Greetings from the Barcelona airport, where I feel guilty for only knowing some German and Italian. Meanwhile, this fucking guy…
When I was in high school, I was taught that traveling internationally made you an ambassador for your country. I honestly can’t say whether he learned the same. He’s certainly being accurate enough, though the stripes should probably be red.
They didn’t let him into the lounge on what sounded like a made-up technicality.
When Will We Learn
sab
Yikes. What an asshole.
Being rich makes you special. Rules and conventions don’t apply.
Major Major Major Major
@sab: you don’t have to be rich to go to Europe at a ~1:1 exchange rate…
oldster
This guy is waving old gory. Man, I hate this new wave of flag desecration. I’m old enough to remember when being conservative meant having some reverence for the red white and blue. Now, it means preferring some grim, monochrome abomination to your country’s real colors.
I hate these thin blue line flags and their congeners — they are the vanguard of armed fascism. The sight of them chills me.
chuck
I prefer this blog because it has much more informative stuff.
Superhero Jackets
NotMax
June 8, the day it becomes mandatory to dial 10 digits in order make a freakin’ local phone call in Hawaii, 11 digits to place a call to another county in the state.
Life trundles on, becoming a smidgen more cumbersome along the way.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: I remember when this happened in Denver when I was a kid… we survived!
NotMax
Well, M⁴, you can’t spell ambassador without a-s-s.
//
Montanareddog
I don’t think this choad can read the room. Most Europeans are going to look on him with contempt and loathing (and fear), wearing a T shirt like that.
I hope he is not planning on visiting the Netherlands – the famously blunt-speaking Dutch might have a few words to say to him
Tony Jay
Public decency?
Major Major Major Major
And I’m off to Salzburg! Well, Munich. Then a train.
NotMax
‘@Major Major Major Major
Oh, I’ll survive, but a teensy spark of enjoyment has been snuffed out.
I put the blame on the Big Stationery cartel.
:)
Major Major Major Major
@Montanareddog: pretty sure he can read the room and welcomes their hatred. And I’m willing to bet he knows the language wherever he’s going about as well as I understand Spanish. Well, I guess I do know enough Spanish to know when I’m being cussed out…
ETA this week a friend of mine saw a southerner (in Barcelona) picking a fight with some brits after they told him to stand further away. He yelled something like “I’m standing three feet away—but I know you people use metric over there, so I’ll say it like you can understand, one meter…” ♂️
Rusty
We lived outside London from 2005-2009. While most Americans are thoughtful and courteous, we certainly had our share of encountering the obnoxious American there or as we traveled Europe. We looked less like Americans for nothing more than traveling with three, then four children, at least one of them in a stroller. That is not your typical tourist look. We found Europeans to be very kind to traveling families. By their standards our family was huge. It was a particularly crazy time of our lives, but the best memories.
Amir Khalid
@oldster:
Did Evel Knievel ever get any backlash for his red-white-and-blue outfits? I always thought they were garish and disrespectful of his country’s flag.
PBK
@Tony Jay: Just want to say I look forward to your posts and admire your patience and politeness.
Evap
In Feb 2005 I went to a conference in France. I wore a t shirt that said (in the official UN languages): I’m sorry my president is an idiot. I did not vote for him. I dug out the shirt again for European conferences in 2017-9
Geminid
Mike Franken won Iowa’s Democratic Senate primary and will face Charles Grassley. It was a relatively easy victory, by around 20 points.
In New Mexico’s primaries, Gabriel Vasquez is now the Democratic nominee for the state’s 2nd Congressional District and will challenge Congresswoman Yvette Harrell. The district covers much of the southern half of the state; Santa Fe Democrats added Democratic districts when they redistricted and the 2nd is now rated a tossup. Vasquez is a former Los Cruces city council member and a veteran of Senator Heinrich’s staff.
Baud
@Geminid:
We need a Franken back in the Senate!
satby
@Geminid: Good, I sent Franken some coin. Glad he won.
lowtechcyclist
@oldster:
This. I’m one of the least patriotic people you’ll ever meet, but these come across as ugly, hideous parodies of the U.S. flag, as if someone had sent our flag off to Mordor for a redesign, and all the RWNJs are saying, “great job, orcs!” and flying and wearing the results.
Montanareddog
@Major Major Major Major:
Oh, the stupid – it burns
Have a good time in the beautiful city of Salzburg, and go easy on the cream cakes
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Agree.
NotMax
‘@Geminid
And according to the grapevine the NM GOP contender for the governor’s office is a TV meteorologist.
adepsis
@oldster: I feel much the same, but there is a silver lining. They’re making it much easier for decent folk to take back the red, white, and blue.
jonas
I’m frankly surprised to see such an obvious cretin traveling internationally. Doesn’t he know they serve weird foreign food there? But yeah, there’s a certain kind of MAGAt-American that was turned on by Trump and the idea that American greatness means simply being massive, aggressively ignorant assholes. I’m working abroad at the moment and can tell you that a lot of Europeans at least are crossing the US off their business and travel plans in the near future, at least until they see some sanity return when it comes to gun violence. Who knows how many tourist/business dollars this guy is costing someone in Florida or DC or Arizona, where Germans and other Europeans used to love to travel?
NotMax
‘@Montanareddog
if study no other phrases, commit to memory “mit schlag.”
;)
eclare
@jonas: The times I traveled to national parks out west in the mid-2000’s, an overwhelming majority of the other visitors were European. I don’t blame them one bit for avoiding the US now.
Baud
On Today show just now, the “progressive” DA lost his reelection bid in San Francisco due to crime rates, according to Today show.
satby
For those interested, a great Twitter thread about Republican messaging, and how pointing out their hypocrisy is useless (quote from the second tweet):
Matt McIrvin
@satby: Both Republicans and leftists constantly accuse liberals of hypocrisy because it works. Liberals care about this possibly to a fault. So there’s a nearly-universal attack that every single position a liberal takes is somehow hypocritical or insincere.
NotMax
‘@Baud
Not reelection, was ousted in a recall election.
No impediment to being on the ballot again come the special election in November.
Baud
@NotMax:
I just saw the Today show clip. The ousted DA claimed that they were outspent by billionaires.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
I agree. There is a lack of confidence among mainstream liberalism that is like a free gift to our adversaries.
Kay
@Baud:
The replacement will have the same problem Eric Adams has though, because the crime rates weren’t due to the “progressive DA”. If crime rates were due to “progressive DA’s” crime rates wouldn’t be up in Memphis and Miami and Jacksonville, and they are.
Crime stats are really easy to massage. One of the ways they “lower” the crime rate is they extend the boundaries of the areas measured. Maybe the replacement will figure that out and claim a drop.
NotMax
‘@Baud
“Yes” on recall just north of 60% last I heard. That margin bespeaks more than being outspent.
California municipal politics be passing odd.
satby
@Matt McIrvin: The point the author is making is that a charge of hypocrisy is useless against Republicans because they don’t care. Well worth the time to read it all, but can’t unroll it, he deleted it from Threadreader.
Baud
@Kay:
Oh, I know. I think the larger point is that our voters lack the commitment to see things through whenever things aren’t perfect. It’s been a national problem for Dems since the early 90s.
Kay
@Baud:
Maybe it’s good. Now that the boogeyman “progressive DA” has been removed they can start to look at actual crime rates and what causes them to go up and start to ask why they’re also up in cities and states without progressive DA’s. I don’t think they will though- I think they’ll just throw more funding at policing and incarceration. Maybe more blue line flags.
Baud
@satby:
Republicans won’t reform. But charges of hypocrisy are more for the normie middle, no?
satby
@Montanareddog: He read the room and flipped it off.
NotMax
‘@Baud
Yeah, it’s L.A. (not to mention fictional) but could any D.A. have a worse track record than Perry Mason‘s Ham Burger?
//
Kay
@Baud:
That’s a tough one, police reform. There was a full court media press to discredit it aided by centrists in the Democratic Party. The thing for me is if you’re going to base your whole theory on statistics you have to use all of them- you can’t just omit Jacksonville and Miami and Memphis because they don’t fit the template. This completely discredits the “progressive DA’s cause crime” theory to me. It’s junk.
I agree that a lot of liberals and Democrats aren’t confident though. This is just my personal theory, but I think one of the ways you sharpen your own ideas and think thru why you’re a liberal is being around a lot of conservatives. If you have to defend it you get more confident. It’s been true for me, but part of it could have been getting older and just being more confident in general.
Baud
@Kay:
True. But voters, not academics, are ultimately the deciders.
This makes a lot of sense. I think a lot of liberals tend to be in situations where they are surrounded by other liberals online and in real life.
To the extent I lack confidence in real life, it’s because I always feel like there’s a pertinent fact that I’m not aware of. That’s something conservatives don’t have to worry about.
NotMax
‘@Baud
Progress has been an uphill battle against complacency since time began.
Kay
@Baud:
One of my brothers in law is a commercial painting contractor in Los Angeles. He’s not really ideological and I would be suprised if he votes but when he says “crime” and you ask him a couple of questions about which crimes or how crime affects him it turns out he means “homeless people on the street”. That is what is bothering him. I don’t know that more or more aggressive policing will solve that.
eclare
@Kay: Are you saying Memphis has a progressive DA?
Baud
@NotMax:
Yes, of course. I think the problem is that we collectively don’t steel ourselves to that fact. Instead, the way our side talks to itself is bipolar: Get really excited about the possibility of instantaneous, revolutionary results and then really despondent when that doesn’t come about and there are obstacles and backlash.
The exception has been older black folks who lived through the civil rights era. They seem to accept reality better than others.
Baud
@Kay:
Yeah, the Today report on San Fran mentioned the rise in homelessness there. I bet that’s a big driver.
Jesse
@Baud: Good way to put it. I think most liberals are, by character, not really able to straight up accept certain propositions, as they are conventionally understood. There’s a certain built-in level of self-doubt in the character of many liberals, even those who aren’t necessarily well educated. I see this in some conservatives, but to a lesser degree. Not to say that liberals are all just proto-scientists or brainy or anything, just that there’s a whole class of ideas that they just can’t straight up endorse. To add to what Kay said earlier, I think that if you’re frequently around those who share different views, you get challenged and strengthened.
Kay
@eclare:
No, I’m saying crime rates in cities without progressive DA’s are high and often higher than in cities with progressive DA’s. If the issue were “wokeness” or “progressive DA’s” crime rates wouldn’t be really high in Jacksonville FL, and they are. Florida alone has a lot of counter examples to the “progressive DA” theory of crime rates. Just Florida discredits the theory.
And its odd, right? If “crime” is your thing and you’re pundit why wouldn’t you look at Miami? Why is this analysis so selective? The FBI and the DOJ don’t do this selecting- they collect and report all crime rates.
eclare
@Kay: I misread your comment, thanks for the clarification. Must need more coffee.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Speaking of ugly Americans in Europe; one of my on line friends from England was talking about some American MAGA tourist that got mouthy with regulars at the local pub and got told “This is were the fight starts and your safe word is “Biden won.””
Baud
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Heh.
Kay
@eclare:
And “measurement” is only as good as the input. There was a mini “scandal” in crime stat reporting by cities a decade ago because they figured out that if they extended the boundaries of the area covered by the stats – make “Louisville” into a kind of “greater Louisville” that included less populous areas, presto! The crime rate went down. But I think the FBI and DOJ are onto it now :)
jonas
I think the problem in SF was that even though the official crime stats showed things largely unchanged, or rising modestly in line with most of the rest of the US, a lot of minor property crimes, assaults, burglaries, drug offenses (open selling, if not using), etc. were simply going unreported. The police would ignore them and (or because) Boudin wouldn’t prosecute them. SF has always had a homelessness/drug problem, but it has really gotten out of control over the past 2-3 years. Even liberals want to feel safe walking down the street at night, or at least not have to constantly step over human waste, discarded needles, etc. Boudin just seemed massively out of touch with what was going on on the ground. I expect Gascon will get tossed in LA as well.
Jesse
@Kay: It’s maddeningly illogical. I think it makes sense if you realize that “crime” isn’t being bandied about in some kind of data-driven way. It’s a cudgel meant to prosecute your enemies and acquit your friends.
NotMax
‘@Jesse
It’s perception of crime, exacerbated by the local news’ obsession with inflating every police blotter entry wavelet into a tsunami.
Jesse
The shirt is so over the top I wonder if it actually might be ironic.
Kay
@jonas:
I wonder about that, though. I think there was some “ignoring” going on after BLM that was retaliatory by police. They were angry that they felt they were being demonized so we saw ridiculous things, where they would pretend they needed brand new laws to arrest people for looting or setting fires. They really don’t. They have a full set of tools to arrest people for just about anything. I think there was some “blue flu” going on. It worked to a certain extent too- they’re going to get a ton more funding and less oversight.
NotMax
‘@Jesse
Frankly, to me it says “Please shoot me in the butt.”
//
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
What do we know about which of “our voters” aren’t showing up in the midterms? Since this has been a problem for us for nearly three decades, surely somebody must’ve studied it. Would be worth having a demographic profile of who stayed home in 1994 or 2010 or 2014 that had voted in the preceding Presidential election if we want to do something about this in 2022.
Kay
@jonas:
I agree that quality of life is really important and it’s a legit complaint. I just wonder if a conservative prosecutor is the answer. Well, we’ll have the counter example if they remove all the progressive prosecutors and we can all see if that was the issue. It doesn’t seem to have been the issue in NYC.
NotMax
‘@Kay
Get neighborhood patrols out of their carcoons and back to walking a beat.
Kay
@jonas:
I have a friend who is a county judge in Kalamazoo MI. He is a Democrat but also a real liberal. There was so much homelessness and complaints by residents that the (mostly liberal) city government dedicated what had been a fairgrounds to a homeless area. They had tents and cars and campers, but they were cordoned off in this fairgounds in an industrial area of the city so “problem solved”. But the fairgounds area became so dangerous for some of the people living there that they had to break it up, so problem unsolved. They just don’t have housing for them.
Kay
@NotMax:
They don’t even approach to arrest here anymore and they did just a couple of years ago. Now they stay in the vehicle until the suspect is prone on the ground (they order this from the vehicle) – on their belly, spread eagled. What it means to me is they aren’t talking to them at all. There’s none of the exchange of information, explanations, dialogue that went on just a couple of years ago and avoided certain arrests.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
That makes sense. On the other hand, I can also make judgments based on the nature of the conversations that I see here and elsewhere. I don’t see a lot of long term vision or the patience to see it through.
NotMax
‘@Kay
The coinage “carcoons” was not chosen blithely.
debbie
Yet another ugly American. I’d have walked up to him and asked if he was wearing the new flag of Russia.
debbie
Dorothy A. Winsor
I feel stupid. I don’t understand the message of that shirt. I see that the flag is shredded, but I could take that in a couple of different ways
zhena gogolia
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The stripes are guns.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@zhena gogolia: I thought they might be guns, but I really had to squint to see that.
ETA: And even then, does that mean guns are shredding the country? Or that guns are essential to the US? I guess the latter, given the reaction of everyone here, but I don’t know
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I read a profile of him. I’m not too surprised he lost.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
To me, the stripes aren’t shredded so much as they’re silhouettes of guns. Artistic license of some sort, I guess.
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: in Manhattan at least they elected a much leftier DA last fall.
Unkown known
Ah well, makes a break from being embarrassed about the loud drunken obnoxious British tourists.
(UK and US have a special relationship indeed)
Major Major Major Major
As for the SF situation, in addition to all the things @jonas mentioned, there were some pretty high profile failures to prosecute, I know people were upset that Boudin never filed charges on a particularly bad anti-Asian hate crime for instance, after promising he would. The vibes were bad, yes, but the same bad vibes didn’t prevent various NYC boroughs from electing similar DAs last fall.
Kay
@Major Major Major Major:
That’s interesting, thanks. I think the challenge for the replacements of Lefty prosecutors is these problems are legitimately hard to solve and if you run as a more centrist “problem solver” you have to solve problems.
To me, that’s where centrists in the Democratic Party fall down. They’re really good at criticizing “wokeness” and the Left wing of the Party – some of the criticism is earned- but if your pitch is “I’m not an ideologue” – okay, good so far!- there has to be something after that.
The Kalamazoo effort to sort of cordon off homeless was controversial- Lefties hated it- but more importantly perhaps for the “centrists” who supported it also didn’t work.
Major Major Major Major
@Unkown known: there were so many of them! And they were so mad that Monday was a Spanish holiday and things were closed. Only they may have holidays apparently.
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: yeah. Mayor Adams’s approval rating is in the toilet. Honestly other than bad vibes I think people are most upset about the bail law situation, which neither the mayor nor the DA has any control over.
ETA overview of that https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/11/nyregion/new-york-bail-laws.html
jonas
@Kay: I don’t doubt that some of that was going on.
Baud
@Kay:
I agree. Centrists aren’t making themselves an attractive alternative to lefties.
Kay
@Major Major Major Major:
Unfortunately I think Adams is right that a mayor has to have a good or at least non-hostile working relationship with police, because police are politically powerful and can make things very difficult for him. So it’s probably a good idea to kiss their ass to a certain extent and if that’s just a matter of rhetoric “our sainted first responders” then it’s probably worth it.
NotMax
‘@Major Major Major Major
Spain and Italy are chock-a-block with holidays and official festivals but don’t approach ancient Sparta. Saw one estimate that something akin to 300 of 365 days of the year were dedicated to holidays or other government supported celebrations there.
Kay
@Baud:
I went by the fairgrounds area with the judge and TO ME it seemed better than living on the street in front of the library- they had porta potties and the city brought in potable water but the city also doesn’t want to be wholly responsible for it, they’re not the landlord, God forbid, no TENANCY is being established- so it was just whoever wandered in and a lot of bad and dangerous people wandered in.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: that’s Catholicism for you! Except for the Sparta part.
debbie
@Kay:
Or the police need to see that the mayor is popular with citizens.
Baud
@Kay:
Yeah, I believe in reform but I feel like the push for reform often gives short shift to ensuring that the job gets done and done relatively well. We tend to hand wave a lot of complexity away.
polyorchnid octopunch
@jonas: It’s not just Europeans who are crossing the US off the list for biz and travel.
NotMax
‘@polyorchnid octopunch
Heard tell that one cannot swing a cat in Cuba without striking a clutch of European tourists.
Xavier
@NotMax: oh yes, a TV meteorologist, and seemingly the most reasonable R. Had a ton of money and won by a lot.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: one really oughtn’t swing a cat anywhere though.
Tony Jay
@PBK:
Sorry, I’ve been away.
That’s very kind of you, doubly so. I really don’t mind when fellow Juicers venture an opinion. It’s all good.
Well, not all good, but like I imagine someone once said. Anyone can be rude, but it takes two to argue about it. 8-)
Emma
@Major Major Major Major: I really hope this guy was targeted by all the pickpocketing gangs on the street, on the train, in museums, etc. And beaten up by soccer hooligans to boot, they start all kinds of shit on match days just for funsies.
dww44
Re yesterday’s election results (all over CNN and MSNBC;can only imagine what’s being said over on Fox and NewsMax) and the progressive losses in California. I like this take from this guy:
NorthLeft
@Montanareddog: Two meters/+six feet or geddoudahere.
I personally keep a ten foot distance for extended conversations with people whose vax status and precautionary habits are unknown to me.
NorthLeft
@NotMax: Cuba is a favourite spot for Canadians as well.
MobiusKlein
@dww44:
Re: Boudin – As a SF resident for 25 years, and Bay Area for 45+, I know Fox and Fiends will soon pick a new Boogyman to target.
Maybe back to Pelosi? Or Newsom as a proxy. They already did the school board, so who knows. Probably mayor Breed.
Rest assured, there will be a new SF political figure as the chew toy of the month very soon
PBK
@Tony Jay: No need to apologize!
You’ve got a great attitude. Will be keeping an eye out for your next discourse.
Miss Bee
@Montanareddog:
I hope he DOES visit the Netherlands. The Hague, perhaps.
Miss Bee
@NotMax: Or “ohne schlag”
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@debbie: Great video! Thanks.