Balloon Juice | Nature & Respite Archives

Late Night Words to Live By Open Thread

by Anne Laurie| July 12, 20211:15 am| 37 Comments

This post is in: Nature & Respite, Readership Capture

I found the best sign in the entire @NatlParkServlce. pic.twitter.com/bFS22MbU9G

— Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) July 11, 2021

Which reminds me — Amber Share’s Subpar Parks book is coming out this week, and I can hardly wait for my copy!

While we're here, a plug for the fantastic new @NatlParkService app. I used it to plan my trip & find fun things to do at different sites. LOVE the offline use feature. Well worth a download when you're headed to the parks. pic.twitter.com/BiAw4uP3ez

— Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) July 11, 2021

Late Night Words to Live By Open ThreadPost + Comments (37)

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Thus Always to Traitors

by Anne Laurie| July 10, 20217:23 pm| 136 Comments

This post is in: domestic terrorists, Something Good Open Thread

A friend was sitting on his porch in Charlottesville this morning and got to witness one final retreat pic.twitter.com/0y6HlaB8Oa

— Clyde McGrady (@CAMcGrady) July 10, 2021

show full post on front page

Good to see them taking not just Lee, but also the horse he rode in on.

— Emma Ashford (@EmmaMAshford) July 10, 2021

Can someone put the sad violin tune from Ken Burns’ civil war over this

— PopehatIsStateAction (@Popehat) July 10, 2021

put it on the uss carl vinson and drop it in the arabian sea https://t.co/quQNQP1gkj

— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) July 10, 2021

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Four years after a woman was killed and dozens were injured when white nationalists protested the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Va., workers removed the statue on Saturday, along with a nearby monument to Stonewall Jackson, another Confederate general.

The larger-than-life-sized statue of Lee was hoisted off its granite base shortly after 8 a.m. as a crowd of about 200 looked on. As the flatbed truck carrying the bronze statue rumbled down East Jefferson Street, a toot of the truck’s horn prompted cheers and applause…

John Edwin Mason, a history professor at the University of Virginia, scurried around the perimeter of the park as the removal of the Lee statue was underway to keep a close eye on the proceedings. “I’m really happy it’s a boring morning, and boring means that no bad things happened,” he said, adding, “The ordinariness of this occasion is fine.”…

Mike Signer, an author and lawyer who was a city councilor and mayor when the “Unite the Right” rally was held in 2017, called the removal “a real step forward.” He said the statues had become “totems for these terrorists.”

“In so many ways, Charlottesville was a microcosm for what’s happened in the country: the advent of flagrant, open, violent white nationalism in public streets,” he said. “The ‘Unite the Right’ rally was clearly a prologue for the insurrection on Jan. 6.”…

President Biden, who has said that Charlottesville inspired him to run for president, also welcomed the removal of the statues, according to a spokeswoman, Emilie Simons. “The President believes that monuments to Confederate leaders belong in museums, not in public places,” Ms. Simons said…

as long as there are people willing to drop 50 stacks on a vineyard wedding, i am sure charlottesville’s tourism industry will survive losing some confederate statues

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) July 10, 2021

How it started How its going pic.twitter.com/DO42IX5KRK

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) July 10, 2021

The Confederate Army keeping up its long tradition of losing in Virginia. https://t.co/bSoEAEu0AF

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) July 10, 2021

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Thus Always to TraitorsPost + Comments (136)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Some Things Don’t Change, Some Do

by Anne Laurie| July 7, 20217:19 am| 136 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Open Threads, Something Good Open Thread

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary on July 7, extending their record as the longest married presidential couple in American history. The 96-year old calls his marriage to 93-year-old Rosalynn Carter a full partnership https://t.co/RwhPLqQ6Bo

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 4, 2021

Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter will celebrate their 75th anniversary Wednesday. Fun fact: Jimmy was 3 years old when Rosie, as he calls her, was born next door. His mother, Ruth, a nurse, took care of the newborn. So Jimmy saw his future wife through the slats on her crib. pic.twitter.com/jQegmJUhrY

— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) July 5, 2021

On the other hand…

Fox News is launching a weather channel.

Lightning will now be called Jesus Jolts and 30% of the country will be out in the rain wearing colanders on their heads.

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) July 6, 2021

Opinion: What the programming list for Fox’s new weather channel will look like https://t.co/GeCv82XCWO

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 7, 2021

Wow! Little did I know that Rupert Murdoch hung on my every word and that Fox was in the process of starting a weather channel where people will get the best, most correct weather news out there — fair and balanced in a way no weather news has been yet!

I got an advance glimpse of the programming list, and it’s going to be a thrilling, action-packed 24-hour cycle…

4—6 a.m.: Cloud Caravan Shaped Like All Your Worst Nightmares Is Almost to Your Neighborhood…

8—9:30 a.m.: Tucker Carlson Asks Whether Anyone (Dr. Fauci?) Can Explain Why Clouds Look So Much Like Sheep If We Aren’t Being Programmed to Obey…

1—2 p.m.: It’s Not Raining Anywhere We Have Sent Correspondents! America Is Doing Much Better Than Other Stations Would Have You Believe!…

5—5:30 p.m.: Rainbows: Fine in The Privacy of Their Own Homes But I Don’t Need One Over My Workplace…

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Some Things Don’t Change, Some DoPost + Comments (136)

Open Thread: True Patriotism

by Anne Laurie| July 4, 202111:18 pm| 42 Comments

This post is in: Proud to Be A Democrat, Something Good Open Thread

james earl jones gives voice to frederick douglass' brilliant speech exposing the hypocrisy of the US' foundational myth, its false claim to universal liberty which it denied the most marginalized and oppressed, by answering the question: "what to the slave is the 4th of july?" pic.twitter.com/hMCJg4Os3p

— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) July 4, 2021

we were designed to keep fixing what we get wrong and it was so important we wrote it into the first 15 words of the constitution https://t.co/UnCRefjpQB pic.twitter.com/FzWve2sUs3

— kilgore trout, dna harvester (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 4, 2021

I mean far be it from me to question the founders’ patriotism but if you have a problem with being critical of america then maybe those guys were not somebody who would agree with you.

you hear it tossed off casually that america was some sort of divine intervention like angels came down & guided the pen strokes but true providence is recognizing the future holds things so incomprehensible to your speck of time on this earth that you leave the door open to them.

this was their true genius. the humility to know they were but a passing leaf on the wind in the broader scheme of things and to write an unlocked door into the hard code of our system.

and that’s what I love about this beautiful, horrible, wonderful, shameful country. it’s never supposed to be made great *again*. it’s supposed to just be made a little better off when you leave it than how you found it.

H/t commentor HumboldtBlue:

This elevator skit is so incredibly simple

And I think that’s what makes it perfect. pic.twitter.com/Now56YsCS3

— Muppet History (@HistoryMuppet) October 22, 2020

Open Thread: True PatriotismPost + Comments (42)

Friday Evening Open Thread: Nobody Show Cole This Clip, Okay?

by Anne Laurie| July 2, 20216:25 pm| 145 Comments

This post is in: Nature & Respite, Open Threads, Readership Capture

For a less cliche mid-life crisis, Try Falconry (whole video) pic.twitter.com/kqwzUUZf2Y

— Frederick Weller (@FrederickWeller) June 28, 2021

Don’t worry, it’s safe to post it here, as long as nobody on social media tells him to check out his own blog…

Friday Evening Open Thread: Nobody Show Cole This Clip, Okay?Post + Comments (145)

Oldies But Goodies Respite Thread

by Cheryl Rofer| June 30, 202111:02 pm| 81 Comments

This post is in: Nature & Respite, Something Good Open Thread

Let’s try this again. For some reason (Watergirl?) FYWP thought this was an “On The Road” post, which it isn’t.

It’s been a big news day – I haven’t posted everything I’m following – and tomorrow will bring two big Supreme Court decisions and a lawsuit against the Trump Corporation.

I’ve been working through my naturecam pics and thought I’d share some of my faves. What are your oldies but goodies? Music? Film?

Oldies But Goodies Respite ThreadPost + Comments (81)

Something Good Open Thread: ‘Navajo Nation celebrates its first official Pride parade’

by Anne Laurie| June 23, 20215:20 pm| 12 Comments

This post is in: LGBTQ Rights Are Human Rights, Something Good Open Thread

From @thelilynews: Navajo Nation celebrates its first official Pride parade after a devastating year https://t.co/vE0v4hN9E5

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 21, 2021

Cheering read from the Washington Post — “‘We’re here, we survived and we’re going to be okay’“:

… Navajo Nation Pride began as a small event hosted outside the offices of a feminist collective in Window Rock’s Ch’ihootso Indian Market Place four years ago. Since then, the annual event has grown into the country’s largest Indigenous Pride — peaking at an estimated 7,000 attendees in 2019 — with year-long programs and scholarships dedicated to supporting LGBTQ2S+ youth and leaders.

This year, Pride came as the Navajo Nation, which suffered some of the worst effects of the pandemic, leads the country in vaccinations. Cars adorned with gay and trans pride flags, signs reading “Diyingo ‘Adaanitsíískéés” — Navajo for “We are sacred” — and rainbow streamers paraded from the Navajo Nation Museum through central Window Rock and to the Navajo Nation Council Chambers.

There, attendees settled in folding chairs spaced six feet apart to hear speakers address movements to reclaim Indigenous LGBTQ2S+ identity, the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis among American Indians and Alaskan Natives, and the work to pass inclusive legislation such as the Navajo Nation Equality Act. The theme of the year was “the sacred resilience of Indigenous womxn.”

“This year is our fourth year and in Diné culture we understand that the number four is a very sacred number,” invoking the four directions and the four sacred colors, said Navajo Nation Pride’s youth director Geronimo Louie (Navajo). “We are a matriarchal society at heart and through our teachings and understandings and our origin stories, women have always been leading and paving the way for all of us as Indigenous people.”…

Something Good Open Thread: ‘Navajo Nation celebrates its first official Pride parade’Post + Comments (12)

It was down to kool-aid drinkers and next of kin at the trump White House

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The math demands it!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

‘Forty-two’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

This is how realignments happen…

We have all the best words.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Everybody saw this coming.

This is all too absurd to be reality, right?

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Han shot first.

Shocking, but not surprising

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Reality always wins in the end.

Wetsuit optional.

This is a big f—–g deal.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.