Saturday evening, I’m not going to do it links

by | Sep 11, 2021 | Daily Links | 235 comments

To this day, I really have no words.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center 1 & 2. Our country from that moment on was forever changed, but apparently, not for the better. I am quite frankly disgusted at current events. That motherfucking son of a bitch has turned today into a terrorist day of celebration. Fuck that guy.

I will not let that sully the memory of the brothers all firefighters lost that day. Hundreds of firefighters ran into those buildings, knowing there was a good chance they were never coming out. 343 did not.

“House 10” is across the street from the WTC.

I can still vividly remember sitting down on the couch with a cup of coffee, turning on the tv, and seeing death and destruction in the heart of Manhattan. I didn’t see the first tower fall, but I did watch the second one fall.

FDNY dispatch was in the WTC, and standard practice is to set up Command in the lobby of highrises. When I watched the video later in the day, you could hear the bodies landing on the roof of the lobby.

When the second tower collapsed, and this camera guy made it back in, it sounded like crickets chirping in the evening. But I knew that every one of those chirps came from a PDL(Personal Distress Locator), and indicated a firefighter down. The cameraman even says, “there’s all this noise, and I don’t know what it is”.

343 FDNY firefighters died that day, along with a number of NYPD and EMS personnel, but the lions share were firefighters. I have a tattoo on my right shoulder blade commemorating 9/11. It’s a monument to 9/11 and the sign on the monument says, “Time Passes, Memories Fade, But We Will Never Forget”. It has been 20 years, and I refuse to forget.

“Men with insight, men of granite. Knights in armor, bent on chivalry.”

About The Author

Spudalicious

Spudalicious

Survey says I’m a Paleolibertarian bitches. That means I eat “L”ibertarians for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Soave tastes a little fruity. Wait a minute, that doesn’t sound quite right…

235 Comments

  1. Aloysious

    Beautiful, Spuc. Well said.

    And yeah, fuck that guy.

  2. Ghostpatzer

    Hi, Spud. Did not know you were a firefighter. Sorry for your loss, and thanks for what you do. And yes, fuck that guy.

    • Spudalicious

      Retired Captain. I read your article earlier, and 20 years later, you have my deepest condolences.

      • Sensei

        I used to work at One Liberty and vividly remember House 10. I was always amazed how the hell they managed to get the trucks in house on such a narrow street.

        I’m also always a bit amazed watching firefighters take elevators to get to a fire.

      • Jerms

        My friend John Morabito worked there that day. He survived because when the first plane hit they were on a gas leak run. Wound up in the other tower command center when first building came down.

      • Jerms

        Where did you work?

      • Jerms

        That was for Spud.

      • Spudalicious

        I was in the SF Bay Area.

  3. DEG

    Our country from that moment on was forever changed, but apparently, not for the better.

    The terrorists won.

    • Ted S.

      Part of the 20 years of TSA theater was to normalize that shit, so that when the coronapanic came along, there was an entire generation that already embraced idiotic restrictions.

  4. Drake

    I used to engage and get mad at the 9/11 conspiracy people. Now I don’t really care.

    It was the excuse used for the destruction of what was a pretty good place on 9/10/2001. Endless, pointless wars, the Homeland Defense Act, “no-fly lists…

    • DEG

      I have a friend who is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.

      Good guy except when he goes down the conspiracy theory rat-hole.

      He even thinks the moon landing was faked. My dad also thinks the moon landing was faked.

      I sometimes engage them. Sometimes I let them ramble on.

      • Mojeaux

        I mean, it’s not impossible it was faked.

        That’s where conspiracy theories and I part company. If I can look at it and think, “Well, it’s possible,” then I stop thinking about it and decide I’ll wait until I die to find out.

      • ignoreLander

        Thing is, moon landing, JFK assassination, etc, were all a long time ago. What we’ve found out, is that ANY.SINLGE.THING the government tells us could be, and likely is, a lie. So, while I don’t think they are conspiracies, mainly because I don’t care, I would not in any way be surprised to find out that they are.

      • Drake

        In the car today listening to the local radio station, they were pushing the safe, effective, and FDA approves vaccine.

        Lie, lie, and bigger lie.

      • Mojeaux

        ANY.SINLGE.THING the government tells us could be, and likely is, a lie.

        Yes, that.

      • ignoreLander

        ANY.SINLGE.THING

        Except for the typo of course. Nothing like flubbing the punchline….

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        This. I’ll add that the same impulse (“i guess it’s possible, but really, you’re running with this one?”) has made it into my mind with various election conspiracies (despite me believing that fraud did happen) and vaccine side effects (despite me believing that there is an unmeasured risk of long term side effects).

        Conspiracy theorists suffer from the same brainless sheep behavior as those uncritically accepting mainstream narratives.

      • Mojeaux

        WRT the vaccine, I’m not pounding on the side effects drum, but I will mention thalidomide and leave it at that.

      • DEG

        There is no possible way to fake the moon landing.

      • UnCivilServant

        “The moon landing was faked, but we did it… on the moon! That’s why it looked so real!”

        -Internet reviewer of an X-Files episode.

      • DEG

        Heh

  5. ignoreLander

    The first video when the tower collapses: “Oh shit. Do you know how many people are dead?”

    And the screaming. Sends chills down the spine.

  6. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    Lots of heroes that day. I personally like to remember the pilots and flight attendants.

    John Ogonowski
    Thomas McGuinness Jr.
    Karen Martin
    Barbara Arestegui
    Jeffrey Collman
    Sara Low
    Kathleen Nicosia
    Betty Ong
    Jean Roger
    Dianne Snyder
    Amy Sweeney

    Charles Burlingame
    David Charlebois
    Renee May
    Michele Heidenberger
    Jennifer Lewis
    Kenneth Lewis

    Victor Saracini
    Michael Horrocks
    Kathryn Laborie
    Robert Fangman
    Amy Jarret
    Amy King
    Alfred Marchand
    Michael Tarrou
    Alicia Titus

    Jason Dahl
    LeRoy Homer Jr. (36)
    Lorraine Bay
    Sandra Bradshaw
    Wanda Green
    CeeCee Lyles
    Deborah Welsh

    • Tundra

      I remember a guy from my hometown. He graduated a few years before me.

      I hadn’t set foot in the school for more than 30 years, but my son had a lacrosse game there, so I went in to see if I could find my old locker, etc. The school had put up a nice memorial to him and it was still a punch in the nuts, even years later.

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      My little sister flew for United for many years and her last assignment was Flight 175 Boston to LA. In March of 2001 she came down with an ear infection and went off of flight status.

      She was close friends with many folks at United but particularly the people on 175.

      We lost her to cancer in early 2020 but we are grateful for the 18 years that she had due to a minor medical problem.

      Condolences to all the people who lost loved ones on that day and condolences to all for the country that we lost on that day.

  7. Yusef drives a Kia

    The only word I can come up with is, Shame……

  8. blackjack

    My brother and I discussed joining the Army after all of that, but we were a year or two past the max age. I think he was hoping I’d push him to do it and go with him. I might have, had I not been over the age limit. I’m glad I didn’t looking back at what they used the military for since. Not something I’d contribute to, now seeing what it became.

    • Drake

      I had been out of the Marines for a few years. Got myself back into decent shape and re-enlisted in the National Guard. Funny how much things have changed since.

      • blighted_non_millenial

        My Dad was retired for about 5 or 6 years at that point, so still IRR. He was sure he’d be called back up and that we would curb stomp the Saudis.

    • DEG

      I’ll join late. Dinner is still cooking and won’t be done until about 8.

    • Tulip

      Starts at 8pm Eastern.

  9. blackjack

    I like Van Morrison, but I tend to like him more when he does this kind of stuff, a bit more.

  10. Jerms

    I didnt get on to the FDNY until 2003, but my buddy and his brother (Mike and John Morabito) were on the job and working that day. John worked at the firehouse across the street and Mike responded from Brooklyn. Both survived and are the subjects of one of the discovery channel specials they play every year. My buddy Mike is also in the special called the 9/11 surfer.
    Some guy some how survived even though he was on the 40th floor when his building came down. He was in the stairway and some how surfed down and wound up sitting on a 3 story pile of debris that was about as thick as a telephone pole. There was no logical way that he could have just landed and balanced up there. My friend found him a made a pulley system and got him down.
    Crazy stuff

    • Sensei

      I’d never heard about the 9/11 surfer. Wow…

      • Jerms

        Craziest story ever. The guys name is Pasquale and him and my buddy who found him still get together every September.

    • Spudalicious

      I knew about him, but I hadn’t known about the rescue. That’s wild.

      Are you still active?

      • Jerms

        Was put out 2 years ago after I had to get my back fused. Would give anything to still be active. Would have done that job for free.
        Some of these people they are hiring now—I can get to a roof with them in my back pocket-bad back and all.

  11. dbleagle

    I’ve already shared watching the attack unfold at Ft Bragg and realizing we were in a war.

    That evening when I got home I was amazed at how quiet it was. We lived near the RDU flight path and nothing was in the sky. During my entire 55 mile drive home I saw only three cars on the road. My son’s high school released everybody at lunch and so he was home, but my wife was panicky because our daughter was at college near Boston and she had not heard from her. I tried to calm her down saying that she was fine. You just dropped off on Sunday and she had absolutely no reason to be on a plane to Los Angeles. That did not work.

    I took my son aside and answered what I knew and what I thought while trying to make sure to properly separate the two. I got ready for extended work because we were going to 24/7 operations and The next night I was the duty LTC.

    The next day was a zoo. Up until 9/11 Ft Bragg was what was known as “an open post”. That meant major public roads roads ran through the “cantonment” area (aka the town part of a base) and the MP’s were shutting down almost all access to protect the base from a feared follow up attack.* Luckily I knew some forgotten dirt roads to get me in, but for those who didn’t it was a nightmare. It was taking hours to get on since every car was being inspected and the lines were miles long. People were running out of gas, and people that needed to be at work were being held away. It just worse for weeks.

    Once I was in we started waking up the sleeping leviathan to bring training and training resources up to speed to increase our outputs. Interestingly one of the first words that came down from the Pentagon was that the “100 Day limit” was cancelled. For several years before 9/11, if a Soldier had to spend more than 100 days deployed away from the base in a year they were owed a special separation pay. We were managing that by person and by night, Now it was gone.

    We got to spinning up and in all to few months we were spinning harder to prepare for the Iraq War that had yet to be announced.

    *Now every cantonment area in the military is fenced in with gated access. I don’t want to speculate on the costs of fencing for that. I know the DoD was spending $1B/yr on access gate costs per year when I retired.

    • hayeksplosives

      ❤️

      Double, I’f you’re coming to San Diego in the next month, I’d love to get together and say goodbye.

    • Rat on a train

      I remember Fort Meade being an open post in the late 90s. Mapes and Rockenbach were used for cut through traffic. You could go to the NSA and wouldn’t be stopped until you were inside the building. The guards said they would occasionally get people asking for tours. By the time I was mobilized for Noble Eagle, they had multiple layers of security. They had temporary security checkpoints of long jersey barriers covered by M2s mounted on HMMWVs. They also put up an internal perimeter around the NSA limiting access to those working at the building or the service units.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yep

        Now they’re the Death Star of the USA.

      • Rat on a train

        I’ve worked for more than one agency that I wouldn’t trust now.

      • Drake

        I wouldn’t trust any of them now. They all hate me.

    • Tundra

      I’m sufficiently depressed, but I read your account in the last thread. I was out running and listening to KQ as well. When the second plane hit, I cut my run short and sprinted home. Spent the rest of the day trying to get ahold of friends there. Fucking awful days.

  12. Tundra

    Thanks, Spud.

  13. C. Anacreon

    In October 1989 my friend was driving across the Bay Bridge with his secretary when Loma Prieta hit. Maybe you’ve seen the picture of his red hatchback, which fell through the new hole in the Bridge and tottered face down, looking at the water hundreds of feet below, holding on only by the rear tires. He said he looked at his secretary and said “we’re going to fucking die.” But they were somehow able to pop the back and crawl out to safety.

    After that he and his wife understandably decided no more earthquake country. So they moved to NYC. Both of them got good jobs, each working in a separate tower of the World Trade Center. And they were at work that day in 2001. Luckily they both worked on lower floors, and were able to evacuate before the towers collapsed.

    At that point they figured they needed to be somewhere safe, because they couldn’t possibly be lucky a third time. Last I heard they had a ranch somewhere in Canada and were living as anonymously as they could. True story.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Two people who very much deserve to be paranoid… Damn!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Well that’s terrifying.

    • Tundra

      Remember when the 35W bridge in Mpls bridge fell? I was on it a few hours before it collapsed. I had to run and get some parts from across town and I didn’t want to get stuck in rush hour traffic.

      Life is weird.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      This Loma Prieta story always gives me pinch of the seat between my buns.

      https://lomaprietastories.wordpress.com/2009/01/01/trucker-on-the-cypress-viaduct/

      Ed McVee, a trucker who was driving a Chevron freight truck on the Cypress Viaduct at just about 5:00, spoke to National Geographic about what it was like to barely escape from the viaduct’s collapse: his truck stopped beneath the only top deck section that didn’t crumble in the earthquake. In Nature’s Fury!, a video put out in 1994, he said:

      There was no traffic, I was doing about 55, and all of a sudden it felt like I had a blowout. I had no control over the truck. Luckily there was nobody beside me because I was just all over the place. I hit the brakes. In the rearview mirror I could see what looked like the freeway falling, and that didn’t make any sense. I saw cars and trucks disappearing underneath the rubble. And I just knew I was dead. I had no way of getting out of it; there was nothing I could do.

      I don’t deal with it as well as people think I do. I can be driving along anywhere, and all of a sudden I’ve got freeway falling down on top of me.

      • Rat on a train

        I’ve heard it said, if not for the World Series, there would have been more vehicles on that stretch.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        That’s a fact. Normally that would have been rush hour.

        I was on the balcony of my apartment waiting for the game to start. I lived near the train tracks, so at first I thought it was a train coming. As the shaking got worse I thought, wow that must be a big train. When I saw the waves rolling through the parking lot and the water sloshing out of the pool, I realized it was an earthquake.

      • blackjack

        We had a motor cop riding his bike into work during the ’94 quake. In the middle of an overpass, he just rode right off the edge, probably 40 or 50 feet up. That overpass is named for him ever since. He was heading up the incline and it was totally dark out at like 5 a.m.. It was like the entire thing was set up against him. Poor fucker.

  14. Ted S.

    I had my portable short-wave radio with me, listening to Radio Finland at 8:30 which was of course all pre-recorded. At the end of that I switched to Deutsche Welle’s German-language broadcast at 9:00, with the top news story being a plane crashing into the World Trade Center, since this was just before the second plane. I knew it was a nice day so I figured some small aircraft pilot had a heart attack and crashed into the tower. I only got to a TV after the second plane hit, but before the Pentagon was hit.

    Radio Vilnius (Lithuania) came on that evening saying they were very sorry, but all of their English staff were called into translation duty because there was so much that had to be translated for domestic TV, and apologized that they had to run a “best of” broadcast as a result. So many broadcasters don’t even have English-language podcasts on the Internet now.

    My ISP had a bunch of data nodes a quarter mile from the WTC, and when the dust hit, it knocked out our internet service for three days.

    There’s also this interesting video.

  15. Yusef drives a Kia

    OT: but a happy story, my river adventure is ready, after gathering my gear for the last two weeks, I finally Sherpa’d my kayaks down to the landing, prepositioning them so it will be easier to load tomorrow. My back is minute by minute, but if I can start out OK, I should be able to travel upriver and pull my gear in a separate kayak, my two man transport vessel. Camping on an island and fishing, rain and altogether mirth, I hope it turns out fun.

    • blackjack

      Have fun. I have learned that every adventure is way more fun than sitting around the house and thinking of reasons not to go.

  16. Gustave Lytton

    Twenty years ago I was wrapping up my makeup annual training in the Guards. Another makeup guy was going to drive up to the PX at Ft Lewis on Tuesday with a shopping list from everyone at the armory. The days when you couldn’t just order everything online.

    Tuesday morning I got up, turned on the tv, and started ironing my BDU blouse. Saw the smoking tower and thought damn, while there was rampant speculation of what was happening. Hopped in the shower, shaved, got ready… and saw that a second had apparently crashed into the towers meanwhile, there was an explosion at the Pentagon, and rumors of more. Fuckkk… got my personal handgun and put it on under my blouse. Got a coffee and headed in. Much different at the armory of course. Like the worst hurry up and wait. Several guys whose didn’t have a civilian job or school came in on their own and several others too. Most also armed. Lots of fill in stuff that day, phone tree alert, trying to figure out what was going on, and ended up being held late because who wanted to knock off early? Rest of the week was similar with a candlelight vigil one of those days with crying eagle poster board. Never forgot one of our cadet drolly observing eagles don’t have tear ducts.

    Thought that would be a kickoff to the sandbox again for me, but thanks to Rumsfeld, our battalion got cut in the middle of being mobilized, then a paperwork screwup that I was unaware of probably kept me from getting recalled as an individual augmentee. I didn’t know anyone who died on 9/11, but I do know several that died in Iraq.

    • tripacer

      I was an E3 in the WAARNG at the time. Perhaps we’ve met.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I suppose it’s possible, but I was in ORNG.

  17. MikeS

    Thank you, Spud.

  18. UnCivilServant

    So, I made it to the Grand Canyon today. Got A picture of the locals.

    The signs said to not feed the squirrels. Clearly no one reads them because the squirrels come right up to people looking for food and one even tried to get into someone’s backpack. They couldn’t be scared off and had to be physically pushed away.

    For those of you expecting a picture of a hole in the ground… Here is my first view of the Canyon. Hard to describe what it looks like, and my photohtaphy doesn’t do it justice.

    • Mojeaux

      Hard to describe what it looks like, and my photography doesn’t do it justice.

      Grand Canyon Suite.

      • UnCivilServant

        Thanks for correcting my typo…

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Looks like Cardi B’s boobs.

      /SF

    • Tundra

      Yeah, but it’s still cool to look at the pics. I’m glad the trip is going well!

      • UnCivilServant

        I had thought about cropping my dad’s shoe and tripod from the squirrel image, but I decided it better illustrated how these squirrels just came right up to the tourists.

      • Tundra

        When we were in Banff, the marmots were so bold we had to shoo them away so we could eat lunch. Little shitheads.

      • Tundra

        Hmmm. I’ll bring a stove next time.

        If I can ever get into Canada again, of course.

      • The coolest vaccine-free BEAM in the world™

        The marmots had nothing on the camp-robbers, also known as Canadian jays, grey jays or whiskeyjacks. Those little twerps would literally grab a sandwich from your hand.

        At least the marmots were insufferably cute, especially when they had their young ‘uns in tow.

      • Zwak, jack off, all trades

        They are also referred to as Rock Chucks. Like Wood Chucks, but live in the mountains. They get called Marmots to sound better, but they are considered a varmit as far as hunting goes. RCBS even named their reloading company after them; Rock Chuck Bullet Swage.

    • DEG

      Nice pictures!

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Very nice!

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s easy with a pretty subject that’s cooperative.

        Canyon didn’t move an inch while I was lining up the shot.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        That’s my method,

  19. TARDis

    I didn’t want to think much about today. The day America began it’s long slow death in earnest. I’m a bit detached because my mother died on this day at the ripe old age of 57, twenty years ago, a long way from NYC.

    We had tickets to watch The Princess Bride at the Strand Theater. It’s a movie we’ve never seen in a theater. It was a welcome respite from the 9/11 hoopla which always seems more about drama and narcissism than respect for the heroes and the dead victims.

    On the way home, I told my wife my wife to drive by the local field of flags. When it’s dark they use floodlights. I drive by it in the dark, early in the morning. The eerie quiet is awful. We’ve lost so much.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Very exciting on the big screen, isn’t it.

      • TARDis

        It was great. We have been wanting to go there for years. They have an organ player that keeps people entertained before the movie. People were dancing by their seats. It was very nice. Lovey-dovey even. You can even have cocktails/beer/wine if you want. It was fun because everyone knows the funny bits. I laughed out loud just before six-fingered man ran away. As did most of the men in the audience. It was inconceivable.

  20. Scruffy Nerfherder

    And the British just dropped vaccine passports.

    How much you want to bet that part of the rationale for the decision was to fuck over Biden?

  21. Yusef drives a Kia

    So much Gloom and doom, Jeez people, Fuck this downer shit, I’m gonna golf and fish and fabricate counterfeit vax cards,

  22. Jerms

    My stepfathers ex wife was the principal of New Utrecht HS in Brooklyn. A week before the 11th two muslim boys in an english as a second language class were pointing to the towers and telling all the kids and teachers in the class “see those two buildings over there? Next week theyll be gone.” Nobody gave it much thought until they actually fell. When school started again the FBI came and picked up the kids and they were never seen in the school again.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Wow.

  23. Rat on a train

    I was working in Silver Spring, MD that day. I was alone in the office. My first indication that there was something happening was all the emails from friends still in the military which stating they made it home safely. I tried to check internet news sites, but they were overloaded. CNN eventually put up a simple page with minimal information.
    I opted to stay at work until about 1600. By the time I left, I-95 was empty. I didn’t see details until I got home. My roommates were sitting on the couch watching the updates. A few weeks later I received the mobilization call at work.

  24. DEG

    OT: Remember that cop that roughed up an old woman with dementia?

    Now the taxpayers of Loveland, CO will pay $3 million to Garner to make things sort-of right.

    “This is justice for my mom,” said Garner’s daughter. “There needs to be some change in this department. I don’t want to see this happen to anyone else’s family.”

    The “hero” AGW has been charged with official misconduct. You can imagine what the charge would be if any non-AGW were to throw old lady violently to the ground, dislocate her shoulder and very possibly cripple or even kill her.

    • rhywun

      Department? Granted, I don’t know the details, by why is it always the fault of some organization instead of the actual individual?

      Same crap bothers me about “bad schools”. As if shuffling the same people into a different building is going to produce a different result.

  25. DEG

    OT: This is a surprise. Sununu comes out against Biden’s vaccine mandate

    “Forcing people to choose between their jobs and livelihood or the vaccine is not an appropriate way to increase vaccine uptake,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Friday, announcing his opposition to President Joe Biden’s new vaccine mandate.

    On Thursday, an exasperated Biden told Americans who had yet to get vaccinated for COVID-19 that he was done waiting. “We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.”

    Biden then announced his sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandates, including an order for all federal workers and contractors to get vaccinated or face losing their jobs. Biden also added a requirement that large private companies must mandate vaccines or regular testing for employees, though it’s not clear he has the legal authority to do so.

    By early Friday morning, several Republican governors had announced their intentions to fight Biden’s mandate. The Republican National Committee said it was preparing lawsuits.

    “Have at it,” was Biden’s response.

    Sununu noted Biden’s announcement Thursday was a reversal of his previous position opposing mandatory vaccines.

    “Yesterday’s actions by the Biden administration are another example of saying one thing, then doing another and creating instability and mistrust at a time when the American people need serious leadership,” Sununu said. “New Hampshire’s workforce, most especially in health care, is at a critical level and unilateral mandates by the federal government could lead to shortages in multiple areas that are already at grave risk.”

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I’m kinda sick of all the GOP suits coming out and making polished, focus grouped statements about how “harmful” and “counterproductive” this is. If you pretend to care about liberty at all and that’s what you lead with, you’re either missing your balls or missing the point.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Most of them are pro vax but anti mandate so they aren’t going to take a strong and unambiguous stand as a result. At least this guy is antimandate which is about as good as can be reasonably hoped for.

      • DEG

        Uhh… this is Sununu you know.

        I’m surprised he said even this.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Well aware… big step for him. Just sick of “totalitarianism at the speed limit” GOP hacks.

      • DEG

        The libertarian wing of the NH Republican Party is growing thanks to the work of the NHLA and the Free State Project.

        To the point where Sununu gave a speech at a fundraiser saying that he hated them and they have no part in the Republican Party.

        It’s not powerful enough to break the Sununu clan’s hold on the NH Republican Party. Yet. If current trends continue, they’ll win and he’ll lose.

    • rhywun

      Good for him.

    • ignoreLander

      Sununu comes out against Biden’s vaccine mandate

      Good to hear, and I’m glad.

      BUT

      I’m sick of hearing pithy press releases about how unlawful it is. Can someone actually DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

      Yes I know, it isn’t going to happen. But I’m sick and fucking tired of seeing these chest-thumping screeds about the wrongfullness, followed by…. Nothing.

      • DEG

        I’m sick of hearing pithy press releases about how unlawful it is. Can someone actually DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

        Nothing legal will happen until the order comes out.

        Political? Those in Congress that oppose it (Massie and Paul, maybe one or two others) will be outvoted. Until the order comes out, posturing is all the state level officials can do. I think at least some of the state level officials that threatened legal action (Noem comes to mind) will follow through with that threat.

        I saw some talk of protests in the works on the groups I’m involved with about pushing back on the Covid nonsense.

        Oh, and by the way, nobody is stopping you from doing something.

  26. Ozymandias

    I was the head prosecutor at MCB Quantico on 9/11. I was in the family advocacy meeting when some woman looked at her cellphone, jumped up, and started trying to run out, tripping over everyone yelling “A plane just hit the Pentagon!!” Her husband worked there. We finished the meeting(it was almost over) and I walked out with someone else. He asked me what I thought (as I pilot, I’d flown the helo corridor up the Potomac <300', and having flown into DCA many times, I knew there was a big flip-flop turn to get by the monuments on final for DCA, so I said, "Someone must've approach turn-stalled on final and augured into the Pentagon." I popped back into base housing and my wife had the news on. "A plane just flew into WTC-1." Oh, fuck.
    I picked up our daughters from the base schools and the base was locked down by the time I got back into Lejeune Hall.
    All Hands On Deck.
    I knew some folks on some of the planes (one of the Bavis brothers, who played hockey at BU when I was there, was a scout for the Bruins. I knew everyone on those late 80s teams.) I'd had a HS friend (Bob "Shaggy" Schlageter) who was on the Lockerbie flight that the Libyans blew up over Scotland. I had already gotten my 2P for Major (on purpose – in the aftermath of the anthrax debacle) and I was on my way out, but something in me kinda snapped. I remember thinking, "That's it. Fuck this. This has to be answered."
    I put in packages with the FBI, the Agency, and HML/A-775, the Reserve Cobra squadron. I had my heart set on settling the score.
    What. A. Fucking. Sucker. I. Was.
    20 years later I thought I'd be enjoying the "freedom dividend" I fought for and instead I'm fighting my own government for what scraps of freedom they'll allow us and to keep an experimental vaccine out of my kids' bodies.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      20 years later I thought I’d be enjoying the “freedom dividend” I fought for and instead I’m fighting my own government for what scraps of freedom they’ll allow us and to keep an experimental vaccine out of my kids’ bodies.

      This is why I’m less dismissive of the conspiracy theorists now than I was 15 years ago. I still think they’re wrong, but I can’t think of an American response that would’ve been more destructive to the principles of America than what we did. I strongly prefer the “never let a crisis go to waste” explanation over the “orchestration and pre-planning” explanation, but damn if the country didn’t unravel itself in the intervening decades.

      • Ozymandias

        #metoo

      • Ozymandias

        No need for apologies, Tundra! There are many lessons in there. Hard ones, but very necessary.
        Now there are new challenges at home. Many of us got fooled looking overseas, kicking over rocks for bearded devils, when the clean-shaven demons in suits went to work on destroying the country from within.
        Lesson learned. Now it’s time to clean up the turds and take out the trash at home. We’re starting a bit behind, but that’s okay. I like a good challenge.

  27. DenverJ

    This morning I was on a zoom call and one person started talking about George Bush and and the Bin Laden’s etc. I told them that the 20th anniversary of 9/11 was a poor time to bring up Trutherism, that Bush didn’t turn planes into missiles, that Al Qaeda did, and killed thousands of people. Everybody went silent and we changed the subject.

    • Chafed

      Good for you.

  28. Ozymandias

    I had no idea you were a firefighter, Spud. Thanks for your service and the links.
    Firefighters are one of the few groups of public servants I’m completely cool with, even if I think their union is unconstitutional. 😉

  29. The Bearded Hobbit

    So, reading around the web I run across this guy

    https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2021/09/10/open-letter-to-the-tyrant/

    The basic theme of the article is that now is the time for Americans to stand up and resist.

    Oh, yeah, it’s easy for a guy who doesn’t have a boss to say, “Resist.”

    It’s easy for a guy like me, retired, without a boss, to say, “Resist.”

    What my heart bleeds for are all of the people, like many of you, who are torn between submitting to tyranny or losing their jobs.

    I feel that we are at a turning point in history. There is no status quo. The country is either headed for destruction or redemption.

    My blood type is “B+” so my heart says, “Be positive.” My brain is in active rebellion with the heart.

    I think my brain is going to win.

    • Ozymandias

      Ya know, TBH, I think it can be both. My indignation over what we have is tempered by the fact that I am 100% certain of the presence of a loving and benevolent Creator. I don’t find those two things in any way contradictory.
      Many of us in the “liberty camp” should feel grateful – we have a righteous cause against which we can bend our backs.
      My grandfather rushed into the Battle of the Bulge with the fate of freedom for a big chunk of the world hanging in the balance and the outcome decidedly uncertain.
      Our challenge is more nefarious, the outcome equally uncertain, against enemies both “foreign and domestic.”
      Good. The lines are drawn… Now the other side should stand the fuck by.
      I have no intention of losing my war and pissing away what my grandfather preserved for me. I intend to pass along something much better to my grandkids before my time is done.

      • Jerms

        I needed to read something like that. Thanks, been really down on what the future brings. Gotta start thinking and acting positive.

      • Drake

        Every day now I’m sincerely praying for guidance. To get my family through what’s coming, and how to resist and overcome the monsters we are facing.

        Finished cleaning out the garage and made an appointment with the realtor for next week. My wife and I aren’t certain exactly how to ride this out, but we can’t stay behind enemy lines.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I feel that we are at a turning point in history. There is no status quo. The country is either headed for destruction or redemption.

      This is the point I’ve been trying to internalize for a while. Our comfortable, convenient, middle-class suburban lifestyle is approaching its sell by date really fast. Whether this vaccine push is the proximate cause of a change in lifestyle or whether it’s the economic crisis in 6 months or whether it’s massive inflation or a housing crash or anti-Christian oppression or [insert a dozen other potential instability factors here], we’re at the end of the era of peace and prosperity brought on by (among other things) the proliferation of integrated circuits. At the very least, we’re staring down the barrel of 70s style stagflation as the economy sorts out the irrational excesses. More likely, we’re in for some additional discomfort as our society tries to figure out where to go next.

      At the end of the day, though, the mourning that my wife and I are doing for the sacrifices we foresee having to make is merely a casting off of self-absorbed excess. We’re not called to be comfortable middle-class suburbanites. We’re called to be disciples of God. If that means struggling financially as we live out Truth, so be it. Vaccine mandates are a good enough hill to die on.

      /if i say it enough times, it’ll stop hurting to think about

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I want to just hide and stay low, but I cannot, this is where we make a stand, I made my choice, bring it Fuckers!
        /For my Grandchildren

      • LCDR_Fish

        I know we talk about anti-christian feeling in these contexts but you gotta wonder if folks perspectives would change of we had to experience an iota of what folks do elsewhere- the church in Afghanistan, China, Etc. I support Voice of the Martyrs and its hard to even contextualize a lot of the stories you see there with our experiences.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        We Christians are on the list, no matter where we live.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Absolutely. The stuff I’ve heard about the Chinese church is harrowing. Many of the missionaries my church in VA supported had to be anonymized to avoid Chinese authorities from arresting them. The fact that the Chinese government would feasibly stoop so low as to monitor American churches for names of Christian missionaries with the purpose of “disappearing” them is a level of oppression that is hard to fathom.

        That said, I think we’re at a turning point here in the US. Open, abject hatred of Christianity and Christian principles seems to be on the rise in the mainstream, and that has the potential to become a concerning development if it continues in its current direction. Maybe not time to “sound the alarm” yet, but It’s worth keeping a discerning eye on the mainstream.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Not disagreeing with you there but it wouldn’t be the first time that persecution was used to reawaken the church to its roots – there’s a lot of chaff mixed in with the wheat that will be burned up too.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I completely agree with you on that one. I see the beginnings of a cleansing of the church already. COVID has helped a lot in that regard. Maybe i’ll toss my more comprehensive observations and thoughts into an article, but long story short, the latte-sipping self-help social-club crowd is sitting at home watching a live stream, if not completely ignoring the faith they never truly held. Some churches are dying because of that. Some are thriving.

        In all things, God prevails.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        A-motherfucking-men Ozy! That article has me fired up!

        But here’s my first question: Where are the MEN?

        Yeah. They’re nowhere to be seen. Why? Because they’re afraid. If they stand up and stand out, they’ll get cancelled, fired, shamed.

        It’s worse than that. The men are only half engaged in their faith, phoning it in because the church is inherently feminine these days. Want to build Godly men? Close down the fucking latte shop and open your doors to men building manly community. Not just some meager “how do you feel about this” Bible class on Sunday morning. A real community where men develop bonds with one another, mentor one another in faith, challenge one another to be accountable for their own and their families’ faiths, and do manly things like sports and fixing up old widows’ houses. Some churches have a little bit of this here or there, with a handful of retired guys trying to keep it together, but every single church I’ve been involved with has struggled to get men involved even 10% as much as women are.

        The Church is in this predicament because it is driven by a passive, feminine spirit of conflict avoidance where the only fruit of the Spirit is Kindness. The target audience of the church activities are the 13 year old girls and the 45 year old moms vicariously living through them. Shut off the crappy rock band. Stop the superficial preaching. Pull families together in true communities of faith, relying on one another for support and for mutual spiritual growth. Church isn’t 2 hours on Sunday morning. It’s a lifestyle. It should impact the choices people make in career, where they live, how they educate their kids, and how they plan their futures.

        /rant

      • Mojeaux

        This is why I’m happy my husband’s dudebropals (yes, now he has more than 1) are also members of the church.

      • Ghostpatzer

        Late to the party, really spot-on discussion. Thanks for the coffeeandcovid link, Ozy, that guy nails it when he points out, repeatedly, that fear is destroying us.

      • Gustave Lytton

        trshy, what you’re describing is similar to the community ACB is involved in. There’s bit more to their beliefs including a RC foundation and association, but it hits all of those points you highlight.

    • rhywun

      My heart says, “Oh, negative.” ??‍♂️

  30. commodious spittoon

    Something I found myself wondering for the first time in twenty years… were there more terrorists on 9/11? Their flights maybe delayed, then grounded permanently after the first, successful wave of attacks, who never managed to hijack an airliner?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I thought there was one more destined for the Capitol or White House that got foiled somehow (Atta, et al).

      • Ted S.

        Wasn’t that United 93?

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Yeah, I’m misremembering. United 93 was headed for the Capitol, most likely. For some reason, I thought there was speculation of a fifth flight also planned to be headed to DC.

    • Plinker762

      I was waiting for him to spike the cat.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        LOL

    • Mojeaux

      Aw, poor kitty. Must have been terrified.

      • rhywun

        getting sprayed by the dangling cat

        LOL, fucker.

        ?

  31. LCDR_Fish

    Apropos of nothing other than association, two of the ships I inspected this year were USS New York (w/ WTC steel in the bow) and USS Somerset (named after Somerset County where Flight 93 went down). Different levels of crew pride depending on circumstances – i think both are now in dry dock – but a lot of history tied up).

  32. Yusef drives a Kia

    I feel so subversive, a print job for a friend….

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I sooo want to show you, they are perfect, hit me up,

  33. grrizzly

    Today Sam’s Club in Santa Clarita wasn’t enforcing the face mask mandate imposed by LA county. At least 10% of customers didn’t wear masks. It was hard to even notice a sign about mandatory masks.

    • UnCivilServant

      Today at the Grand Canyon there were a lot of signs about the mandate, which included a lot of the outdoors stuff, and at least half or more of the people there just ignored them.

    • rhywun

      I can’t enter a restaurant without papers but I go shopping every other day or so and nobody bats an eye at my face.

      The one place I still muzzle up half-heartedly is the liquor store because due to local puritanical quirks they are all sole-proprietors and around here run by Koreans who are kind of into the mask thing so I comply just to be neighborly.

  34. Ozymandias

    BTW, on the “will somebody do something?!” front (on vax mandates) – it’s begun. I’m aware of 5 separate lawsuits already filed against vax mandates.
    Maine has close to 1,000 Doe plaintiff healthcare workers who refused the jab, one of whom got fired. The State did away with their vax religious exemption 10 days or so before the vax came out. The crux of their case is under Title VII of the CRA of 1964.
    A professor at UC Irvine has a suit against the school because he already had Corona and he’s being treated differently then those who have (lesser) vaxxed immunity. 14th Amendment EP case.
    Children’s Health Defense (CHD) filed a great suit for TRO in San Diego against the FDA for the attempted “dual status” of the Pfizer vax. That’s a very, very well-written suit. APA against the FDA.
    Ours is in Colorado fedl district court against FDA and DoD for natural immunity (class action) OBO at least 220K servicmembers who have already had corona. It combines natural immunity args and APA.
    I know a couple of more are coming and I’ve been asked to help on one of those. And many more are on the way.
    That doesn’t include the George Mason professor who filed and got the university to back down – his was also a natural immunity suit.

      • Ozymandias

        Yeah, he doesn’t know a lot of things. That guy’s a walking malpractice suit if he actually treated patients; so instead he gets to practice “public health” on everyone.

      • Mojeaux

        Killing one person is a murder.

        Killing a thousand is warfare.

      • Drake

        He’s trying for Mao / Stalin numbers.

      • Hyperion

        Killing a couple hundred thousand is communism.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        Killing a million is a megadeath.

      • Hyperion

        Huge Dave Mustaine fan here.

        Holy Wars

        What’s it called when you want to kill 7.5 billion? That’s what the Great Reset crowd want to do.

  35. Hyperion

    Gee, there’s no way you can get any actual news today. It’s all 9/11 all day long. Forget that commies are in the process of destroying the country and the world. We once got attacked by 6th century goat farmers, and this time we’ve left them modern weapons and an airbase to make sure it happens again.

    • Hyperion

      Spotify? We just learned that Yusef is actually a 13 year old Chinese girl.

  36. Hyperion

    My wife is freaking out over her $800 Galaxy s21 and getting all pissed off at me.

    I’m sorry, I saw that thing and I immediately started calling it a ‘brick’. Cause well, it’s a fucking brick.

    Then she gets all pissed at me because she doesn’t know all the features that magically make a brick worth $800.

    I’m sorry, I can’t stop calling it that. I tried to open it up. I said, where’s the hinges on this thing? It has to open up because this thing is the thickest brick I seen since 1981.

    I started playing that song ‘Thick as a Brick’ by Jehtro Tull on my puter and now she won’t talk to me.

    Does life ever start making any sense?

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Your Wife is a Chinese 13 year old girl, ,

      • Hyperion

        Well, she doesn’t have Spotify, she has a cell phone that she’s now somehow pissed off at me over.

  37. Hyperion

    It’s Saturday fucking night, bros, and broettes. What the fuck? Sidewalks rolled up already in Podunk?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I’m over here watching InfoWars videos and contemplating life. lol

      • Hyperion

        I’m contemplating my escape route from something, everything I’m starting to think.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I’m ready to fish, and GTFO for a while, leave the real world behind for a bit,

      • Hyperion

        What are ya fishin for, Yupper? Some kind of ice Salmon?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        The Salmon are running, still Walleye a Northerns, same bait, Chatterbaits,

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        How do you remove a hook from a Pike? stun them with a rock, their jaws open open up, for easy removal, then they wake up and fight til you throw them back,
        Catch and Release, always,

      • Hyperion

        I remember the first time when I was fishing in the Midwest with a newbie and he hauled in a probably 5 lb Channel Cat. They do tend to swallow the lure. I told him ‘Dude it’s not like they have teeth, you pussy, just stick your hand in there and get it out’. LOL, he was pissed as hell at me. They have a really powerful jaws.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Ha! my guide told me a similar tale, Fishigan!

      • rhywun

        I’m watching Columbo. Yeah, big surprise.

        Pondering big shit at the same time, if that helps.

      • Hyperion

        “I’m watching Columbo. Yeah, big surprise.”

        Isn’t he the star of the ‘Social Justice Cops it’s All About Reparations, Why you Should let yourself be mugged’ new TV series?

      • rhywun

        He died just over ten years ago so I doubt it.

        No idea what you’re referring to.

      • Hyperion

        It was a joke. Never mind, I guess I have the worst jokes lately…

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Most of the stuff on InfoWars, I take with a grain of salt. I’m not a believer in the conspiracies they push, but they sometimes find interesting nuggets of truth that the other media doesn’t

        This one, however, I know is more true than not: https://tv.gab.com/channel/realalexjones/view/psychological-manipulation-tactics-revealed-on-government-613a683073f177cc4efbc359. I have personal experience with a similar initiative from last fall.

        Funny enough, I can’t seem to find the copy of the message I forwarded to my gmail. Oh well, I posted a paraphrased version of it to Glibs 9 months ago: https://www.glibertarians.com/2020/12/enlaces-mas-enlaces-por-la-tarde/#comment-1790815

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Grr, evidently 2 link comments are going to moderation again.

        Here’s the first half of my moderated comment:

        Most of the stuff on InfoWars I take with a grain of salt. I’m not a believer in the conspiracies they push, but they sometimes find interesting nuggets of truth that the other media doesn’t

        This one, however, I know is more true than not: https://tv.gab.com/channel/realalexjones/view/psychological-manipulation-tactics-revealed-on-government-613a683073f177cc4efbc359

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        By the way, I had redacted the American non-profit involved in this bullshit, but fuck them.

        Partners In Health

        Very commie.

        Partners with:
        Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
        Open Society Foundations
        Unifor Social Justice Fund
        World Health Organization
        Inter-American Development Bank
        Unitaid
        United Nations Office for Project Services
        U.S. Agency for International Development
        U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
        U.S. Department of State, PEPFAR
        Yale University *cough cough*
        Community Health Impact Coalition

      • Gustave Lytton

        They’re all intertwined that trying to put a stop to it is a game of whack a mole. Some days I think a high speed Pb injection is the only way to start putting the zombies down.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Liberaltarian’s nudge in action.

      • hayeksplosives

        That “cricket” sound that represented hundreds of men down…

  38. J. Frank Parnell

    Hyperion on September 11, 2021 at 10:14 pm
    Spotify? We just learned that Yusef is actually a 13 year old Chinese girl.

    Yusef drives a Kia on September 11, 2021 at 10:28 pm
    Your Wife is a Chinese 13 year old girl, ,

    Me, an expert in logic: Therefore, Yusef is Hyperion’s wife.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Oh shit…..

      • J. Frank Parnell

        Cool, thank you, I enjoyed that.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        3lau, fun stuff

    • Hyperion

      Like, bogus, dude!

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I’m looking California, but feeling Michigan, yikes!

      • Hyperion

        lol

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I love it here, and we have Guns!

    • Gender Traitor

      Well done, sir.

  39. commodious spittoon

    You would be committing suicide, Kate.

    • commodious spittoon

      She can’t sign this.

      Sign it.

      • commodious spittoon

        She can’t sing this.

      • commodious spittoon

        She signs it or we all die.

      • Chafed

        ?

      • Ted S.

        I assume it’s a reference to the governor of Oregon, but beyond that I have no clue.

  40. Mojeaux

    Zoomies, it appears I don’t know how to work my iPad. Good night!

    • Hyperion

      Worst crisis ever, I hope your phone’s not involved also and you didn’t break a nail.

    • rhywun

      the National Archives’ racism task force

      Because this is a thing that needs to exist.

      • Chafed

        That’s part of what drives me nuts. Records should be kept. Competent historians should provide context where need. Political judgment should not be part of this. At all. Ever.

        I like to think in 2022 the Republicans will retake both houses of Congress. I would like to think they will address stuff like this. It’s low hanging fruit. Most people are put off by this crap. Then I remember they are the stupid team.

      • Gustave Lytton

        The NEA was low hanging fruit 30 years ago, funding things that were far more decried than this. And the Republicans were still pilloried and ultimately defeated.

  41. hayeksplosives

    I know all the focus should be on 9/11 and all of the harm done in its wake, but I am crying for a different reason.

    In talking to my husband, who is just fine now, I learned tonight that he thought I didn’t visit him in the hospital during his ordeal.

    So now I find out that the physical and mental pain, the sleep deprivation and stress that led to a full grand mal seizure at work, the driving and the having to take FML, the day he bit though my bottom lip in his ICU psychosis—-all of that was for nothing?!?

    It makes me sad. I know he was out of it at the time, but I thought he knew by now I was with him every damned day.

    What can I say about 9/11 and 4/3?

    This life is not meant to be our permanent home.

    • Sean

      That’s sad. Sorry, HE.

  42. Tres Cool

    suh’ fam

    yo whats goody

    • Sean

      Mornin!

    • UnCivilServant

      I… have no idea what you just said.

      • Ted S.

        He’s drunk on short cans.

      • Tres Cool

        No, I have a couple Tall Cans® left, but I need food and a nap. Tres V2.0 and I have to get disappointed by the Ben-Girls at 1300h.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, homey, U, & Sean!

      Another lovely morning here at TB. There’s a hummer at the just-refilled hummingbird feeder. So far, I don’t see any birds at the regular feeders, but all in good time. I don’t need my hoodie this morning, just my gauzy cotton beach cover-up over my jammies. Iced mocha latte (light!) – couldn’t be better!

      • Gender Traitor

        Oh – and my Sunday morning choral music show on the satellite radio (until I pause it to check out Old Man Music.)

      • Gender Traitor

        How are you so far today?

      • UnCivilServant

        We have a plan to try to catch the sunrise over the canyon, but right now I’m waiting for my dad to let me know he’s awake.

      • Gender Traitor

        How much trouble would you be in if you just poked him and asked, “ARE YOU AWAKE?”

      • UnCivilServant

        A lot, since that would require busting through his hotel room door.

      • Sean

        Bang on the door and yell “We’ve got a warrant, open up!”

    • Gender Traitor

      I just love the fact that there’s a Nitro, WV.

      Drag race down in the holler!

      • Sean

        ?

      • Tres Cool

        I tested a chemical plant in Nirto, WV once. Its a real place.

        When I pulled in the driveway, Ghetto Coon* was sniffing around my rumpke bin. Im going to have to keep an eye on The Dozer. I dont need him to get an eye ripped out, or ear torn off.

        *SLD- given the neighborhood, all the wild fauna have the prefix ghetto attached to them; e.g. GhettoSquirrel, GhettoBunny, and of course GhettoKitty.

    • Gender Traitor

      Those boulders…

      Wow. ?

      • Tres Cool

        You’ve seen Jugsy naked, too ? Thats generally my reaction.

    • rhywun

      A very small but growing movement to rethink nuclear shutdowns is bolstering that idea.

      His eyes, opened!

    • Gender Traitor

      Is there a way to listen without having to sign up?

      • Sean

        Plays for me on my Fire without signing up.

        You had trouble with soundcloud too, right?

        I’m still trying to avoid linking to youtube.

  43. hayeksplosives

    In 1995, I was at college at Oklahoma State University. On April 19, there was a “sonic boom”. We all went to class anyway of course.

    Then the professor, pacing back and forth and wringing his hands, went to the lectern and said class was off due to a major “gas explosion” in OKC,

    Later I learned that the professor already knew that one the students in that class had lost his father that day.

    The OKC bombing was “only” 169 deaths, but it did steel us against future traumas. One thing I know from the OKC bombing was they needed blood donations in a hurry (mainly to back fill stock used in emergency). We students were lined up around the block to donate.