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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

People are weird.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

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

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Giving up is unforgivable.

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Open Thread:  Hey Lurkers!  (Holiday Post)

Open Threads

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads

Righteous Rant Open Thread

by WaterGirl|  April 15, 20244:13 pm| 111 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I never embed TikTok videos – most of the time TikTok videos don’t even play for me on this device – but this is one righteous rant!

@ang.rose1 No response IS a response. Dont sit around and allow hate to be spread. Stand up and SAY SOMETHING. Thank you Senator Bisignano #iowasenate #transgender #lgbtq #representALLconstituents ♬ original sound – Ang

h/t SWMBO

In case anyone is interested in something besides the NY trial jury selection.

Righteous Rant Open ThreadPost + Comments (111)

Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please (Open Thread)

by WaterGirl|  April 15, 20241:09 pm| 170 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

So, at 5:30 am, we were rudely awakened to the sound of the fire alarm screaming:

Fire!  Fire!  Fire! (pause)

Fire!  Fire!  Fire! (pause)

Fire!  Fire!  Fire! (pause)

repeat 20x

(Thankfully it was a false alarm, but it does get you out of bed, rounding up the pup and kitties, etc.)

Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please
I fed them at 7, which was too early, but we had all been up for 90 minutes by then, so it seemed only fair.

So of course Henry at 11 am, Henry decided it was lunchtime and would not be convinced otherwise.  Henry: 1, WaterGirl zero.

By 9 am, the 3 smoke detectors had been replaced, and hopefully that will be the end of the excitement for awhile.

Thought we could use a light open thread while waiting for the trial to come back in session.

Open thread.

Henry Would Like His Lunch Right Now, Please (Open Thread)Post + Comments (170)

Late Night Weekend Wrap-Up Open Thread: Journamalism, Not A Dependable Profit Center

by Anne Laurie|  April 14, 202411:38 pm| 166 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Readership Capture, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You, Our Failed Media Experiment, Schadenfreude

pic.twitter.com/I8R2sXONuh https://t.co/LYM7FTnt94

— Jean-Michel Connard 좆됐어 (@torriangray) April 15, 2024

Per Maxi Tani at Semafor (which has its own problems, yes), “The Intercept is running out of cash”:

The Intercept, the left-wing U.S. newsroom that’s been a thorn in Joe Biden’s side and a hub for pro-Palestinian coverage, is nearly out of money and facing its own bitter civil war, with multiple feuding factions battling for power and two star journalists trying to take control.

At the heart of the crisis is a nonprofit whose founding donor, Pierre Omidyar, decided in late 2022 to end his support for the organization. Now spun off from Omidyar’s First Look Media, The Intercept is losing roughly $300,000 a month, is on track to have a balance of less than a million dollars by November — and could be completely out of cash by May 2025, according to data shared internally in March…

The Intercept’s CEO, Annie Chabel, told Semafor in an interview this week that those projections were a worst-case scenario, and that the Intercept had a “stretch revenue goal that would allow us to continue into a longer horizon.”

The Intercept was born a decade ago in a very different moment for media and politics. Two of its founders, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, broke the story of Edward Snowden’s leaked surveillance files in 2013, which reshaped how Americans thought about the government and their privacy. Omidyar, a leftish billionaire with no known appetite for political combat, rapidly pledged deep support for an organization that would combine that anti-establishment mission with a combative form of online journalism born out of Gawker Media.

A decade later, American politics are almost unrecognizable. Greenwald quit in fury to make quixotic allies on the right. Liberal donors have lost their taste for party infighting as the specter of Donald Trump looms, while voices further left are promising to punish Joe Biden over his response to Gaza…

show full post on front page

Many of the Intercept’s journalists direct their ire at Chabel, a longtime nonprofit executive.

Chabel joined the Intercept at a transition moment for the organization. In 2022, First Look Media had offered a $12 million grant to help the publication spin off — about half of what Intercept leaders had asked for. The publication’s editor-in-chief, Roger D. Hodge, said he told the organization’s board that he did not believe the grant was enough, and they should wind down the Intercept and give staff as generous a severance package as possible. Chabel, who had initially joined the organization as a consultant to manage expenses and oversee the spinoff, helped convince First Look Media to up its grant to $14 million, and presented what appeared to be a financial path forward for the organization…

During a meeting earlier this year, Scahill exploded at Chabel, saying she should resign. Other recent decisions by the organization’s leadership have irked remaining staff. As Semafor first reported, during an all staff meeting on Thursday the publication told employees that it had hired former Los Angeles Times assistant managing editor Ben Muessig to be the interim editor-in-chief — who, according to multiple sources familiar with the selection process, was not employees’ first choice.

And there is little internal consensus on how to move forward. Grim and Scahill are two of the outlet’s longest-serving figures, with Grim leading high-profile coverage and Scahill helming its podcast. But their plan would inevitably involve deep cuts and layoffs. (Other staffers pointed out to Semafor that, on the current trajectory, they’ll likely all lose their jobs anyway.)…

Myriad more details at the link, if you can deal with Semafor’s unspeakably ugly color scheme & layout. Perhaps this news will inspire some anti-Democratic right-wing sugar daddy like Peter Thiel to prop up Ryan Grim’s vanity project?

pic.twitter.com/ByT9Rw0Y3p

— Four Seasons Total Manscaping (@UncleScottiepoo) April 15, 2024

Late Night Weekend Wrap-Up Open Thread: Journamalism, Not A Dependable Profit CenterPost + Comments (166)

War for Ukraine Day 781: A Brief(ish) Sunday Night Update

by Adam L Silverman|  April 14, 20247:45 pm| 63 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Iran, Israel, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Silverman on Security, United Kingdom, War, War in Ukraine

Painting by NEIVANMADE. It has a white background an in the center are Soldiers in green doing air defense by firing at incoming Russian missiles in the upper right. The missiles are red and yellow. In the upper left, written in green, is the text: "SAVE THE BRAVEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!" Below the Soldiers, also written in green, is "SUPPORT FOR KHARKIV"

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

I chose not to do an update on Israel and Iran because there’s not much to say. The US assembled a coalition with the British, French, Jordanians, and Saudis to either take down Iranian drones and missiles that were overflying their airspaces (the Jordanians and Saudis) or to just shoot them down en route regardless of whose air space they were in (the US, Britain, and France). There was only one Israeli casualty – a 7 year old Bedouin girl was injured and is being treated in an Israel hospital – and minimal damage to the bases in the Golan and the Negev. President Biden apparently got Bibi to not immediately retaliate, thereby lowering the temperature. At the same time he laid it on thick telling Bibi that this was a huge victory for Israel, demonstrated how Israel can defend itself, and that Bibi should take the win. The reality is that had the US and the coalition the Biden administration had not quickly put together interceded, we have no idea whether Israel’s air defense and missile defense would have been effective enough. Because of the intervention of the US led coalition, we don’t really know how effective the David’s Arrow and David’s sling missile defense systems are.

Ukraine condemns Iran’s attack on Israel using “Shahed” drones and missiles. We in Ukraine know very well the horror of similar attacks by Russia, which uses the same “Shahed” drones and Russian missiles, the same tactics of mass air strikes.

Every effort must be made to prevent…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 14, 2024

Ukraine condemns Iran’s attack on Israel using “Shahed” drones and missiles. We in Ukraine know very well the horror of similar attacks by Russia, which uses the same “Shahed” drones and Russian missiles, the same tactics of mass air strikes.

Every effort must be made to prevent a further escalation in the Middle East. Iran’s actions threaten the entire region and the world, just as Russia’s actions threaten a larger conflict, and the obvious collaboration between the two regimes in spreading terror must face a resolute and united response from the world.

The sound of “Shahed” drones, a tool of terror, is the same in the skies over the Middle East and Europe. This sound must serve as a wake-up call to the free world, demonstrating that only our unity and resoluteness can save lives and prevent the spread of terror worldwide.

The world cannot wait for discussions to go on. Words do not stop drones and do not intercept missiles. Only tangible assistance does. The assistance we are anticipating. We must strengthen security and resolutely counter all those who want to make terror a new normal.

It is critical that the United States Congress make the necessary decisions to strengthen America’s allies at this critical time.

 

Difference is that in Ukraine it sometimes happens on a daily basis https://t.co/EyRpJNOd0H

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) April 14, 2024

We do know that modern fighter jets are a necessary component of anti-drone and anti-missile defense. While they already knew this, the Ukrainians have again taken note of this reality. And that at the end of the day, despite all the rhetoric, they are on their own. No one is going to launch fighters to intercept inbound drones and missiles targeting Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure. And because the Biden administration dithered, hemmed, hawed, and let Putin have a say in their deliberations, the Ukrainians are still month’s away from getting F-16s. Israel does something strategically stupid and it gets all the help it needs. Ukraine fights for its life and gets fuck all.

As of right now, 7:09 PM EDT, the only air raid alerts are the ones over Russian occupied Luhansk and Crimea.

While the US was leading a coalition to defend Israel, the Russians once again bombarded Kharkiv:

Russian troops struck a private house in Kharkiv Oblast with an air bomb, resulting in the deaths of a couple living there. A 61-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man were killed, buried beneath the rubble of their home. pic.twitter.com/CCpdhnvlK0

— Iryna Voichuk (@IrynaVoichuk) April 14, 2024

Dnipro was also targeted again today. Unfortunately I can’t embed the tweet with video from Iulia Mendel because it is one of the ones that won’t embed because Musk has manipulated the code to target certain types of posts about Ukraine.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

show full post on front page

Assistance to Ukraine is Still Limited, and Russia Still Has Access to Missile Components – Address by the President

14 April 2024 – 20:39

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

This day, just as every day of this war, began with the results of our defenders of the sky. Last night, they managed to shoot down 10 “Shahed” drones out of 10 used by the Russians. I am grateful to all our warriors of the mobile firing groups and all other defenders of the sky. In total, Russian terrorists have already used almost 130 “Shahed” drones against Ukraine this week. Fortunately, we managed to shoot down most of them. They also used more than 80 Russian missiles and almost 700 guided aerial bombs. Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to destroy them. And these are the numbers for this one week only.

Today missiles and drones were used again. Dnipro and Nikopol, Pokrovsk and other cities in the Donetsk region, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Sumy regions. There are casualties and, unfortunately, fatalities. My condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones.

Russia uses every day, week and month to inflict significant damage. Unfortunately, assistance to Ukraine is still limited, and the Russian state still has access to critical components needed to produce missiles and drones. Each missile targeting Ukraine contains at least dozens of components – electronics, chips – supplied by companies from other countries and imported through the territory of Russia’s neighbors. The “Shahed” drones also contain components produced in the free world. All of this must and can be stopped: the connivance at terror, the ability of terrorists to seek accomplices around the world, and all forms of Russian terror itself.

Modern aviation proves its effectiveness, modern air defense systems are capable of protecting lives – this was demonstrated in the Middle East when aviation and air defense shot down Iranian missiles and “Shahed” drones aimed at Israel. The whole world sees what real defense is. It sees that it is feasible. And the whole world saw that Israel was not alone in this defense – the threat in the sky was also being eliminated by its allies. And when Ukraine tells its allies that unity provides the best defense, they are already well aware of its effectiveness. They are aware of it and ensure it. And when Ukraine says that its allies should not turn a blind eye to Russian missiles and drones, it means action is needed – a bold one.

It is not rhetoric that protects the sky, it is not opinions that curb the production of missiles and drones for terror. And the fact that sanctions against Russia are still being circumvented, and that we in Ukraine have been waiting for months for a vital support package – that we are still waiting for a vote in Congress – shows that the terrorists’ confidence has been on the rise for months as well. We cannot waste any more time.

Real protection of life must be ensured wherever there is a terrorist threat to it. Everything must be done to prevent evil and wars from spreading across the world – in Europe, the Middle East, or anywhere else. I thank everyone who understands this. Everyone who can protect life must do so. Everyone who can restrict the potential of terror must do so. Ukraine, the Middle East, and all other parts of the world equally deserve a just and lasting peace.

And one more thing. The frontline. The situation at the front in such a fierce war is always tough. But these days – especially in the Donetsk sector – it is aggravating. I am grateful to every brigade, every soldier and commander who are doing everything to defend our positions and who are destroying the occupier. This week, I am especially grateful to the 58th separate motorized infantry brigade, the 68th separate jaeger brigade, and the 148th separate artillery brigade of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces – its warriors are unfailingly effective. And this week was the 148th brigade’s day. My congratulations to you guys, thank you! I am also thankful to the 55th Zaporizhzhia Sich separate artillery brigade. Well done! It is also worth mentioning the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine – the Kraken and Artan units and the 9th Department of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. I am proud of you!

Glory to all who contribute to Ukraine’s defense against Russian terror! Glory to everyone who makes our country stronger. I thank everyone in the world who helps!

Glory to Ukraine!

Here is an interview with Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry Dmytro Kuleba. I have the closed captioning on and set to English:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4k1nJ86tdM

The price:

Yana Stepanenko running the Boston marathon!

Unbreakable spirit! Glory to Yana! https://t.co/iGEToFtHdu pic.twitter.com/rSyS7dlG0I

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 14, 2024

Here’s more on how the US is being perceived in Ukraine:

To the hundreds of bots or trolls saying Ukraine is a pawn in US game:

Whatever the level of disappointment and abandonment we may feel about our partners, this will never distort the sole party to blame for the war and Ukraine’s suffering: Russia and its people.

So fuck off.

— Stas Olenchenko 🇺🇦 (@StasOlenchenko) April 14, 2024

3. Nobody pushed Ukrainians to resist. It was Ukraine’s resistance that pushed the West to review their Russia policies and support us.
4. The only way forward is to keep supporting Ukraine’s Armed Forces, build stronger bonds and keep working to victory.
5. Russia will fall.

— Stas Olenchenko 🇺🇦 (@StasOlenchenko) April 14, 2024

To wit👇.

The reality is that while Ukraine is less of an ally than Israel, it is Israel that causes greater inconvenience.

The strategic stakes are great in Israel/Palestine, but they’re greater in Ukraine. Failing to contain Russia will make Iran seem like child’s play. https://t.co/Ig0wz7khhp

— Sam Greene (@samagreene) April 14, 2024

Expect Russia to ramp up attacks in Ukraine in order to drive home the point.

The question is whether Washington will persist in compartmentalizing these conflicts, or whether it will recognize its strategic priorities, rein in Bibi, and redouble its resolve in Ukraine.

— Sam Greene (@samagreene) April 14, 2024

Dipshit, ineffective, self promoting Democratic campaign operatives need to shut the fuck up.

We see the blockade by Johnson/MAGA.

However, please understand that America’s partisanship issues won’t matter much if Ukraine gets abandoned & exterminated by Russia.

If the US is a functional democracy and a leader of the free world, it has to find workarounds & solutions.

— Stas Olenchenko 🇺🇦 (@StasOlenchenko) April 14, 2024

The interception of Iranian missiles and drones by American and British air defense systems over Israel is very showing.

On one side, Russia has been attacking Ukraine for two years using various means, ranging from cruise missiles to gliding bombs and drones, including those…

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) April 14, 2024

The interception of Iranian missiles and drones by American and British air defense systems over Israel is very showing.

On one side, Russia has been attacking Ukraine for two years using various means, ranging from cruise missiles to gliding bombs and drones, including those supplied by Iran. Despite this, Ukraine stands alone in defending itself against these deadly assaults, with neighboring NATO countries even tolerating Russian provocations with missiles flying into NATO airspace, and no one takes them out.

Meanwhile, the close alliance between Russia and Iran, the “new Axis,” is evident. Yet, targeted strikes against Iran, including its top military figures, are carried out regularly and effectively.

The disparity between Iran and Russia is not vast, except for one crucial aspect: Russia possesses huge nuclear arsenals and frequently employs them in nuclear blackmail. While the West states how it is hesitant to engage in direct conflict with Russia to avoid direct confrontation, it seems more willing to confront Iran.

Concerningly, the West is trembling before Russian nuclear blackmail and will continue being intimidated. And of course, this does not mean that the Americans and the British should have avoided helping Israel (which is not in NATO, like Ukraine), that’s not the point.

No, the issue is that Ukraine’s so-called allies have to be begged to provide defence to protect the vital energy infrastructure, while to others, the aid is handed out without any hesitation.

Speaking of the Starlink Snowflake, the Russian neo-NAZIs are very fond of him:

I mean, it’s just a violent neo-Nazi group known for committing brutal atrocities against Ukrainians and openly propagating racial hatred and Russian white supremacy – not a big deal.

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) April 14, 2024

Chasiv Yar:

Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi says Russia set a goal of capturing Chasiv Yar by 9 May ("Victory Day" in Russia), in line with the future targets of reaching Kramatorks agglomeration (where Ukrainian Eastern HQ is located).

Full message:

"I worked in another, very important and… pic.twitter.com/kendjcYQks

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) April 14, 2024

Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi says Russia set a goal of capturing Chasiv Yar by 9 May (“Victory Day” in Russia), in line with the future targets of reaching Kramatorks agglomeration (where Ukrainian Eastern HQ is located).

Full message:

“I worked in another, very important and dangerous direction.

The enemy is also concentrating efforts to break through our defenses west of Bakhmut, to reach the Siverskyi Donets – Donbas canal, capture the settlement of Chasiv Yar, and create conditions for further advance to the Kramatorsk agglomeration.

The implementation of the enemy’s plans is hindered by the heroic defense of our brigades, which literally dug into the ground, holding back the enemy’s daily attacks. Using numerical superiority and various motivational factors, including shootings [of their own], separate groups of enemy infantry reached the “Noviy” district, but were destroyed by FPV-kamikaze strikes and artillery fire.

At the same time, the threat remains relevant, taking into account the fact that the higher Russian military leadership has set the task for its troops to capture Chasiv Yar by May 9.

In order to respond adequately to the actions of the enemy and strengthen the defense of our troops in this direction, measures were taken to significantly strengthen the brigades with ammunition, drones, and EW devices.

The main conclusion from the two-day work at the front is the need to improve the quality of training, including the moral and psychological component, to increase the number of high-tech unmanned systems of various purposes with trained operators, to improve the quality of conducting asymmetric operations in order to reduce the combat potential of the enemy.

We continue to carry out organisational activities with an emphasis on increasing the efficiency of management, eliminating duplication, directing freed resources to support combat units and units.

The main task of these measures is to increase the fighting capacity of our troops, save the lives of our soldiers, disrupt the enemy’s plans, and ensure the preparation of reserves.

The fight continues!
Glory to Ukraine!”

https://t.me/osirskiy/652

Novomykhailivka:

Two russian BTR-82 APCs tried to attack Ukrainian positions near Novomykhailivka, but something went wrong.

📹: 79th Air Assault Brigade pic.twitter.com/WVuBFDFP7h

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 14, 2024

Antonivka Village:

russian Buk air defense system explode like a firework near the Antonivka village.

📹: Khortytsia operational-strategic group pic.twitter.com/4OzkiiMmRE

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 14, 2024

 

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

No new Patron tweets tonight and I’m saving the video for tomorrow. So here’s some adjacent material:

Please watch this story of Rex the dog.

His home was ruined by Russian shelling, and Rex was trapped inside by the debris. Rex's owner was injured, his daughter took him to the hospital (the ambulance couldn't get there because the shelling was that intense).

Volunteers rescued… pic.twitter.com/gT0Psage8v

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 14, 2024

Please watch this story of Rex the dog.

His home was ruined by Russian shelling, and Rex was trapped inside by the debris. Rex’s owner was injured, his daughter took him to the hospital (the ambulance couldn’t get there because the shelling was that intense).

Volunteers rescued Rex and brought him to Kharkiv.

Rex’s owners kept looking for him, and finally, they were reunited.

This is what we're fighting for. pic.twitter.com/71ZfmYq9BK

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 14, 2024

War for Ukraine Day 781: A Brief(ish) Sunday Night UpdatePost + Comments (63)

Medium Cool – Old Time Music Thread

by WaterGirl|  April 14, 20247:00 pm| 113 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in.  We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.

Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered.  We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.

Little Boots was mentioned in the Hey Lurkers! thread, and it reminded me of how much I miss the music threads we used to have.  So let’s have one tonight!

You pedants can tell me how to best punctuate the thread title so it’s clear that I am asking for a music thread like we used to have – and not asking for an old-time music thread like polkas or Sinatra or Elvis or whatever.  Though all of those are welcome!

I thought about titling the post Classic Music Thread, but then I figured you’d think I was looking for classical music.  Titles are complicated!

I’ll add a YouTube video up top for one of the first 5 songs that is mentioned in the comments.

Medium Cool – Old Time Music ThreadPost + Comments (113)

Four Directions AZ and NV Matches at 4x – an Extra Angel (6x) for the Next $500 in Matching Donations

by WaterGirl|  April 14, 20245:09 pm| 38 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Update at 6:15 pm:

We are back to 4x matching now, with the external match and an angel for each state.

*****

Opportunity knocks!

We have a new Balloon Juice Angel who is willing to add his angel match of $500 so we can complete BOTH of the current angel matches. Thank goodness for impatient people. :-)

So anything you donate up to $50 will turn into 6x the amount you donate.

$50 -> $300  / $35 -> $210  /  $25 -> $150  /  $10 -> 60  /  $5 -> $30

And everything in between!

To complete our current matches, we need $150 donated to AZ and $275 to NV.  The remaining $75 can go to either one.

To count toward the match, let us know about your donation in the comments, or you can drop me an email message if you prefer.  Let me know which state or state in the comments.

ARIZONA


Donate

NEVADA


Donate

Let’s do this!

Four Directions AZ and NV Matches at 4x – <s>an Extra Angel (6x) for the Next $500 in Matching Donations</s>Post + Comments (38)

Accidentally Like a Raver

by @heymistermix.com|  April 14, 20242:25 pm| 102 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Accidentally Like a Raver

I’ve been writing about my trip to rural America to see the eclipse.   We did see it, by driving at the last minute to a town on the edge of totality, and barely avoiding clouds.  (As you can see, the rightmost picture is almost totally obscured by clouds.)

I’ve been to other eclipses, most recently the annular eclipse on October 14, 2023, and the fun of it for me is to see it with a crowd.  With that in mind, my wife and I booked four days at the Texas Eclipse festival.  It was basically a rave, which we booked in near-total ignorance of what that meant.  It turns out that some promoters took over a 1,300 acre ranch near Burnet, Texas and converted it to a festival grounds.  That conversion involved bulldozing out a number of roads, RV pads, tent sites and parking areas.  They sold almost every ticket, and crowd estimates were around 35,000.

Because it was windy, and because most of the site had been scraped out of the red dirt of the countryside, there was a lot of dust.  The festival grounds were huge, so most of us had a pretty long walk from our campsite to the main festival area — from our campsite, two round trips plus some walking around at the site was recorded by our smart watches 10 miles of walking each.  As far as I’m concerned, the weather from Friday through Sunday was pretty good, daytime highs in the 70’s and low 80’s, and overnight lows in the mid 50’s to low 60’s.  The shows were really well done and near-constant.  I am not a fan of techno/EDM, but there were some presentations from space scientists as well as a couple of bands that were more like jam bands.

Even though I thought that the promoters did about as well as they could have given the circumstances, there was a huge amount of complaining on social media.  These complaints took two forms.  First, for festival goers, there was a bunch of bitching about getting into the venue, the parking process, and the lack of some amenities.  Our experience was that the first day of parking was a disorganized mess, and it took about 3 hours from the gate until we were in our campsite, but after we were settled we found that the portable toilets were cleaned out more-or-less regularly, and that the promised clean water was provided in a number of stations in the campgrounds and in the festival grounds.  Some people also complained that their favorite artist didn’t perform, but there were something like 500 acts booked, and the entertainment was constant.  The second form of complaints came from area residents, who didn’t like the idea of 35,000 people descending on their rural county.  Some of the complaints were pretty nasty, calling the ravers “human garbage” and so forth.

On the day of the eclipse, thunderstorm warnings caused the promoters to cancel the rest of the festival and encourage everyone to get out.  I didn’t have to be told twice: within a half hour of getting the notice, we were on a Texas road heading for the edge of totality, where the weather looked the best.   There were no traffic jams, and we found a place to watch with a few other people in a commercial parking lot in Brady.  People were upset about the cancellation, but I think the promoters did the right thing, and they’re promising some kind of refund. They’ve also pointed out that there were tornado watches and lightning strikes on the festival grounds on Tuesday, which was the planned day for everyone to vacate the festival grounds.

So, if you’ve read this far, I do have a point to make:  the “human garbage” comments by people claiming to be residents of the area were, to me, all too predictable.  There’s just so little tolerance of difference by a lot of these rural folks who are living on a diet of right-wing media.  My experience of this festival was that the people there were some of the kindest, friendliest and peaceful folks I’ve ever met.  Yeah, they smoke pot and take shrooms, and there were a lot of weird costumes (and thong bikinis and pasties worn by the women), but this was mostly just dress up for adults.  I didn’t see a single fight or even a cross word exchanged, and all of the ravers (as distinct from the accidental spectators like me) seemed to really love the music.

Texas Eclipse Festival

In short, I disliked the music and liked the people.  It’s something I’d never do again, but it was an experience worth having.  But I came to this experience without feeling the need to judge or belittle the young people who clearly put a lot of time and effort to get here, and then to dress up.  When your worldview requires you to cast out anyone who looks or acts different, any experience like this is just an excuse to hate “the other”.  And that’s both boring and sad.

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