I prefer the words of Abraham Lincoln: “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
Happy & peaceful 4th to all my fellow Americans! https://t.co/m0nBtUNtRD
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) July 3, 2022
Hey guys it's 3 days from July 4th, and ya know what that means! It's the five year anniversary of when 8 Republicans thought it prudent to–on our frickin Independence Day–go to the Kremlin and prostrate themselves before Vladimir Putin, who attacked our election 8 months
— Cliff Schecter (@cliffschecter) July 1, 2022
(Mon), John Hoeven (ND), John Neely Kennedy (La), Jerry Moran (Kan), John Thune (SD) Ron Johnson (WI) & Rep Kay Granger (Tex). Bc the only thing better than being a Trump-smooching white nationalist is a Putin-pecking traitor on our day of Independence
— Cliff Schecter (@cliffschecter) July 1, 2022
Speaking of Republican tourists…
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
eta: over 80 degrees and who knows how humid at 5:30 this AM. One hour in the garden later I was soaking wet.
Ken
I must have missed a memo. How are we supposed to hate the flag and anthem?
I admit I don’t like it when one stripe on the flag is replaced with a different color, or the stars with little crosses, but that’s not a U.S. flag any more. As for the anthem, my only complaint is about that high note.
Albatrossity
Happy 4th, America! Especially for my Putin-pecking Senator, Jerry Moran.
OzarkHillbilly
Copenhagen shooting: police say no indication of terrorism motive
Que up the “SEE??? Gun laws don’t work!” statements from the right.
germy shoemangler
trump made me suspicious. Every time I see a pickup truck waving a big regular American flag go past my house, I just assume it’s a trump-loving fascist.
mali muso
Back from a fabulous visit to Portugal last week where I walked an average of 20k steps per day and ate ALL the things. Particularly seafood and custard tarts.
Book of faces reminded me that today is the ninth anniversary of my other half becoming a us citizen. Who knows, by this time next year we may have made our exit. No plans to celebrate today but may take the kiddo for a hike and a dip in the pool. Happy day off to everyone!
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: The hillbilly from Colorado already did. She apparently doesn’t understand how rare that is in Denmark.
I apologize to all the other hillbillies btw, since there is no comparison to Boebert.
JPL
I love the muppets, but that video is annoying.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy shoemangler: That’s a safe bet. They are real big into performative patriotism.
Baud
—Abraham Lincoln
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: No need to apologize to all the other hillbillies. I am pretty much one of a kind and I don’t take it personal anyway.
germy shoemangler
@OzarkHillbilly:
I see the truck several times a week.
For a while I was seeing a truck with the U.S. flag on one side and the confederate rag on the other. I don’t know if it’s the same guy.
Tony G
@Ken: “The Star Spangled Banner” by Jimi Hendrix is such a great song. Dinesh D’Souza (convicted felon) really needs to crawl back under a rock.
germy shoemangler
@JPL:
The eagle looks like Michael Flynn
satby
@mali muso: I have friends still in Portugal, though they might be coming home today, not sure. I’ve heard nothing but raves about the country; and since my volunteer vaca to Thailand has been postponed again, I’m now thinking I’ll go to Portugal and Spain instead.
O. Felix Culpa
@Ken:
I’m off to put our unadulterated flag up at the end of our drive. I never used to do that, but I won’t let the piggies take ownership of it.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy shoemangler: I love the ones who fly both. “Why yes, I am an idiot.”
satby
@Baud: D’felon D’Souza.
prostratedragon
“I Like the Sunrise,” Ellington
WereBear
@satby: Love it.
germy shoemangler
@O. Felix Culpa:
We’ve got three small flags in front of our house, one in each wooden barrel my wife grows vegetables in.
The flags have prevented our neighbor and other dog walkers from letting their dogs piss on and in the barrels. Before we planted the flags, this was a common occurrence.
Either the dogs are patriotic or their walkers are.
satby
@germy shoemangler: @OzarkHillbilly: History and critical thinking aren’t part of conservative core skills. Plus it’s a statement: “America, for whites only”.
Baud
germy shoemangler
@OzarkHillbilly:
Both sides, really.
Scout211
Thanks, AL! It’s always a good day when the morning starts with mocking Dinesh D’Souza.
Happy 4th of July to all.
mali muso
@satby: I definitely recommend it! Hope you enjoy as much as I did.
sab
Still peaceful here in Akron. Protests around the Safety Building (combined courthouse, police station, jail.) Yesterday the protest got large enough that sheriff sent the SWAT team to protect the Safery Building.
Fred Hampton Gun Club (Black Panthers) have turned up to help keep things peaceful. It seems to be working, and police and city officials seem to appreciate their help.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
Hmm, D’Felon must have a d’fective mirror.
germy shoemangler
sab
@germy shoemangler: What a good idea. I think I’ll try it.
ETA How do squirrels feel about flags?
germy shoemangler
@sab:
BlueGuitarist
Appreciate the “speaking of Republican tourists” and circle back to bears, AL!
And speaking of circles
with DC as 51st state, a circular flag design
1 star ringed by circles of 5, 10, 15, and 20
circles back to Betsy Ross circular design:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_51-star_alternate_flag.svg
love all y’all
OzarkHillbilly
@sab: May it stay that way.
germy shoemangler
@sab:
Squirrels owe no allegiance, but they’re deterred by a cayenne pepper spray my wife blended. Rabbits, too. Bunnies are notoriously unpatriotic.
cayenne pepper, one egg white, tsp of dish soap, cup of water, blended together for one minute then strained into a spray bottle.
The critters take one whiff and decide there’s nothing worth eating in our yard.
Matt McIrvin
@Ken: I’ve noticed that liberal boomers who remember the Vietnam War era tend to be much more suspicious of flag displays than I am because the associations in their head are “pro-war/pro-Nixon”. My earliest real associations are with the Bicentennial celebrations when the flag-waving was cross-partisan for a while.
But conservatives have always tried to hog the symbolic celebrations by overtly associating them with violence, militarism and bigotry, and then letting the negative aura of all that drive liberals away.
Putting “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance was a real propaganda coup for the right because it gave people who cared about actual religious freedom a reason to reject it, so they could be labeled as America-haters.
The replacement with the blue-stripe cop flag (and other resentful, ominous-looking defacements) is new. It almost feels like an opportunity for us to reclaim the real Old Glory.
Steeplejack
I think Schecter is off by a year with his “five year anniversary.” The prostrate eight went to Moscow in 2018, not 2017
ETA: Still have not seen a satisfying explanation of what that trip was about.
Ken
“Ah, this must mark the location of some delicious buried bulbs…”
Matt McIrvin
D’Souza is such a pathetic figure, trying so hard to somehow suppress the fact that the garbage people he hangs with wouldn’t give a brown person the time of day unless he spouted their favorite slogans with fanatic intensity.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s going to be a steamy one here too. Potential thunderstorms later, and I’m really hoping for them. Both for the rain and to ramp down my neighbors fireworks activities.
germy shoemangler
I hope D’Souza gets his own tv show. He can interview people like DeJoy, DeVos, DeSantis, and Cruella DeVille.
satby
@mali muso: Pretty sure I will, thanks!
@O. Felix Culpa:
JAFD
Why are there no knock-knock jokes about the Fourth of July ?
Because freedom rings.
Glorious Fourth, everyone !
satby
@JAFD: nice, in before NotMax and oldgold!
Suzanne
@Ken:
I don’t hate that flag, but I do see goobers and MAGAts treat it like it’s part of their personal branding and I hate that. I know I frequently bring up Joan Williams’ book “White Working Class”, but she makes a really good point about how, for some people, being American is the only “high-status identity” that they have and so they flog the fuck out of it, as if it was an expensive clothing brand. I think it’s gross and disrespectful.
As for the anthem, I kind of hate it and would love to see it replaced with “This Land is Your Land”.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy shoemangler: The squirrels/chipmunks are already raiding my maters. Gonna hit them with the spray today.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I don’t think I’ve seen an attempt at an explanation at all. Apparently we’re not supposed to be even mildly curious as to why Republican senators would go to Moscow on July 4 and never ever offer a reason for it.
Well, I’m more than mildly curious.
oldgold
@satby:
Did you know there are no ducks in Portugal?
NotMax
Revered musical mash-up.
The Yiddish are coming, the Yiddish are coming.
:)
UncleEbeneezer
Wimbledon and a need for something uplifting prompted me to rewatch Battle Of The Sexes last night. It is such a great film. Emily Stone is such an amazing actor and she perfectly captured the essence of Billie Jean King’s personality and everything that makes King such an absolute boss/legend. And the whole recounting of her first love affair with her hairdresser was just so beautiful, loving and moving. Unlike so many lesbian love portrayals in film, it felt like it was not male-gaze-y or licentious at all, even though it did feature some really gorgeous shots of them kissing and being extremely sensual. It captured the excitement and abandon of a first crush. It is also a refreshing movie in that King’s husband Larry responds in a really supportive way rather than making it all about him. Also, the costumes are heavy with Ted Tinling’s famous and fabulous tennis dresses that he designed for the WTA players.
germy shoemangler
@OzarkHillbilly:
I want to clarify we don’t spray the squirrels and rabbits, we just spray the ground around the vegetables.
My wife bought a trellis and had some morning glories climbing and then yesterday morning she found they’d been chewed off at the base.
A family of rabbits is somewhere near, maybe even hidden in our yard. The cayenne pepper spray is a humane way of encouraging them towards an all-you-can-eat buffet other than our property.
WaterGirl
@germy shoemangler: Baby bunnies ate half of my garden this spring. You didn’t say how much cayenne pepper to use. A 55-gallon drum?
OzarkHillbilly
Killjoy, where’s the fun in that?
WaterGirl
@germy shoemangler: Baby bunnies at an entire flat of cosmos in one fucking day. Planted, watered, came out the next morning to water. Gone. Not even a nub in sight. Bastards. Cute bastard, but bastards all the same.
Then they moved on to the five new clematis I had planted.
UncleEbeneezer
@Suzanne: Battle Hymn of the Republic for me. Because it’s about John Brown and the fight to end Slavery. To me there is nothing more American and worth celebrating than the spirit and bravery of all who have fought the forces of evil in this country. I really loathe the typical performative displays of Patriotism, in general, especially as they so often are based on conservative/white supremacist mythology, so I really can only embrace things that specifically celebrate the good sides of our country (Abolitionists, Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, LGBTQ activism etc.). That’s about the only way I can make it through Patriotic songs, parades, holidays etc., without perpetually gagging.
Ken
“Tonight on The D-List…”
germy shoemangler
@Ken:
I’ve got a title for his show: “D’oh!”
eachother
Happy 4th of July.
Ken
Just keep spraying until every visible surface is light red. Your neighbors should think they’re living next to the Irwindale siracha factory.
The Truffle
@Matt McIrvin: Barr basically laughed off D’Stupid’s movie. Drove D’Stupid off the deep end.
NotMax
‘@UncleEbeneezer
Kind’a sort’a obligatory.
;)
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone
germy shoemangler
@WaterGirl:
the spray seems to help. It washes away with every rain. Has to be reapplied frequently.
My neighbor joked about placing a rabbit trap near his garden. He knows the rabbits’ wholesome diet (his vegetables) would contribute to a delicious rabbit stew.
I don’t want to hurt or eat them, I just want them gone.
OzarkHillbilly
God doesn’t love me enough to have them actually lose, but I will enjoy seeing them twist in the wind for awhile.
germy shoemangler
@OzarkHillbilly:
BlueGuitarist
@Suzanne: Thanks for that Joan Williams insight about the flag!
Arlo Guthrie tells a story about his dad teaching him the verses of This Land Is Your Land that aren’t usually included.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy shoemangler: Yeah, that’s me.
Honus
@Ken: yeah, and reviling the founders. I guess he means historical figures like Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest.
rikyrah
philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) tweeted at 8:29 AM on Mon, Jul 04, 2022:
Descendants of Frederick Douglass deliver his famous “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” speech
https://t.co/JtEv9LvMq6
https://t.co/Fd9PuGHBvh
(https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1543950088359317505?s=02)
NotMax
‘@germy shoemangler
Pets or meat?
BlueGuitarist
@rikyrah: Thanks! and Good morning
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Honus
@Tony G: you mean the Star Spangled Banner by 101st Airborne paratrooper Jimi Hendrix, and his fellow paratrooper, hillbilly Billy Cox of Wheeling, West Virginia. Beautiful rendition.
Anne Laurie
Our bunnies have gotten hella brazen during lockdown — bastids can hardly be arsed to hop away when we see them.
Any plant in a pot or raised bed used to be safe, but this spring, the first batch of pansies in the lowest plastic troughs got plowed down like the bunnies had John Deeres.
Fortunately, the annuals that replaced them have done better, possibly because there’s more accessible rabbit food around now. (They won’t touch the vinca, of course, dammit.)
Sure Lurkalot
@UncleEbeneezer: Thumbs up to your comment. I am not unpatriotic, I am simply not patriotic and focusing on particular struggles for freedom can inform what the concept should mean in terms of real human beings.
rikyrah
Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) tweeted at 1:26 AM on Mon, Jul 04, 2022:
Happy Independence Day to the people of and @POTUS! I wish the friendly people of peace and prosperity. I appreciate the leadership assistance of the United States in Ukraine’s defending of common values – Freedom, Democracy and Independence.
(https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1543843618988982275?s=02)
HinTN
@Anne Laurie: For the first time ever the deer are mangling the Mexican Sunflowers. They are driving me away from gardening.
Suzanne
@BlueGuitarist: A few years ago, I took my kids to the Ostrich festival in Chandler, AZ. It’s an annual event that has essentially become a county fair, and just as trashy/deep-fried. Fair food, gross rides, etc. The only attraction at the event for me is the ostrich races, which are as ludicrously funny as you’d expect….grown-ass adults riding ostriches running around a track and only somewhat staying in their lanes. HILARIOUS. Anyway, so we got there for the races, and first the announcer makes some statement about how we’re going to stand to honor “the most BEE-YOO-TI-FULL FLAG YOU EVER DID SEE!”. They had this incredibly solemn version of the anthem play over the loudspeaker (utterly inappropriate for the fact that we’re about to watch ostrich racing, which is fucken ridiculous). And they had this woman come out on horseback, super-garish makeup and bleached hair and cowboy hat, and she’s waving this giant American flag that’s literally been covered with red and white sequins and blue glitter and cheap gold fringe. Anyway, that summed up right-wing flag grotesquerie for me.
WaterGirl
@eachother: Your comment was in SPAM. I sent you email.
WaterGirl
@germy shoemangler: I still need to know the quantity of cayenne pepper to use. Every other ingredient contained a measurement for quantity.
scribbler
@WaterGirl: Bunnies are eating a lot of my garden too. But I was surprised when they ate the lower leaves off my rose bush. I would have thought the thorns would deter them.
Honus
@Matt McIrvin: what I remember from the Vietnam war era was conservatives being incensed when hippies (famously Abbie Hoffman) wore flag shirts or sewed the flag to the seat of our pants. These were not “proper” ways to display the flag. Not like the wingers who alter and stick on virtually every surface these days.
WaterGirl
@germy shoemangler: Sadly, we haven’t been getting my rain.
So I guess the silver lining will be that I won’t have to reapply very often.Scratch that, I am watering all the time.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Идите на хуй, русский военный корабль и Республиканская партия.
Amir Khalid
A happy and meaningful 4th of July to my American friends, and may you celebrate many returns of the day in a land of hope and dreams.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Thanks, my man.
BlueGuitarist
@Suzanne: Great story!
Ksmiami
@mali muso: Portugal is having a major BA Covid infection sweep- please get tested asap
Ken
Plus the possibility of really horrific animal attacks.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
неудивительно, что Д’Суза так тебя ненавидит
Doug R
The freedumb brigade with their almost daily truck parades ALWAYS with a few large Canadian flags really drove home the point that these flags are colonizer flags.
Of course the aboriginals have been saying this for decades, but it took this pandemic for me to really see it.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Very good!
I had a lengthy dream last night about arguing with Bill Barr over a toilet he had installed.
germy shoemangler
We had our rose bushes eaten, too!
A few years ago my wife bought some ladybugs to help with an insect infestation. We’re still seeing their apparent descendants.
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: I would love to have a link to that!
Lapassionara
@Anne Laurie: Our bunnies are brazen too. They used to keep completely out of sight, but now they roam freely. They don’t eat wild violets, nut sedge, or oxalis, which abound in my garden. They do eat rudbeckia, alas. I wondered if the change in behavior was pandemic related, or if they learned that the dreaded hawks and owls have a super advantage at night, and that daylight roaming is safer for them.
Martin
@Ken: I’m fine with the anthem. I don’t think it’s a particularly good anthem, from an objective musical standpoint, unless being paired with explosives and it seems to be almost maliciously designed to take all but the most exceptional singer and make them look bad. As someone who doesn’t perform, I take great appreciation of everyone who does, so that high note just seems mean.
The pledge, on the other hand…
Ksmiami
@WaterGirl: borrow a husky for the day. they are keen bunny hunters. My baby uncovers bunny nests in an in instant…
Suzanne
@Ken: I have to say that if an ostrich had attacked one of those people who bedazzled the flag, I would have considered it fair.
WaterGirl
@Anne Laurie: Mine, too! They run right in front of me. I think it’s because Tucker isn’t here to make them think twice about settling in here. Still missing my sweet Tucker.
zhena gogolia
@Martin: The NYT book review had a review of a book about the anthem. It looks really interesting. The tune originates in a London club that specialized in music, and was designed so that amateur singers could not sing it well.
I’ll go on record here to say that I love the Star-Spangled Banner as a song. I wouldn’t want any other anthem. I love the Battle Hymn of the Republic too, but it’s not suitable for a national anthem.
BlueGuitarist
@Honus:
@Matt McIrvin:
some people in whom the flag doesn’t inspire a patriotic party feeling might see in the circular 51-star flag a peace sign and/or a disco ball. DC statehood doesn’t guarantee the circular flag design (of course the main point is fair representation and improving the Senate).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_51-star_alternate_flag.svg
satby
@oldgold: well…?
brendancalling
I’m not celebrating Independence Day this year. Not after the SCOTUS made a grab at women’s rights.
yeah, I have the day off from work, and I’m gonna drink some beer and eat grilled foods.
But I’m not celebrating anything. What am I celebrating, exactly?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@zhena gogolia: I’d prefer “America the Beautiful” but I’m mostly indifferent
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
I bet he has a plumber’s crack.
Martin
Wrapping oneself in the flag or carrying other signs of government authority (military gear, etc) is an effective way to get to commit violence and have it seen as valid because we recognize that the state is permitted to commit violence. In our head we wrap all that shit up in different terms (we almost never call government violence ‘violence’). That’s why the government has those symbols in the first place. It’s why the military can be weirdly prescriptive with those symbols. We should always be highly suspicious of people who would co-opt those symbols, because they are almost certainly up to no good.
Pretty good rule of thumb about how fascist a group is is how adherent they seem to be to a style guide. I always imagine the Seinfeld ‘you have to wear the ribbon’ episode when I see the fascists about.
Josie
@WaterGirl:
So sorry about Tucker. We always miss those very special guys.
You need a corgi. One of Duncan’s major aims in life is to kill a squirrel. I suspect he would feel the same way about a rabbit if he saw one.
Mike in NC
I could have gotten by on July 4 without reading something from the diseased mind of convicted felon Dinesh Douchebag, or seeing a report on how a bunch of cops in Akron, Ohio chased down an unarmed black guy and fired about 90 shots to kill him. That’s the United States of Trump and I don’t want to live there.
raven
I love my country like a little boy
Red, white, and blue
I love my country, stupid and cruel
Red, white, and blue
eachother
The representatives that went to Russia on the 4th of July were subtle as lightning. They tried to tell us they were traders and traded their independence for a moment of negative attention in Putin’s shadow. The rot they represent is drawing innocent blood in the streets and fields of Ukraine and on the stairs and in the halls of this nation’s Capitol.
May the hope and spirit of July 4th inspire us to become a more perfect union this November.
Happy 4th of July
Baud
@BlueGuitarist:
We could make it into the shape of a circular target. Right wingers would like that.
Although we might get sued by Target for trademark infringement.
oldgold
@satby: All the waterfowl are Portugeese.
brendancalling
@Ken: I’ve never cared for the anthem. The melody and the high note are the least of it.
So… yeah: not a fan. I always thought “America the Beautiful” was the better song. And even that one pales compared to some of Woody Guthrie’s lyrics.
MinuteMan
@Ken:
There seems to be an epidemic of American flag misuse and abuse: the blue line flag, the no quarter flag, flying it upside down, etc. The odd thing is that these same clueless people probably favor criminalizing other forms of this sort of behavior.
satby
@oldgold: thanks for that!
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Thankfully, that wasn’t in the dream!
MinuteMan
@BlueGuitarist:
Designing for 52 stars is more appropriate since PR warrants statehood as much as DC.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Domestic terrorism, just like over here
germy shoemangler
Here’s an anthem I like better:
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Discovery would be interesting
UncleEbeneezer
For those who need a good patriotic video, Obama’s speech at Selma is always uplifting and celebrates the good parts of the American ideal.
Wyatt Salamanca
Amended Abraham Lincoln quote:
“With malice towards none, with charity for all, and with Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows in orange prison jumpsuits and with Trump in a gold lamé prison jumpsuit”
NotMax
‘@zhena gogolia
Anachreon in Heaven, purportedly an English drinking song.
As for the atrocious S-SB, there are four official verses, each more offensive than the last.
Anne Laurie
@brendancalling: The lyrics that don’t often get sung:
We could edit a pretty good anthem together, that *didn’t* celebrate the worst parts of American history.
Mallard Filmore
@germy shoemangler:
Before Trump, I thought “there goes a noisy patriot”.
Now I think “there goes a fucking traitor”.
Betty Cracker
I think James Brown’s “Living in America” would be a better national anthem. The tune is lively, and the lyrics capture the country’s vastness, exuberance and striving nature — plus there are shout-outs to many of our great cities!
Still, one positive thing about having a notoriously difficult-to-sing national anthem is that on the rare occasion someone really pulls it off, it’s extra impressive, like Whitney Houston and Lady Gaga did.
Suzanne
@Martin: All forms of wearing logos, brands, signs, etc. is also about social signaling, an attempt to position oneself in a strategic/advantaged place in the social milieu, to attract the notice of the intended audience and repel the other. It’s absolutely antithetical to the stated goal of the American project. And when it is done with the flag, it makes me especially pissed off.
It’s the toxic masculine goober version of wearing those sunglasses with a giant logo on the side. Which is just gross when done with a corporate brand, and is actively destructive when done with a symbol meant to belong to everyone and with greater aspiration than quarterly profit.
SteveinPHX
@Martin:
Miles Gloriosus if I remember correctly from HS Latin class.
germy shoemangler
@Mallard Filmore:
same here.
BlueGuitarist
@WaterGirl:
In the preface to Woody Guthrie: A Life, Joe Klein quotes Arlo:
“I remember him coming home from the hospital and taking me out to the backyard, just him and me, and teaching me the last three verses to ‘This Land is Your Land’ because he thinks that if I don’t learn them, no one will remember.”
The way I remember Arlo telling it (possibly embellished): his first day at a new progressive private school (Little Red) they sang This Land is Your land and he was embarrassed because he didn’t know the words
and didn’t know “that dad’s songs were sung outside the home.”
And when he came home his dad took him out to the backyard and taught him all the verses, and emphasized the ones not usually sung.
Lately Arlo interrupts the song with a story about — rabbits.
Baud
@Suzanne:
That’s why there’s a Balloon Juice store.
MikefromArlington
If dinesh dropped dead in the woods and nobody were around, would he make a sound?
would anyone care?
Suzanne
@Mallard Filmore:
Before Trump, I thought, “there goes a low-IQ small-dicked jerk”.
Now I think “there goes a criminal”.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Now today feels like Sunday. Holiday schedule jumble
Anyway
@MinuteMan:
Combine North and South Dakota and give the star to DC is my dream scenario. No change needed to the stars’n’Stripes!
(Not sold on PR becoming a state as I have heard the locals are not fully on board)
Suzanne
@MikefromArlington:
Are you kidding?! I’d be thrilled.
Rictus grin for the rest of the day.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: Settle in with Fred, Jim, Reggie, and Endeavour and have a great time. We can only watch half an episode at a time, and I’m actually eager to see what happens in the second half of “Terminus”!
OzarkHillbilly
@MikefromArlington: It would be months before I heard of it.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Three items:
1. I now despise fireworks. They’re reminders that we’re being governed by a living YouTube video of a guy with Oakley wraparounds talking in a truck. They annoy me and terrify my household pets.
2. The Merlin bird ID app is great! Catches the calls and identifies. Also, it’s a granted research app, so it’s free and noninvasive.
3. How are abortion ban states going to train obstetric, gynecological and oncology residents if they don’t know how to do either chemical abortions or D&Cs?
BlueGuitarist
@MinuteMan:
If Puerto Ricans want statehood.
Ken
Also from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Martin
@brendancalling: I get that. We went out to the parade in my son’s town yesterday, and he and I were neither excited to go, or particularly uplifted by it. I’m a tough sell on these things. I don’t have a ‘switch off and just enjoy it’ mode – I’m critical of everything.
My wife didn’t understand why we didn’t enjoy it, so I’ll give the abridged discussion:
This is a holiday about a thing. The parade is in celebration of that thing, so it should do that and not just be a garbage plate of domestic iconography. July 4 parades should convey optimism about the next year of our nation. Lots of ways to do that. Our community back home (literally our HOA – which covers 30K people, so it’s got similar resources to most towns) has a parade every year. It’s glorious. There are effectively no adults in it. It’s all kids from the community. All of the scouts, sports teams, kids doing dance, etc. School marching bands, and the first quarter of the parade is basically any kid who wants to decorate themselves, their bike, their scooter, their wagon gets to be in the parade. Just show up, and pull you dog in your wagon up and down the parade route, and people will clap and cheer for you. Sure, there’s the usual local officials, but no politicians and no businesses. The closest thing to a business is a float to remind people of the blue poop bag dispensers around the town so people keep the neighborhood nice. It’s a parade about our kids and grandkids, our future. There are literally no political messages.
This town’s parade is different. It’s not bad, it’s probably very normal for a small town. The sports teams are here – that’s fine. Instead of the school marching band, they have a community one, which is pretty cool. I love old people getting to do marching band again. But there’s also the local car clubs, a bunch of the local businesses with floats, and the like. About half the parade feels like a celebration of people with enough money to have bought a new Mustang last year and want to let you know that.
This is a town that 2 years ago almost ceased to exist. The CZU Lightning fire forced the evacuation of the entire town, and about ⅓ of the county. 1500 buildings were destroyed. The local state park is set to reopen later this month, after being closed for 2 years. Some of the redwoods in the park were still burning 6 months later.
So the firefighters get the greatest cheers during the parade, but my son and I look at so much of the rest of the parade and see this celebration of the very things that are killing the people here. There’s nothing in the parade celebrating the changes being made to improve things. Instead of showing off a new electric bus, the parade is full of people in lifted trucks, cars doing burnouts, etc.
Don’t get me wrong – I get nostalgic for old cars and things like that too, but it needs to be contextualized, and it just isn’t here. There was almost nothing in the parade to be optimistic about. It felt like the trope of the middle age guy who hit his peak as the star of the high school football team and couldn’t move forward.
I cheered the farmers with their tractors. That might seem like a dumb thing to get excited about, but at least they are providing an important service. Feeding ourselves, and you, and half the world is something to be proud of. At least the tractors do something of civic good, unlike the Mustang, and the off-road trucks, and the other nostalgic bullshit that serves nobody but the owner (and consequently harms everyone but the owner).
The current state of the country isn’t great, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for optimism about the nation. But you have to find that and wrap your arms around it. And that can be hard.
taumaturgo
Frederick Douglas, 1853 speech “What to slave is 4th of July”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0baE_CtU08
BlueGuitarist
@Anne Laurie:
Thanks for the additional Katharine Lee Bates lyrics.
Also:
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
Martin
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Regarding 3) I think Biden should use his executive powers to eliminate or defund residency programs in states that have banned abortions on the basis that they can no longer provide medical students with the necessary training. Virtually all medical residencies in the US are funded by Medicare. It’s a very big lever that the President possesses.
Consequence of this system – it’s one of the biggest bottlenecks in why we don’t have enough doctors in this country. The program is massively underfunded, and medical schools aren’t going to admit medical students that can’t complete their training because HHS ran out of cash.
Betty Cracker
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: The Merlin app is fantastic! They’re the first outfit to really succeed in identifying calls, AFAIK. I tried several that were worthless over the years.
zhena gogolia
Nice video from Lincoln Project today. For once, the YouTube comments are inspiring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNsvp61yb0k
Martin
@MikefromArlington: I don’t even think the detritivores would have him. He’d just lay there, perfectly preserved.
One of my running anxieties in life is that I’m not as good a person as I strive to be, and that I didn’t help enough. That’s my imposter syndrome. I can’t imagine being as pathetic a human being as Dinesh and still being able to get up in the morning.
M31
“This country is going down the shitter, and here’s proof!!!!!”
JPL
@zhena gogolia: Thank you for the link!
Old Man Shadow
Ah, yes. An America that stays true to its founding principles that women and people like Dinesh don’t get to vote or speak without the approval of white, landed men.
Salty Sam
Did you not hear the warnings about the brown acid?
TerryC
@Matt McIrvin: I named my three private disc golf courses the Red Course, the White Course, and the Blue Course and have appropriate color schemes on the hardware for each one. That plus my Vietnam Veteran status is like armor against right-wing citizens who just can’t “go there” about patriotism with me.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Betty Cracker:
Mai think we had about 25 species identified over breakfast on the deck, and judging from what we saw on the feeders, it was spot on.
In addition to a variety of songbirds, we had an egret, a red-tailed hawk (I think it’s raising some fledglings a couple of hundred yards away), an osprey, wild turkeys and a bobwhite.
Hungry Joe
Abe lost me at “With malice toward none.”
Another Scott
@Steeplejack:
Dana Milbank at WaPo on the Moscow Mules (from July 2018):
I assume TFG asked them to go to as a “favor” to him, to carry a message to the russians. VVP refusing to see them, and mocking them on the TeeVee, reinforced to the eight that the GQP had/has no independent power from “only I can fix it” TFG. Weaken the co-equal branch of government, pump up the mentor and monster, undercut America’s standing. Win, win, win – so much winning.
Grr…,
Scott.
Kropacetic
Not liking jingoistic abuse of patriotic symbols = hating the flag.
See also: Flag shirts, screaming “under God,” thin blue line flags, etc
raven
@Martin: I wear my Nam Vet hat when I mask up at Lowes and such.
Betty Cracker
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Nice! I saw a wild turkey on a walk early this morning — they really are pretty.
I was skeptical when Merlin sound ID first came out because all the previous bird song/call ID apps I tried were crap. But I know the birds in my location, and it is incredibly accurate in my experience.
raven
@Kropacetic: I wore this flag shirt in the 70’s and right wing motherfuckers had a stroke!
Wearing military shit them also shook em big time!
AWOL
It was nice to see swathes of people not standing up for the insipid national anthem or that Tin Pan Alley trash, “God Bless America” at both CitiField and Yankee Stadium this week.
Of course, it would better to get all the anthems, military flyovers, and jingoistic vomit out of sporting events, where they don’t belong.
These Nuremburg rallies are becoming more absurd as more and more players in all US sports are from other countries. The NHL is so absurd that it features Russian Putinites like Ovechkin and Malkin wearing US military uniforms as promotions.
O. Felix Culpa
@raven:
Looks like John Lennon next to you. :)
Feathers
@OzarkHillbilly: A Danish knitting designer I follow on Twitter was there. Apparently the shooting was at the food court, which was full of young girls and queer kids meeting up before the Harry Styles concert that was about to start nearby. She said it was almost a Pride-level event in terms of all the boas and makeup and bright colors. She was furious over the fact that they didn’t seem to be taking who the victims were into account in determining if it was terrorism or not. She says she’s not doing well and is getting help.
Eunicecycle
@Betty Cracker: I use it all the time, too. I think the sound part of the app is more accurate than the picture one. It’s been way off on the pictures the few times I’ve tested it. Or maybe I take bad pictures.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl:
This says 1T per 2 quarts water.
I use 1T of Cole’s Flaming Hot Pepper Sauce per pound of shelled sunflower kernels in the bird feeder. Basically, you want enough pepper on the surface so that the mammalian beasties taste it before they eat anything important. It doesn’t take a lot, but you want a full coating.
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
Raven
@O. Felix Culpa: That house was pretty nuts, 7 people and 8 dogs!
Matt McIrvin
@raven: If you were a clean-shaven kid with a crewcut they’d probably have been fine with it.
Kropacetic
@raven: I can’t really make out the details on my phone. You were friends with John Lennon?
Or most anything. Cultural signifiers are paramount and must be unbesmirched by signs of radicalism or irony.
Suzanne
@raven: I have a “KAMALA” hat and a face mask with Nancy Pelosi’s face printed on it and I enjoyed wearing them last year when masks were really pissing off the right.
Baud
@Kropacetic:
They don’t call Raven the Fifth Beatle for nothing.
raven
@Kropacetic: It’s a blurry pic and, no, just one of the fellas from back in the day who fled Illinois for Norcal.
raven
@Suzanne: Nice!
Matt McIrvin
@UncleEbeneezer:
It’s even super religious with an appearance by apocalyptic killer Turbo Jesus! Returned to smite the frickin’ Confederates! Ha ha ha!
(I like the “John Brown’s Body” version better, but to each his own.)
Another Scott
@Anyway:
HR1522 has a quick summary of the history in the preamble:
There seems to be a majority that wants statehood. Territory status has clearly not helped them (especially under TFG’s time).
Cheers,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
@MinuteMan: For what it’s worth, there are existing designs with a more or less normal-looking rectangular arrangement of stars for any number of states that is likely to exist in the near future, up to fairly vast numbers of states. There’s been mathematical work on a general theory of “nice” star arrangements that has been used to write automatic US flag star pattern generators, though the online applets I can find all stopped working years ago.
Jackie
@raven: During the Bi-Centennial, wearing flag themed clothes was popular. In honor of my Flag’s Day birthday, I had a pair of American flag hot shorts lol.
jackmac
Independence Day in America
Mass shooting this morning at a parade in Highland Park, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. Possible casualties. Nearby towns in area have cancelled July 4th parades. It’s a developing story, so more details yet to come.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Ahh the 4th of July – where everyone gets to argue over whether the US is good or evil (when the answer is so clearly “both”)
BlueGuitarist
@Hungry Joe:
Don’t forget the previous sentence:
“Yet, if God wills that [the war] continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'”
and the next phrase
“with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work”
https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm
MagdaInBlack
@jackmac: Yes, I was just reading that, thank you for posting. HP is a high dollar suburb. No one is immune .
Uncle Cosmo
Preach, Wife of Gogol! For many years I spent a couple of evenings a week in my favorite Irish bar less than a half mile away from Fort McHenry – and a couple of times a month I still drive past the Battle of North Point monument on Old North Point Road[1] along the Greater Dundalk Outlets, Liquidators and Generally Cheap Stuff retail circuit.
At a reliability conference in Philly in the late 80s, our delegation was siting in the lobby next to a couple of Bundeswehr officers who told us they frankly did not understand “The Star-Spangled Banner.” As the one lifelong “Baltimoron” among us, I was pleased to explain the history, narrate the events, and note that the burden of the Anthem lies at the beginning of its rarely-sung final verse[2]:
– IOW, an Anthem that celebrates a dogged, gritty defense against what seemed overwhelming attacking forces.[3] (The German officers professed to be impressed.)
[1] NB had the Baltimore militia not met the British landing party, fatally wounded their commander & driven them back to their ships, this town would’ve been barbecued like DC and no one would much remember that over the Fort
[2] And just FTR, as with the founding documents of the Republic, “God” appears but once in F. S. Key’s poem, farther down that final verse.
[3] Stirring words that apply equally well to the defenders of Ukraine nearly two centuries later. Слава Україні! Героям слава!
[4] NB Editing in Text mode is a PITA when line breaks must be inserted manually each time.
Chris T.
(Eddie Izzard voice) “Do you have a flag?”
Nicole
Husband and I are celebrating the 4th in our traditional fashion, by watching Jaws.
Chris Johnson
@BlueGuitarist: Oh, that’s so cool :)
James E Powell
@Steeplejack:
Still haven’t seen a satisfying explanation for a great deal of Republican/Russian interactions. We probably never will.
Did we ever see Trump’s tax returns?
Ben Cisco
I will say that I am happy to be alive to continue the fight, happy all of you are still here, and leave it at that.
Also, flying my flag because I’ll be damned if I let those treasonous bastards take it from me!
Jackie
@Ben Cisco: My flag is waving in the breeze today! Only hurricane strength winds will ever prevent me from putting out my flag on holidays!
Ben Cisco
@Jackie: I am with you.
Raven
@Jackie: And then was the “People’s Bicentennial “, the first time I saw the Gadsden Flag!
Emmyelle
I’m not conspiratorially minded, but I can’t help but notice the temporal coincidence of the baby formula shortage, the tampon shortage, the overturning of Roe, and a vary large number of dumbass talentless white boys who really need a leg up in an equity-minded employment landscape.
Baud
@Ben Cisco:
People keep talking about the upcoming civil war. What flag do people think our side will fly?
The Pale Scot
The American counterpart to Euro soccer hooligans.
The Pale Scot
@WaterGirl:
How to Make a Rabbit Snare
Ben Cisco
@Baud:
They are incorrect. The first one never ended.
As for flags, I know which one I’m flying. The other side can have the adulterated bullshit. The flag of the United States is MINE.
debbie
Anyone have a clever way to defrost/thaw a mango, raspberry, and strawberry smoothie without causing the outside plastic cup to melt? Sigh.
Mike in NC
We’ve all seen what a pro-Putin tool Ron Johnson (R-WI) has always been. He and every other Kremlin stooge needs to be voted out in November.
different-church-lady
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of…(checks notes…) Independence Day parade-goers.
Raven
@debbie: Run warm water on the cup , pop it out and put it in a microwave safe vessel
CaseyL
Happy Independence Day, y’all.
I’ve never been a flag waver, because no one in my family ever has been. It’s not a tradition we grew up with.
But for those who do, and who want to reclaim it from the MAGAts, how about flying it in tandem with a Pride flag, or BLM, or another type that announces one’s allegiance, the way MAGAts fly theirs with Gadsen, Trump, or Confederate banners?
different-church-lady
@debbie: immerse in a pot of warm water (just below the top)
debbie
@Raven:
Doh! Thanks!
debbie
@different-church-lady:
Low tech, like me! Thanks!
ian
@Ken: Not sure if someone got here in the 200 comments, but
Is a pretty good reason to dislike (even hate!) the Star Spangled Banner. It is in the 3rd stanza.
Link
Matt McIrvin
US flag cantons with many stars:
https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/comments/8feqte/stars_of_us_flag_with_5170_states/
62 states is a graphically problematic case.
topclimber
@Suzanne: Speaking on behalf of a friend, you should go easy on the small dick shaming.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: I used to say both sides will fly the same US flag. Now I’d guess that the other side will fly some blackened version like the “thin blue line”. Maybe with the 50 stars replaced by the Punisher skull.
raven
5 dead in Highland Park, heavily Jewish town.
NutmegAgain
Hard to be celebratory when the jackass up the street was setting off firecrackers until midnight last night, scaring the living daylights out of my dog. grumble grumble huff. In other news, get off my lawn!
jackmac
@MagdaInBlack: Indeed not. It can happen anywhere. Latest reports from Chicago Sun-Times say 5 dead, 16 injured and shooter at large.
raven
@MagdaInBlack: This is news to you?
The Pale Scot
@debbie:
Put it in a tub of hot water
StringOnAStick
@Anyway: Wasn’t one of the USSC decisions this term ruling that residents of PR are not entitled to Social Security benefits?
MagdaInBlack
@raven: No.
raven
@StringOnAStick:
The case concerned Supplemental Security Income that is available to those living in the 50 states who are older than 65, blind or disabled. But residents of Puerto Rico and other US territories are excluded from receiving the funds.
“In devising tax and benefits programs, it is reasonable for Congress to take account of the general balance of benefits to and burdens on the residents of Puerto Rico,” Kavanaugh wrote. “In doing so, Congress need not conduct a dollar-to-dollar comparison of how its tax and benefits programs apply in the States as compared to the Territories, either at the individual or collective level.”
He noted that residents of Puerto Rico are typically exempt from most federal income, gift, estate and excise taxes, but that they are eligible for Social Security and Medicare. Kavanaugh said that “just as not every federal tax extends to residents of Puerto Rico, so too not every federal benefits program extends to residents of Puerto Rico.”
Sotomayor, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, penned the sole dissenting opinion. “Equal treatment of citizens should not be left to the vagaries of the political process,” she said.
Uncle Cosmo
@ian: A bit of balance here, from Wikipedia:
Ignorant hatred is…ignorant.
StringOnAStick
@raven: Thank you for the entire context. Searching and cutting and pasting sucks on a kindle. I only do that in comments when I’m at my pc.
zhena gogolia
@Uncle Cosmo: Haha! Good comment.
zhena gogolia
@ian: That article seems to conclude that the words “hireling and slave” refer to the British troops, and are a common phrase in rhetoric of the time.
Villago Delenda Est
Much malice and no charity this time. The lessons of Reconstruction are hard and cruel, and the racist motherfuckers have it coming.
ian
@Uncle Cosmo:
LOL. Hot take Uncle Cosmo. If you bothered to read the article I linked to, they discuss three different possibilities regarding Key’s motivations behind the song. Also discussed is Key’s ownership of five other human beings. I think it is safe to say the concept of slaves rising up against their enslavers was a scary thought for Key. But that might just be my ignorant take.
ian
@zhena gogolia: Yes, that is what the author concludes. I personally disagree, based on evidence the author himself provides that Key owned slaves.
Ruckus
@satby:
I attended a technical class in the Navy for about 4 months, sitting next to a counterpart from the Portuguese Navy. If even some of the people were anything like this gentleman it would have to be a pretty nice place to live. I never got to actually go to mainland Portugal when I was in Europe but we did stop in the Azores and it was beautiful. So I’d say my experience is similar to your friends. I did get to Spain and absolutely enjoyed the experience.
My military experience was different than many during that time period because I did 3 NATO cruises and we stopped in many ports that US Navy ships rarely went to. I’ve been above the Arctic Circle, in winter, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, UK, Spain, Italy, Greece, Azores, Cuba, Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands. One port in Norway had not been visited by a US ship since the end of WWII. That was a fun port.
zhena gogolia
@ian: The fact that he owned slaves doesn’t mean that he was referring to black enslaved people in those lyrics. I have no idea, but the context seems to suggest otherwise.
Good thing we never sing that verse!
Ruckus
@MikefromArlington:
The local animals would mind – uneatable and would stink up the place.
Ruckus
@NutmegAgain:
About 100 ft away from me, just past the property line of the complex where I live, is a home with some dipshit living there who likes things that explode and make a lot of noise. Doesn’t have to be anywhere near the 4th of July either, it’s just that is often a more frequent time for his majesty to prove himself a majestic asshole. I wouldn’t mind if he’d blow off some fingers or whatever (whatever being another finger shaped appendage…) but sadly he hasn’t yet.
The Lodger
@Ken: they’re all d’spicable.
Ksmiami
@Villago Delenda Est: Re-education camps for real this time
Truckinbroke
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