JAMES LILEKS, STAR TRIBUNE – guest post by the dog, Birch.
I hope James Lileks doesn’t mind our posting the whole column that was written by his dog, Birch.
Go click the link when you’re done reading!
Fireworks from a dog’s point of view
Fireworks from a dog’s point of view
Hello, my name is Birch. I belong to James Lileks, who has the day off. I decided to write his column. On behalf of all of us in the dog community, I beg you to listen: Terror Boom Bomb Time is coming up and we dogs are begging you to stop it.
We have no idea what’s going on and it scares the heck out of all of us, except for Winnie up the street — he’s like a beer barrel with fur who wouldn’t flinch if a meteor landed next to him. The guy’s so chill his butt smells like ice cream. But the rest of us live in dread and fear, because this is the worst time of the year. And I say that as a dog with no sense of linear time at all, so you know previous July 4ths have left an impression.
Look at it from our point of view. It’s a nice night. We’re all outside, guests are over, the grill’s working overtime and we all are having a good time. Then, all of a sudden, there’s a sound we can’t explain. Something really big just made a huge boom so loud that we can feel it in our guts. Or, worse, a whoosh and a shriek. Or a lot of short, buzzing sounds like when your mouth is full of bees.
And none of you humans seem at all bothered. By any of it.
I’m, like, “Hello? Did you not hear that? Do you not smell that? I know you have bad ears and you couldn’t smell a dead deer if it was a mile in front of you, but I’ve got thick flaps of skin and fur hanging over my ears and I heard it. Every bang, boom and hiss. I’m convinced we’re all in terrible danger. It could be that the world is ending. Let’s find shelter! Now!”
But you humans just laugh and look at the sky.
Now, I’m used to you people not understanding threat assessment. Every day the mailman comes to kill us and I’m the only one who recognizes the threat. I do, because that’s my job. So I respond appropriately. And somehow I’m misbehaving, being shushed and get a Dramamine wrapped in cheese — like that’s going to help. Might as well dip a towel in 3.2 beer and let me chew on it for a while.
When Independence Day rolls around, you think you’re doing me a big favor by putting me in the Thunder Jacket. It’s supposed to give me comfort because it’s tight. If you were terrified because a mob is heading down the street setting everything on fire, would you think “Well, I’d better put on some pants I wore in high school.”
Are you thinking that a tight jacket reminds us of our mother disciplining us?Newsflash, Dr. Doolittle: When I was a puppy my mom didn’t cinch me up in Saran Wrap when I was scared. And then you have the nerve to stand there and laugh at me as I stand immobile, too embarrassed to move.
I understand that this is how you celebrate your independence from England. I mean, I have no idea what that means, but neither do a third of the morons making the Terror Booms, and they don’t have the excuse of being a dog, but that’s another issue.
Point is, we dogs lived with this for too long, and this year we finally did something about it.
You might have noticed that there is no official Minneapolis fireworks this year. Gosh, I wonder how that happened. Not saying we used our influence with city officials. Not saying we didn’t.
But Minneapolis, for one, is switching to a laser show. A blessedly quiet laser show. No Terror Booms from downtown. And while I know there will still be Bad Sounds, it’s a start.
It’s the cats’ turn this year. A laser show? Let the cats go nuts for once.
h/t comrade scotts agenda of rage
Open thread!
War for Ukraine Day 861: Russia Ramps Up the Bombardment of Kharkiv & Dnipro
Chet Murthy
I needed that.
raven
Every year we get pleas for fireworks to stop. The state of Georgia made it legal 365 days a year so it’s not going to stop, pets and vets be dammed.
zhena gogolia
I hate the fucking 4th of July.
SiubhanDuinne
That is a wonderful column! I’ve been something of a Lileks fangrrl ever since I discovered his Gallery of Regrettable Food and other snark-infested aggregations. Had to pause for a few years when I learned he was a columnist for National Review, but at least he hasn’t waved his politics in my face, and this column is quite brilliant and compassionate.
Doc Sardonic
A friend of mine came up with a solution that worked for at least 1 dog. He had been to the gun range and had his ear protection headphones in the house. Dog was completely freaked by fireworks, thunder, any loud boom, put on it’s thunder shirt and put the headphones on and dog had no problem.
Noah Brand
James Lileks? Now there’s a name I’ve not heard since… oh, before you were born.
Gvg
Don’t know if it helps, but I have noticed that the most modern new insulated houses with double paned windows muffle sound to the point you can barely hear the booms, or not at all, and pets are much calmer. Just make sure they did their business early and don’t let them out. It’s not kind to take them out to the cookout where there will be fireworks. I used to take the rescue dog into the walk in closet and read a book. The other dog we got as a puppy was not bothered.
mrmoshpotato
Hopefully things are quiet dog sitting tomorrow. I really don’t want fireworks either.
Also, shut up cicadas!
Jess
I just came here and saw this as my dog came over and leaned on me, panting in distress from all the neighborhood fireworks. He kept his cool for awhile, but then it was too much. He’s sensitive, but a brave boi. A former street dog from Russia, so I’m sure he’ll get over it. But I hate that people do this twice a year (New Years as well).
raven
@Doc Sardonic: It’s so weird, our rescue was brutally, and I mean brutally, abused and is definitely a PTSD pup. If you drop your keys behind her she hits the deck but fireworks have no impact on her at all
eta Our local city fireworks show was last Friday and the fucking park where they do it is about a mile from the animal control shelter . There were efforts to get as many dogs as possible fostered for the night (as well as pleas for adoption because the kill list is exploding) .
Miki
Fuck Jesse Ventura – he’s the asshat who gave us fireworks in Minnesota.
My Ty is only semi freaked out from the bangs. Both of us settle fairly quickly when the windows are shut and the AC kicks in. But he won’t go out to pee/💩 until it settles.
My standard poodle Mike couldn’t handle them – he crawled into the bathtub to get away from them. 💔
I, too, hate July 4.
narya
Somebody near me is setting off explosives very late (11:30 or later)—2-3 booms, with just enough time between for me to nearly go back to sleep. Not fireworks.
Josie
For thirteen years, I had a wonderful akbash dog. They are huge–150 pounds. She was fearless in protecting me, the boys, and any assorted animals that lived with us. She was, however, petrified of thunderstorms and fireworks. When we moved to a smaller house, there really was no place for her to hide, so she would go to my closet. She couldn’t fit her whole body in there, so half of her would be in the closet and half out in the room. It looked so ridiculous, but we just could not laugh at her. It would have hurt her feelings.
Matt McIrvin
@SiubhanDuinne: Lileks was a funny, and not apparently very political, early blogger who went aggressively super-neocon as a result of the 9/11 attacks. But he could still write well when he wasn’t obsessing about that.
piratedan
for those keeping score of the Dobbs effect, it appears AZ will also have abortion on the ballot:
https://blogforarizona.net/823685-voter-signatures-submitted-for-reproductive-freedom-amendment-to-the-arizona-constitution/
that’s a LOT of signatures.
Barbara
I found out the hard way that the dog I had in college was petrified of thunder and fireworks — my friend was out walking with her when fireworks started being set off somewhere and the dog (a Sammy) completely panicked and ran away from her. She finally found her way back on her own hours later.
xephyr
I hate the 4th of July and the days leading up to it. It’s the only holiday I’m forced to participate in, since the sound of simulated bombs and gun-fire doesn’t stop at my property line. It used to symbolize Independence Day, now it’s just an opportunity for idiots to make as much noise as possible and for the fireworks industry to clean-up. P.S. My cats hate it too.
Chet Murthy
@xephyr:
I am unable to think of this holiday with anything other than grim and cynical derision. Not anymore. Not anymore.
Anotherlurker
Bella, my first Golden rescue, was an abused pup. Thunder and fireworks were pure torture for her. She would pant and shiver and drool. Thunder shirts helped a bit, but not enough. Ultimately we resorted to 75mg. of Acepromizine. Sometimes even that didn’t help.
One 4th, at precisely 11pm, I walked next door to ask my neighbor to please stop the fireworks. They had been at it from 6pm so I thought that they would be reasonable. I made my request and said my dog was about to die of a heart attack. One of my neighbor’s guests let out a loud laugh! I lunged for him but another neighbor, who heard the confrontation grabbed me and prevented me from uniting his face with the pavement. The asshole was totally shit faced so he would have collapsed quickly. My neighbor yelled at him that he was an asshole and it would serve him right if he let me go to finish the job.
I fucking hate hate hate the 4th of July. The torture of animals is one reason, but the phony patriotic bullshit is just as obnoxious.
The only redeeming aspect of it is that it is a double-time work day.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: I have a soft spot for 4th of July since it is also the anniversary of my naturalization
Chet Murthy
@schrodingers_cat: I forget if you’ve said previously: did you keep your Indian citizenship? [we did not, back in 1982, sigh]
Barbara
@Anotherlurker: I like it because we have always had family reunions over the holiday. I just hate fireworks.
schrodingers_cat
@Chet Murthy: India doesn’t recognize dual citizenship.
Origuy
Sunnyvale, CA is doing a drone show tomorrow night. I am thinking about going into my office building, which looks like out over the park a little over a mile away. From the sixth floor, it should be a pretty good view.
twbrandt
My elderly dog is deaf as a post so fireworks don’t bother him.
laura
There’s a dog I miss so Much I lost this week last year that I still cant talk about and believe I’ll never get over.
prostratedragon
Lesson from A Bucket of Blood that fits a discussion earlier today on this blog: area security is an important safety consideration for those working table saws.
Chet Murthy
@schrodingers_cat: Right, but what I meant was: did you actually relinquish your Indian citizenship (as we did)? Or just keep going quietly? I’ve read about people who travel with multiple passports, and trick seems to be knowing which to present at each border.
Again, not that it matters to me: I have only one citizenship, ah well.
Villago Delenda Est
There’s a silver lining to all things.
Mr. Bemused Senior
I am sad that July 4 is no longer fun.
Villago Delenda Est
@piratedan: The RNC is barring some forced birth fanatics from being part of the platform committee. They’ve detected the third rail. Whether or not they will avoid it remains to be seen, but TCFFG/PAB isn’t fully aware of it, I think.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Matt McIrvin:
In an earlier thread, somebody else noted that. I remember Lileks from back in the day, bailed on him when he went all uber-neocon, totally forgot him.
Until last year when this column first ran. I’m still not reading him but yeah, it was a blast from the past.
Villago Delenda Est
@Miki: Freedom!
Mousebumples
Should I be wishing everyone a happy monarchy day tomorrow?
Asking for a corrupt Supreme Court…
Jackie
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
It’s no longer a celebration of independence from a monarchy sez the Traitor Six. For the first time ever, I’m seriously contemplating not putting up my flag.😢
NotMax
Troka o’ dog items.
Victoriana
Wartime.
Guardian of Gotham.
;)
Kristine
Gaby hated fireworks and would pant and pace. Adaptil pheromone spray and trazodone helped.
During her last year or so, she pretty much went deaf. The one good thing about that was that she couldn’t hear the booms anymore.
princess leia
@laura:
I am so sorry.
Another Scott
@Villago Delenda Est: Cults usually break up because one faction accuses another of not being pure enough.
The forced birthers are determined to keep pressing their advantage in the party. Others, who actually want to win elections, know it’s a loser strategy. Expect lots of accusations of RINO sightings and worse.
These battles will only get more intense for them. Bob Good, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus lost his primary, but is going to continue to battle to keep the other guy from actually being the victor. The monsters think their eternal victory is at hand…!
I just ordered 6 pounds of Yoder Popcorn, so I’ll soon be set!!
Cheers,
Scott.
laura
@Mr. Bemused Senior: You are not alone in that regard. We’re going to the local parade and I’m hoping to turn my frown upside down, but dang- fascist motherfuckers are interfering with my consent of the governed at all levels of penetration. Still, I’ll likely have a more sweet than bitter time at the parade, a delish meal and hopefully watch Jaws. Friday I get back on the Get Joe Biden Express.
NotMax
July 4th the Tories take a licking. Something to celebrate from ‘cross the pond.
Mike in NC
James Lileks is a blast from the past. He was a serious RWNJ. I also forgot about FireDogLake existing until an earlier thread. They apparently shut down in 2015.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Mike in NC:
Never visited there. Remember it was talked about a lot here. I remember the term “firebaggers” from the early Obama years came from the name
kalakal
I hate fireworks because of the terror they cause animals. Fortunately there usually aren’t that many in the immediate neighbourhood but one of the cats is absolutely petrified of them and will be cowering under the bed.
On a happier note it’s the anniversary of when I first met Mrs kalakal
wjca
Interesting factoid. Know who are the most caustic about all those fireworks in your neighborhood? Pyrotechnic professionals — the guys who put on the official shows in various cities and towns around the country.
“Damn amateurs!” is about the kindest comment we make. Because their massive ignorance makes them a threat to everyone around them. And not just from the noise (we all wear ear protection, just like you would wear, if you’re smart, at a gun range). Also the danger from flying debris; there’s a reason we all wear goggles, too. And that’s before you consider what falling flaming debris can do to tinder-dry grass, trees, etc.
It’s a wonder more people don’t end up in hospital emergency rooms. Or the morgue.
zeecube
@laura: Sorry for your loss. Take care.
SpaceUnit
I’m not sure I believe a dog actually wrote that.
The syntax seemed a little off.
Gretchen
@wjca: I think they do. I once had a pediatric ophthalmologist cancel my kid’s appointment for July 5. She wanted to keep her calendar clear.
My new rescue dog doesn’t seem bothered by fireworks. He nearly slept through the show at the nearby country club.
CaseyL
Many years ago, I co-owned a couple horses with a friend. One of them, Maggie, was an elderly mare.
One July 4, I got a frantic phone call from my friend. Maggie was colicking. Linda (my friend) had given her the injection of sedative that is about the only “treatment” for colic, which can kill a horse. This was out in Kent-Canterbury, back when it was really rural.
So I drive out there, and Linda and I walked that mare around and around in the paddock for hours. She finally settled down, and we put her in her stall.
Then the fireworks started – like I said, a very rural area – and Maggie freaked out again. Linda and I were trying to figure out how to walk her again without going outside, when I had a genuine flash of genius.
“She can hear the noise,” I told Linda, “but she can’t see what’s going on. That’s what’s scaring her.”
We opened the outer half-door of Maggie’s stall, so she could look outside and see the bright flashes filling the sky.
And she calmed right down.
We spent the next hour in the stall with Maggie, watching the fireworks.
eclare
That is awesome.
eclare
@zhena gogolia:
Same.
opiejeanne
Before we moved from Anaheim to the PNW we came up to visit our girls a couple of times in July and were invited to 4th of July parties hosted by a bunch of Microsoft people at a house surrounded by woods. This was between 2001 and 2010. The fireworks were coordinated with music, and you could tell who was from SoCal by how we all reacted when something flaming landed on the roof of the house. The locals were unconcerned because everything was so wet, and the whole western Washington meme that summer never started until July 5th, when it would stop raining. And it did rain on the barbecue one time we were there.
Now I don’t know anyone who has fireworks in their backyards, or anyone who would be so blasé about a rocket landing on their roof, and it’s only been 13 years since that last bbq.
NotMax
Open thread FYI.
Humanity: 1, Robot Overlords: 0.
Amazon is bricking its Astro business robots less than a year after launch.
NotMax
@opiejeanne
All sorts of garbage can be heard raining down on my roof from the neighbor’s ‘splosionfest. Fortunately it’s a metal roof.
eclare
@laura:
I’m so sorry. We’re here when you want to talk.
opiejeanne
@CaseyL: That’s really interesting. I wouldn’t expect that to make a difference.
We lost our elderly cat yesterday morning in the wee hours. He had gotten so deaf (we think) that he no longer reacted to the loud bangs and booms, although someone around here has a cannon and it shakes the whole house.
The other kitty is disturbed by fireworks as well as thunder, and we close the windows to mitigate the noise. She hid under the bed during that last thunderstorm a couple of weeks ago, after one big boom was so loud that we wondered if it had hit the neighbor’s house, closed windows be damned. Thankfully we haven’t had much noise leading up to tomorrow’s festivities, except for that fool with a cannon who shot 2 off last night around 11:30.
Mike E
@raven: the parking lot across the way puts on occasional amateur fireworks shows, and the state fair 3 miles away goes off nightly for two weeks in the Fall. It’s not every day here but sometimes it feels that way.
opiejeanne
@NotMax: That’s alarming. Glad you have a metal roof.
opiejeanne
@Mike E: For 9 years we lived 2 miles north of Disneyland. They have fireworks on the weekends most of the year, and in the summer they have them every night. Our cats that lived with us then were unbothered. The cats we have had since we moved here are used to how relatively quiet it is here most of the time.
eclare
Just putting it out there, Freedom by George Michael
https://youtu.be/diYAc7gB-0A?si=esvzQ9U5to61vYkk
Gone too soon
Sister Golden Bear
@Jackie:
I’ll be flying mine — next my Pride flag — because I refuse to cede the flag to the MAGAts. It’s our country too.
‘Course these days the MAGAts never seem to fly the actual flag anyway, at the least it’s the blue line version, at worst it’s got a Punisher logo on it or some other bullshit. And now there’s a black and white version of the CA state flag, which I saw this week, next to a Trump flag. Assholes.
opiejeanne
@Sister Golden Bear: My bunting went up today, the flag tomorrow morning. They don’t own it and I won’t let them steal it from the rest of us. Patriots my ass. We have blood and sweat in the game.
Jackie
The BOOMS 🎆🧨🎇have started here in MAGA eastern WA. My son has the pup doped up so fingers crossed. It’s gonna be a looong wknd.
Origuy
Private fireworks here start with Lunar New Year, pick up again for Cinco de Mayo, then start around July 2nd for a week and of course New Years Eve. Sometimes there are small professional? displays in a church or school. Then the ones for birthdays or quinceañeras. I keep threatening to get some and stash them away for Guy Fawkes Day.
wjca
Damn right!
As you say, they do seem to be drifting towards various other, peculiar, flags. (Although their fondness for the Confederate battle flag endures.) So there’s hope for reclaiming our flag. Speed the day.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@wjca:
@Sister Golden Bear:
I, for one, don’t get the American flag graphics that look torn up and worn out on t-shirts and trucks. It looks terrible
BethanyAnne
@piratedan: Damn! 20% of the electorate signed the petitions? Damn!
Gretchen
@BethanyAnne:Those people who think Trump will run away with this don’t understand how mad women still are about this and how having people willing to let us die to have a baby is motivating.
In a previous thread commenter E said they were canvassing for a Dem in Tennessee and was surprised by how many people they doorknocked were very mad about the Supreme Court. I don’t think polling catches these issues.
BethanyAnne
I’m furious. I can’t get pregnant, but the inhumanity and the fucking gall of these fucking assholes. I think I always get angrier about what people do or try to do to my friends and family than what they try on me.
Prometheus Shrugged
Not only do we have neighborhood kids setting off firecrackers, but we also just had the Sea World show (~15 miles away but still plenty audible). Our Great Dane is currently cowering in the dirty laundry in our closet, while our Beagle-Chihuahua mix is completely unfazed, demanding more party cheese. Go figure.
Splitting Image
I just want to say how much I admire Americans for making the day of the British elections a national holiday.
I know it’s been suggested before, but perhaps going forward making the day of the U.S. elections a national holiday might be a better idea.
Chet Murthy
@Splitting Image: Why would we do that? Then people might -vote-.
NotMax
@Prometheus Shrugged
Dogs ‘n’ cheese.
;)
karen marie
@opiejeanne: My current cat is very alarmed by boom-booms. I was surprised by her reaction because I never noticed my previous cats having an issue with them.
My previous female dog (but not the male) really hated them, as does my current dog. When they’re really loud and go on for a period of time, I have to hold her in a bear hug so she doesn’t do herself an injury trying to dig through the wall at the back of my closet or, if she can get in the bathroom, dig through the bottom of the tub. My vet gives me a prescription of alprazolam for her. It works really well. But I have to pay attention and give it to her before the boom booms start.
ArchTeryx
I’ve found that while it doesn’t work with every animal, just making sure you are THERE for them helps. Talk soothingly to them. Give them cuddles if they want, especially if they are dogs. Get them in the quietest room away from all the scary noises. Make sure they know YOU ARE THERE for them. It helps. Though sometimes, as has been pointed out above, sedatives are the only practical answer, it’s still worth it to try and be a comforting presence to your critters. It does reduce the terror.
NotMax
@karen marie
Play a recording of the 1812 Overture on a loop to amalgamate with the sounds?
sab
One of the cats, climbing around, just knocked over something large amd heavy.
I think I will wait until morning to inspect that particular boom.
Meanwhile, pitmix is comforting herself with a mouthful of her favorite quilt. I was a childhood thumbsucker, so I can’t really complain.
gene108
@Chet Murthy:
I’m in the process of applying for an OCI card. India does not allow dual citizenship.
Chet Murthy
@gene108:
For decades of my life, I pretended that I was an American, and had nothing to do with India. Literally, the last time I visited India was the summer Skylab fell. It’s time for me to remedy that mistake. I feel like an idiot, a complete imbecile.
Odie Hugh Manatee
IMO this year the fireworks are really subdued here in Brookings. This is a small town in a rural area, conservative as hell in their love of illegal fireworks and firing off their weapons every 4th. The evenings for the week before the 4th get increasingly noisy until the big bang on the 4th, when all hell breaks loose. Not this year, for whatever reason. The noise in the evenings just started three days ago and it’s been sparse, over before 9pm. Tonight there has been a few blasts after 9 but unusually peaceful for the evening before the 4th.
I know all hell will break loose tomorrow but it’s odd that this year things aren’t as rowdy as they usually are. Our cats weren’t stressed with one sleeping in the house, one in the shop and the third was out jumping on stuff way past dark. Tomorrow will be a different story for one of our cats. The two Folds aren’t bothered by fireworks in the least, just Stewie.
opiejeanne
@karen marie: Yeah, our surviving kitty jumped when one went off around 10pm, and we comforted her. I shut the one open window and if there were more we didn’t hear them.*
Rewatching Agents of Shield, and one of the characters just lamented “Why are we still fighting Nazis?” That episode aired in 2018, and I have noticed other scenarios/comments, not so subtle, that parallel our own experience, angst, and exasperation while the orange idiot was in the WH.
*I take it back, it’s nearly 12:20 and we just heard and felt one.
Chet Murthy
@Odie Hugh Manatee: It’s funny you mention that. I live in SF (Noe Valley) and it sure seems like the fireworks this year are (indeed) more subdued than in previous years. I remember that year when there was drone’s-eye view of LA, and it just like a fucking war zone, so many fireworks going off nearly-simultaneously. it’s a really quiet night here.
No idea what it means. Or if it means anything.
sab
@Chet Murthy: Problem is, after basically your whole life in USA are you still Indian? Will you really be comfortable there?
My family were Scottish. When I went there I did feel lots of cultural affinity, but basically I was still American.
Chet Murthy
@sab: Oh, you’re 100% right. Deep-down inside, I’m American, and …. well, I’ll say it: a “white” American. Part of what’s really got me angry — angry to the point almost crying tonight, is that none of the “white” English-speaking countries are open to me and my family. Not CA, not AU, not NZ. And for sure not UK.
So what does that mean? It means giving up on being an American — that’s what it means. And yeah, I’m really fucking angry about that.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Chet Murthy:
That’s interesting. This is a small town of about 6,400 so when things like this change it is very apparent. As many freedom lovers as we have here makes it odd, IMO.
I’m not going to complain, that’s for sure! It will be interesting to see how tomorrow goes. The local show starts at 10pm and is over by 10:45. The local noise usually goes until 1am or so.
Chet Murthy
@Chet Murthy: I’m the kind of “American” that, aside from 3yr in France (postdoc), I’ve basically never left the country. Like, I’ve done it 3-4 times (all but one to Canada, the other to France), always for work. Always for work.
I’m that sort of “America is my home” guy. Sigh. What an imbecile I was.
Odie Hugh Manatee
It’s 82 out, 78 in Gold Beach 30 miles away to the north. It’s 58 in Port Orford, 25 miles further north. It’s 52 in Crescent City, 30 miles south of here. Brookings and Gold Beach got roasted today (107 here, highest we’ve ever seen in 32 years).
It’s not cooling off so tomorrow is going to be brutal. No forest fires, yet.
/knock on wood
Chet Murthy
@Odie Hugh Manatee: hah. here, it’s (ostensibly, via wunderground) 65F outside, 78F inside. Doubt it’ll get much cooler. No Aircon, so whatever it is, is what it is.
sab
@Chet Murthy: Some of my family has been here since the 17th century. Others came later, 18th, 19th and 20th century. All different, but once they got here their kids were American.
I am white with black grandchildren. My sister has kids with a Chinese father.
Trump is only third generation. Three of his four kids have immigrant mothers.
Americans have always had a big nativist, white supremacist element, but that is not who we are as a people, and we really need to stop this being who we are politically because it is not who lives here.
Chet Murthy
@sab:
Well, I guess we get to find out in 4mos. Frankly, more and more I think Americans -are- a bunch of white supremacists. As A.R. Moxon said, nobody cares why people voted for the Nazis (money, family, history, whatever): we have only one word for them: “Nazis”. Nobody cares about the explanations.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Chet Murthy:
Same here, no AC so it is what it is. House is wide open to cool off. It’s 81 now so it’s not cooling off much.
May have to look in to a window unit to at least cool one area of the house.
eclare
@Chet Murthy:
I guess I’m missing something, because I never expected another country to accept me. I was born in the US, both of my parents were born in the US, all of my grandparents were born in the US, etc. Seriously, my family goes back a long time.
So even if I want to move, I’m trapped. But I never thought another country would take me.
eclare
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
Take care. 80 here in Memphis. Very hot but at least we don’t have forest fires.
eclare
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I love my window units, only cool what you need. They are really cheap now and work really well. Just clean the filter before the season starts and you’re good to go, that is all the maintenance required.
YY_Sima Qian
@Chet Murthy: The reactionary, ethno-nationalist, illiberal-authoritarian turn is global, there is no safe harbor anywhere. Even the countries that have not succumbed (Scandinavians ex-Sweden), or have just [temporarily] reemerged (the UK & Poland), will not be isolated from the effects.
I once thought having US passports for myself & my daughters represented an escape hatch even as I worked full time in China & planted roots back here again, as hedges against the reactionary hard authoritarian turn of the CPC regime under Xi (actually predated Xi). In fact, the plan always was to take my daughter back to the States for junior high or high school education, so that they are not subjected to the extremely stressful experience of taking national exams for upper middle school & university, & have their lives inordinately determined by their performance on tests over a few days.
Now, I guess marrying a Chinese national & having residency in China represent an escape hatch in case the US leaps off the ledge. However, the trends we have seen w/ Xi & the current CPC leadership remain, though they have perhaps been chastened a bit by the experiences of 2022 & 2023. So neither place are truly safe havens.
I imagine India under Modi is not much of a safe haven, either, although being ethnic Indian in India is better than being ethnic Indian in a Herrenvolk reactionary US, just like me being ethnic Han Chinese in China is better than being ethnic Chinese in such a US, as long as we pay due deference to the powers that be.
As described in a WaPo articled I posted in another thread a day or two ago, not even New Zealand is safe from being buffeted by these global winds.
So, got to fight as hard as we can to prevent the worst outcome & work for better outcomes long term. There is no one weird trick to save any of us, just like there is no one weird trick to save the US.
raven
@Mike in NC: I ended up here because Jane banned me. When she decided to hook up with Norquist I attacked her relentlessly un she pulled the ban-hammer.
Another Scott
@Splitting Image: There are usually House bills introduced each Congress to make the federal election day a holiday. Thus far, they’ve been sent to committee and died there.
Lots and lots of things can and should be done. There are bills ready to be signed – like the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
We know what needs to be done. We need to vote out the monsters, and vote in good and sensible folks, to get it done.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@raven: Yeah, something weird happened to her. She kept going farther and farther out there over the fight on the ACA. Teaming up with Grover was way, way too far and she set the place on fire.
It was a cautionary tale and re-enforced one of my mantras – “Purity kills.”
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@laura: 💕
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@raven:
Hah! Calamity Jane and the Hamshers of the Apocalypse!
Impressive that you got banned. I’d been there and here for a long while, not commenting much in either place, definitely not there as time went on and because she couldn’t carve out a place for herself to a much broader, Democratic audience, she went the route she went and people like you got banned.
opiejeanne
@sab: If your family has been here that long we are probably related. At least one line of my family has been here since about 1612.
schrodingers_cat
@Chet Murthy: The last time I went to India I went on a multiple entry visitor visa.
wjca
FTFY
wjca
It would be more accurate to say that we have a significant white supremacist contingent. Periodically they feel emboldened to crawl out from under their rocks; we saw that previously in the 1970s.
Then there’s a reaction that’s a combination of the rest of us pushing back and the next generation being repulsed by their antics. (Talking big picture here, there are always countercurrents.) And things get better for a while. I feel like the long term trend is better.** But it’s definitely three steps forward, two steps back.
** We’ve got black CEOs of major corporations now. And Congressional leaders (even a Supreme Court justice) in interracial marriages. When I was growing up, that was not so much unthinkable as unimaginable. Women governors then were imaginable, if only barely; now they’re utterly unremarkable. Progress!
TerryC
@Matt McIrvin: Lileks was a funny, and not apparently very political, early blogger who went aggressively super-neocon as a result of the 9/11 attacks. But he could still write well when he wasn’t obsessing about that.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@YY_Sima Qian: exactly this!
Members of my family moved to this country in the 17th century, and, being Tories, left for Canada in the 18th.
When Trump got elected, my brother, thinking of getting an escape hatch in order, tried getting in touch, and reported back that our Canadian relatives apparently still found “all men created equal” to be a bridge too far.
We forget that Canada was founded by people who thought the American revolution was too radical a development. They’re still there and they’re still RWNJs.
This rising tide of fascism is like global climate change: you might think you can move to escape it, but you can’t. It infects every country.
AnnaN
Used to love James Lileks, but he is a dog owner dick as well as Fascist-Lite. He had a dog that would escape repeatedly from his yard, and he got a lot of column mileage detailing his family’s efforts running through neighborhoods trying to locate the poor thing. People kept telling him to be more careful, not let it off leash, put a GPS tracker on the collar, etc.
Nope – he did nothing. The dog was let off leash one night and killed by being hit by a car. Asshole.
Added to that his belief that women should not be in charge of their own bodies and medical decisions and he can shove his “MN Nice” up his ass.
I will close as I open: he’s a dick.
AnnaN
@SiubhanDuinne: Check out his bullshit writings on Ricochet.com