This is way less space available for fireworks viewing than in a typical year. The galaxy brain take is that it's all intentional to consolidate everyone in a small area and create the illusion of a big crowd.

I have no idea how to do politics, but I feel like if you're already shoveling money into a furnace to put this thing on, you could also heavily subsidize the food and drink and spin it off as some anti-inflation policy for the people. Seems too obvious though, right?

Does anyone know the stated reason for why the DC fireworks aren't starting until super late at 10:30pm? I assume it's actually for some petty reason like they don't want to compete for TV viewers with the NYC fireworks, or something like that.

Perfect conditions for a major outdoor event on the National Mall with minimal shade.

Not sure if anyone is paying attention to this, but from a "I just want to visit DC and check out the National Mall" perspective, the Freedom 250 website is completely unreliable and information keeps changing every single day.

folk life festival was already a celebration of u.s. culture and we could have just had that. i mean, we could have done it all summer, or twice as big, or whatever. any version would have been markedly better than what's on the mall now.

Wait, so they actually pulled a Kennedy Center tonight and just cancelled the State Fair to avoid the embarrassment of poor attendance?

Occasionally I ask various LLMs for a Washington DC trip itinerary so I can keep on top of what kind of slop tourists are using for their trips. The one I got yesterday recommended going to Screen on the Green on the National Mall which I am pretty sure has not existed in a full blown decade.

I would love for any cyber security experts to weigh in on how Flipper Zero and Raspberry Pi devices get an explicit mention on this list. What do they expect people to do with them?

Guys I am at the Fair and the only word I can use to describe my experience so far is: sadness.

I continue to scream into the void that the 250th should have and could have been a once in a lifetime windfall for DC tourism. Instead we have massive financial losses incoming.

It appears strollers have been un-banned from the Great Fair but now Raspberry-Pi Enagbled (sic) Devices are banned. Wut?

the dumbest story in history has somehow gotten dumber

My hot take on all the European soccer fans having a great time in the USA this month is that we benefitted significantly from them having rock bottom expectations.

Apparently you have to show photo ID to watch the fireworks on the National Mall this year - "no exceptions".

Prediction: they're going to drain the reflecting pool again to "fix" it. Refill it on July 2nd or 3rd. It will look fine again for a few days and then go back to the toxic green monster at which point they just abandon it entirely.

This is a mayor who clearly loves living in the city that he governs. Something you think would be a requirement for all big city mayors. And yet...

The story of the Kennedy Center and reflecting pool are actually the same story. Step 1: take a thing in DC that's perfectly fine and declare it terrible Step 2: take it over to "fix it" Step 3: ruin it

This whole debacle is such a funny own-goal. Nobody (sans for one guy) was complaining about the reflecting pool before. They could have done literally nothing and people would have been perfectly fine with it for the 4th of July.

Back when I was learning about stocks there was a phrase "buy the rumor sell the news". Apparently someone has discovered an infinite money glitch where you just pump out rumors indefinitely but never any actual news.

I've been a DC tour guide long enough to know that this type of summer forecast could mean everything from the most severe downpours and flash flooding you've ever seen to absolutely nothing at all. I know people are desperate for hopecore but probably best to temper expectations.

Can people taking footage of the algae green reflecting pool please get a newspaper and date your photos? Otherwise you know they're just going to claim they are from the last administration.

I feel like this reflecting pool debacle is some sort of twisted loyalty test. Do you call it what it is? Or do you pretend like this is the greatest thing of all time?

Living in DC has been unpleasant for a lot of reasons lately but tonight I was pulled off of a flight during the boarding process for a mysterious "air show" ground stop at DCA. Patience is really starting to run thin.

Destroying small businesses opportunity to operate on what should be their biggest days of the year is par for the course at this point.

Still a brutal time for me and all the other US caffeine addicts—coffee prices are up 18% over the last year and 56% since 2020

Flying Southwest in the private equity era is just depressing. It's like, remember when people actually enjoyed this company?

So every business inside this box that was counting on tonight to be a giant windfall actually gets a bunch of nothing?

So the Great American State Fair "registration" page is up and in the FAQ we additionally learn: -Clear bags only policy -Outside food: banned -Bottled water: banned -Strollers: banned -Lockers/storage: not offered Who exactly is this thing even for?

So the reflecting pool looks exactly the same as before but lots of people have to performatively act like it's the greatest new thing ever.

It's fun to make jokes at this map but I also know for fact that a non negligible number of tourists are using AI slop like this for their trips 😬

A decade ago you could get Uber rides for one single dollar. People got addicted and took Uber everywhere and never understood how promotional pricing works. Now the same thing is happening again.

It is driving me completely bonkers that every day the stock market hits a fresh all-time high on the ~hope~ that things will merely return to the status quo of 3 months ago. Meanwhile the reddest economic warning sirens are blaring around every corner.

When I first subscribed to the Washington Post the two sections I consumed more than any others were Sports and Capital Weather Gang. Both are now gone. J*ff B*zos will always be a villain in my book.

What time did the judge's announcement come in? Is there already a group of locals en route to Foggy Bottom with ladders and tools?

Without looking it up, does anyone know the difference between America 250 and Freedom 250? The difference is significant and important and doesn't seem to be reported on at all because people have mentally just merged the two of them together.

Another month where the stock market is hitting record highs and consumer sentiment is at record lows. Like clockwork.

Questions I got on my tour the other day from a group of college students: -Why are they doing this? -Why is it such a weird shade of blue? -Why is the color so uneven? -Why does it look so bad? -What was wrong with the old color?

Is the DC mayor's race going to have any cool cross-endorsing or "don't rank [name]" campaign like they had in NYC? It feels like this is being run as a standard plurality wins race without much strategy beyond that.

That J*ff B*zos interview that's making the rounds is the precise answer to the question: why is the Washington Post so terrible now?

Is this a good or a bad development for the 15th Street bike lane?

I am finding it hard to explain to people how absolutely terrible the National Mall looks and feels right now. Major monuments behind fences, under scaffolding, with construction debris everywhere. People are here for the 250th. Not just one day in July. They are here now. It embarrassing.

We are less than 2 months out from the 4th. No one will go on record to confirm whether any of this hype is even remotely true. NPS can't even confirm that it's permitted?

From in the tourism trenches these numbers do not pass the sniff test.

The headline doesn't do this train wreck justice. It's not just that hotel bookings are below projections, they're below a run of the mill summer season. In sports terms, negative Wins Above Replacement.

I know there are a bajillion different things to be upset about right now, but as we enter peak spring in DC I can't express how terrible the National Mall / city in general looks like now. I am actually embarrassed for all the guests who come on my tours.

Pretty interesting to be part of the microgeneration that struggled to pay for gasoline on a minimum wage salary in 2008 and thus decided to live a life that didn't revolve entirely around driving automobiles.

Over a decade as a tour guide. Met thousands of tourists and took them to the Lincoln Memorial. I have never once heard a negative comment about the reflecting pool. The only complaints people have is when they visit and it's empty (such as right now).

Consumer confidence hitting another record low at the same time the stock market hits another record high. Like clockwork.

Not sure if anyone is asking this but I am genuinely curious if these inside traders are reporting income / paying taxes on these inside trades.