First things first- big day at the Ohio County Democratic HQ, as the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony was at 5:30. I stopped by briefly and said hi to some of the peeps and met some of the newer candidates including a young fellow named Dave Cantrell, a good union guy and electrician with the local IBEW, who is running to replace the GOP rubber stamp that is Jimmy Willis, the 20 something kid that was elected a few years back for the sole reason he had a Trump sticker on his pickemup truck. So that was nice. Are you all getting involved in your local races because that is where much of the quality of life issues in your area can be improved. Very important.
In other news, I took a fall today at around 4 pm. Was walking out of a business in Wheeling I had only been in once before, and they have one of those doors where there is a step down to the street and I didn’t know it and walked out and fell. Managed to both get my arms to my side and rotate so I did not hit my head, but landed square on my reconstructed shoulder and it is sore as fuck. Don’t think there is any structural (bone) damage, but I know I messed up some ligaments and tendons. I’m rotating bags of frozen peas on it right now and if it feels like it needs to be looked at in a couple of days I will go.
God damnit. I was so fucking close to being able to do freestyle and was going to start lifting. Fingers crossed this is just bruising. One side benefit of breaking damned near every bone in your body is I knew immediately that I had not broken anything. I just “know” what a bone breaking feels and sounds like.
The least surprising thing about this is that not one person in the store I was in came out to check on me, or the people in businesses next door or across the street. But you know who did? The homeless couple sitting on a stoop about 30 yards away. Got up and immediately raced over to me, leaving their backpacks and possession alone to come to my aid. Asked if I was ok and needed help, asked if I hit my head, etc. Put that in your fucking NIMBY housing construction pipe and smoke it.
In other news, Rosie is still really pissy and not happy to be here, but enough time has passed that it is time for her to go to the vet. I didn’t want her to go through all that trauma and then immediately take her to the vet, so she is due. Plus, the all clear is critical to introducing her to the other cats. I get paid on Friday so I am taking her then.
In some exciting news, we about have the Balloon Juice store functional again, and we are planning to have some new election swag in the store in the next few days. This has been no easy feat and I want to thank the graphic designer (they can out themselves) and the person who has been doing the calendar for several years and knows the CafePress system, as well as Watergirl. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes here and you already know about the Wizard being a complete incompetent (I’m talking about me and making a Wizard of Oz reference, Baud).
At any rate, we have two different items that are going to be available as yard signs, car magnets, and stickers. They say, respectively:
“Woke not Weird: Harris/Walz 2024”
And a play on the cat ladies thing but inclusive for all cat lovers, “a picture of Tunch or Steve for Harris/Walz 2024”
Watergirl is sending me the most up to date images and I will post them when I get them.
I have been making all of them mental I am so excited to get these in the store and out there- I’ve been champing at the bit hard. I want to retake the term woke like they did with queer, and I want lots of stuff visible to help get out the vote. Plus, all proceeds go to our pet rescue partners!
One final thing- don’t forget to get your copy and read Steve Benen’s book, “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past”– we’re still on for a zoom book club sometime in mid October and I would love a good turnout!
Time for a new bag of frozen peas.
DRAFT IMAGES – but you get the idea!
Tunch bumper sticker (car magnets & yard signs soon, just no images to share yet)
Steve bumper stickers (DarkBrandon and regular Steve are available)
Car magnets available in Dark Brandon and regular.
Steve yard signs in Dark Brandon and regular.
Woke not weird in peace sign, pride, and raised fist. (raised fist not shown)
Baud
You need to fix your blog.
Steve LaBonne
I’m very sorry about your fall. At almost 69 and with messed up feet and a questionable sense of balance, I’m totally paranoid about falling. I really hope there wasn’t any damage.
SomeRandomGuy
People living in the edges tend to be more helpful than those who aren’t – not just pragmatically, they recognize the love language of “checking safety”.
Nukular Biskits
I can’t “AMEN!!!!” that enough.
And I’ll add to that everyone should run for public office at least once in their lives (I did: Twice). It will give you a much better appreciation for how things work.
Nukular Biskits
Dammit, John.
BJ is about the only blog/website I visit with almost religious regularity. You’d better have some kind of contingency plans for this place!
frosty
It’s been decades and only two breaks but you’re right. When you’re lying on the ground after some asshole ran through 115 lb you as catcher in a softball game and things feel weird and then people are asking “Are you all right?” and the thought drifts through your head that “Gee, I’m still on the ground when they’re asking me if I’m all right.” And then you say. “No, I’m not all right, take me to the fucking ER.” Where they told me I had a broken collarbone and set it without any anesthetic.
But that was OK because the guy to my right was ODing and the guy to my left had fucked up his hand with something that covered it with grease too.
So that’s my last broken bone story circa 50 years ago.
It takes someone who knows hardship to help somebody in hardship.
frosty
@Baud: The blog? The strikeouts? So it wasn’t something I did. Looks fixed, now.
Old Dan and Little Ann
My wife and her friend in Michigan bought matching “I’m not going back” t-shirts. It came today and I must say, my better half looked pretty damn good wearing it. I’m in the not being paid in 2 months boat. Friday payday cannot come soon enough. Then poof! It’s all gone.
zhena gogolia
Oh, I hope nothing serious happened. Falling sucks.
A Tunch-Harris-Walz car magnet sounds fantastic! The one I have has no cats on it.
We did get our white Harris-Walz (official campaign) baseball hat today, but it looks better on hubby than on me.
Ann Marie
@frosty: The strikeouts are still showing for me. If I click on a post, then it is okay, but when I reopen the front page, still with the strikeouts. I’m reading the blog on my Mac using Firefox, but also tried Safari and the problem is there too.
frosty
@Ann Marie: I shut down Balloon-Juice then opened it up again, Try that (the classic Windows solution, now that I think about it!)
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve LaBonne:
Falls are, unfortunately, kind of a fact of life. The truth is, gravity is far kinder to young people with their quicker reflexes and more supple bones than it is to fragile and brittle Olds. I fell and broke my arm/dislocated my wrist about five years ago, and while I function just fine most of the time, it still yells at me now and then. Had an email today from one of my former Consuls General (and a good friend) who has been hors de combat for the past six weeks following a nasty fall. He has lacerations and abrasions everywhere, is still in hospital (Canadian health care, amirite?), and once they spring him is looking at another few weeks in a rehab facility.
Old age is no fucking joke.
Scout211
Ouch, John! That sounds painful. Those steps outside a business doorway are dangerous. Most aren’t marked and no one expects them. I typically trip on them on the way into a business, but so far I haven’t face-planted. But I can see that coming in my future.
I hope your shoulder recovers quickly, John.
Under Medicare, “have you fallen in the last year?” is a question asked for each doctor visit. I always say yes. Then they ask, “How many times?” I say lots. Then they ask, “We’re you injured?” I always say yes. Then they ask, “Did you go to the hospital?” I say no, just scrapes and bruises and soreness. Then they always seem relieved, finally. It never seems like they actually care that I am tripping and falling outside on our property but they asked the question and I answered. Check, check. LOL
sab
Cole: Probably too late now, but when my husband had his first back surgery they had me make icepacks out of dish towels soaked in solution of water and rubbing alchohol then sealed in a gallon ziplock bag. We still keep a few of them in the freezer. They are freezer cold but not frozen stiff and hard. And it saves wasting peas.
A few years back I tripped weirdly and fell down on my knees while my feet stayed on the ground, severely folding my feet where the toes were attached. They have never been quite the same. I fidn’t break anything but the toes just aren’t their old tough selves.
HinTN
Will (can) the store produce a magnetic “bumper sticker” from artwork I created? WaterGirl has the artwork. I had a local graphics shop make 20 and they cost < $5 each. They’re 4″ x 10″ and thematically are flags, MVP, Vote Blue and We’re Not Going Back.
Sorry you fell, Cole, but you gotta up your situational awareness, muthafukka.
cain
@Nukular Biskits: Baud and I will be taking over.
cain
Ugh, sorry you fell and have to work on getting that shoulder working again. Take some ibuprofen – I would have recommended some cannabis oil/lotion for the pain.
Piety, keep me strong
Sorry you fell on your ass, takes long years to be as careful as the situation requires. I too have a bum shoulder, can hurt it sometimes just by overdoing the wheelchair. If you tire of the peas and want to go the other direction, try some capsaicin cream (applied wearing a rubber glove, its nasty if you get it in your eyes or genitals if you have it on your hands). I use this on my dead feet to increase circulation, but it works well for muscle/tendon pain also. For the sake of us all, try to keep your mind ahead of your feet. Happy healing.
frosty
@cain: Oooookay. Promise me you’ll give WaterGirl a raise! A 20% bump sounds about right considering everything she’s been doing.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
Since it’s an open thread…
I saw something somebody said about Dinesh D’Souza on Twitter today, so I cruised on by his page out of curiosity, and… Boy, howdy… That is some sad, sad shit right there, that is. He’s reduced to going on 873rd rate podcasts to rant about Democratic mules and transgender tyranny and hawking all kinds of right wing scams and crap.
And I thought to myself, This is a guy who was once a respected [sic] conservative thinker [sic]. I mean, he wrote books that serious people reviewed, sometimes even (unaccountably) favorably. I think he once worked in the Reagan administration.
I mean, I know about the shit he did at Dartmouth. He’s always been a dickwad. But up until, I don’t know when it was, 15 years ago, 20, he was a respected dickwad. And now he makes movies [sic] that the only kind of people who will hawk them are creepy fucking weirdos like Mark Levin. I mean, would Tucker Carlson even touch this guy today?
And all I could think was, Is this what the guy would honestly like to be able to look back on at the end of his life?
And I’m not talking about the morality of what he’s doing. He has no morals. That he’s a soulless shitbag won’t bother him at all. I mean more just how sad, how pitiful it all is, what he’s been reduced to. He’s like a guy Former Guy might have hired to pressure marks into taking his shitty, worthless classes [sic] at Trump University [sic].
Doesn’t he have any respect for himself? I mean, his station today is no worse than he deserves. But it’s kind of amazing (and hilarious) that this is what his life has become, and that he seems, outwardly at least, okay with it.
Steve LaBonne
@SiubhanDuinne: I slipped and fell a few years ago in my driveway, catching my fall with my left hand and badly dislocating the middle and ring fingers. I’m a pretty serious amateur violinist / violist and I was despondent at the idea of never being able to play again. Fortunately that wasn’t the case though to look at my crooked ring finger you might be surprised by that. But it works fine, thankfully.
Nukular Biskits
@cain:
Why did this scene from Ghostbusters just pop into my head?
schrodingers_cat
OT: In the late 80s early 90s, Doordarshan the Indian public broadcaster made some short films highlighting the unity in diversity of India.
Here is the compilation with maestros of classical music and dance. Just happened on it yesterday.
It has Ravi Shankar and Bhimsen Joshi, Zakir Hussain and his father Ustad Allah Rakha, among others.
Desh Raag
I have heard Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma on the santoor and Amjad Ali Khan on the sarod in concert.
am
Total lurker. Hope you feel better soon and it’s nothing lasting.
HumboldtBlue
Anne Laurie
Fingers crossed you heal swiftly & feel better soon, Cole!
Also… when you’re up to it, you might want to tell that business to ‘flag’ the step for its customers. It’s not as though ‘Trip & Fall’ lawsuits aren’t a well-known cause of small business failures!
MagdaInBlack
@HumboldtBlue: I just listened/watched him yammering on to Mark Levine, who looked like he was just plain miserable. trump is spinning quite a tale about Arlington, and of course he’s the victim. Isn’t he always?
WaterGirl
To say this:
That is WAY OVER-REPRESENTING the current state of things re: the Store.
Cafe Press completely delated the old store. We have to start from scratch with very little time or notice.
But it will be functional enough for you to buy these things.
mrmoshpotato
Oof! Hope it’s just a bruised shoulder.
Scout211
@HumboldtBlue: Also, too:
It was a potpourri of various emotions!
scav
@HumboldtBlue: That lying lying Army. That’ll go over a treat as an applause line at his hate rallies.
HumboldtBlue
Story from July.
Chigail
Hope your shoulder is quickly and easily fixable. Mr Chi is going for 2nd shoulder cortisone shot tomorrow morrow,
l fell last week in Macy’s, yelled for help (I’m quite visibly an old) and no one ever approached me. I came home sore and upset. Is this how we’re going to treat each other now?
WaterGirl
Make Cole happy – please refresh the post to see DRAFT IMAGES of the bumper stickers, car magnets and yard signs.
Scout211
Some Cannon news:
BR
KamalaHQ keeps sharing the goods:
kindness
Mid sixties here. I haven’t had the strength of my youth for a while but I’m finding my coordination isn’t as precise as it once was. This getting older thing is wonderful and sucks at the same time.
Sandia Blanca
@WaterGirl: They look great! Can’t wait to order.
zhena gogolia
Oh, man, I may need a Steve and a Tunch.
K-Mo
These are great! Still waiting for the Cats for Kamala flag we ordered to show up…
sdhays
@BR: He said that out loud?
Brave Sir Trumpy ran away!
mrmoshpotato
@BR:
The orange, rapist shitstain knows he wouldn’t veto it.
lowtechcyclist
@SiubhanDuinne:
As I used to tell my MIL, that’s why I refuse to have anything to do with it.
(Miss you, Marylyn)
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: By it being “completely gone”, I ass-u-me that seeing an old version on Archive.org is not at all helpful. But in case that assumption is wrong, I thought I’d post the link.
Thanks for all you do WG.
Heal up quickly and completely, John. Your exercising, swimming, etc., probably helped prevent it from being worse! Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@kindness: Getting older is almost always interesting. Never realized before what a wonder a fully functional human body is. I learned to walk at two(?) and balance for 60+ years and took it for granted. I take nothing for granted anymore.
I ask my husband to hand me something (he is ten inches taller than me) and realize that bending down and reaching up is incredibly painful for him. He doesn’t complain and he wants to help. So every ask from me is preceded by a guess about how much it will hurt and is it worth his pain for him to get to help.
This is the side of old age I never expected. Walking on eggshells to protect yet encourage other loved ones, because sometimes we need to be pushed slightly but not too far beyond our limits. But who knows were slightly starts and too far ends.
ETA Or where slightly ends and too far starts.
WaterGirl
@Anne Laurie: When Cole told me the story, he included the part about there being a “step down” sign.
WaterGirl
@sdhays: I am going to have to remember that response for the next time the nice man at the DMV counter asks for my weight when they are renewing my license.
Suzanne
@Chigail:
A few years ago, I was in a Macy’s, browsing for a coat for Mr. Suzanne. One of the racks collapsed and kind of slid down my arm and gave me a nasty, bleeding scratch. I caught the rack, but was kind of pinned under it. I called for help, and one of the cashiers looked over at me, saw me there shouting for help, and then turned back to her register. Another customer — who happened to be a little person — had to come over and lift the rack off me.
So, the point is…. fuck Macy’s.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Picture if someone effectively took your car away but left all the various parts and pieces that make up your car stacked in a corner under a tarp.
AND
left the pieces stacked in a corner under a tarp, but in a different garage with no instructions on how to find it.
Fuck you, Cafe Press.
edit: Adding a bit of side-eye for Cole, because I am guessing that Cafe Press probably sent an email to Cole, warning about what was gong to happen, with a click here if you want to retain your old store in the new format. Have I ever mentioned that Cole doesn’t always read his email? :-)
Chigail
@Suzanne: yep!
Doc Sardonic
Cafe Press should have sent it in all caps….. with a coupon for mustard
Jackie
@WaterGirl: Was the top edge of the step also painted “warning mustard yellow”? People tend to look downwards when walking. Yellow curbs and such are usually used for warnings for pedestrians.
Eta: nebber mind; Cole wouldn’t see the mustard, regardless.🤦🏼♀️
Prescott Cactus
@Nukular Biskits:
Only on Christmas and Easter ?
Asking for a catholic.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: That, I do not know.
WaterGirl
@Doc Sardonic: That would have done it for sure!
Jackie
@WaterGirl: see my edit 😁
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Good, good.
Continue to impress upon the normies that the GQP is terrible for business unless you’re a MotU.
Go after every gettable vote.
Impress upon people that dynamism in the US economy is much, much more than some MotU trying to come up with a new way of collecting monopoly rents – it’s some gal with a great new idea figuring out how to get people to buy it and start changing the world for the better. And the GQP has nothing but their ancient dusty book of scares.
(via Fritschner)
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
OT. We just moved near railroad tracks. We have double glazed windows so mostly heard not much.
Tonight we had windows open and that train was very loud and very fast. Exciting!
More trains =better economy as long as Mayor Pete is looking into safety.
sab
@Prescott Cactus: catholic or Catholic? Look it up. There is a difference.
Bitchy comment by me but I am Episcopalian. Not Catholic but catholic.
gwangung
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
He’s been doing the same damn thing for over 40 years, ever since he did a
hatchet joblied like hell about Stanford’s multicultural effort.Its just caught up to him.
Trivia Man
Not to sound like an ambulance chaser, but a business will have “Guest Medical” coverage that can pay for small incidents like this. It isn’t a million dollar lottery but probably a couple grand to pay co-pays and such.
gwangung
@Another Scott: I think we need to keep in mind ALL these indicators:
* 19 million new business starts, a new record
* consistently growing GDP
* low unemployment (record)
* record Dow Jones highs
Yeah, inflation is a problem, and price gouging has take bites out of wallets…but YOU CANNOT SAY THIS IS A BAD ECONOMY with all these positive indicators. Personal, individual economies may be bad, but there are way too many good aspects to apply that to everything.
Prescott Cactus
@sab:
Couldn’t you have just told me the diff ?
Timill
@Steve LaBonne: You are Django Reinhardt and I claim my five pounds…
Kayla Rudbek
@Anne Laurie: yes, some bright yellow paint or tape is much cheaper than paying for a lawsuit
Kayla Rudbek
@gwangung: I should go over and check the trademark dashboard at USPTO; more filings = good economy as more people start businesses and file for trademark protection.
rikyrah
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 for you, Cole
Betty
@Chigail: So sorry to hear this. I fell in the Atlanta airport last year, hit my head, broke my glasses and had some bleeding. The people at the nearby gate rushed to help me and could not have been nicer. Brought me to tears with their kindness. So there are still caring people out there. When I mentioned this story on X, it received over a hundred likes. Keep the faith.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Ha!
WaterGirl
@Prescott Cactus: I don’t know the difference either. It would be interesting to know, but not interesting enough to google for it.
Uncle Cosmo
Likewise O/T:
I did a swing around the Southwest in ’04 and spent a couple of days in “Flag” (Flagstaff, Az) which FTR I quite enjoyed.
When I was booking a room I wondered why prices increased the farther one went from the heart of town. As it turned out, the main rail line runs right beside “historic Route 66” through the town center – at grade – with RR street crossings at every block – and BNSF freights would routinely come through, horns blasting, in the wee hours of the morning. You had to get a fair distance away from that to have any chance of a full night’s sleep….
SteverinoCT
I had right knee surgery for a meniscus tear, and after I finished the ice-pack and Tylenol regimen, was sitting out on my deck. I went to step off, three steps high, and my ankle just gave and I fell off the top step into the grass. I pride myself on my old skateboarder falling reflexes (from fifty years ago) and as I fell, beginning my tuck and roll, realized I was going to land on my still-in-stitches right knee. Bango! Yes I did. Luckily I didn’t do it any more damage, but boy it hurt. Back to the Percocet for another day.