NOTE: Our oft-tested spam filter (Akismet) seems to have gone on a work-to-rule strike — *every* comment is getting thrown into moderation, for (no) reasons. I hope this will be corrected shortly, but please be patient as we random front-pagers fish your thoughts out of the filter by hand!
======
The granite heads of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln loomed above as 55 new Americans recited their oaths of allegiance during a Monday ceremony at Mount Rushmore. https://t.co/59bQwH0Q9H
— SDPB News (@SDPBNews) June 21, 2021
55 ppl are introducing themselves after becoming U.S. citizens! There is a former translator from Afghanistan, a Monument Health nurse from Jamaica +a Filipina woman serving in the U.S. military. Others are frm Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Russia, Canada, the UK, China, Venezuela+more! pic.twitter.com/RljB7cR3XX
— Arielle Zionts (@Ajzionts) June 21, 2021
The full diversity of America is on display among the new citizens and visitors who stopped by to watch. There is a Vietnam veteran, an Amish family, Muslim families, active duty military, cowboys, a man in a Trump outfit, and people of all races+cultural backgrounds.
— Arielle Zionts (@Ajzionts) June 21, 2021
debbie
Moderation?
Yep. Poor WG, her hands, they will be full.
SiubhanDuinne
A very happy birthday to our beloved Blogmaster!
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
What she said.
Baud
Can’t really blame Akismet. We know what we did.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Given how squirrely the site is acting this morning, I think the birthday gods are fucking with John.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: Yep. Can’t be a coincidence.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I hesitate to comment because it would create work for AL, and yet, saying that is a comment
satby
@SiubhanDuinne: Echoing best wishes to John on the anniversary of his birth. Happy Birthday John!
Soprano2
On a more positive note, when I commented on my phone this morning it seemed that the comment box was acting normally again.
Chief Oshkosh
Happy Birthday, John Cole!
As to the 55 new citizens, welcome! (Not that they can hear me cheering).
Been reading EB White’s New Yorker essays a lot lately. Great reminders that we’ve always had problems, we’ve always had losses, but we’ve also always had successes.
Zzyzx
I was cleaning the ceiling over the bathtub last night when the step ladder slipped and I hit my head. If only I were naked, I would know what it feels like to be our esteemed blog master.
TaMara (HFG)
As I am up early and working at my desk, I’ll help fish out comments.
germy
Five days later and he’s still looking. Nothing’s turned up yet.
SiubhanDuinne
@Zzyzx:
Yikes! Hope you don’t suffer any lingering damage. If you notice any symptoms at all, please don’t be stoic. Go and have it checked out.
Zzyzx
In other news, the small liberal arts college that I graduated from has been deemed an undesirable organization by Russia. I couldn’t be more proud.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/06/22/russia-blacklists-bard-college-as-undesirable-org-a74290
(if you don’t like the Moscow Times which looks like a safe site, Google “Bard Russia”. It’s really bizarre especially because few people who aren’t Steely Dan fans know of us)
SiubhanDuinne
@Chief Oshkosh:
I have a full set of E. B. White’s essays — in storage at the moment, unfortunately — which I dearly love to read and reread. Such a good choice for these times.
SiubhanDuinne
@Zzyzx:
Yikes! Hope you didn’t do any lasting damage — but if you notice any symptoms at all, please get it checked out immediately. Don’t be a stoic about your brain.
Helen
I’ve attended a number of naturalization ceremonies to help with voter registration. The local courthouse is not as scenic. But, it is always very moving. If you ever have the opportunity to go to one, most federal courthouses have a ceremony monthly.
Amir Khalid
Some days, it feels like Balloon Juice is the Millennium Falcon of blogs. I can almost hear Han and Chewie arguing in the background.
Soprano2
@germy: That “donate my salary” crap was so bogus, because he got a tax deduction for it! All his fans would harp on how he did this, they didn’t like it when you pointed out he got a tax deduction. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he stopped doing it the last couple of quarters.
Zzyzx
@SiubhanDuinne: most of the damage was taken by my knees as they hit first. It was a pretty low speed collision. But I am keeping an eye on it and thanks.
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
There might be a tagline in there somewhere.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Amir Khalid: We all know which one is Chewie (happy birthday, Chewie!). But who’s Han?
NotMax
BTW, as there are those here who favor crime procedurals, noticed the first 21 (!) seasons* of the determinedly somber journeyman forensic investigative series Silent Witness are available on Prime.
*British seasons, so somewhat less than a multi-lifetime commitment.
Cheryl Rofer
I will be around, off and on, and will help approve comments.
geg6
Lots of trouble getting linked to BJ this morning and now I think I know why. Did Cole forget to feed the hamsters again?
By the way, happy birthday Blogmaster (who never reads it) Cole.
Ben Cisco
@Amir Khalid: “It’s NOT my fault!!”
zhena gogolia
@Zzyzx: They’ve had an excellent study-abroad program in St. Petersburg for years. This is all because of George Soros’s association with the college.
geg6
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
DougJ, duh.
zhena gogolia
@Zzyzx: They’ve had an excellent study-abroad program in St. Petersburg for years. This is all because of George Soros’s association with the college.
RandomMonster
“…a man in a Trump outfit…”
Were each of the 55 issued a foam bat?
Ohio Mom
Cleaning the ceiling over the bathtub — cleaning ANY ceiling — is something that never occurred to me to do.
Though sometimes I use the dust mop to brush away cobwebs, I now feel like a complete slob and failure at housekeeping.
Zzyzx
@zhena gogolia: the thing is that it’s a school filled with creative and radical people; when I went there in the late 80s/early 90s our campus branch of ACT UP ran the school government… which, btw, was modeled after the Soviet one because the constitution was drafted when the socialist club was in charge. We didn’t have a class president; there was a central committee that ran everything. It seemed normal when I was there but explaining it to others…
Anyway, the frustrating thing about being a smart person in a small school in the woods is that everyone ignores you. This is going to make people so happy. Suck it Reed!
if only we had a school song that I could sing in celebration.
Zzyzx
@Ohio Mom: us neither which is why it was like black and looked like it had mold on it which was scaring me. Turns out it was just a decade of caked on dust.
NotMax
@Zzyzx
Hoping all remains well. At least you weren’t vacuuming. (That’s a shot of Jayne Mansfield inside one of her house’s bathrooms. Enough to give a Roomba a nervous breakdown.)
Bonus: When in doubt, paper it.
;)
Zzyzx
In other other news, today is the 50th anniversary of the release of one of the best albums of all time: Joni Mitchell’s Blue. Feels weird to play it in the summer when it’s such a great Seattle February “it’s raining again?!?!” release.
Anne Laurie
The little I do know of Bard College suggests that the entire faculty, staff, and student body, while excellent scholars, would have some trouble threatening a couple of Girl Scouts out of an extra box of Thin Mints, so, yes, be proud!
(Firmly tongue in cheek, of course… )
Librarian
Bard, of course, is the college where Donald Fagen met Walter Becker, and the rest is rock history. In fact, it’s the school they were referring to in “My Old School.”
NotMax
@Anne Laurie
Heard a high school guidance counselor way back when refer to Bard as Hippy Dippy U.
;)
Zzyzx
@Anne Laurie: you say that but we would have argued rings around the Scout using references to 18th century philosophers that would have been irrefutable.
And then a few really stoned people would have come along and bought them out.
satby
@NotMax: It never fails to amaze me what odd little things you find!
NotMax
Birthday greetings for Mr. Cole.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@germy: david dennison college.
germy
“What if we aren’t the only intelligent species in the universe?”
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@Zzyzx: everything they pretended was true about oberlin was just bard apologists deflecting.
germy
“Where do you think we’re headed?”
Wapiti
@Zzyzx: Huh. I think I heard of it because Bard has a summer writing program for high schoolers; my niece in Seattle went in 2019.
Zzyzx
@Librarian: the more obscure reference is the song Barrytown off of Pretzel Logic. The song only makes sense if you know that Barrytown (about a mile from campus) had a Mooney camp and people would show up to get new converts.
in my last year they built some new dorms but didn’t have a rich alum to name them after at first. So students made up signs calling them Chase (after Chevy Chase) and Fagan. The real names never caught on as a result.
Raven
@Librarian: and Rikki
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
rikyrah
So, we were down this morning??
NotMax
@Zzyzx
Mentioned in the past, still find it amusing that an elite prep school in NJ includes a building named Annie Hall.
;)
Raven
I’m over 24 hrs since the last oxy, I’ve developed a nasty case of roids and doing a sitz bath. A week since surgery and it’s a blur but the walking is good.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Raven
@NotMax: seems like
old times
https://youtu.be/p32OEIazBew
this is the way I always think of her
Baud
My comment posted immediately. Hopefully all is fixed.
NotMax
Linky fix.
@Zzyzx
Mentioned in the past, still find it amusing that an elite prep school in NJ includes a building named Annie Hall.
;)
Amir Khalid
@germy:
It took us thousands of years just to recognise that we’re not even the only intelligent species on our planet. When we do find intelligent life forms out there, they will probably not resemble the Vulcans of Star Trek, and they might at first not recognise us as intelligent creatures.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
I am likely not the first to mention this, but it looks as if life may be a bit complicated for the governor of West-by-god-Virginia.
$700 million is a lot, right?
But he’s a billionaire so I guess it’s just couch cushion money.
WaterGirl
If this ever happens again, will someone who has my phone number please call me? Not text, but a phone call, even if its really late or really early. thank you!
NotMax
@WaterGirl
In case it helps, things went to pot around 4:30 a.m. blog time.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Raven, that’s progress. Good
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: You have special privileges.
Just Chuck
@NotMax:
Sure it wasn’t at 4:20?
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Agreed! ??
Also happy birthday to occasional commenters Juice Box and Jay C.
Steeplejack
@Helen:
I second this! Here’s my report from my (Brazilian) brother-in-law’s ceremony in 2017.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Perfect!
Gravenstone
I think we have the meta tagline to end all taglines here.