Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

No one could have predicted…

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

No Justins, No Peace

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

You cannot shame the shameless.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Morning Open Thread: Now That We Have A Future to Plan For…

Monday Morning Open Thread: Now That We Have A Future to Plan For…

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Jennifer Finney Boylan, in the Washington Post:

… This weekend, the five-year clock starts ticking down to the country’s 250th anniversary, on July 4, 2026. One of the challenges facing America250 — an organization tasked by the United States Semiquincentennial Commission to commemorate the event — is keeping a new generation of Americans from rolling their eyes, or worse…

Recently Dan DiLella, the chair of the Semiquincentennial Commission, and Keri Potts, vice president of communications at America250, told me how they plan to address that problem. “This is going to be the most inclusive commemoration in American history,” Potts said. “For us, that means staying grounded in 1776, but remembering that there is history before and after 1776 that needs to be told.”

Specifically, that means that, for one thing, there will be a role in the observations for Americans whose ancestors were here long before the Declaration of Independence was signed. “We’re engaging with all the tribal reservations,” DiLella said. “That is our mandate.” It also means taking a hard look at the history of slavery in this country. Cities targeted for “special emphasis” by the Semiquincentennial Commission Act of 2016 include the traditional revolutionary shrines of Boston, Philadelphia, and New York — but also Charleston, S.C., one of the major centers of the slave trade.

The history the organization hopes to tell also includes the women’s movement. In November, America250 intends to create an interactive art installation at a D.C. gallery featuring the face of Civil War surgeon Mary Edwards Walker — an early supporter of women’s rights, and the only woman ever to have received the Medal of Honor.

“History is what it is,” DiLella said. “And I think it has to be told.”

Projects such as these make it clear that America250’s commitment to diversity is sincere. But the challenge it faces is the same one with which the country as a whole is struggling: How can we celebrate our history when the interpretation of history itself is now an issue that divides us?

“We’ve been through a lot in the last few years,” Potts said. “But if we can take the next five years to inspire, to imagine, to involve, then when we get to 2026, Americans will be more connected to each other, and to what it means to be an American. And that is our north star.”…

Reader Interactions

204Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    We need to win in 2024 just to make sure that happens the way it’s supposed to happen.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    is keeping a new generation of Americans from rolling their eyes, or worse…

    What’s worse than an eye roll?

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    Georgia woman wakes up to find a serval in her bed:

    (CNN) An Atlanta woman woke up to a surprise when a cat — that was not hers — jumped onto her bed Wednesday morning.

    She was even more shocked to discover the cat was a serval — an exotic cat native to Africa… The cat was just 6 inches from her face, Frank said. She scared it off the bed.

    “I said, ‘That’s not a normal house cat. I don’t know what that is, but I am terrified right now,'” she said.

    The cat entered the house when the woman’s husband took their dog outside and left the door open. It escaped the same way and is currently at large.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Most of the mid-size cats, like Servals and Caracals, cost $1700.00 to $2800.00 and Ocelots can run as high as $15,000.00. The more rare the cat, the higher the price.

  19. 19.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Anti-war and pro-weed protesters are around here doing their thing.

    What war are they protesting?

    I think protesting is good. But I do have a problem with protests that only happening when there’s a Democrat in office. For example, if weed is important enough to protest, shouldn’t that happen all the time, not just when a Dem is in office.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    @eclare: Yes! We’re in an existing conservation area that we hope will be expanded with state wildlife corridor purchases. There’s a great article about the wildlife corridor at The New Yorker here. Biden and the Dems should get most of the credit since the bill DeSantis signed is mostly funded with ARP dollars.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    @OzarkHillbilly: Someone thought it was a good idea to shoot off fireworks until the wee hours of the morning.   Finch decided it would be a good idea to go potty when they finally stopped.   I’ve been on the sofa since midnight

    btw birthdays happen whether or not you like them.

  27. 27.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Betty Cracker: ​ it is currently at large.

     

    All points bulletin for tall cat, wearing a leopard print outfit, using the alias “Snagglepuss”

  29. 29.

    evodevo

    A couple across the canal from my mother’s house in a subdivision in Lake Placid (FL) raised Margays or Servals (don’t remember which)….they fed them chicken parts and then threw the leftovers out in the backyard where the local buzzards would chow down…I don’t know how they got away with what was an obvious public health hazard….between the cats and the garbage, the smell must have been overpowering…​

  32. 32.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Folks on twitter are pointing out that the military frowns on people just “quitting.”

    I’ve been contacted by members of our voluntary military who say they will quit if the COVID vaccine is mandated.I introduced HR 3860 to prohibit any mandatory requirement that a member of the Armed Forces receive a vaccination against COVID-19.It now has 24 sponsors. https://t.co/lbqYESmBYy— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) July 3, 2021

  35. 35.

    Amir Khalid

    It appears I have managed to shut down comments on a news organisation’s video, what they posted on YouTube. The video reported on remarks by Hadi Awang, president of the fundie Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS, from its initials in Malay). Hadi took some gratuitous and fairly incoherent swipes at LGBT people, liberals, and former coalition partner Pakatan Harapan — Anwar Ibrahim’s party. Hadi also claimed that only “Allah’s government”, i.e. his own fundie party PAS, could defeat Covid-19. So I called him out on all this self-serving bullshit.

    My notifications are showing me parts of rather long replies that begin with things like “Well said” and “Agree 100%”. But when I try to see all the comments, all I get is “comments are unavailable”.

    Someone thought me dangerous enough to censor. I feel rather pleased with myself.

    ‘.

  39. 39.

    eclare

    @Betty Cracker:  That is wonderful!  It is so important for wildlife to be able to move around, to find food, to breed, etc.  Roads/development destroys that.  Thanks for the article.

    Stay safe with the weather!

  42. 42.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    I live a block away from the neighborhood’s fireworks, plus there were all kinds of amateur fireworks being set off. As annoying as it was, I didn’t get any celebratory gunfire, which was good.

  46. 46.

    germy

    A John Wick movie where he goes on a revenge murder spree because his asshole neighbors upset his dog with fireworks.

    — The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) July 5, 2019

  48. 48.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @mrmoshpotato:

    No, it was weird to hear Archer’s voice coming out of Bob Belcher. And it was worse to see Archer’s voice coming out of H. John Benjamin in those dreadful Arby’s ads. He has a face made for voice-overs.

  51. 51.

    WereBear

    @Betty Cracker: I recently discovered there are breeders who cross domestics with their wild counterparts, and not the original issue, either. These crosses are then sold at high prices for their “wild look” and it comes with a wild mind, too. Even when semi-tame, they are not domesticated, and have wild traits like not using the litter box and unpredictable behavior with people.

    I know the breeders lie and show them kittens…

  57. 57.

    Kay

    According to new data from the Rhodium Group analyzed by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, warming temperatures and changing rainfall will drive agriculture and temperate climates northward, while sea level rise will consume coastlines and dangerous levels of humidity will swamp the Mississippi River valley.

    Great Lakes region is gonna be the climate change refuge. Detroit would be a real bargain if you bought right now. Really anywhere in Michigan although Pennsylvania is an up and comer too.

  58. 58.

    Leto

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: this is so incredibly stupid that I’m not surprised it has legislation backing it. Wait for the next round of legislation stating that any military member that has a sincere religious belief doesn’t have to get ANY shot they don’t want. Fuck deployment readiness. Also good fucking luck “quitting” while you still have time on your contract.

  60. 60.

    Gin & Tonic

    In Eastern European news, the long-scheduled Pride march in Tbilisi has been canceled due to the government’s inability or unwillingness to protect participants and journalists from hooligans and radical clerics, including Bishop Iakob, who calls gays “terrorists” and who has unfortunately been embraced by the US Ambassador.

    ETA:

    Make no mistake, this is not a victory of ultra-right groups, but an utter failure of the state who condoned & tolerated the violence in Tbilisi streets today. https://t.co/OMymhSnc2k
    — Giorgi Gogia (@Giorgi_Gogia) July 5, 2021

  63. 63.

    Betty Cracker

    @evodevo: My mom lived in a neighborhood not far from downtown Tampa, and there were people who lived a few streets over who kept big cats in cages in their yard. I mean BIG cats, like a leopard and tiger. I think the city finally made them stop, but this went on into the aughties, which is INSANE. Sometimes you could hear the cats roar! Not what you expect to hear in a city!

  64. 64.

    Amir Khalid

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Bishop Iakob, who calls gays “terrorists” and who has unfortunately been embraced by the US Ambassador.

    I hope that ambassador is not the Biden appointee.

  65. 65.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Kay: I’ve observed this for decades. In the early 90s, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, most of New England had beautiful, clear, crisp, low-humidity summers. A decade later, humidity was up, temps were up. The really good weather was found at least half a state further north, or mainly coastal in the case of NE. Another decade later, and even the UP had some days with high temps and haze in mid-August. Nowadays there is no guarantee that a northern vacation will provide a break from the heat and humidity of the rest of the country.

    And you’re telling me it’s only going to get worse?  :(

  66. 66.

    Suzanne

    @Kay: If only my property values would start doing their thing!

    I am pissed at my neighborhood. The fireworks were bonkers last night. My pupper was scared, so we ad-hoced her a thunder shirt out of an old towel. Spawns were freaked out. God.

  68. 68.

    debbie

    I’ve been following this PhD who has taken a break from working on her thesis to decorate cookies. My personal favorite so far are her William Morris designs, but her latest is her set of ancient Greek pottery shards.

    Now on display: a tasty collection of Ancient Greek pottery sherds, dating from the Archaic Biscuit Period. ? pic.twitter.com/JTpIOAoW2C
    — Dr Ella Hawkins (@EllaMcHawk) July 5, 2021

  71. 71.

    Leto

    @raven: yeah, in the post Vietnam/draft style of service, each enlistment is a 4-6 year contract. It’s also part of the legal terminology that’s been used when signing a new one, aka “unless it’s in your contract, it won’t happen/doesn’t exist.” That one has been used when a member said that the recruiter promised X; was it in your contract? Nope? Sucks to be you. Lot of good people in that Twitter thread taking the Rand Paul hair clone to task for being monumentally stupid.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    I’m going to invent quiet fireworks and make billions and then build a rocket ship to take me into space.

  73. 73.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I didn’t hear the first cicada until Saturday evening. Poor Richard’s Almanac (or someone else) says autumn begins 90 days after the cicadas start up. Hope this doesn’t prove true and fall is late this year.

  74. 74.

    Jager

    @raven:

    I think MSgt Burton would have really been upset if some trooper strolled up to him and said “I want to quit.”

  77. 77.

    Leto

    @Suzanne: Our area had more fireworks going than last year. Avalune found a “calming dog music” to play, though we don’t think it helped that much. Our pup doesn’t like to be wrapped up, so lots of gentle petting while she sat between us as we read.

  79. 79.

    Leto

    @debbie: Those are super cool! Her square biscuits from a few days ago remind me of the fridge magnets we have of places we visited over the years. Also ofc she’s British so I can’t wait to see her on the Great British Bake Off ;)

  81. 81.

    JPL

    @satby: I was responding to an Ozark comment.    Mine isn’t until the eighteenth, but since I’ll be spending the day sitting for grand imp, I’ll take early wishes.  lol

    from Ozark  I don’t bother with my own birthday.

  82. 82.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I imagine there are a million Vietnam vets who will be interested to hear this – if only they had known that you could just say “I quit!’ and walk away!

    Maybe this is a good way to sort out the folks who don’t btelong in the military.  If you won’t follow orders to get the Covid shot, what other orders won’t you follow?

    And don’t people have to get a ton of shots when they join the military or before they ship out?

  84. 84.

    JPL

    Grand Imp #2 is arriving the fifteenth of this month, and his name is going to be Elias.   I like to say Eli’s coming.   The two year old will be visiting starting the fourteenth and stay through the eighteenth.   I need all the prayers you can muster because he’s a happy, well adjusted, and active young person.

    DIL is having a c-section which has some benefits, but recovery is not one of them.

  88. 88.

    satby

    I’ve spent three days troubleshooting the texting problem on my Android phone, which still isn’t fixed. Either IPhone or Google sent out an update that switched settings, and now my son and daughter in law, who only text, can’t get SMS messages but can still get MMS messages. Same for a couple of friends with iPhones. All the troubleshooting suggestions, some quite stupid, are directed at detecting what is wrong with my phone… But my phone sends and received SMS from others and businesses just fine. It’s on the IPhone side, or some failure between the two ystems, since I’m not the only one complaining loudly on the intertubes.

    I hate technology.

  89. 89.

    JPL

    @satby: I’m having the same problem when I send to an i-phone user, especially pictures.   I think it was an i-phone problem and it does seem to be better.

    I blame Putin

  92. 92.

    Starfish

    @evodevo: When we went to visit a wild rescue a few months ago, there were ravens everywhere going after the leftover meat. It did not smell particularly bad. The animals were in pretty large enclosures.

  94. 94.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: And don’t people have to get a ton of shots when they join the military or before they ship out?

    Yes, and they include things like anthrax, rabies, typhoid, and yellow fever that aren’t on the childhood vaccination schedules.

  96. 96.

    artem1s

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I’ve been contacted by members of our voluntary military who say they will quit if the COVID vaccine is mandated

    as Jen Psaki would say ‘who are these members that say they will quit? you fucking idiot*

    At the worst he’s been contacted by some National Guard weekenders who do have the ability to walk away from a pretty good part time gig. Hardly anyone who needs the money for their Guard service isn’t going to be balking at another vaccine. You refuse vaccination in the regular military and best you can hope for is some form of dishonorable discharge.

    *obligatory mental insert after all Jen’s retorts during her pressers

  99. 99.

    Starfish

    @WereBear: I have friends who have a pair of these. Their vet bills have been exciting. How do you keep an injured semi-wild kitty from moving too much and reinjuring himself? You keep him in a closed room so he does not jump off the second floor to the first floor in the open floor plan. Someone slept in the room with the kitty every night while he healed so he would not get too lonely.

  100. 100.

    Suzanne

    @JPL: Elias is a very nice name. Congrats!

    As for coping with the activity…. I vote for looking for a big park or indoor playland, if Covid is reasonable in your area and they follow protocols, and just shell out the $$$ and let him get his ya-yas out. Just let him go your as long as he wants. Buy the pizza to let him stay.

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    @Gin & Tonic: In Israel, the Tel Aviv Pride March came off with few incidents a week ago. There was very heavy security. This is a particularly tense time there, and people are mindful of a stabbing attack at the 2016 March that injured six and killed 16 year old Shira Banki. The man who stabbed her is serving a life term in prison.

    This Tel Aviv Pride March drew 100,000 people, which I thought was a good turnout in a country of 9 million.

  102. 102.

    germy

    OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – A San Francisco Bay Area zoo is inoculating its big cats, bears and ferrets against the coronavirus as part of a national effort to protect animal species using an experimental vaccine.

    Tigers Ginger and Molly were the first two animals at the Oakland Zoo to get the vaccine this week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday. The doses were donated and developed by veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis in New Jersey.

    https://wnyt.com/news/big-cats-bears-ferrets-get-covid-19-vaccine-at-oakland-zoo/6160993/?cat=657

  103. 103.

    Leto

    @WaterGirl:

    And don’t people have to get a ton of shots when they join the military or before they ship out?

    Yup; you receive a number of shots in basic training, and then afterwards it depends on where you’ll be deployed to. Considering I had a pretty active deployment schedule, my shot record was a three page affair. A fair number of those were the annual booster shots, but I also received shots for some things I hope to never encounter.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Does this Massie guy have his own Rand Paul style neighbor? ><

    @JPL: congratulations! If you need help with Grand Imp #1, remember you have an emergency BJ flare for these situations :P

  104. 104.

    eclare

    @Ken:  Wow!  Although I understand.  I was with a tour group in Peru, and someone was bitten by a dog and had to fly back to the US to get the rabies vax.

    Supposedly it’s not as bad as it used to be.

  111. 111.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:

    What’s worse than an eye roll?

    A head roll and a facepalm.  Facepalm then dragging your hand down your face is particularly dramatic.  Groans and deep breaths are good emphasis.  Looking up at the sky with hands raised in appeal to the Sun Pony for help dealing with idiots is a bit fringe, but fun.  Pinching the bridge of your nose and looking down with eyes closed.

    These have been the off-the-top-of-his-head thoughts of a writer, who has to use a lot of body language.  Thank you for reminding me to be more varied and original.

  113. 113.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Leto:

    @JPL: congratulations! If you need help with Grand Imp #1, remember you have an emergency BJ flare for these situations :P

    @JPL: I’m just a few miles away. Do let me know if you need a hand. And let’s find a time to have lunch!

  114. 114.

    JPL

    @Suzanne: There is a lunch spot with an outdoor area where you can kick a ball.   I might do that.   The  parents don’t want him in an indoor play area, because folks are so law about the vaccine in GA.   ug   Thanks for the idea.

    We’re going to visit my friend’s dragon lizard and help her with her garden.

  115. 115.

    Subsole

    @Leto: 
    Reminds me of some fatherly advice I got when I was considering enlistment:
    “Just remember that if you try to quit, they’ll throw your ass in jail.”

  118. 118.

    Suzanne

    @JPL: Yeah, I would be concerned about that, too.

    In AZ, the kids can’t really play outside in the summers for very long due to heat and sunburn. The free play areas at the malls get very busy, and those work for short trips. But there are a couple of places with very elaborate indoor playlands (not free), and sometimes Mr. Suzanne or I would take them and pay the admission and just let them go for hours. It was always an investment of time, because you can’t leave them, but the on-duty adult could go sit in the pizza area and look at your phone. But they were always so damn tired afterward and it was totally worth it. Otherwise, we were taking them to the playground after 9:30pm, and that sucks.

  120. 120.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    NY might be good. If you take it down to counties the urban counties in MI and IL (Detroit and Chicago) are on the hotter, wetter end within those states.

    The farming part is fascinating. Could be a real shift from the more southern parts of the midwest to the more northern parts, even within states, so northern Ohio and northern Indiana are spared but the bottom half of each is not- bottom 3/4 for Indiana, really. I don’t think the land values analysis is “right” though, because land doesn’t have fixed value.  It’s worth what someone will pay for it. There won’t be an abrupt change in value at some date-certain. Instead the value will gradually decline so  we can’t measure losses at todays values. It’s only X billions right now because the land is valued at X right now. The real value won’t be “value in 2021 and then value in 2040”. There a slope in there.

  121. 121.

    Subsole

    @raven:

    All-volunteer, these days.

    Guess calling it a “contract” hits a little different if you’ve been drafted…

    What did they used to call ’em?

  128. 128.

    Kelly

    @Kay: I used to think the Willamette Valley would be a good climate refuge. Now I think we’ll often have several weeks of of hazardous wildfire smoke. Newport on the Oregon Coast is looking better all the time.

  129. 129.

    Chris T.

    @Baud: I’ve threatened to breed cats in my retirement (with notes like these prices), but the spousal unit points out—quite correctly—that I’d never allow anyone to buy any of my precious babies. ?

  130. 130.

    JPL

    My town did have fireworks yesterday, but no parade.   Sandy Springs sent firetrucks throughout some neighborhoods.   The Grandson was thrilled to be able to high five his first fireman.    He got sit on the back of the firetruck also.   Boys do love trucks.

  133. 133.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Hey, Happy 5th of July, folks. In my latest act of shameless self-promotion, here’s an essay I wrote where I throw in my two cents regarding how much GRRM is to blame for not completing his Game of Thrones series. (Spoiler Alert: Guilty, Guilty, Guilty!)

  135. 135.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker:

    , and there were people who lived a few streets over who kept big cats in cages in their yard. I mean BIG cats, like a leopard and tiger. I think the city finally made them stop

    I tried to watch that Tiger King show, but just the number of badly and sadly treated big cats in teh first episode was too depressing. I remember one obese old tiger being led around that just made me sad.

  137. 137.

    Subsole

     

     

    @rikyrah: The Old Southern Regime always reminded me of the worst sort of European nobility. Utterly contemptuous of the people they would have starved to death without…

    I mean, basically that video is old Imperial Russia. We didn’t abolish slavery, so much as replace it with serfdom.

  139. 139.

    Kay

    @Kelly:

    It’s interesting. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I read an insurance analysis/projection way back in 2010 or thereabouts.

    Insurance companies use climate change models because obviously they insure property – when it comes down to money all of a sudden climate change denial goes out the window and everyone gets very serious and scholarly – “just give me the best information!” :)

  140. 140.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Or, “Amirny of the State.” Data scientist and antifascist researcher Emily Gorcenski was going by “Emily of the State” for a while.

    Gorcenski used to live in Charlottesville, and was around for the unite the right rally in August, 2017. The night before, she was pepper sprayed by the “crying nazi,” who now does his crying in prison on account of a subsequent crime.

    Gorcenski has since moved to Germany, and keeps up an interesting twitter feed, some of it in German.

  141. 141.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Baud:

    Can’t believe those capitalist Republicans didn’t come up with that.

    Rewarding desired behavior is not in the GOP lexicon, at least not for the little people. It’s all about punishing those people.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @Kelly:

    The projections for coasts always stop at “this is underwater” but there will always be “a coast”. It will just be in a different place.

  145. 145.

    Gin & Tonic

    Here’s a joint statement of the US, UK, and most EU Embassies in Tbilisi condemning today’s violence

    ETA: Interesting to note Poland’s failure to sign on, despite the fact that a Polish citizen was stabbed because the rioters assumed he was gay.

  146. 146.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah, me too. At the end of The Winds of Winter, I could tell that GRRM threw away his map and got lost in the woods. The best thing that the TV series did for Martin was it kept his writing lean, precise and economical. On the page, he’s too enthralled with his prose and takes too bloody long to get to the point.

  147. 147.

    Kathleen

    @satby:  I had that same problem with one of my Apple friends. My messages to him failed but some of my other Apple friends got my texts
    I’m in a vortex and can’t get out!!!!

  148. 148.

    Chris T.

    @Kay: Much of the west coast is rather cliff-y, so if you are concerned with sea level rise, you can just be far enough back from the existing water-line, depending on where you look.

    The problem with this approach … well, okay, problems, plural:

    • The coast erodes, usually rather suddenly (see houses / apartments in Pacifica that have fallen into the sea)
    • Most of the best spots are far too expensive.  Small OR coastal towns are cheaper but the economies there are depressed.

    There’s also the general effect of sea air on properties (maintenance can be pretty steep). That’s why we went for Bellingham-ish, it’s inland enough to be away from the worst ocean effects, yet ocean enough to have a marine climate, and not as pricey as Seattle.  Of course, then we had the Heat Dome. I was expecting climate change, but not quite this much this fast! ?

  150. 150.

    MomSense

    Have had a wonderful couple of days.  Yesterday met some new and old friends in Portland to hear my kid’s band play.  We had such a fun time all together.  One of our new friends wanted to try kayaking so she is using my boat.  We took her to our secret launch spot and I got a nice video of all of them heading out.  I’m now waiting for them at our friends place where I’m eating fresh fruit, knitting, and watching the feral cats.  They are all Maine Coon cats. Tortellini is being bossy as ever so I’ll have to refill the kibble dish when she decides the others can have a turn. I’m making curry mussels for lunch and picked up some great bread and wine.

  152. 152.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Leto: According to the Army Times article, the Army is gearing up for mandatory vaccination once the FDA gives full approval for the vaccines, instead of emergency use authorization. After that, based on what you and others have said, it will be ‘stick out your arm and say ‘ah’

  153. 153.

    Suzanne

    @Chris T.: Don’t forget that the Pacific Northwest is also going to get nailed by the big earthquake! Not where I would purchase property!

  154. 154.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @Baud:  yup.

    in the event a national unity ticket of horseshoe populism wins — say, haw-haw hawley teamed up with tulsi gabbard — i believe the purge films become documentaries rather than horror.

  157. 157.

    Kristine

    @Kay:

    Detroit would be a real bargain if you bought right now.

    Prescient comment from a character in one of my fave films, Only Lovers Left Alive. Tilda Swinton’s character, an ancient vampire, is visiting Detroit, which at the time the movie was filmed was not in the best of shape. She says that it will revive and flourish because it has fresh water.

    NE Illinois doesn’t seem to be such a bad location, either. But I am a native western NYer, and every so often I consider moving back. The winters can be hell but at least there’s terrain. I get tired of the flat forever sometimes.

  158. 158.

    WhatsMyNym

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    In the early 90s, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, most of New England had beautiful, clear, crisp, low-humidity summers.

    Summers mostly sucked in N. Illinois in the 60’s , 70’s & early 80’s, hot & sticky even at night. Fall could be nice. Winters were all over the place.
    Moving to the dry heat of CA was bliss (I never had a home with AC in CA).

  160. 160.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: Farming will have to adapt.  There are several approaches that sound promising to me, but they will cost more than just digging a slot in the ground.

    And ultimately there’s a limit – temperatures have to be cool enough at night or the biology of plants don’t work right.  :-(

    “When nighttime temperatures do not fall below approximately 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the corn plant doesn’t get a chance to slow down at night and instead keeps metabolizing sugars at a high rate around the clock. This high rate of nighttime metabolism, often referred to as ‘dark respiration,’ causes the plant to finish the grain fill period and reach full maturity faster than normal,” Hamlin says. “Unfortunately the higher rate of dark respiration also causes the plant to put photosynthetic sugars into plant growth and maintenance that would otherwise be used to fill grain and create higher yields. Every sugar that goes into plant growth and maintenance rather than into production of kernel dry matter represents lost yield potential for the plant.”

    In the group’s study, it shows that the Illinois corn crop has seen yields dip by 3.6 bushels/acre for every 1-degree increase in average nighttime temperature during the critical grain fill period. For Indiana, 2 bushels/acre are lost for every degree above 72 at night, on average.

    Raised solar panels can shield the earth underneath and keep temperatures down.  Clever engineering might be able to make sure plants get enough sunlight while keeping the ground cooler. And solar cells work better when they’re cooler, also too.

    https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/farmers-guide-going-solar

    Greenhouses, and all their variations. Grazing animals rather than crops (as TaMara’s post a year or so ago discussed). Etc.

    Change always brings opportunities, if people are willing to do the work to take advantage of them. I suspect that US farmland won’t be abandoned as temperatures rise, but it will be used differently.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  161. 161.

    Another Scott

    @satby: I don’t have a solution, and it’s always frustrating when things don’t work right for no obvious reason.

    Until it’s working, you might try Signal for SMS/MMS messages.  It doesn’t do all the fancy stuff of iMessages, but it works great for SMS/MMS.  You don’t have to use the heavy-duty encryption stuff (to send messages to other Signal users) if you don’t want to – it can act just like a normal SMS/MMS client.

    https://apps.apple.com/us/app/signal-private-messenger/id874139669

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.securesms&hl=en_US&gl=US

    HTH a little.  Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Who has used it for years on Android.”)

  162. 162.

    debbie

    @Chris T.:

    I am in mourning. Oregon’s blueberries are withering and drying out before they can be harvested. Fucking heat dome.

  164. 164.

    Kristine

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I have never heard of this movie, but you had me at Tilda Swinton plays an ancient vampire….

    Tilda Swinton. Tom Hiddleston as her equally ancient vampire lover, living in Detroit in the guise of one of those music legends whose rare recordings are highly sought after. John Hurt as Christopher Marlowe, also a vampire. Other character actors you would recognize. It is one of my favorite movies.

  165. 165.

    debbie

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    I agree. Nothing more tedious than an author in love with their own words. James Clavell, to name just one. I knew his editor, and he was a very dispirited man.

  166. 166.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: At work we say that water is going to be the oil of the 21st century – something that causes wars, and that everyone will be chasing after. I think areas that are deserts where lots of people live now, like Phoenix, will be screwed as eventually uninhabitable. Of course, new technology could change that.

  167. 167.

    Helen

    @Another Scott: l believe the first big problem in agriculture will be water. In so much of the West, agriculture is dependent on irrigation. Depletion of aquifers and control of surface water will be  an enormous problem. And Americans are used to a wide range of relatively cheap food year round.

  169. 169.

    Diceros Bicornis

    Anyone here following the Tour de France? It rolls through my village of St Laurent du Pont tomorrow, and — though I can’t make a huge HEY BALLOON JUICE sign because 1) the risk of the local gendarmerie NOT being tolerant of signage and 2) no signage supplies or skillz —  I’ll be out in front of the church with my very-tiny-GREEN-BALLOON-fringed parasol and a Chartreuse colored shirt. (Looking clownish, with baby balloons, multicolored sunshade, and shirt in a color that no one looks good in.* ) But. I’ll. Be. There. Wave!

    *Pablo Manzoni…called chartreuse a “miserable color.” “Nobody looks good in it…because of the high condensation of green and yellow, it is lethal, I repeat, lethal.”

  171. 171.

    Kristine

    @Soprano2:

    I think areas that are deserts where lots of people live now, like Phoenix, will be screwed as eventually uninhabitable. Of course, new technology could change that.

    One thing I simply cannot understand is why that area is growing so quickly when it’s so damned hot and dry. Unless technology ramps up quickly, I don’t see how it’s sustainable., much less desirable.

  172. 172.

    Geminid

    @Kay: My landlord planted 18 acres of apples here in the late 1970s. It was a commercially viable prchard until the 90s, when warm winters caused early blossoms that were then wiped out by April frosts. My landlord has lived in Charlottesville for some time now, but he came out this spring and planted three apple trees he hopes are better suited for the new climate. I was glad to see this happen.

    On the other hand, central Virginia gardeners are now having success with sweet potatoes, even peanuts.  Hemp also does well in the heat, and people here are planting all kinds.

  173. 173.

    opiejeanne

    @debbie: 
    I picked about a quart of blueberries yesterday in our garden, and there will be a lot more over the next week or so. We kept things alive by setting the timers to water twice a day on the four worst days, evacuated the greenhouse plants to the deck, where they were partially shaded most of the day. We could hardly drag ourselves outside to water those at midday, but they are all growing like mad now. They all loved the heat because they had enough water.
    The blueberry bed has 4 plants, 2 of which are productive. A month ago we hung a bird mesh over a PVC framework so we would get some of the berries, and I think it helped keep the berries a little cooler.

  174. 174.

    opiejeanne

    @Geminid: We have had a similar problem with early blossoms on fruit trees, only to have a killing frost soon after. This year the cherries were not deterred, other than the damned Rainier. It hasn’t been happy with us for 3 or 4 years now, but most of its problems are that we rarely have any bees when it blooms, and the sour cherries that are self-fruiting and act as pollenizers* for the Rainier, all bloom after the Rainier is finished. Duh.

    *Montmorency cherries; they make great pies.

  175. 175.

    StringOnAStick

    @Kelly: I’m feeling like an idiot for having left Colorado when I look at the weather forecast there and here; it’s like they switched places in one year and it’s dry as dust here in central Oregon right now.  We invested our one shot at moving for retirement and now I’m filled with doubts.

  176. 176.

    Kelly

    @Kay: Oregon Coast is steep so not much land lost with ocean rise. The most expensive land will be the first to go.

  179. 179.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I’ve seen that in my own garden. I’ve been growing snapdragons for 30 years. They’re tender perennials but treated as an annual in NW Ohio because it’s too cold. Was too cold. They come back now. I was really bothered by it. It unsettles me.

    I worked in small rural post offices for years so I used to chat with farmers. They keep weather records. Some of them have records dating back a hundred years, because generational ownership. They all saw it warming. Not a single denier among them. It’s just right in front of you if you’re that closely attached to a particular piece of ground.

    I actually love the upper peninsula in Michigan. It’s my favorite place in the world (what I’ve seen of the world- not that much). I have property in Michigan but not that far north. I might buy some.

  181. 181.

    Kelly

    @StringOnAStick: Bend real estate prices are still rocketing up so you have that going for you. Bend will be lovely most of the time. We’re considering a small trailer so we can take the cats with us is we want go to the coast for fresh air. Hotels don’t like cats.

  182. 182.

    Kelly

    @StringOnAStick: There’s enough water in Central Oregon for the growing urban areas. Just need to by out some alfalfa farmers. The irrigated crops in the high desert are mostly low value.

  183. 183.

    StringOnAStick

    @Kelly: We just visited our friends who bought in McMinnville in May; it got up to 117 there and their landscaping really suffered.  The local authorities are suggesting that the area is headed into extended drought so when replacing landscape plants, go with more xeric selections.  Walking around their new neighbourhood it really struck me how water intensive many landscapes are there, just as it shocks me here to go to nurseries and see a few xeric plants off in a corner and everything else is high water use plants.

  184. 184.

    StringOnAStick

    @Kelly: We just hired a xeric and native plant landscape designer to give us a plan to eliminate all lawn in the front; I can handle the backyard design since there’s not much there to try to integrate into a new plan.  Xeric only, drip irrigation only; this is a desert and our neighbourhood has way too much deep green water hungry grass.

  185. 185.

    StringOnAStick

    @Kelly: A cat acceptable trailer sounds like a great idea.  We just got back from our first ever camping on the coast; it was wonderful.

  186. 186.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie:  I’m sorry, that’s so disappointing.

    In the summer, I live on whatever fruit is producing.  Right now, it’s blueberries and peaches until those stop, then I’ll move on to the next thing.

  189. 189.

    WaterGirl

    @Kay: Did the snapdragons come back?  Here, they don’t come back but they do seed themselves so they often pop up elsewhere in the garden.

    For me, certain flowers get to do whatever they please, and with others they have to be where I want them to be.  Snapdragons get to do what they please, as do columbine.  I don’t even care if they come up in the middle of something else.  And poppies.  Every time I tried to make my poppies be where I want them, they flip me off and won’t come up.

  190. 190.

    Kelly

    @StringOnAStick: A lot of trees around the valley had this years new growth scorched away by the crazy heat. It’s a small percentage of the trees just the some of ones with large southern exposure. There’ll recover but adding that into the fire damage in the foothills and the ice storm damage the lush Willamette Valley  is looking a bit battered.

    Willamette Valley landscaping didn’t need to worry about water until the last ten years or so. You only had to water half as often back then.

  192. 192.

    Drdavechemist

    @Geminid: Not sure if it’s climate change or just improved techniques and varietals,  but apparently winemaking is also growing in that area. We will be spending a few days next week outside C’ville at a winery owned by the sis and BIL of a good friend. We have had some of their wines and the cab franc and blends they use that in are quite nice.

  194. 194.

    Diceros Bicornis

    @Amir Khalid: Yep, first day of the Tour some overly enthusiastic and aggressive sign holder snagged a rider and caused a massive pileup with significant material and personal damage resulting. So the security folk are a bit more tetchy than usual about signage and held objects. I’m hoping they won’t have a problem with my balloon-ated parasol…

  198. 198.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Another Scott: [T]emperatures have to be cool enough at night or the biology of plants don’t work right.  :-(

    And that’s precisely where AGW is showing up. Daytime highs (with the recent exception of the PNW) aren’t all that different from 30 years ago.** Nighttime lows are another story. Growing up sans klima in Baltimore, there were at most 7-10 days when one couldn’t sleep with just a draft-through window fan. Now practically every night stays above 80 F.

    @Another Scott: Overhead solar panels may keep the crops cooler during the daytime, but if the nighttime low (and remember, we’re talking about ambient air temperature, no insolation required) doesn’t drop below 75 F for weeks on end, agriculture is screwed anyway.

    **In late June 1988 I was in Mountain Home ID on business – daytime high, 104 F, and the locals whined about the humidity. Came back to Baltimore a few days later – daytime high, 104 F, and twice as wet.

  200. 200.

    Kay

    @WaterGirl:

    They didn’t reseed. They behaved like perennials. They put on growth- the first year they were just the ordinary columnar snaps but this year they are branched candelabra with what is starting to be an almost woody main stem. The flowers were better- still big with clear colors but more of them because of the branching. I use them as cut flowers- they are the single best cut flower IMO- you don’t get colors like that from anything other than tulips. I wonder if they peter out though- more like a biennial.

    I like a lot of the cool season flowers so warming will be a wash for me as far as flower beds. It may be too hot for sweet peas and pansies and violas. I love all of them. Of course I will also be dead by then so there’s that :)

  204. 204.

    TerryC

    Happy to say that I have 18 acres of meadows and woods at the crest of two watersheds on a dirt road just 5 miles from the middle of the Umich central campus. Positioned well for a few decades even if I am 73. I was just out picking a bucket of green black walnuts to make Nocino and to flavor red/black Italian wine with.

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