and smokey here.

  109. 109.

    HumboldtBlue

    July 5, 2021 at 1:14 am

    @mrmoshpotato: ​ 
    Yup, all of’em.

  110. 110.

    CaseyL

    July 5, 2021 at 1:17 am

    After being quiet all day, the local fireworks have started in my neighborhood.  I am very fortunate: my cats ignore the noise. I mostly do likewise, until someone sets off an M80, and then I jump.

    Haven’t been to a 4th of July fireworks festival in years and years.  I love fireworks – but not crowds, and not having to get to the park by mid-afternoon to find a good spot and then staying there for 9 hours.

  111. 111.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    July 5, 2021 at 2:22 am

    @zhena gogolia: c’st moi!  Glad you like it.  Next one up for me is James McAvoy as MacBeth.  We’ll see if it lives up to the brilliance  of Scotland, PA, when Duncan is a fast food king in PA taken out by MacBeth, with Christopher Walken (as Macduff, a detective searching for Duncan’s murderer) and Maura Tierney (as Lady MacBeth), among others.  Soundtrack of tunes by Bad Company.

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    July 5, 2021 at 2:47 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    About 10 minutes ago someone set off something that was close and louder than a 5 in gun from when I was in the Navy. And I had to sit and watch an entire afternoon of gunnery practice from very near the turret, as the damage control person who had to cool down the gun if there was a misfire. I had a fully charged fire hose and oxygen breathing apparatus. Only person out on the main deck and it was loud. Better than being shot at or having all the car alarms in the area go off though. I wonder if I’ll get any sleep in the next few hours, the children seem to be not ready to stop.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    July 5, 2021 at 3:38 am

    @Gary K

    Coincidentally, have hung my hat at one time or another just outside both. Alburtis (Allentown) and Sinking Spring (Reading).

  114. 114.

    NotMax

    July 5, 2021 at 3:43 am

    @Cheryl from Maryland

    Scotland, PA

    Not a spoiler to caution giving a wide berth to the deep fryer.

    ;)

    Movie is currently available on Prime, Hoopla and Kanopy.

  115. 115.

    James E Powell

    July 5, 2021 at 3:57 am

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    I loved Scotland PA. You’re the first person I’ve encountered who has even heard of it. “Rock block!” The director used Bad Company’s songs because they were “surprisingly inexpensive”.

  116. 116.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 5, 2021 at 8:19 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: [L]et’s not forget the biggest idiot of them all, TFG, who thought that COVID would magically go away.

    And the somewhat savory** poetic justice is that, if he’d just done the obvious, straightforward things to fight the pandemic – not even done them, but just stood back & let the public health expertise already in place do them in his name – he could’ve been re-elected in a romp as the Hero Of The Plague Year.

    But he was done in (and will continue to be done in) by his “stupidpowers” – his inability to care about or even consider the welfare of anyone but himself, to look farther ahead than his own immediate profit, to see anything except through the wrong-way spyglass of his own unjustified vanity. Thankfully for the sane among us.

    ** Tempered by the deaths of over 600,000 of our fellow Americans – at least 500,000 of which might have been prevented with anything more than a narrow, narcissistic response from then-POTUS.

  117. 117.

    WaterGirl

    July 5, 2021 at 8:21 am

    @debbie:  I had no idea there was such a thing as ready-to-eat chicken!

  118. 118.

    zhena gogolia

    July 5, 2021 at 8:37 am

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    Thank you! We watched about half last night and are looking forward to the rest tonight. So funny and touching.

  119. 119.

    WaterGirl

    July 5, 2021 at 9:08 am

    @Suzanne: Another day or two and what they would have seen would look so different!  You’ll have to take another trip soon, that would make a great teachable moment, too.

  120. 120.

    Matt

    July 5, 2021 at 10:27 am

    @Wvng:

    and they are gutted that half the population won’t get vaccinated.

    And this is why I don’t give guys like Gov Justice any credit at all. Their party is lying to their followers every day, and they know it.

    Every COVID death in their states is on their hands until they state clearly and plainly that Fox is a lie, that TFG’s bullshit is a lie, that it’s ALL A LIE.

    Bonus points for finishing it with a Budd Dwyer landing.

  121. 121.

    J R in WV

    July 5, 2021 at 12:01 pm

    Yeah, out little rural county has signs on all the highways into the county, all three of them, with the number of the Co Health Dept to call for a Covid Shot. Have had for several months. No one shows up any more. I think the hippies and school teachers all got one, then the second booster, then the rush was over.

    While Jim Justice did require masks until recently, when the Covid plague “was over” with pretty good success, and did get vaccine out into the state’ boonies where people still live, he is a creep who doesn’t pay his bills at his luxo resort nor at his cheapo coal companies, nor his taxes on anything.

    He coaches a HS girls basketball team as a volunteer, so probably a ephebophile leching on 14 y o girls. Maybe just likes kids and wants to help… nah, he’s a Republican Coal Operator, no way he wants to help…

    Regarding the 4th of July, we did have a few explosions in the distance last night, and the dogs were inside, rather than out on the porch watching the dark settle in. But no one panicked, and by 10 or so things got quiet as usual. Everyone had a good nights sleep, everyone was in the bedroom with us. BooBoo slipped into bed with us around 9 this morning, between us, for a cuddle. She’s such a sweetheart! CooCoo was on the bed with us during the wee hours, down between our feet. They’re wonderful pups.

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