Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
From beloved commentor and master gardener Satby:
Newest tulip bed, fenced in AND mulched with used pine nugget kitty litter to deter squirrels. Which worked great. Don’t use for food crops though!
My Mandarin Lights azalea blooms better every year. I gotta paint that porch 😵💫
Sunday Morning Garden Chat: This Year’s Early BloomsPost + Comments (38)
Lol. The "Cybertruck will act as a boat" but, if you drive your brand new Cybertruck with 26 miles on it in a tiny bit of water, not even reaching the cabin, your insurance company may total the car as not worth the cost of repairing your $100k dumpster on wheels.
electrek.co/2024/06/24/t…— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick.bsky.social) Jun 24, 2024 at 1:20 PM
(Another commentor added “Maybe he meant it will act as a boat in that the best two days with it are the day you get it and the day you get rid of it”)
"The thought came to me all at once, whole and fully crystallized, that I would like to slap a big ol' slice of bologna onto that Cybertruck." https://t.co/fSkGd5ibwE
— Defector (@DefectorMedia) June 27, 2024
Albert Burneko, at Defector — “I Would Like To Put Lunchmeat On The Cybertruck”:
I saw my first Tesla Cybertruck in person a couple weeks ago. I’d driven my family into an outer satellite town of D.C., well outside our normal circuits, and there it was, around the corner from us in a parking garage. It looked dumpy and top-heavy and cheap. You could spot its poor assembly at a distance: the weird uneven gaps between panels, the way light angled off the front and rear doors differently because they were misaligned and not even uniformly finished. While I was walking toward it, a whole other person happened by, spotted it, and erupted into giggles.
It was a bright, blazing hot afternoon. I did not touch the Cybertruck, but I did find myself wondering how hot its amazingly shabby-looking stainless steel body panels might be just then, or later on, when its owner took it home. I thought of the stainless steel propane grill my father-in-law used to have, and how just lifting the lid of that grill on a sunny day could blister your fingers. The thought came to me all at once, whole and fully crystallized, that I would like to slap a big ol’ slice of bologna onto that Cybertruck.
I did not think about this further, because it’s an insane thought to have. But a few days later, driving my kids home from a soccer game on another broiling sunny afternoon, we spotted another Cybertruck headed down our street, less than a mile from our house. It looked like shit. It looked far worse than the one in the relatively dim parking garage. The bright sunlight did those ugly brushed panels no favors: You could pick out, even headed the opposite way at 35 miles per hour, all the very many places where the light glanced off it irregularly, absorbed or refracted unevenly by a zillion oily fingerprints. It looked water-stained. It looked like a toaster for a divorced giant. Once again I found myself consumed by the idea of plopping a nice pink slice of mortadella on that sucker.
Late Night Open Thread: But Can A CyberTruck Serve Briefly As A *BBQ Grill*?Post + Comments (115)
It looks like we could use an open thread and nothing seems to be happening in the back room, so I checked to see if I had started any posts that were still in draft mode. This is the only one that fit the bill, and I had only gotten as far as the title.
So we all know the convicted felon behaves like a whiny toddler. But I am sick of him, so instead of talking about the whiner himself, how about if we list the ways that your random 10-year-old would make a better president than the dumpster fire?
Or, if that doesn’t grab you, totally open thread.
The Former President and Convicted Felon Is a Whiny Toddler (Open Thread)Post + Comments (101)
(Image by NEIVANMADE)
A quick housekeeping note: Rosie is still doing very well. Than you all, again, for your good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.
The Ukrainians have conducted another successful prisoner exchange.
At home 🇺🇦
As a part of the prisoner exchange, ten of our citizens were released from captivity.
We will not stop until all our citizens return home! pic.twitter.com/5BjZ2Fj4St
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 29, 2024
Ten civilians returned home after years in Russian captivity, their only “crime” being resistance to Russian occupation. Among those freed are two priests and museum researcher Olena Pekh, detained for six years. Thousands more remain unjustly held in Russia’s genocidal war. pic.twitter.com/itanltZSDe
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) June 29, 2024
Coming home from Russian captivity pic.twitter.com/wCokZJt64c
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) June 29, 2024
“Don’t cry, don’t cry, it’s all over. I’m already in Ukraine” – Olena Pekh, released from Russian captivity, tells to her daughter during a video call.
Olena is a researcher at the Horlivka Art Museum. She was held captive by the Russians for six years. Upon returning home,… https://t.co/waX7YChbLi pic.twitter.com/xy4fCwpt0C
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 29, 2024
“Don’t cry, don’t cry, it’s all over. I’m already in Ukraine” – Olena Pekh, released from Russian captivity, tells to her daughter during a video call.
Olena is a researcher at the Horlivka Art Museum. She was held captive by the Russians for six years. Upon returning home, Olena, unable to hold back her tears, called her daughter first.
Six years of captivity!!! An employee of the Ukrainian museum!!!
📹 Dmytro Lubinets
Search and rescue operations (SAR) are still underway in Dnipro.
Amidst the ruins of a residential building in Dnipro, rescuers continue their search for five missing persons following a russian missile strike. pic.twitter.com/2zes9Z7RBF
— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) June 29, 2024
The seconds that divide life into before and after: a russian missile strike on a residential building in Dnipro. pic.twitter.com/UBVXdAD25r
— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) June 29, 2024
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
War for Ukraine Day 857: Another Prisoner Exchange!Post + Comments (36)
I got nothing. Still doing a slow burn about all the media bobbleheads. I mean, I suppose if you are a white well off dude, fuck it, replace Biden and cede the election. Not like it’s gonna have a real impact on your life in the short term.
Fucking assholes.
.@journalsentinel: 'RNC business lower than anticipated for many downtown bars, restaurants and venues'
Even more restaurant and bar owners (Lowlands Group, RWB Milwaukee, Old German Beer Hall) going on the record now… https://t.co/HJZgRadKbN
— Dan Shafer (@DanRShafer) June 28, 2024
Per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal, “RNC business lower than anticipated for many downtown bars, restaurants and venues”:
Mere weeks away from the Republican National Convention, few bars and restaurants near Fiserv Forum and elsewhere downtown are reporting bookings for private events during the four-day convention, a major letdown for business owners who had been promised or expected big business.
The Pabst Theater Group does not have any bookings at four of its venues, including the Riverside Theater and Pabst Theater. Upscale downtown restaurants, such as Amilinda and Lupi and Iris, have few to no bookings or reservations for the four days of the RNC. And many bars and restaurants on North King Drive don’t have any bookings for private events, including Who’s On Third, Oak Barrel, Third Street Tavern, LP and Old German Beer Hall.
“It’s disappointing for us but I am, as always, more concerned about the city overall,” said Gary Witt, CEO of the Pabst Theater Group. “After all that spiking the football that was done after getting the RNC, you’re going to see that a lot of restaurants and bars and coffee shops are going to be impacted negatively.”
The lack of bookings this close to the convention is disappointing for owners of bars, restaurants and event venues, some of whom signed contracts with the nonpartisan MKE 2024 Host Committee to hold their venues for convention-related bookings. The Republican National Convention, set to take place July 15-18 at Fiserv Forum, has been sold by its backers as a major economic driver that will bring big economic impact to surrounding businesses and the region…
“When a candidate calls our city horrible, it doesn’t help us any. It makes me not want to host someone who is going to act like that,” [fine-dining restaurant owner Adam] Siegel said, referring to comments made by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. “We have an amazing city here and I just wanted to showcase it.”
Even worse, Siegel said, RNC parties that have inquired about the space in recent weeks have asked him to lower his price point for bookings.
Saturday Evening Open Thread: Nobody’s Looking Forward to the RNC ConventionPost + Comments (84)
The Choice Is Still the Same (Political Wire)
June 29, 2024 at 5:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 77 Comments
Rick Wilson: “History is replete with bad debate performances: Clinton’s first outing in 1992, George W. Bush’s Boston groaner (I was there, and it was awful), and Obama’s first showing against John McCain. Debates matter until they don’t, but they matter most to the chattering and online classes.”
“But there’s no spinning it. I won’t bother. The herd is moving as herds so.”
“With that said, Donald Trump remains an existential threat to democracy, the Republic, the Constitution, and our most fundamental liberties, in addition to being a fraud, a liar, a felon, a degenerate, a sexual assaulter, a global embarrassment, and an ally of evil.”
“The race is still a choice between America and Trump.”
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Democrats, Stop Panicking (Political Wire)
June 29, 2024 at 4:51 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 96 Comments
Stuart Stevens: “As a former Republican who spent decades pointing out flaws in the Democratic Party, I watch the current Democratic panic over President Biden’s debate performance with a mix of bafflement and nostalgia.”
“It’s baffling that so many Democrats are failing to rally around a wildly successful president after one bad night. But it does remind me of why Republicans defeated Democrats in so many races Republicans should have lost.”
“Donald Trump has won one presidential election. He did so with about 46 percent of the popular vote. (Mitt Romney lost with about 47 percent.) The Republican Party lost its mind and decided that this one victory negated everything we know about politics. But it didn’t.”
“One debate does not change the structure of this presidential campaign. For all the talk of Mr. Biden’s off night, what is lost is that Mr. Trump missed a great opportunity to reset his candidacy and greatly strengthen his position.”
h/t Josie
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Listening to white folks blithely talk about pushing Biden off a cliff, skipping over Harris, and trotting out some white person like ain’t nobody gonna notice that is some *hilarious* shit.
Some of y’all need to phone a friend. A black one.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) June 29, 2024
h/t the person who sent this to me without their nym
Open thread.
