Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

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

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

People are complicated. Love is not.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

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

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Wind-Down Open Thread

Monday Wind-Down Open Thread

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(It’s the sad little smoke-alarm beeps at the end, over his mom’s yelling, that makes it perfection.)

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87Comments

  2. 2.

    geg6

    The fucking pyromaniacs here are really trying to overcompensate for their manly shortcomings this evening.

    Speaking of which, glad to they got the shooter.  Of course, he spent time at Trump rallies, even wrapped himself up in that Trump flag in one picture I saw.l

  5. 5.

    Suzanne

    Well, I’m outside on my front porch, watching my neighbors set off fireworks. Listening to Johnny Cash.

    If I felt like it, I’d go upstairs and grab my copy of “Achieving Our Country” by Richard Rorty, who makes a very strong case for liberal patriotism. Also recommend “A Foreign Policy For The Left” by Michael Waltzer, who makes a strong case for a strong state. But I’m sitting on my front porch, so add them to your book list.

  6. 6.

    Delk

    Took my house guest to Malnati’s for the first time. The original one in Lincolnwood.

  8. 8.

    Steve in the ATL

    @planetjanet: is this a callback to the previous thread? Because I met Player at one of their parents’ homes in suburban Chicago!

  13. 13.

    Immanentize

    @Omnes Omnibus: maybe another X lyric?

    our whole fucking life is a wreck.
    We’re desperate get used to it
    We’re desperate get used to it
    We’re desperate get used to it
    It’s kiss or kill.

    Had that one on my locker on law school. Still suits the mood.

  18. 18.

    JaySinWA

    @geg6: It’s been quiet here north of Seattle for the day. 3-4 M80 style bangs last night. Things will probably get noisy later but it has been surprisingly calm compared to previous years.

  19. 19.

    Immanentize

    @JaySinWA: Monday is a good day for the 4th. Folks gotta work tomorrow. Someone is popping off roman candles nearby and some strings of crackers. But generally all quiet on the Eastern front!

  20. 20.

    cope

    @Steve in the ATL: Yes, I’m assuming Delk’s houseguests were visitors. Me, I’m an Italian beef person myself, maybe even a polish sausage and fries. With sport peppers on either.

  23. 23.

    lollipopguild

    The musical 1776. Yes it’s a broadway musical  but it does a pretty good job of showing how the sausage was made that turned into a new country. It also pissed off Nixon who thought   that the song “cool conservative men” was a shot at him.

  24. 24.

    Spanky

    Very quiet here in this part of Confederate Southern Maryland. A few desultory thuds right after sunset. Nothing since then, and the probability drops as it gets later. The drunks aren’t likely to wake up until sunrise.

  26. 26.

    cope

    @raven: I have not but I will check it out, thanks.

    My high school job was in a family drive-in that did burgers, Italian beef, Polish, a fish sandwich and a frozen puck of meat we cooked in the deep fryer to make our “steak” sandwich. Oh yeah, also a fried fish option. I loved increasing the syrup ratio on the J. Hungerford Smith root beer dispenser.

  27. 27.

    Suzanne

    My neighborhood sounds like a goddamn war zone. Shit blowing up in every direction. And it’s hilly, so echoes.

    Feeling about 90% over this Covid shit.

  28. 28.

    Lyrebird

    @Immanentize: I saw Exene Cervenka and John Doe a few times…

    Okay if any of those shows were in New Mexico we may have been in the same crowd.

  30. 30.

    justawriter

    Liberal patriotism: “My country right or wrong. If right, to be kept right. If wrong, to be put right.”

    Carl Shurz, 1872

  31. 31.

    Ohio Mom

    Two more minutes snd our suburban town’s fireworks start. Trying a new viewing spot this year.

    It’s about a half mile away. We may not see absolutely everything but we also will not be stuck waiting for the bus to the parking lot and then trying to get out of a bottlenecked parking lot, which one year took well over an hour.

  33. 33.

    HumboldtBlue

    @geg6: And he wasn’t shot 60 times.Huh.​

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​

    Keep an eye on news about your Gunners, international footballer, 29, North London, arrested on sexual assault charge.

    Elsewhere, I just finished episode 1 of Mindhunter on Netflix. It hooked me.

  37. 37.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Was just watching the Philly fireworks show on TV.

    Right at the end, the crawl on the bottom of the screen said two officers had been shot DURING the fireworks show, right near the party / viewing area.

  38. 38.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    On the the Macy’s fireworks show on NBC, the singers were singing Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”. Not exactly a patriotic song. Didn’t catch all of it, but I imagine they had to omit lyrics like this:

    Born down in a dead man’s town

    The first kick I took was when I hit the ground

    You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much

    ‘Til you spend half your life just coverin’ up

    Or this:

    Got in a little hometown jam

    So they put a rifle in my hand

    Sent me off to a foreign land

    To go and kill the yellow man

  39. 39.

    gwangung

    @lollipopguild: There’s an all female version of 1776 coming to Broadway. (Yes, I do have a friend or two in in it). Reviewers are saying it makes good use of the color and gender conscious casting.

  47. 47.

    H.E.Wolf

    @lollipopguild: ​”The musical 1776. Yes it’s a broadway musical but it does a pretty good job of showing how the sausage was made that turned into a new country.”

    And it includes a scattering of songs featuring Abigail Adams, and a shout-out (by Abigail) to the oldest synagogue in the United States – older by 13 years than the USA itself. https://tourosynagogue.org/history/

    ABIGAIL:
    Compliments of the Concord Ladies Coffee Club,
    And the Sisterhood of the Touro Synagogue,
    And the Friday Evening Baptist Sewing Circle,
    And the Holy Christian Sisters of Saint Claire
    All for you, John
    I am as I ever was and ever shall be,
    Yours, yours, yours!

    JOHN (speaking):
    Abigail, what’s in these kegs?

    ABIGAIL:
    Saltpetre, John!

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    ‘@NotMax

    More music.

    Not as well-known as it might be, American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s The Union (“L’Union”), played on a bevy of pianos. First public performance of the composition was in 1862.

    On solo piano, along with historical synopsis.

  57. 57.

    JaySinWA

    @mrmoshpotato: I listened to it yesterday and had to turn on the lyrics to understand them over the noise. I don’t think most people listening can decipher the lyrics from any rendition. But who else looks at the text anymore.

    Except SCOTUS, for certain values of text.

  59. 59.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @JaySinWA:

    True, but it makes you wonder why NBC would choose to use it. They would have to know the lyrics. The people performing would certainly know. Omitting those lyrics is whitewashing, assuming that’s what they did. I suppose the programmers didn’t care and assumed that the audience wouldn’t either for the reasons you cited

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @mrmoshpotato: Should I know who Speed is?

    Only if you want to get your “I am aware of all internet traditions” badge.

    Semi-related, I saw a youtube ad today which started with 5-second videos of people demonstrating how to do things I wouldn’t think needed demonstration – on the order of “clean the fridge” and “eat chicken wings”. Despite signaling “parody” in every possible way, this was for a real channel, something like “I learned it on tik-tok”.

  61. 61.

    JaySinWA

    @JaySinWA: Well here it is 7:45 and someone is either setting off a slow string of firecrackers or using a nail gun. 50/50 chances here.

    2 people died in a trench today:

    The men were attempting to get to a fractured sewer line on a steep slope when the trench collapsed, according to SFD. The trench was 20 feet wide, 25 feet long and 15 feet deep.

    https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/2-dead-shoreline-trench-collapse/281-91db05ba-e0d9-4b5b-bfdb-118d023e2f5

    ETA as I was editing the post a more traditional string of pops of firecrackers went off.

  62. 62.

    ian

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

     I imagine they had to omit lyrics like this

     

    assuming that’s what they did. I suppose the programmers

    Do you know if NBC actually did any of this?  Otherwise, you are getting upset over something you thought of.  Find out if there is a problem with what they did before you become upset with what you think they may have.

    YMMV- but I think we have better things to be upset about

  63. 63.

    JaySinWA

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    They would have to know the lyrics.

    Ah, the naivety of the youth of our nation. That song shows up in so many programs where the lyrics should scream no that it is apparent that either nobody listens or the programers are saying FU. Probably both.

    ETA to my old ears the lyrics in most versions are indecipherable.

  66. 66.

    JaySinWA

    @Jay:  I wouldn’t know and the reporting is still rather sketchy. Given that they were working today, my guess it was an off the books thing. The report does say that L&I will be investigating, so probably not the owner doing it themselves.

    ETA the report says that the bodies won’t be recovered today because of the instability of the slope. Whatever they did was not sufficient.

  67. 67.

    Soprano2

    @JaySinWA: Ugh that’s awful. It might be the subject of our next safety meeting. Lots of plumbing companies here aren’t very safe when they do excavations because it’s expensive to be safe.

    ETA – That was a hell of a trench, 25 ft long, 20 ft wide and 15 ft deep. Maybe not wide enough for the depth and the grade. The article says it was a residence, so probably a plumber. What a tragedy. Might have been an emergency situation.

  68. 68.

    Jay

    @Suzanne:

    Ozzie researchers have released a study showing that every time you get Covid, even asymptomatic, 10% or more of your immune system is permanently destroyed. (All immune responses, not just Covid). Brit researchers released a study that showed that no matter your age, even  a mild Covid case results in a 5% to 15% chance of life long health issues and disabilities.

    I had an early and severe case of Covid, but despite being a “disposable” worker up until the past few weeks, have managed to avoid re-infection.

  69. 69.

    JaySinWA

    @Soprano2: That’s what I thought. A lot of stuff goes on here (and everywhere I guess) on Sundays and holidays to avoid inspectors as I have heard from the city, but mostly felling trees. Permit avoidance is pretty common. Not that I know that was what was happening here.

  70. 70.

    Soprano2

    Sounds like a war zone in our neighborhood tonight. We have heard hardly any fireworks until tonight. All the animals are in the house without any protest. Of course, all this is illegal in the city.

  72. 72.

    Soprano2

    @JaySinWA: Oh yeah, we’ve caught people doing work in backyards without permits (can’t do that when you’re digging in the street). That might be what was going on here. It’s going to cost them a lot more. I’m sure that permit looks cheap now.

  74. 74.

    Another Scott

    @JaySinWA: Yup.  It is spamming many threads now.

    Time for the banhammer.

    I guess we’re moving up on the almost top 10,000 blog rankings.  :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  75. 75.

    NWO Joe

    Loved Speed. That look on his face when that thing is just starting up and he still has the lighter in his hand is priceless. Best fireworks I’ve ever seen, lol. His mom should remind him of that every year…

  76. 76.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     
    During today’s Mets broadcast, Gary Cohen (Mets play-by-play) quoted the chorus/refrain, and then mentioned John and Exene. Just one of the reasons he’s part of the best broadcast team in MLB.

  77. 77.

    SFAW

    Oh goody, now we have the “I made $75 Million last year using this ONE WEIRD TRICK from home” spam-bots.
    Outfuckingstanding.

  79. 79.

    Anne Laurie

    @mrmoshpotato: Should I know who Speed is?

    I don’t, either, but he’s accidentally lifted a few spirits across social media tonight!

    (Vaguely assume, from the context, that he’s one of the youngs who ‘stream’ themselves — on YouTube? Twitch? — while gaming, for the lulz or for tips / sponsorship.)

  80. 80.

    Anne Laurie

    @NWO Joe: His mom should remind him of that every year…

    Oh, I’m sure it’s on the list!

    It’s a long list, growing longer every day…

  81. 81.

    grammypat

    @JaySinWA:  Dimensions of the trench are meaningless without knowing the “angle of repose” (from 0 to 90 deg from horizontal) for the material being trenched.

  82. 82.

    Reverse tool order

    Re the collapsed trench, we can make some inferences if the description is reasonably close to the actual situation. As an excavation it is large & deep enough to have been done with a machine. That would include worker access around the pipe, say 4-5 feet across the bottom. So, at best, trench wall angle of repose (outward slope) is about 1H:2 V (8 ft (HALF of (20-4) ft horizontal for each side to 15 ft vertical). Given the 20 ft width at top and the general situation, it’s a safe bet there was no shoring or trench boxes in use.

    Moderately stable soils are allowed a 1:1 slope, less stable soils it’s 1.5 H : 1 V. So, not even close to adequate slope. Plus, the original story says the collapse was of the excavated and piled spoils, so they were too close to the already too steep trench walls. Literally piling on the errors.

    This is what my Statics prof meant by “allow for the factor of ignorance”; he did not say ‘margin of safety’. Learning the hard way for all concerned. This shit is already known, has already been learned the hard way. Ignorance may result in not-bliss, who knew?

    In practice, there may not even have been room to do this method right. Doing trenchless directional boring or maybe a pumped system will look cheap compared to this.

  83. 83.

    evodevo

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):  It was a favorite of the Reaganites, who never paid attention to the lyrics either lol – most MAGAts probably don’t read lyrics, so ….they put this up thinking it’s working class Bruce patriotism LOL

  86. 86.

    J R in WV

    @evodevo:

    – most MAGAts probably don’t read lyrics, so ….

    – most MAGAts probably can’t read lyrics, so ….

    Fixed that for ya.

  87. 87.

    JaySinWA

    @Soprano2: The reports this morning show that there was some form of permit for sewer line repair in the area. My speculation about avoiding a permit appears to be wrong, unless the work extended beyond the approved area.

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