Weekend Open Thread
The leftists cheering Charlie Kirk’s assassination did not anticipate how it would rally the right. Word is out that people want to join their university’s chapter of Turning Point USA. There are also reports of some moderate Democrats leaving the Democratic Party in disgust of the left’s response to this event. It’s good that the collective left can’t keep their poker face long enough. Enjoy your weekend!
Category: Open thread
1st
Whooo!!!
SECOND!!!! AH!!!!
EARLY DROP!!!
Lord Gently AH!! Plz and TY!
I just showed up randomly. Wasn’t expecting to get here early enough to nab 1st.
Well done sir!
Congratulations, AH!
Well Done!!!! 🫡👏👏👏👍
Just a kind reminder….When you address us as “Gents”, wanted to let you knos several of us TAH commenters were born with the XX Chromosomes…😉
Enjoy Your Throne!
All The Best,
The ninja family (XX & XY)
My apologies. My use of gents is shorthand for gentlemen and gentlewomen. That may seem like a cop out (I initially thought it was), but it turns out it is actually a real thing:
AH: We learned something new today! Thank You! We are showing our age (Yes, we are “Boomers” and are very proud of that term of endearment) since we still use “Ladies and Gentlemen”, “Spokesman”, “Mailman”, “Newsmen”, “”Milkman” “Postman”, etc etc…
Appreciate the feedback from you..No need for any apologies!
Congrats on being First!
And yes, this is true (the pic). This is what we looked like in the 70s…😉
Any silent majority (born 1945 and before 1945) TAHers out there like myself.?????
Here!!
Close, but no cigar.
Indeed. 1938! Do the math, my abacus is broken. e.conboy
ninja,
That had me digging for a certain photo from one of my HS yearbooks of some of the young ladies in my school.
Sadly, I didn’t find the ‘right’ one quickly to scan and post here, but I can testify that they were quite fetching ‘in the day’.
That’s a wee bit before my ‘70’s school years. I’m from the “Farrah Hair” years.
Well hell! Now I have to type it all the way out?? That was always my lazy way of shortening “gentlemen” as well!! Damn it!
Regardless, I’ll alter my language a bit. Thank you.
AH: No need to change your language. We now understand. Please keep your verbage! Be Yourself! Appreciate your thought and kindness!
Early drop! Cong of the rats to ya, AH (which doesn’t stand for a**hole).
Rule gently but firmly.
Oh, and be sure to take possession of the throne, scepter, and keys to the drinks and eats. We TAH subjects get hungry out here.
Lol I can be an a**hole at times and at some of those times, it’s intentionally. I’ll at least be honest about it, though.
And thirsty
CONG-Rats AH
Cong-Rats atcha, AH
Dang … snuck it in while I wasn’t looking! Okay, AH … here are the keys to the throne room, the liquor cabinet, and the royal washroom. Rule wisely!
Thank you kindly, CW. Wait, the cabinet’s empty.
Happy 67th Birthday CW. So young, and speaking of so young, how about “I’m So Young” by the Ohio Students, 1958 on the note/checker label. Nice ballad…
Having surrendered the scepter and orb to AH, I hereby offer for all the trivia for the week. I’m feeling better, but it’s going to be a long trek to 100%. Enjoy!
DID YOU KNOW…?
Why was the first Christmas tree put up in the White House in 1856?
By Commissioner Wretched
didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com
Copyright © 2025
Here we go again … another trip around the Sun completed. Friday of this week, I celebrate my 67th birthday.
This one I almost didn’t make. Most of you know I had a heart attack on July 31, but I’ve been getting better since then.
The world has changed a lot since that September day in 1958 when I made my dramatic entrance into it, but one thing that doesn’t change (much, anyway) is trivia. So my birthday present to you is another newly minted column of the minutiae you love so much!
Did you know …
… how many bubbles are in the average half-pint of beer? Neither did I until I learned, thanks to Mental Floss, that the average half-pint of beer has between two hundred thousand and two million bubbles. Think that’s good? Try this – the average flute of champagne has around a million bubbles. (That’s why they call it bubbly, I suppose. A bubbly thought, that.)
… you have a statistically higher chance of dying on your birthday than any other day? A study conducted in Switzerland showed that people have a 14% higher chance of passing away on their birthday. Why? Experts suggest things such as greater risk-taking behaviors on birthdays, people “holding on” to get to the next year, or something as simple as errors in record keeping. (A somewhat startling thought, all things considered. Maybe someone should keep in touch with me Friday just to be sure.)
… the nation’s largest shopping mall does not have a central heating system? The Mall of America, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, opened in 1992. It did not have central heat then, and it doesn’t have it today … and it doesn’t need it, despite some pretty cold weather in a Minnesota winter. The body heat of some 40 million visitors each year, along with eight huge skylights, provides all the heat the complex needs, though some smaller stores do have separate heating units. The space that the original designers had included for a central heating system is now being used as an aquarium. (Thanks to Mason for the tip!)
… the RMS Titanic was never actually advertised as being “unsinkable”? The builders of the ship, Harland and Wolff, never once said the ship was unsinkable, nor did the trade advertising for the White Star Line, which owned Titanic. Articles about the ship in the Irish News and in Shipbuilder magazine, which spoke at length about the ship’s construction, may have led readers to think it couldn’t sink, and while it is thought that a crew member of the vessel said, “God himself could not sink this ship,” no one can say who said it, nor can the exact quote be found. (Well, it sure wasn’t the iceberg.)
… several nations do not consider escaping from jail a crime? Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, and several other nations hold that it is human nature to want to escape, and in those countries escapees who get away and do not break any other laws are not charged with a crime for escaping.
We enjoyed spending time at The Mall of America in the mid 1990s.
We thought it was huge until we went to an other malls located in Kuwait City, Manila, Bangkok, Toyko, Doha, Riyahd…😉
*snicker* Bangkok
… the first Christmas tree in the White House was put up in an effort to cure a First Lady’s depression? In 1856, President Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) is said to have erected the first White House Christmas tree for Washington children. But there was more to it than that; Pierce’s wife Jane (1806-1863) was in the grip of a major depression during his term. The couple’s only surviving child, Bennie (1841-1853), had been killed in a railroad accident while the family was journeying to Washington for Pierce’s inauguration – and Jane did not want her husband to be president, or even in government at all. She wore black clothing during his term and shut herself away in a small set of rooms in the White House. Pierce was able to coax her to come down to see the tree, and she brightened with a short-lived joy. Not long after, however, she sank back into her gloom and died six years after the Pierces left the White House. Additional trivia note: Putting up a Christmas tree in the White House did not become a formal tradition until 1889, during the term of Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901).
… giraffes are not able to yawn? Nor are they able to vomit, except in rare instances and then only when they are dying. (Something to do with that long neck, I would guess.)
If histories serves us correctly, both Mary Todd and Abraham suffered through depression, especially after the loss of their children.
Winston Churchill referred his depression as his “black dog.”
… the smallest set used for the entire action of a movie (in terms of confined acting space) was for a Hitchcock film? In 1944, director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) released his masterpiece Lifeboat. All of the action takes place in a 20-foot lifeboat adrift in the ocean after the ship the characters were on was torpedoed by a German U-boat in World War II. (Big story for a small boat.)
… some of the men who advertised a particular brand of cigarettes died of lung cancer? Beginning in 1955, Marlboro™ cigarettes used an ad campaign centered on the “Marlboro Man.” Initially, the campaign featured a variety of masculine figures such as athletes, gunsmiths, and even sea captains – but it was the image of the cowboy that ended up being the most marketable. Four of the men who appeared as the Marlboro Man in the ads died of lung cancer – Eric Lawson (1942-2014), David Millar (1906-1987), Wayne McLaren (1941-1992), and David McLean (1921-1993). Ironically, Millar never smoked cigarettes.
… Earth would not be such a pleasant planet without its atmosphere? Sure, we wouldn’t have anything to breathe, but it would also be pretty hot as well as pretty cold. The atmosphere provides a kind of greenhouse effect for the Sun’s heat, and without it the average temperature of Earth would be about 5˚ Fahrenheit. At the equator, the temperature would range from 176˚ in the daytime to -200˚ at night. (So take care of that atmosphere; it’s the only one we have!)
Now … you know!
Happy Birthday, CW!!! Hope you are well.
So if giraffes can’t yawn, I will say this: Challenge accepted.
CW: Is today, 26 September, your 67th Birthday?
If so…HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 🎂🍰🧁🎉🎈🎊🎁, Our Friend!!!!!!☺️
You are SO Young!
Enjoy your very special, well-deseved day! That is wonderful news you have recovered from your heart attack!
We know our very beloved and missed KoB is looking down upon you, CW. He loved your books…and of course, your trivia.
We enjoy your trivia as well..keeps us sharp for “Jeopardy!”..Thank You!
Keep up the great work!
Today is, indeed, my birthday. Thank you for all those wonderful kind words, Ninja. I miss KoB a lot, I don’t mind telling you.
A blessed and happy birthday to you CW! May God grant you healing from the heart attack, and give you many more blessed and productive years to enjoy.
I’ll echo those sentiments.. quite a month for birthdays, mine was just a few days ago.. it’s almost as if the nights tend to be kinda cold roughly 9 months prior…
Many belated happy returns of the day!
Good Late Friday Morning, you gents. I really wasn’t expecting to nab 1st on the WOT. My 1st official act on the throne will be to inform you fine gents what I intend to do with my new imaginary power. And that is to inform you all that my reign will be a month long. Of course I do expect you all to graciously depose me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Now for my other decrees: If any of you are able to stand it, check out the anime Black Clover (yes, I’m one of “those” millennials 😛)
And, if that’s not your cup of tea, just check out the Battle of Vienna video(s) I’ll be posting later 😁
Forgot to include operative word: try. Try to depose me 😁
I’ve had to rethink my advice about being the cause of a safety briefing and owning it. I will always say own it; however, I must add, “Don’t be a Blue Falcon about it”. Peering back through the mists of time, I recall an Airman from another unit who had caught the clap from a hooker in town. He had caught it several times before and the hospital folks were tired of him. A Major from the Nurse Corps took the young man aside and gently explained the super clap that is hard to treat. He wasn’t impressed; so, she upped her game and told him of the UCMJ charges he could face for pandering, malingering, and insubordination. “Insubordination?” said the Airman. Yes, the Major said, “I’m ordering you to use a rubber!” The Airman replied, “Oh, come on Major, using a rubber is like wearing a rain coat in the shower”.
Now I happened to be at the clinic, getting one of the forty-eleven shots GI’s get, when everyone in the place was gathered for a spontaneous church meeting that included everything but the collection plate. Thanks to Amn “Raincoat” we spent the day being lectured about hookers, clap, and the UCMJ.
Don’t be a Blue Falcon!
And don’t forget to practice Safe Snacks, always use a condiment.
Put some mustard on it.
Do not use hot sauce as a sexual lubricant.
Ah, reminds me of the time the Bde CSM was going through our sister Bn’s barracks making sure trash is policed, latrine’s clean and doors are locked… and he walks in on a bunch of folk having group sex. We find out, following that good ol’ 0300 surprise recall, standing tall in the Bn area in BDUs a hour before PT time where he chews our ass for an hour and a half about how we’re all a bunch of no-good lousy pervs. The other Bn (who actually did it) got theirs earlier and harder. Yeehah. /sarc
Once again, Hack Stone is late for formation. He was on the phone with Phil Monkress who said he would purchase all of the outdated Red Hat software in inventory if Hack would agree to verbally attack the miscreants who waste their time on This Ain’t Hell saying that Phil Monkress works balls.
Phil Monkress works balls.
Speaking of “Baby Boomers”, anyone else remember this classic from the 1970s show “The Gong Show” featuring “Gene Gene The Dancing Machine”….:)
I remember it well!
Jasmine Crockett, Joy Reid, Al Sharpton and Maxine Watters would probably called Chuck a Nazi as well as Racist for using Gene Gene The Dancing Machine…😉
Gene Gene was our FAVORITE part of The Gong Show…😄
LOVED me some Gene Gene the Dancing Machine!
Count Basie had no white folks in his orchestra when he wrote the song, so it balances out I guess!
A stagehand with a natural rhythm who Chuck Barris turned into a star. Gene Gene was always a hit on “The Gong Show,” and you can bet that by this point in the show’s history the audience did not have to be prompted to stand up for him.
To add to my comment … Gene Patton was actually the first black member of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees. He appeared on The Gong Show when the band would play the first few bars of “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” then flowed into “One O’Clock Jump.” His appearances were not as spontaneous as Chuckie Baby pretended they were – they were written into the show. The length of a Gene Gene segment corresponded to how much fill time the episode needed. Sadly, this very talented man would lose both legs – and later his life – to diabetes.
Horrible! Didn’t know that.
I don’t care if she was old enough to be my mother; I had a crush on Jaye P Morgan.
Ok…Ok… We admit it…
We bad sometimes…To be honest with you, we could not stop laughing at the 3:00 minute video…and it turns out, there are lots and lots of parodies on it…
At least Henrietta and Merna tried! 😉
Bless their hearts…
30-something, present and unaccountable as I award myself yet another Honorary First.
((((OVER))))
The left’s useful idiots are going batshit committing acts of violence, but we Conservatives, especially the MAGA crowd, are the threat? Man, that’s some brain-damaging Kool-Aid!
So, here’s my regular update: completed the diesel course and I’m now in brakes, steering, and suspension for the new term. I like it so far.
Other news is that I’ve been on YouTube alot recently, following the aftermath of what happened to Charlie Kirk and I have a slew of good videos on moderate liberals leaving the demonrat party (one even contains a very interesting political model I’ll likely refer to from here on out. It basically shows that commies and nazis are on the same political spectrum and are fascists, they’re just different flavors). Without further ado, here’s is a very factual tweet from Blair White:
Here’s the moderate who had the interesting political model:
Gothix on: How do you unite with people who want you dead:
And here’s Shoe0nhead. She’s moderate left and I’ve watched a fair bit of her content. She doesn’t describe herself as a liberal or democrat. She’d prefer the word Populist (which is a political philosophy that I’d describe as not half bad, but there are better ones out there), but she is a Bernie Sanders and Huey Long fan. Some take that with a grain of salt. The reason I tend to keep watching what she puts out there is that, compared to most lefties, she’s honest. That’s a rare trait.
*so
Gothix surprised me when I first saw some of her videos a few years back. She had (and still has) “the look” of an alternative lifestyle Lib, but she seems pretty Conservative. I think she addressed her change of beliefs a while back and has even mentioned her husband a few times. I’m not a regular viewer; the last video I watched was her describing the process to get her carry permit.
Shoe0nHead is one I can watch a fair amount. Yeah, she is a bit Left, but I’ve never really seen a take I disagree with so strongly that I just ignore her vids. While I’m not a regular viewer of her channel either, I did watch the one you embedded.
Even normally non-political YouTubers have made videos addressing the way that Leftists are celebrating: First Iryna and Now Charlie Kirk. I’m Done.
Congrats on the schooling! I never took any sort of IC classes. When I turned wrenches for a living, I was hired without even a GED, much less trade school, and the Cadillac dealership sent me to the on-campus GM Technical College in Fairfax, VA (they switched to correspondence and online learning not long afterward) for most of the basics: steering and suspension; charging, charging, and cranking systems; electrical; HVAC; air bags; etc. I went to J. Sargent Reynolds for my brake course. I used to have that transcript… it’d be funny to add those whopping 2 semester hours (I think) to my resume; while I’m at it, maybe I’ll add the Western Civ and US History classes I took at Northern VA Community College in 2008 too.
And here’s Amir Odom with a compilation of former dems who are disgusted at the lefts reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder:
I watched one of Blaire White’s videos on the assassination and its aftermath. Of course, Blaire’s a well-known Conservative, so it doesn’t shock me that she’s against the fiends on the Left.
Just a few days after the shooting, I watched Buck Angel’s video simply titled “Charlie Kirk was my Friend.” I first heard of him when he’d appear on The Jason Ellis Show, and Buck came across as light-hearted but pretty reasonable when it comes to trans issues. https://youtu.be/2dEYJkT8Zvs?si=WSV-eGAeMXXkL4He&t=965
1683. Vienna. A battle that I find myself thinking of often recently. Maybe it might have to do with the current political leadership of the cities of Dearborn and Minneapolis. Their loyalty to the US has long been questionable, but now there is no doubt: the people there hold no loyalty to the United States and no good can come from having them remain. I also think of Europe too. How those who staunchly defended Christendom from overwhelming odds are spinning in their graves as Islamic invaders, let in under the Trojan horse of humanitarianism, are now staking claim to lands that are historically not theirs, are either converting or burning churches, and rioting in the streets, insisting that those who gave them shelter listen to them and do what they say. Poland is one of the bastions there that’s against this. A thousand years of enemies trying to wipe them and their culture from history and the EU tried to get them to accept the muslim invaders. Poland’s response was no. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do hope, from the bottom of my heart that, from the US, Poland, or elsewhere, we Christians take up the cause of the Winged Hussars and make the ground tremble at our approach and drive the enemies of Christianity, Freedom, and Democracy from our lands. Until then, Best to remember the sacrifices of those who came before us:
Here’s another video:
All of you have a Great Weekend!
Breaking the siege, 3,000 Polish Winged Hussars led the largest cavalry charge in history. They were at the vanguard of another 15,000 cavalry. I cannot imagine the thunderous roar of 18,000 horse soldiers, with the leaders in resplendent armor with wings, coming down like avenging angels.
It was enough to send the Turks packing, but it must have been a magnificent vision to those within the city.
It indeed was. There are very few things that’ll get a fortified force to sally forth and engage the enemy on open ground, but the sight of a mighty relief force is one of them.
The largest cavalry battle in the Western Hemisphere was the battle of Brandy Station in 1863 in Virginia. I was in the first ever reenactment of it in 1992.
Was Patton there?
Forgot to add this: Some can say the allied forces relieving the defenders at Vienna is similar to this:
Or this:
Absolutely! ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’’ has always been one of my favorite hymns, characterizing the perpetual conflict between faith and disbelief Sadly it was omitted in the last revision of the UMC hymnal. We need America to wake up.
Congrats AH!
Have a great weekend y’all!
Don’t know if anyone’s tracking but I’d keep your head on at least one swivel, especially in crowds.
Some people might do something… right Rep Omar?
Late to the party again, was taking an afternoon nap……..
Mike
USAF Retired
Who gets the title for Greatest Troll this week, Donald Trump for putting up the photo of the Auto Pen for Biden at the White House, or Israel military for this genius move?
https://www.foxnews.com/world/greta-thunbergs-flotilla-bombarded-abba-music-radios-hijacked-report?dicbo=v2-raLEivH&intcmp=fn_article_bc_ob_more_from
That made me laugh 😂
We have an update.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Kj4Zfme8V0k?si=o2CV5_H5a1V1OQDH
Lefty Larpers resorting to this? Who would’ve thought?
Well, I can see who read my column!
Inside the f—ing UN!!! 😡
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-administration-official-physically-assaulted-unga-deranged-leftist-white-house-says
We need to defund and deport them all.
More level-headedly (is that a word?) deport all the 3rd-world cesspool members and staff. (Would that catch Britain? Possibly.)
Charge them an entry fee for each person coming to the UN, say $10mil/person?
I can dream….
Florida has a Florida man who professionally yoinks things in the Everglades (also in Central America, the Amazon, and Australia too):
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/h5wx1te_MLI
Present & unaccountable as ever.
While I get the joke the truth is being liberal will not keep one out of Heaven, or will being conservative get one into same.
That is only accomplished by accepting Christ as one’s Lord and Savior, repenting of one’s sins.
However, one’s actions while on earth do have an impact on one’s reward:
Some folks gonna be smelling like smoke.
In the spirit of the braindead lefties, I self-identify as first.
Trust me I’m a trained professional.
Not a whole lot going on around here. Things breaking, me trying to fix them, and otherwise just work. We’re back up to five workdays, so I finished a 61.5-hour week yesterday. On September 10th, I was on the road with $4.5M when I read about Kirk’s shooting here. Since then, things have been wild. I just live in blissful ignorance–mostly real but some feigned.
I got a chuckle last night when I asked my wife why YouTube was suggesting all sorts of videos about pregnant women taking Tylenol. I (obviously) work a lot. I spent six or so years working on Fort McNair, including before the gentrification of that area of SW and SW DC. I think that Presidents, like all politicians, will be loved by some and hated by others, and it’s pretty obvious from my posts here where I stand politically. The wife? Well, she lives in a rabbit hole and just ventures deeper every day. So, I got a diatribe about all of the evils Trump and his minions are committing. Did you know that Hegseth is meeting with a bunch of generals? I wanted to go to bed shortly after getting home, so I stopped playing Devil’s Advocate after the Tylenol question.
Personally, I agree with a comment I read somewhere: it would be the best thing ever if Hegseth simply led the generals in the most epic smoke session of all time. I’d love to see a bunch of 50+-year-old holier-than-thou guys and gals getting treated like they were young Hooahs in 3rd Brigade, 101st under COL Steele. We finished a brigade run at the field across from Air Assault School, where the CSM smoked the piss out of the brigade for an hour before COL Steele has us in company-sized pit matches. I was HHC/3-187 Armorer, so I joined the Scouts going up against our Direct Support guys in a company from the 626th Support Battalion. Rumor was that Steele got a reprimand over that one.
It’s Deja vu all over again. More Democrat “rank enhancement”, with a bonus batch of honor code violations!
https://victorygirlsblog.com/mikie-sherrill-revelations-cause-chaos-in-nj-governors-race/