Here’s an open thread to talk about whatever you want.
And just because I love this so much, here is some gratuitous mocking of Pastor Johnson.
Talk amongst yourselves!
PBS Documentary: White with Fear
There’s a new documentary out – White with Fear – and it looks really interesting.
One phrase really stands out in the trailer below: Strategic Racism
“White with Fear”: That’s the clever name of the new PBS documentary premiering at 10 p.m. Tuesday. Directed and written by Andrew Goldberg, and recently nominated for a Writers Guild of America award for best documentary screenplay, the film explores the GOP’s dark mastery of selling racism without being overtly racist — except, of course, when they just say the quiet part out loud. (The Boston Globe)
The concept is not new to us, of course, but the documentary is getting rave reviews.
It appears to be free to watch online at PBS for the next 18 days. (expires 4/21) It’s also available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime, and likely on other streaming platforms, as well.
I plan on watching, and I’m wondering if any of you guys might be interested in having a zoom to talk about it?
I think it would make sense to do it in the last week of April – if you are interested in a zoom on this topic, let us know in the comments, and send me an email with a tentative RSVP.
Open thread.
On The Road – frosty – 2024 National Park Road Trip – Eastbound (5/6) Waterton Lakes National Park
frosty
Having done Going to the Sun Road and Many Glaciers, we had a spare day in our schedule. Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta was only 40 miles from where we were staying on the east side, so off we went into Canada for the third time. We shared multiple confirmations that we had our passports before we took off!
The park is part of the “Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.” We drove a scenic route to a lake in the mountains, reminiscent of Lake Louise, then spent some time at the justifiably famous Prince of Wales hotel. Another beautiful historic hotel with a stunning setting.
Waterton Lakes NP
In September 2017, the Kenow Wildfire burned through the park, covering 39% of the its area. We saw lots of dead, burned trees and fireweed blooming.
No Kings – Burrowing Owl – Longmont CO (Open Thread)
Note from Burrowing Owl:
The chicken sign didn’t work well for cars obviously, but even passers by needed a while to take it in. I only had a few people, older, immediately “get it.”
“What does he have on them? Why don’t they stop him?”
Props to the Balloon Juice community for standing up and speaking out!
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MobiusKlein – In Memory of His Dad – The cycle of life thru a lens of plants
We have a very special On the Road post this morning in honor of MobiusKlein and his beloved dad, who passed away yesterday. May it bring him comfort as we share in his grief and honor his dad.
MobiusKlein
I promised to share some pictures in honor of my dad, who is going thru some very medical situations. He’s in the ER now, 250 miles away, and in great spirits. But still it makes me reflect on the cycle of life, and the struggle for existence.
Here I have a collection of plants and assorted other things I hope tells a story of sorts.
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Shell mound in Buckeye Canyon, San Bruno Mountain CAJune 21, 2025
Probably centaurium pulchellum, which is not native to the area. Regardless, the super small flower standing alone, defiantly proclaiming it’s right to be.
We have been hiking the Buckeye Canyon many time before, and seen the trail sign for the shell mound, but never actually found it.
This day, we were hiking, and on the way out, sat in a clearing and bemoaned we never figured out where the damned thing was. Then I looked down, saw the ground was covered in crushed shells. What do you know. It’s a mile or so from where the bay historically reached before landfill. A long walk with uphill to process / eat the shellfish, so we had to wonder of the full story.
This would have been near a Ohlone / Ramaytush settlement. We tread on the ground of others, always. https://www.ramaytush.org/ramaytush-territory.html
On The Road – frosty – 2024 National Park Road Trip – Eastbound (4/6) Glacier National Park – Going To The Sun Road, East Side
frosty
We moved to a campground on the east side of the park on the Blackfeet Reservation. The east side gave us access to Going To The Sun Road without a timed entry ticket, to the Many Glaciers part of the park, and to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. We saw all three while we were there.
We kept an eye on the weather forecasts and it looked like the last of our three days on the east side was least likely to have any rain so that was the day we saw the other side of Going To The Sun Road. The plan was to cover the route up to Logan Pass then go a little further and see a little of the west side that we missed on the Red Bus because of the weather.
We wanted to stop at as many scenic viewpoints as we could but not surprisingly, they were jammed and there were no parking places at many of them. Oddly enough, the ones on the west side of Logan Pass were almost empty. When we headed back east later in the day the viewpoints had cleared out and we got to stop everywhere we wanted to.
Glacier National Park
Wild Goose Island. “One of the most photographed places in the park.” The view of the lake and mountains is spectacular, but even more so, this is the first big viewpoint as you head up the road. You can see a faint outline of the mountains beyond the lake in this photo.
Guerrilla Political Messaging: Introducing the Card Campaign for Democracy
The post-war German bestseller Every Man Dies Alone, by Hans Fallada, was a lightly-fictionalized account of the real-world exploits of Otto and Elise Hampel in Nazi-era Berlin. What did they do?
From 1940 to 1942, the Hempels handwrote over 287 postcards urging people to refuse to cooperate with the Nazis, to withhold funds, to evade military service, and to overthrow Hitler. The postcards – which were riddled with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes – were left in mailboxes and stairwells all over Berlin.
Could such guerilla political messaging be effective? The Nazis thought so. Authorities assembled a team to find and stop the campaign. It took them over two years to catch the Hempels. The Nazis were so rattled that the Hempels were executed by guillotine in 1943.
We at Balloon Juice can do the same sort of guerilla political messaging with much less risk of decapitation. Meet THE CARD CAMPAIGN FOR DEMOCRACY.
The Card Campaign provides downloadable digitals files of cards targeting the issues of most concern to Americans – ICE raids, inflation, safe protesting, the march towards fascism, etc. They upload new cards and templates in PDF formats every two to four weeks. Participants can 1) download them, 2) print them out at home, or 3) have them printed at a print shop.
Next step: release them into the wild!
The Card Campaign’s website provides An Introverts Guide to Card Distribution. They suggest leaving a few cards on shelves at grocery stores, retails outlets, office supply stores, etc, “but not so many that you piss off a store employee or manager.” They also suggest dropping off cards at bookstores, on public transit, and on parked cars (but not on the windshield). For more ideas, check out the Introverts Guide to Card Distribution yourself!
They also have guides for extroverts and the in-betweens as well on their website.
Some sample cards – there are over 30 to choose from.
What say you? I think this sounds like fun. If the German Nazis were rattled by a similar campaign, I can only assume our home-grown Nazis will feel the same way. If there’s interest, we’ll put up a post so we can share our card-distribution experiences.
Will it change the world? Probably not. But it’s a low-cost/no-cost chance to fight back, inspire others, and maybe change some minds. As the Card Campaign says: “Saving Democracy one card at a time.“
You get to choose the cards for the issues that are most important to you!
Guerrilla Political Messaging: Introducing the Card Campaign for DemocracyPost + Comments (44)