Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

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

Good lord, these people are nuts.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

We still have time to mess this up!

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

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

The revolution will be supervised.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Independence Day

Independence Day

by | 143 Comments

This post is in: 

Happy 4th of July!  I will mostly be working to play catch-up after my recent days-long internet outage, but I hope the rest of you will be having more fun than that!

At least I had some early laughs.

This video (below) doesn’t even need to come with a trigger warning because it doesn’t really look like the former guy and the voice is definitely not his!

*The video should play just fine in the embed even without a login because it’s not a retweet.  Get up and dance!

And now the classic that we first saw from Adam lo those many years ago.

 

Open thread.  (video removed)

Reader Interactions

143Comments

  2. 2.

    Raven

    If you didn’t see my post about the 1970 4th Parade in C-U in the last post check it out!

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    @Raven: copied over..

    This is a YouTube of the 4th of July Parade in Champaign Urbana in 1970.

    There are a few seconds of the anti-war contingent that somehow was at the front of the parade. This footage must have been after the group reformed following the melee at the first intersection. We were set upon by a bunch of locals (some cops in civvies) and it was a hell of a fight for a few minutes. There was more film of the incident but I’ve never been able to find it. A few years later a woman came up to me and said “my brother was one of the people who jumped you, he now knows you were right”!!

  7. 7.

    Scout211

    That was a fun video of Trump singing his current theme song. Jack sitting in the box (Jack-in-the-box) making faces was hilarious. Thanks for the laugh this morning.

  8. 8.

    Nukular Biskits

    @WaterGirl:
    LOL!

    More often as not, I always seem to arrive late, after most of the discussion has died down.

    Starting tomorrow, though, I’ll largely retreat back into Lurkland … my leave will end and I have to go back to work.  :>(

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Catchy…

    pic.twitter.com/vHe47s3Mr5

    — Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) July 4, 2023

    Too too too too fuckin’ funny. I’m gonna play this one all day.

  11. 11.

    Jess

    Well, that McBride video sure was cheery… fits my mood, actually. It’s raining all day here (central Mass), and my poor doggo spent the entire night pressed up against me panting and trembling from firework stress. This was after a double dose of anti-anxiety supplements. We’re both grumpy and tired now, and can’t go for our usual hike b/c thunderstorms.

  18. 18.

    Tinare

    9 am and the crappy fireworks set off by yahoos in the hood has begun. It’s gonna be a long day for the pups. Happy 4th!

  19. 19.

    Planetjanet

    Don’t mess with Watergirl today.  She is not putting up with any of your stuff.  That Martina Mc Bride video is quite a party song!

  22. 22.

    Phylllis

    Happy 4th to all y’all. Enjoying day four of retirement. The neighborhood and surrounding area was quiet last night, but I expect the local aficionados will be out in full force tonight.

  24. 24.

    Layer8Problem

    Hey WaterGirl, did we ever get a root-cause analysis of your “recent days-long internet outage?” As a devoted subscriber here I feel like calling up your provider and asking to speak to their manager.

  27. 27.

    Planetjanet

    It’s been decades since I have gone down to the National Mall for the big fireworks.  Tonight I will make the trek with my cycling group.  Great way to get around the traffic and a good group of friends.

  28. 28.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Cacti:

    I wanna say that it was BJ that turned me on to ERB.

    The team that puts those together do a helluva job, not just in the production, but in the research that goes into the lyrics, costumes and backgrounds.

    While some are definitely better than others, they’re all enjoyable, IMHO.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @Layer8Problem: Thank you!  I am actually planning on calling to speak with the management myself tomorrow. :-)  I wanted to be sure it stayed up all day yesterday before calling, today is the holiday.

    So tomorrow it is.

  31. 31.

    Phylllis

    @WaterGirl: Thanks. I put it off for two years because our district was going through consolidation with a neighboring district. I’m glad I stayed to help, and also glad to be done with it.

  32. 32.

    RaflW

    I hope everyone who has today off enjoys a much-needed break (and, I’m sorry for friends in retail – I hope you’re getting time & a half and an extra day off some other day).

    But, given the past year (and really the very checkered history of this country) to heck with this whole holiday. Ok, I guess I can muster a mild ‘yay’ for getting out from under a stifling monarchy. But this country, this god damned supreme court, is total gaslighting bullshit when it comes to freedom.

  33. 33.

    Another Scott

    @Nukular Biskits: Oooh.  That’s epic.

    Thanks for the pointer.

    Happy 4th everyone.  Keep your fingers attached, and best of luck to the furry ones.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    Steeplejack

    @Another Scott:

    Regarding our research on long strings and margin-breaking: I think that if the string is a clickable URL FYWP will successfully wrap it, like the one you pointed to at the end of the “Bursting” thread. But if the string is plain text (or a URL entered as plain text and not clickable) FYWP can have problems wrapping it, depending on the absence of certain characters.

    Just a hypothesis at this point.

  43. 43.

    Raoul Paste

    @Nukular Biskits:  Now if they will just turn that Jefferson/Douglas rap into an animatronic show at Disneyworld .  Give Ron DeSantis a complimentary ticket.

  45. 45.

    Spanky

    @Phylllis: Welcome to Club Retirement! Where every day ends in “y” and begins with “Saturda”.

    No, seriously.  You stay losing track of the days if you’re not careful.

  48. 48.

    Spanky

    Our best ever viewing of the fireworks on the Mall was from a friend’s houseboat. We motored out of one of the marinas on Maine Avenue, had a nice cruise down the Potomac to a cove on the Maryland side where we picnicked, then cruised back to town to watch the fireworks,  with kitchen, bar, and bathroom right there. Perfect.

    That was about 25 years ago. The friend left town long ago, and we’re not inclined to try and top that.

  49. 49.

    Another Scott

    ICYMI, Preliminary Federal Injunction to new Florida voting suppression law (58 page .pdf).

    This case arises from Florida’s latest assault on the right to vote. Plaintiffs move to preliminarily enjoin two amendments to section 97.0575, Florida Statutes. One new provision bars noncitizens from registering citizens to vote, thus discriminating based on alienage, one of the most questionable classifications in equal protection jurisprudence. The other exposes individuals working for third party voter registration organizations to felony prosecutions for retaining voter information without telling them to whom the prohibition applies, what they can retain, and when they can retain it.

    Florida may, of course, regulate elections, including the voter registration process. Here, however, the challenged provisions exemplify something Florida has struggled with in recent years; namely, governing within the bounds set by the United States Constitution. When state government power threatens to spread beyond constitutional bounds and reduce individual rights to ashes, the federal judiciary stands as a firewall.2 The Free State of Florida is simply not free to exceed the bounds of the United States Constitution.

    […]

    Not pulling any punches. Good, good.

    ( via DemocracyDocket.com via Teri_Kanefield )

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  50. 50.

    sdhays

    @Raven: … my brother was one of the people who jumped you, he now knows you were right

    And that’s (one good reason) why it’s a good rule of thumb to, you know, not jump people in general.

  51. 51.

    sab

    @Spanky: That is why it is useful to take pills, even if only vitamins. Load up your little pill case every week and every day remind yourself what day it is when you take your pill(s).

  52. 52.

    Phylllis

    @Spanky: Yes, hubby retired five years ago & I think my going to work helped keep him on track. The only thing we have to stay on top of now on a weekly basis is trash day.

  54. 54.

    narya

    @Spanky: back in the day, Chicago’s fireworks were in Grant Park–actually out over the lake–and the absolute best view was from a boat in the harbor. My boss at the time had a boat, and the years we saw the fireworks there were great. They eventually stopped having the symphony orchestra play; they switched to a local radio station with more of a hiphop vibe, which of course changed the crowd, and they eventually stopped doing fireworks altogether. Now I’m close enough to Evanston that I can walk up along the lake if I really need to see fireworks. The other thing that was always sorta amazing is that traffic would STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF LAKESHORE DRIVE to watch. And a couple of years I lived in a building downtown, from the roof of which I could watch all the suburban fireworks out west.

  56. 56.

    sdhays

    @Another Scott: It should be unconstitutional for Florida (or any state once part of the former Confederacy) to be allowed to call itself “The Free State of ….”. It’s Orwellian.

    Good that the Federal Courts are trying to enforce some guardrails.

  57. 57.

    Delk

    Every year there is this massive unsanctioned fireworks display in my neighborhood. It lasts over an hour. This is what it looks like from my back window. The alderman is trying (once again) to stop it. Fences went up the other day and he said there will be a large police presence (whatever that means) to stop it. This is a neighborhood park in Chicago. There are houses all around the park and the fireworks are professional looking like the ones the city has at Navy Pier.
    We shall see, but I bet it happens.

  61. 61.

    Jackie

    WaterGirl, that McBride song isn’t about the 4th of July. It’s about spousal abuse.

  62. 62.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @narya: When I was growing up, Detroit and Windsor had joint fireworks over the Detroit River. They were usually on a day in between July 1 and July 4 to honor both Canada Day and Independence Day. Buildings downtown were crowded with people watching.

  63. 63.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Steeplejack: Actually, I didn’t link* ;-) just copy pasted so folks would know what I was laughing about.

    *not that I would blame you for thinking I might have, idiot luddite that I am.

  65. 65.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Happy Independence Day jackals!

    We have tix for the Beach Bus and are heading to Santa Monica to treat ourselves to a day at the beach.  Unfortunately it’s only going to be 68 degrees there.  Hopefully the sun will come out and the sand will get warm enough to justify a swim.  But either way it will be nice to just chill on the sand, read and people-watch etc.

    In the meantime, here’s a fun rendition of the Barbie song by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice.  And a fun video of Margot Robbie showing a behind the scenes tour of the Barbie Dream House set from the upcoming film.

  81. 81.

    Soprano2

    Happy 4th everyone. I went to a Jazzercize class this morning for the first time in two weeks. It was good to be back! We’re just going to stay home, maybe drive up to the community college parking lot to watch the fireworks 🎆 from the ballpark tonight. The yahoos have been setting off fireworks in my neighborhood since late last week, even though it’s highly illegal inside the city. I’m sure there will be more tonight even though the free fireworks show is about 1/2 a mile away.

  82. 82.

    oatler

    The Movies! channel is showing “1776” today, featuring hits like “Sit down, John!” and “He’s Obnoxious And Disliked”.

  84. 84.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Planetjanet:

    It’s been decades since I have gone down to the National Mall for the big fireworks. Tonight I will make the trek with my cycling group. Great way to get around the traffic and a good group of friends.

    Agreed! I used to do that when I lived in No.Va. a few decades back (Mt. Vernon bike trail to Memorial Bridge, which put me right there), unfortunately there’s no good bike route in from southern MD that I know of.

    Have a great time!

  90. 90.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Jeffro: I was trying to figure out what the hell that song is about, lol!  Love it.  SuperUnknown is a most underrated album, imo.  I also love Independence Day by Elliot Smith, which also appears to not actually be about the holiday in any way.

  91. 91.

    Matt McIrvin

    @sab: I got one of those week-planner pill cases after my knee surgery and, wow, it’s helpful. Kept using it even when my pill-taking regimen went back to pre-op normal.

  93. 93.

    Alison Rose

    @Nukular Biskits: Cherish it, friend :P

    (BTW did you mean to include a link in your nym? Right now it’s “n/a” which obviously goes to an error page, but you can just leave it blank if you don’t have one to use.)

  95. 95.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Another Scott: ​
     

    There’s language that lands quite a punch! Governing within the bounds of the Constitution is “something Florida has struggled with in recent years.” There’s a pattern here, not just this one case, says this court.

    Of course, they’re not ‘struggling’ at all, they’ve got a governor and legislature that don’t give a damn about the Constitution unless they can use it to their advantage. But that would have been a bit much for a judge to say in an opinion.

  98. 98.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Alison Rose:

    Well, given Baud hasn’t shown up to concede, my victory is meaningless.

    (BTW did you mean to include a link in your nym? Right now it’s “n/a” which obviously goes to an error page, but you can just leave it blank if you don’t have one to use.)

    A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, I probably put “N/A” in the “Website” field because … reasons.  I dunno.  Firefox auto-complete fills in the field each time.  I guess I could change that to my Twitter account, but I’d hate to sully the perfectness that is the Jackalariat commentary.

  100. 100.

    cain

    @Raven: ​

    Loved that other photo of you and the other guy who looked like John Lennon.

    ETA #100 !! 🎆🎇🧨

  103. 103.

    cain

    @WaterGirl: ​
     
    I got my citizenship and passport in 1995 and I was 25 years old. I resisted getting my U.S. citizenship but my dad made me telling me that this country gave me my values and ethics that India gave me my history and another part of my values. But also I had something to give to this country.
    Changing my citizenship was hard but I realized that I am still an Indian but my identity was the mix of everything.

    After that I promptly lived in Dublin working at Guinness for the summer. Going to Europe on an Indian passport would have been a pain in the ass so I’m grateful for that too!
    Next year I believe will be 30 years as a U.S..citizen.

  104. 104.

    Mike in NC

    Happy Independence Day. Here’s hoping the Summer of Justice arrives soon for the orange apeman holed up in his shitty club in New Jersey, plotting the next coup.

  110. 110.

    Another Scott

    KyivIndependent.com:

    Switzerland wants to join the European Sky Shield Initiative, which was founded in reaction to Russian aggression in Ukraine, Swiss broadcaster SRF cited the Swiss Defense Ministry on July 4.

    According to SRF, the ministry said that this move does not violate the country’s neutrality policy. The participation should involve mainly coordination of procurement and maintenance of air defenses on a European level, thus decreasing the costs, the outlet wrote.

    “Joint air defense training is also under discussion,” SRF cited the ministry.

    The Germany-spearheaded air defense initiative was launched in October 2022 and encompasses 17 European NATO countries. It was established in reaction to massive Russian air strikes against Ukraine.

    Euractiv reported on July 3 that Austria, a non-NATO member just like Switzerland, seeks to join the initiative due to the changes in the security environment after Russia’s invasion.

    […]

    Very interesting.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  113. 113.

    trollhattan

    Russia celebrated the 4th by lobbing a daytime ballistic missile at civilians in a Ukrainian town named Pervomaiskyi. Forty-three injured is the latest count. They may be shitty at war but they’re excellent at terrorism.

    The only 4th of July song I need is “4th of July.” Dave Alvin-David Hidalgo-Flaco Jimenez live version. America, y’all.

  114. 114.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott: Considering they’re pretzeling themselves preventing Swiss weapons from going to Ukraine, it is interesting.

    “We may have our standards of neutrality, but those fuckers are crazy.” Sounds on-brand equally in Italian, French and German.

  116. 116.

    Jay

    @Alison Rose:

    what ever will do, you do you,

    it’s Always Be Punching Nazis,

    But hey, if you can only do it after a good hearty breakfast, you go girl.

  117. 117.

    Ben Cisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

    Today would have been Papa Cisco’s 86th.  I miss him of course, but Mama Cisco and I talk every single day and invariably wind up discussing (and also laughing our asses off) about something he said and/or did.

    Bittersweet, but with a hard lean towards the sweet.

  119. 119.

    JoyceH

    I’m going to celebrate the holiday by eating take out BBQ and sit around reading Gideon Oliver mysteries and streaming Stargate Atlantis. My old TV is on its last legs, starting to get an intermittent dim streak on one side. I’ve got the new TV here sitting in its box ready to go, but I’m putting off the switch. Sigh – getting all the connections right, setting up all my services and passwords, learning a new remote…

  120. 120.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Fourth of July always makes me remember when my mother-in-law confused my father-in-law’s pills with their dog’s tranquilizers.  The dog went nuts, and my father-in-law went to sleep.

  121. 121.

    planetjanet

    @lowtechcyclist: ​
     
    Anacostia trail from Kenilworth? Yes, its a drive from Southern Maryland. But I am in Woodbridge, so as far north as Waldorf. We are meeting at Alexandria city hall.

  124. 124.

    LiminalOwl

    @Spanky: The last year I lived in NYC, we were in a 40th-floor apartment overlooking the Hudson River (well, across Broadway and a few more blocks). Fireworks were just about at eye level, maybe half a mile away.

  125. 125.

    Soprano2

    @Scout211: Well, he got Covid too, but several days after I did. We went to urgent care yesterday to get a Covid test; if it comes back by tomorrow he can get Paxlovid.🤞🤞 So far he just has a cough and sniffles, hope it stays that way! Thanks for asking.

  128. 128.

    Ruckus

    @Spanky:

    What the hell is wrong with losing track of the days?

    I worked 60 yrs to get to retirement and I really don’t want to have to think about what day it is. I keep a paper with my appointments by my computer so I don’t have to check the date and the day. The only reason I had to worry about what day it was before retirement was so that I didn’t miss work. Now? Sun come up, sun go down, it’s another day alive, only 26 more years and I’ll make my goal, a century alive. May everyone have an unreasonable goal of life that they get to see.

  132. 132.

    BruceFromOhio

    @UncleEbeneezer: It is interesting how fired up I am for the film, having grown up with tinker toys, Tonka trucks and Hot Wheels. And green plastic army guys.

    MrsFromOhio is aghast (at the film, not the upbringing)

  134. 134.

    trollhattan

    @BruceFromOhio: Greta Gerwig–Sacramento girl!–can do no wrong. My kid’s all in for seeing it; I have yet to return to movie theaters since covid.

  140. 140.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: You just stop worrying about whether you already took today’s pill or you’re remembering taking it yesterday.

  141. 141.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: I only have two pills and an inhaler, so that’s not a problem for me, but I take several supplements and I was tired of counting them out every day. I wish hubby would get one so I didn’t have to put his meds on the counter every morning. It’s the only way I can be sure he takes them.

  142. 142.

    Ruckus

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    @BruceFromOhio:

    When I was in my teen years I helped make the molds for Barbie Dolls. We manufactured a fair amount of molds for various toys, including Barbie and the Hanna Barbera cartoon characters. Seemed rather weird to me as a youngster to be machining the cavities to make Barbie dolls……. Which is the part I did. (The cavity of a mold is what shapes the plastic part) Barbie seemed a bit, how should I say this, overbuilt. Especially as I’ve also met the couple that co founded Mattel and the woman was supposedly the model Barbie was designed around. I didn’t get the connection.

  143. 143.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @BruceFromOhio: Me too!  It looks super-fun and has a pretty killer cast.  Hopefully it will break ALL the box office records just so we can all point and laugh at the miserable, incel tears at seeing their favorite Star Wars movie (or whatever) surpassed by something girly and pink!

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