Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

T R E 4 5 O N

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

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

The revolution will be supervised.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Passing-for-Respite Open Thread: One Freedumb Convoy Fizzles, Another Arises

Passing-for-Respite Open Thread: One Freedumb Convoy Fizzles, Another Arises

by | 127 Comments

This post is in: ,

Remember Bob Bolus, would-be ‘giant boa constrictor‘ of freedom & possible future mayor of Scranton?

======

Meanwhile, out on the Left Coast…


… At truck stops in the surrounding area, most local drivers seemed only dimly aware of the California convoy or too busy to take part. Unlike in Ottawa, where a recent weekslong protest shut down parts of Canada’s capital, the activity near Barstow, Calif., on Wednesday seemed highly staged, with memorabilia stands and food trucks.

The group behind the convoy — one of several in the United States expected to launch over the next few days — is demanding an end to the national emergency, meant to streamline the government response to the pandemic, that was first declared by Mr. Trump in March 2020 and recently extended by Mr. Biden. The protesters also want congressional hearings into the origin of the pandemic and an end to government health rules requiring masks and vaccinations, a move that has already begun as new cases have ebbed.

Mr. Brase, a former public affairs director for an advocacy group that pushed during the Trump administration to relax limits on driving time for commercial truckers, said that the cross-country protest would be peaceful. A statement by the group said the demonstration would end near the nation’s capital, but that the convoy would not enter Washington…

Two hours northeast of Los Angeles, Adelanto is known chiefly for its prisons. Gabriel Reyes, the city’s part-time mayor — a Republican who operates a small currency trading and marketing business — said the city-owned stadium, which once hosted minor league baseball, was little used except for an annual cannabis festival, “Kushstock.”

“I didn’t see us making beaucoup bucks off of this,” he said, “but if they all want to fill up at our Arco station and we get that California tax, then hey, we’re going to say, ‘Thank you!’”…


Grifterpalooza!

… As of Wednesday, the conservative dark-money organization American Foundation for Civil Liberties and Freedoms had raised $464,731 for “the People’s Convoy”—as the protesters have branded themselves. That amount has nearly tripled over the last few days, and is expected to climb significantly over the coming weeks…

Reached for comment, AFCLF chair Chris Marston did not explain how the funding would work, or how participants would qualify for and access money, saying everything came together too quickly to establish rules.

“Trucker leaders are on finance committee to determine where needs are but methods depend on the nature of expense,” Marston said over text message. “This all came together too fast to have pre determined rules so we setup a committee with Lawyer, account, and trucker oversight.” [sic]

Marston said the funds wouldn’t cover return trips after the rally, and inserted a flake of distance between his group and the event itself…

But the convoy itself will strain the financial resources of its participants, especially with donor funds only available for the 10-day journey east, not the return trip.

At today’s gas prices, an 18-wheeler averaging a generous eight miles per gallon would burn around $1,200 in diesel fuel along the 2,500-mile one-way trek from Adelanto to the Beltway—and that’s before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine increases gas prices more…

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Tons of brake lights out here and Bolus along with his sidekick Betsy don’t know where they’re going but insist “helicopters” are following them.

    I wonder if they’re laughing.

  3. 3.

    Ken

    Bolus along with his sidekick Betsy don’t know where they’re going but insist “helicopters” are following them.

    There was a point in my life where I would have thought it tasteless to remind him to save the last cartridge for himself.

  5. 5.

    Jeffro

    “con voyage” ???

    Hey apparently human downward spiral JD Vance, having been told by his campaign manager that he might need the tens of thousands of votes of Ukrainian Americans living near Cleveland has put out a new statement about how he really DOES care what happens over there.

    And of course everything is the fault of “the elites” ?

  6. 6.

    Nicole

    ‘Cause we got a stupid ol’ convoy
    Drivin’ through the night
    Yeah, we got a stupid ol’ convoy
    Ain’t she a pathetic sight?

  12. 12.

    RaflW

    @dexwood:

    bo·lus

    /ˈbōləs/ noun

    1. a small rounded mass of a substance, especially of chewed food at the moment of swallowing.
      • a type of large pill used in veterinary medicine.

     
    So Bolus choked on his own bolus.

  19. 19.

    Craigie

    and there’s a lot of discussion tonight about the convoy being a trap and/or getting infiltrated by the CIA or antifa.

    Close – it’s Black Lives Matter that has infiltrated them. They just haven’t quite caught on yet…

  23. 23.

    Jim Appleton

    I’m imagining an office in Hollywood.

    Eager producer is pitching a screenplay based on the CA goobers.

    “It’s like ‘The Russians are Coming’ meets … ‘Airplane’ plus ‘The Producers.'”

    and so on

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @CROAKER:

    In 1982, Atlanta Braves pitcher Pascual Pérez famously got lost on I-285 and circled the perimeter of the city three times before he finally managed to find the stadium exit.

    (I-285 is 64 miles of clotted highway surrounding Atlanta. When I first moved to Atlanta, I decided to drive the entire circle, just to say I had. It took about three hours. I was never so bored in my life.)

    These Beltway Convoy people exist at some infernal intersection of Stupid, Incompetent, and Malevolent. Fuckem.

  31. 31.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    NYT via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    The protesters also want congressional hearings into the origin of the pandemic …

    Sure, if they submit to medical hearings into the origin of January 6th.

  32. 32.

    Miss Bianca

    @Baud: Well I don’t know about them, but I sure am!

    ET: Speaking of which, the comments on this thread are so far almost as funny as that one. imho

  33. 33.

    Kent

    Dipshits.  The average semi tractor gets about 5 mpg and diesel is running about $4/gallon.  So these convoys are costing each participant about $80 per every 100 miles.  And that is one-way.  They still need to drive home.

    If I was younger and smarter I’d put up GoFundMe sites for every one of these MAGA causes and just pocket the money, or figure out how to launder it

    Here in the US, all they are going to do is clog up the outer ring freeways of big cities and annoy all the suburbanites who drive to work instead of taking transit.  Assuming they even manage to assemble enough trucks to be noticed.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    I think the key thing is that the American right is just not very creative. They never want to create anything new themselves. They’re always either copying historical examples (e.g. the Tea Party) or other countries (e.g. trucker protests). But this extends to not being very capable of copying, either. If it isn’t done for them by some astroturf organization, they aren’t smart enough to pull it off organically.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    Sen. Inhofe is stepping down. His legacy will be defined almost entirely by his climate denial, which included years of vicious lies, conspiracy theories and threats directed at scientists.Good riddance. https://t.co/d9NWh1pphL— Aaron Huertas (@aaronhuertas) February 25, 2022

    Absolutely. This man is a disgrace, and sabotaged progress on climate change for decades with deliberately deceptive bullshit. Not to mention being totally embarrassing to America on the world stage, with his clownish anti-science antics. https://t.co/xvHzNpjs8N— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) February 25, 2022

    Good! Fuck off, you snowball-throwing idiot.

  37. 37.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Yikes! One of the truckers crashed into an overpass – there’s wreckage everywhere (video)

  38. 38.

    Kent

    I guess war is the perfect opportunity to release policy changes that you don’t want to get a lot of notice.  Better than a Friday afternoon.

    https://www.columbian.com/news/2022/feb/24/u-s-regulators-lift-in-person-restrictions-on-abortion-pill/

    U.S. regulators lift in-person restrictions on abortion pill

    WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday permanently removed a major obstacle for women seeking abortion pills, eliminating a long-standing requirement that they pick up the medication in person.

    Millions of American women will now be able to get a prescription via an online consultation and receive the pills through the mail. FDA officials said a scientific review supported broadening access, including no longer limiting dispensing to a small number of specialty clinics and doctor’s offices.

    But prescribers will still need to undergo certification and training. Additionally, the agency said dispensing pharmacies will have to be certified.

    The decision is the latest shift in the polarized legal battle over medication abortion, which has only intensified amid the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is certain to spur legal challenges and more restrictions in Republican-led states.

    Earlier this year the FDA stopped enforcing the in-person requirement because of the pandemic. Under Thursday’s decision, the agency permanently dropped the 20-year-old rule, which has long been opposed by medical societies, including the American Medical Association, which say the restriction offers no clear benefit to patients.

  39. 39.

    Ruckus

    @dexwood:

    Bob Bolus chokes on his own bullshit.

    Unfortunately he seems to be rather proficient at spitting it out. Or is that spuing it out?

  44. 44.

    Cameron

    Bolus, Bollocks, whatever. The “helicopter” nonsense reminded me of the scene in Easy Rider – “that was one of them there extraterrestrial bein’s – he was beamiin’ back atcha.”

    Maybe they could hijack a Coors truck and stage a beer-haul putsch…..OK, I know, that sucked.

  46. 46.

    Kent

    @Anotherlurker:Self driving trucks will be the norm. I only wish that it would happen sooner, than later.

    We already have self-driving trucks and have had them for 150 years.  They are called “trains”

    That said, self driving trucks are liable to emerge long before self-driving cars.  The navigation problems are much more solvable.  You can build self-driving trucks that just go back and and forth between Factory A and Factory B that are 50 miles apart and take the same exact route every single day 24/7, or most likely between midnight and 6 am when traffic is the lowest.

    By contrast, self-driving cars need to be able to navigate every street and highway in the entire country under every type of weather and traffic condition.  MUCH MUCH bigger hurdle.

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    @Kent:

    Station on the corner where I live in CA the price this afternoon for diesel  $4.89/gal cash. $4.99 credit. It may be cheaper at a truck stop, but I doubt it will be much cheaper.

  48. 48.

    HarlequinGnoll

    Depending where they block traffic I would’ve expected a few slashed tires or sugar in tanks.

  50. 50.

    trollhattan

    @Kent:

    I do not wish (nor do I expect ever) to share an interstate with a bunch of fucking robot semitruck-trailer combinations. Some code monkeys are going to decide whether I live or die in a this-or-that emergency situation? Give me a human driver, regardless of neck color.

    Plus, imagine that the next time you’re on a highway, each truck is going at exactly the speed limit (55 in California). Fun!

    As it is, driving in states that allow triple-trailer combos is unnerving enough.

  51. 51.

    RandomMonster

    Help me, I’m not getting it. I thought Bolus left some place in California yesterday and was set to end up in Kingman, AZ. Was that not him? Is he on the east coast?

  52. 52.

    Mallard Filmore

    “Wish to assure the Truckers that the Ram Ranch is not an op.”

    At first I thought this was the truckers wanting to detour to a Nevada brothel.

  53. 53.

    Jim Appleton

    @Spanky:

    “Eeemerrr-gency! Eeemerrr-gency! Everyone to get from Beltvay!”

    I’m guessing few of them get that far.  I had in mind the bumbling sneaking around they do (in the Mendocino I recall from childhood) prior.

  55. 55.

    JaneE

    At least the gas station adjacent to Maverick stadium in Adelanto is usually the cheapest gas in town.  Now I am going to feel like I need a shower every time we buy gas.  Just being that close (50 yards?) to the MAGAT  ridden convoy is nauseating.

    Kushstock had wall-to-wall vendors and participants a couple of years ago.

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is having repercussions in the concert halls of the USA:

    NEW YORK (AP) — Carnegie Hall says Valery Gergiev, a conductor who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, will not lead the Vienna Philharmonic in a five-concert U.S. tour that starts Friday night in response “due to recent world events.” The 68-year-old Russian conductor is music director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, and received a Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation prize from Putin. Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will replace Gergiev for the Carnegie concerts.

  60. 60.

    Martin

    @JaneE: I was surprised at the price differential up in Lost Hills – varied from $4.09 to $4.99 for the same octane, just across the street. Diesel was much tighter, but around $4.89.

    Wanna oppose human rights abusing nations? Go electric, install solar.

  61. 61.

    Ken

    @RandomMonster: There are two different convoys*. The Bolus one started in Pennsylvania and couldn’t find Washington DC. The other one is starting from California.

    * I should say, at least two. I also expect for every actual convoy (no matter how pathetic), there are ten GoFundMe accounts claiming to be funding a convoy.

  62. 62.

    Martin

    @SiubhanDuinne: Hitting other sports as well. One of the F1 teams dropped their Russian sponsor (probably not for ethical reasons, but because they can’t get paid any more) and one of the F1 drivers is the son of one of Putins close allies and might be forced out of the sport. Russian GP is probably to be cancelled for similar financial reasons. Going to be impossible to get insurance for that race, at a minimum.

  63. 63.

    Martin

    Curious political message that Putin is threatening to nuke anyone who might interfere with his peacekeeping mission.

  64. 64.

    SpaceUnit

    @bbleh:

    But Canada’s crackpots showed up with BBQ grills, hot-tubs and big screen tv’s, patio furniture and awnings.  They looked like guys who mean business.  They were organized.

    Our guys look like a bunch of knobs who sit around watching SpongeBob all day.

  65. 65.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @RandomMonster:

    Not that I know of, but I haven’t tried to track any specific truckers. There’s a convoy supposedly leaving California and driving cross-country to disrupt D.C. in time for Biden’s SOTU next week, but that’s separate from Bolus, who drove down from Scranton and immediately fucked up, found out, got mad, and went home.

  67. 67.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Martin:

    Curious political message that Putin is threatening to nuke anyone who might interfere with his peacekeeping mission.

    “The bombings will continue until peacekeeping improves.”

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    O/T: The original (movie) Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan has died at age 84.

    RIP, Sally Kellerman.

  71. 71.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Betty Cracker: She’s my cup of tea and I’m damn glad she broke her “sabbatical” to come back during this crisis

    I’m hoping she feels the pull of being a citizen of the world with a patriotic duty to bring to us what she does best and hang out with us for a while…

  72. 72.

    Dan B

    @debbie: Faster than a speeding Death Santa

     

    Who, by the way gave a keynote at CPAC welcoming everyone to the “Freedom State”* and made no mention of Ukraine.

     

    * For white, straight, racist Christers.

  73. 73.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Kent: Immediately Googlng what party holds the governorship in Ok as well as what Dems will challenge Mikey Pompeo cuz the fat mfr will literally move anywhere some putz will appoint him to a higher office

  77. 77.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Kent: The other self-driving truck I expect to see is the yard mule. Same deal of a very fixed route, but it’s basically moving the trailers from yard to door for unloading/loading, then back from door to yard. Sometimes moving from door to door.

    Buses should be the third type but then you’re dealing with city traffic and the whole mass transit fuss again.

  79. 79.

    dmsilev

    @debbie: I see the “win hearts and minds” campaign is off to a good start.

    Take that transcript and then add to it the decision by Ukraine’s government to basically say “every citizen who wants one, come get your free assault rifle”, and as ugly as this as been so far, it’s only going to get uglier.

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    I don’t think her temporary absence has anything to do with being “a citizen of the world.” Before her hiatus, she said she’d be working on the documentary film based on her book about Spiro Agnew. And it’s always been in the works that she’d co-anchor next week’s SOTU coverage. So she’s still doing what she does, just (for a few weeks) in slightly different formats. But I agree, it’s a treat to see her back tonight doing that Rachel Maddow thing she does so well.

  81. 81.

    CaseyL

    If those asshole truckers really do tie up traffic, they’re going to find out that Americans aren’t nearly as polite as Canadians.  I don’t imagine the DC and Capital Police foces will be very accommodating, either, with the recent history of cops getting beaten and shot by RWNJs. (Well… members of the DC and Capital police who aren’t themselves RWNJs)

  83. 83.

    different-church-lady

    When gas hits six bucks a gallon, driving empty big rigs across the country is really gonna take off!

  84. 84.

    Martin

    @Jim Appleton: Yeah, I’m not sure I’m going to follow F1 any more. Spa was pretty much my breaking point – a race that if not for Covid I would have been attending. And the final race – don’t get me started. Glad to see Masi has been fired, but I’m not sure that’s enough.

  87. 87.

    lurker

    comments on this thread are on fire … maybe cooling off a little at this point, but have made me laugh on a day I could use it … and couldn’t we all…

     

    thx

  92. 92.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @SiubhanDuinne: I knew the details you referred to. But she announced she didn’t plan on a return to her MSNBC show for other than the SOTU in the next few months.

    But she did return. That’s what I mean about her being a “citizen of the world”: she cares about what happens when it’s this big, and knows she has a really unique role to play in helping inform people,  regardless of her need to check out for a while.

  93. 93.

    Martin

    @mrmoshpotato: I believe so. Reported both by the Ukrainian govt and by US journalists.

    Understand that ‘cruise missile’ covers a lot of territory. I think these are short-range ballistic missiles – Russia has a lot of these on mobile launchers. To my understanding the US doesn’t really have any missiles like this.

    These are probably smaller than a Tomahawk and more akin to air launch missiles that the US uses.

  95. 95.

    Leto

    @Martin:

    I think these are short-range ballistic missiles – Russia has a lot of these on mobile launchers. To my understanding the US doesn’t really have any missiles like this.

    Depends on how “short range” you’re talking about. We have the MLRS system which is basically the same type of armored, mobile missile system that the Russians use. We utilized these at my FOB in Iraq. Depending upon the version, minimum of 20 miles with a max of almost 300. And they’re still very much in use.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M270_Multiple_Launch_Rocket_System

  96. 96.

    Martin

    @Leto: Those would normally qualify, provided they are guided  and self-propelled (which they are). I don’t think we make the launchers any more, but it looks like we are still developing the missiles.

    There’s really no minimum range, just that below a certain distance you’re better off removing the propulsion and using artillery. So even a 20 mile range missile would qualify, provided it can guide to its target.

  97. 97.

    Leto

    @Martin: The new M30 missile is now guided, but previously they weren’t. It’s why they were known as the commanders “shotgun system”.  As far as the actual M998, per the wiki the last one built was in 2003 and delivered to the Egyptian Army. We’ve upgraded ours but aren’t building anymore.

    Edit:

    So even a 20 mile range missile would qualify, provided it can guide to its target.

    Again, the “target” is a grid square. Unless you’re using one of the new guided missiles, it’s an area coverage weapon. It’s not a fire a single missile and you’re done. You’re launching a salvo to cover a large area.

  98. 98.

    debbie

    I think the local Fox/Sinclair station has gone rogue. They listed Putin’s stated reasons for invading Ukraine and then refuted all of them, even the “denazification.”  ?

  99. 99.

    RSA

    “This is just one battle in the war,” Betsy calls back to say while admitting defeat. Bob and her say they are leaving DC now – which they call “bedlam” and are heading back home to Pennsylvania.

    I drove into DC this morning and out again mid-afternoon. Note to Bolus: DC traffic is always bedlam, more or less, about like most other U.S. cities.

    Side note: A friend gave me her tickets to see the National Symphony Orchestra rehearsal of Noseda conducts Bach & Mahler, so I took the day off and drove down from Baltimore.  Fun!  Despite the traffic and parking and all.  Next time I might park on the outskirts and take the Metro.

  100. 100.

    Leto

    @RSA: recently had to pass through the outer DC area and it was horrible. Glad DC gave the same welcome to these shitheels.

  103. 103.

    Barbara

    @Leto: Seriously, our traffic is horrible.  Using Waze usually ends up like the bad punchline to a promising joke. No respite, ever.

  107. 107.

    Martin

    @Leto: Cruise missile has to be guided. And also needs to maintain speed, which rules out artillery (included guided artillery) and the kind of solid rocket launchers that you typically see in anti-air systems. So it sounds like the old M998 wouldn’t qualify but with the new missiles it would qualify. The target can be relatively large (I mean, we have nuclear tipped cruise missiles where the target is anywhere within a mile of this coordinate), it just needs to be able to adapt how it gets to the target, both in speed and trajectory, after it’s launched. The intent is to separate it from conventional artillery where the payload is deterministic from the point of launch and the potential ability to either strike a moving target or navigate. For instance, being able to launch it and fly around a region where you don’t have overflight, or avoid civilian centers, or anti-air defenses.

    But ‘cruise missiles’ can be pretty small now. My only point there was to suggest that this doesn’t imply a mass bombing of Kiev, it could have been a targeted strike on a mobile air defense point. It could have been a fairly small munition and still be a ‘cruise missile’.

    I get similarly annoyed by the recent alarmism about a ‘hypersonic weapon’ gap. Not only is the US more than capable of deploying such weapons, we used to put people into a ‘hypersonic cruise platform’ called the Space Shuttle. Hell, Elon Musk has his own private arsenal of them. They sound terrifying, but these are such broad terms that yeah, it might be terrifying, and it might be something less so.

  110. 110.

    Leto

    @Jim Appleton: lol; he needs to depart this mortal coil already. Like Martin said, Massi’s handling of the last race was simply not good. Personally looking forward to the new design, and how Russell does at Mercedes. Haas, the American owned team, is the one that removed their Russian livery and it’s Marzapan’s dad who’s a major investor of the team, as well as a Putin lackey.

    @Barbara: Avalune and I had to pass through last month in each direction. On our travels south it wasn’t so bad, but the northern return… man, that was something. Sorry you have to deal with that!

  111. 111.

    Martin

    @Jim Appleton: You know, I always liked F1 because they invested more in driver safety than almost any other series, but their steady drift toward favoring dictators has been rough. But the series has stopped being fun to watch. 2 laps behind a safety car is not a ‘race’, and doing that just so they didn’t have to refund fans their tickets is bullshit.

  114. 114.

    Martin

    @Leto: I don’t think Masi intended to hand Max the championship, but his desire for a close finish required that he give Max a lot of undeserved opportunities in those last 5 laps, effectively making it impossible for Lewis to compete in that final lap. He might as well have been handed a check by Jos.

    IMO, they should have made Max and Lewis co-champions given how that race ended.

    I’m encouraged by Eduardo Freitas replacing Masi. He’s great. I want to make “Yellow flag in… 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1..” my ringtone.

  115. 115.

    Gin & Tonic

    @dmsilev: Looks like there’s another version of that video – seems that woman didn’t just confront the Russian soldier, she *recorded herself doing so.*

    I want to be that badass when I grow up.

    Link.

  116. 116.

    Old School

    José Andrés

    @chefjoseandres

    We are arriving to Poland to see what we can do! @WCKitchen #ChefsForUkraine

    Dr. Purnima Menon

    @PMenonIFPRI

    Heartbreaking. Friends on the TL, where are you donating or what are you doing to support people in Ukraine? @WCKitchen @chefjoseandres are you planning any food support? What about health workers/hospitals? https://twitter.com/OleksandraZubal/status/1496962695060459522…

    9:33 PM · Feb 24, 2022

  117. 117.

    Jim Appleton

    @Martin: I’m closer to Leto here, especially to see how Russell fares.

    I especially like F1’s heritage.  Russell distills the best of it.

    That said, I take your view, though likely with a bit less disappointment, that the same heritage is not helped by recent admin.

    Good to know BJ has F1 fans!

    Now let’s talk Sumo …

    ETA: I blame Charlie Whiting for being so damn good, then up and dying.

  119. 119.

    Leto

    @Martin: part of the reason was so they didn’t have to refund tickets, but I think they weren’t going to be able to do a Monday race because it was a short week race. Too lazy to look it up now, but I believe they had a race the next week (they were in that three week race stretch: race, race, race) and if they delayed the race to Monday, the teams wouldn’t have had the proper pack up, transport, setup time for the following race. But even with that, totally agree Spa last year was terrible. Just the draw of the weather unfortunately.

    Regarding Massi, much like Jim Comey, he just needed to follow the rules. /shrug. Regarding safety, they’ve been ahead of the game with the exception of HALO. Indy deployed it before they did and it unfortunately took the death of Jules Bianchi before they finally stopped fucking around. HALO has been amazing as numerous incidents have shown, including when Max jumped Lewis and Max’s car slid off Lewis’ HALO instead of his head. Or Roman Grojean’s accident. Holy shit, saw that live and thought I’d just seen a person die live on tv. Fucking amazing he lived. Car safety and the medical teams amazing reaction.

  122. 122.

    FlyingToaster

    @Barbara: From up here in the frozen north, I also find nav apps entirely useless for most purposes in greater Boston.  Yes, they know if there’s a backup on 128 or 93 or the river roads (that is, every rush hour every day).  They do NOT know that there’s a 5 block detour because of a water main break until about an hour into the detour.  By which point one hopes the repairs are substantially under way.   Or worse, when a truck decides that the “low bridge” warning on Storrow and Mem drives (the aforementioned river roads) doesn’t apply to them, and my drive goes from 5 minutes to an hour unless I can somehow get off of the road.

    Waze is incredibly useful for “last mile” navigation to areas I’m less familiar with.

  125. 125.

    evodevo

    @Jim Appleton:  Yes…it’s still going on even now that they have Garmin lol.  I lost count of how many lost semis I encountered while doing my rural mail route easing down a 15 foot wide back road in KY because it was listed as a “state hwy” on the Google/Garmin and they assumed it was navigable.  One of them tried to go across a small bridge across a gully at the bottom of a steep hill and didn’t make it. Took the side out of the trailer…good times!

  126. 126.

    Miss Bianca

    @Gin & Tonic: “Take the L”? This is an expression I’m not quite grokking. Although I see the “I was so focused on Western misbehavior I forgot that Putin was a megalomaniac bent on world domination” excuse is getting another workout.

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