It is Sunday, the Steelers are playing shortly, and I don’t feel like blogging. So, instead, I provide you this open thread for you to post your indictment predictions in the Plame affair.
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Mac Buckets
My predictions: Bengals by 5, Rove giving 2 1/2, and Scooter plus the 7.
Jennifer
how can you think about politics on sunday, the most holy day of the week? Now shut up and let me worship at the altar of the NFL for nine hours.
nam yo ho michael vick super bowl
nam yo ho michael vick super bowl
nam yo ho michael vick super bowl
since the steelers are AFC i say good luck to you, sir.
ppGaz
Indictments are extremely likely. The Bushmonkey noise machine will respond in the standard and expected manner. The primary goal is to deflect attention from the true motivations behind the Plamegate malfeasances … namely, the obfuscation of the extraordinarily weak case for war, and the placement of blame for the WMD fuckup outside of the White House. Joe Wilson was and is a minor figure. He got major attention because giving him that attention is what “noise machine” is all about.
“Look — a jackalope!” on a grand scale. That was the strategy in 2003, and it is still the strategy today. Except for the Bush base, which will drink any Kool Aid no matter how bitter, the myth of competance and good will around thie White House — or rather what is left of that myth — will now be unraveling, to the disgust of the average American.
Nobody outside of the Ohio Valley pays any mind to the Bengals yet, despite their record. I can’t predict that one. As a fan, I’ll root for the Steelers.
The Disenfranchised Voter
I am almos gleeful at what appears to be the position of the Republican party when it comes to indictments. Kay Baily was on MTP today and implied that perjury isn’t really a crime–it’s a technicality.
Oh boy, if that is there defense this is going to be great. Perjury a technicality? Hmm for some reason I remember a time when Perjury was the most heinous crime EVA according to Republicans.
This is going to be good. :D
The Disenfranchised Voter
almost*
their*
ppGaz
Yes, and she nearly swallowed her tongue when Russert asked how that could be, given the fact that it was the primary basis for the Clinton impeachment.
These people have absolutely no fucking shame whatever. They’ll say anything.
ppGaz
That’s from Kay Bailey Hutchinson’s statement on the Clinton case before the Senate.
Her vote on impeachment was “guilty.”
The same woman who now wants you to believe that she thinks perjury is a “technicality.”
Andrew J. Lazarus
I’m feeling good today: Rove, Libby, Hadley.
Our trifecta.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas…
Marcos
CHIMPEACH!
Ancient Purple
On today’s Meet the Press, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), gave us this little gem:
(My emphasis added.)
So, the new talking point is that when Clinton lied about a blowjob, he deserved to be impeached. When Bush Co. lies about the reasons for going to war, it is a “perjury technicality.”
What a clown.
The Disenfranchised Voter
My prediction is both Libby and Rove indicted for perjury/obstruction of justice.
Then again, I won’t be surprised at all if there are no indictments either.
Tim F
The only indictment that I’ll predict for sure is Scooter, and I only know that because the White House has already decided to throw him overboard in a big way. Any of the rest might get go down or they might plead down; if that happens we’ll see a raft of resignations and misdemeanors rather than jail time.
Of course, a condition of pleading down would probably be testimony against…whom? There’s an interesting question.
ppGaz
Is there a decoder ring for this, or …..?
The Disenfranchised Voter
Eh, sorta…*=typo
Case in point: “I am almos gleeful” and “if that is there defense”
oscar wilde
The biggest indictment will be that “Peace DEMOCRACY and the American way” now has found its place, with thanks to Bushco and the Republican Party, where it truly belongs, in the gutter.
ppGaz
Ah.
Gracias.
Alexandra
In a certain way, I can see the sense of what Hutchinson is saying–and I agree with it up to a point (or at least I would if it were not such a life-and-death matter. . But as the posters above have noted, wouldn’t any self-respecting Democrat or reality-based Republican have to go “Are you out of your mind?” and “Madame, your words condemn you.” It is just unthinkable that the same people who thundered on and on about an utter triviality like Whitewater, and how it was used as a fishing expedition to go into all kinds of completely non-related topics because in some very abstract way it “spoke to character” or some such, while the nation watched with horror and dismay, are now crying in their coffee about outing a high-level CIA agent during wartime! It’s not good for our country to ignore such jaw dropping hypocrisy. It’s not good for reality itself.
Paddy O'Shea
I don’t think we will see indictments just yet. I suspect that Mr. Fitzgerald will ask the appropriate judge for a Grand Jury extension, obtain it, and then continue his investigation to its most logical conclusion. That is, into the deliberate lying to Congress by key members of the Bush administration in order to get us into this Iraq disaster.
As Jerry Nadler put it this week: “We now have reason to believe that high crimes may have been committed at the highest level, wrong doing that may have led us to war and imperiled our national security.”
This really is about so much more than the casual yuppie treason of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. And I believe Mr. Fitzgerald is just the man to get this important work done.
Mac Buckets
LOL! From now on, you can just type “Democrats’ Talking Point #328” instead of writing this whole wishful fantasy out — it’ll save you the carpal-tunnel later on. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for it to come true.
Slide
You know who else has been a real ass wipe of late? Tucker Carlson. He is outraged, just OUTRAGED that the Fitzgerald may bring charges of perjury and obstruction of justice without bringing charges of the underlying charge. What a moron. So in a Tucker Carlson bizarro world, any federal official could lie his ass off, commit perjury, obstruct justice, destroy evidence with impunity as long as the prosecutor can’t prove the underlying charge.
You’re going to be hearing this quite a bit, the “criminalization of politics”. You know what that tells me? It tells me that the right thinks it is ok to do ANYTHING to win. Lie, cheat, reveal classified information, smear because, well, thats just politics.
Restoring honor and integrity to the white house, GOP style.
Slide
Slide’s Predictions.
Tuesday
Libby indicted – multiple charges
Rove indicted – multiple charges
Fleischer indicted – one charge
Hadley indicted – one charge
Several lesser aids indicted multiple charges
Cheney – unindicted co-conspirator, conspiracy to disclose classified information under the Espionage act
Ten Megaton Nuclear explosion in political terms
Indictments posted on Fitzgerald’s web site crash site with record number of hits.
All involved hand in their resignations.
Bush refuses to comment, saying let the legal system take its course.
Chris Mathews suffers stoke on live TV reporting said events.
Brit Hume’s panel all wear black armbands in morning.
Tim F
I call the Republican attitude ‘the legalization of crime.’
Krista
The thing is, perjury HAS to be a serious crime. You have to prosecute it very, very aggresively and hand down serious penalties. It’s the only way to keep everybody just barely scared enough to not lie their asses off.
ppGaz
This is what Ends Justify Means policy and politics is about. Bushmonkey America is all about EJM. Nothing matters to these people except the outcome.
“The world is better off without Saddam.” That’s the punchline in EJM-World. Lie, cheat, steal, manipulate … it’s all good.
Shalimar
Conspiracy Indictments Wednesday:
Cheney, Libby, Rove, Hadley, Hannah, Fleischer, Bartlett, Bolton, Fleitz, Matalin, maybe minor characters too.
Unindicted co-conspirator:
Dubya
Fitzgerald has information on the White House Iraq Group meetings that Cheney attended (and probably led if he was there) so he gets an indictment for being the mastermind of the conspiracy. Bush lied to Fitzgerald about whether he knew anything, but a sitting President can’t be indicted.
Paddy O'Shea
I have a 4 year old with the unfortunate habit of repeating everything the adults in the room have to say. It’s almost like an echo. Fortunately most find it adorable.
What is particulalry disturbing about the Mac Buckets comment above, however, is that it would seem that for some this toddler ailment has proven incurable and afflicts them well into their dotage.
On the other hand, perhaps Mac Buckets is merely asking for a cracker.
ppGaz
Parrots and pigeons best take care these days … bird flu going around.
scs
Actually I’m with Tucker Carlson. I don’t really get the whole grand jury thing. How is it, that a person guilty of murder is allowed to sit there and lie or not have to testify and that’s okay. But Clinton, Martha Stewart and Rove have to ANSWER by law whether they are guilty of a stock trade, or groping, or spilling secrets, and if they don’t incriminate themselves or are not 100% accurate about their transgressions, they are sent to jail. I thought we are innocent until PROVEN guilty. This grand jury system has been over-used. Either you did the crime or you didn’t. And it up to the prosector to prove it. Not on the accused.
The Disenfranchised Voter
Uhhh, they aren’t allowed to. That is what perjury is.
It’s called the 5th amendment. Apparently you don’t care for that part of the Bill of Rights?
I can see it now–here comes the bullshit brigade to defend the Bush Administration…
Beej
scs
They don’t have to answer. They are free to invoke the privilege against self-incrimination. However, if they choose to answer, they must answer truthfully. If they lie under oath, they can be charged with perjury. *See for reference, “I never had sex with that woman!”
The Disenfranchised Voter
Personally–and I’m being dead serious here–I don’t consider a BJ sex. Regardless of my thoughts on Clinton, a BJ just doesn’t qualify as sex.
Now, a BJ qualifing as “sexual relations” would be a different matter. Though, that is a pretty vague phrase. Couldn’t someone consider making out “sexual relations”?
Slide
Imagine if our legal justice system did not penalize lying under oath, whether or not what the person is lying about can be PROVED to be a crime or not. Would be an interesting system no doubt. The fools that even suggest that perjury is just some “technicality” are so moronic I am disappointed in myself that I even have to respond to their infantile rantings designed to protect their corrupt and criminal administration.
Ten Megaton bomb about to explode smack dab in the white house. I will savor every moment.
Krista
Slide – it is rather rich, isn’t it? All the people who wanted Clinton impeached, drawn and quartered because he committed perjury are now blustering about, saying that perjury is a technicality, and just a way to go after someone if they didn’t actually commit a crime.
Not that I’m excusing Clinton for his perjury. But I have to ask myself why on earth he was even put in the position in the first place of having to answer questions about his sex life while under oath? When I look back at it, it’s so surreal.
slide
yes Krista, sometimes I feel I am in a Kafka novel. Lets all remember that the Republicans IMPEACHED a president because he lied in a CIVIL matter about a NON-CRIMINAL matter involving CONSENTUAL sex. And now these same moral midgets who used the term “rule of law” over and over when it came to Clinton, now say it is merely a technicality that someone lied to cover up CRIMINAL activity that severely hurt US INTERESTS at a time of WAR.
Fuckin unbelievable.
Tim F
That testimony was compelled during a civil trial. Keep in mind that the Wilsons fully intend to file a civil suit as soon as the criminal case is finished. Meaning, the fireworks haven’t even begun yet.
Krista
slide – and they say that liberals/non-christians are ruining society with moral relativism….
slide
yes, the GOP, we were told, was the party of personal responsibility and accountability. Apparently it only applied to members of the opposing party.
ppGaz
In case we thought that Sunday’s remarks were just the casual blatherings of these Republicans …
The Sunday responses were the equivalent of public focus group experiments, designed to see how these idiotic mutterings went over with the Bushmonkey base.
NYTimes on the Spin Machine
It’s the Death of Irony. Potatoheads who ginned up a war for purely political reasons now talk of “criminalizing politics.”
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ….
Tim F
‘Criminalizing politics’ must be the new word for ‘legalizing crime.’
ppGaz
Martha Stewart was prosecuted because she was an officer of a publicly-held corporation. Those officers must comply and cooperate fully with any inquiry. Her failure to do so sealed her fate; she will never again serve as an officer of a publicly-held corporation, which is as it should be. You cannot have people in those positions putting their own interests ahead of the interests of the public and stockholders, or else the system will not work. The paradigm rests on integrity and trust. Not even the appearance of impropriety is acceptable.
Of course, exactly the same principle applies to people in positions of power in the government, doesn’t it?
Unless you’re Republican, I mean.
Harry Atkinson
The GOP does change its tune from time to time, doesn’t it? Personally I’m awaiting signs that God truly does favor Republicans, and that Karl Rove, Scooter “Blabbermouth” Libby and Dick Cheney will be caused to float above our Nation’s Capitol on the wings of angels so that all will be able to behold the blessed state they are held in by the Lord.
But anything short of that these miserable traitors should be locked up and the key dropped in the ocean somewhere south of the Tierra del Fuego.
Tim F
Thw world might be better off if we kept the key instead.
Tim F
News! The White House pushback has begun! The most feared message team on Earth has finally mobilized its forces, imposed its discipline on the ranks and unleashed their counteroffensive to marginalize their detractors and win back the hearts and affections of the American people.
Their message:
Fitz is a poopyhead. A “vile, detestable, moralistic” poopyhead.
Patrick FitzPoopyhead might as well go home now.
ppGaz
Bwaaaaaaaaahahahaha! Hutchinson finds out that not everybody in Texas is a big-haired Stepford Voter.
Krista
Yay! She was hoisted on her own petard!
slide
that sounds rather painful.
space
The thing that people keep forgeting is that while Clinton was evasive, or even lying, in the Jones deposition, it wasn’t perjury because it was on a topic that was immaterial. Had Clinton gotten busted lying about something that actually was relevant to Paula Jones’ lawsuit, I would have had a very different opinion of his actions.
As far as his Clinton’s GJ testimony is concerned, to this day nobody has successfully pointed to what statements were allegedly perjurious. The House certainly didn’t prior to impeaching Clinton.
Now, regarding the Plame matter, perhaps Huchinson, or any of the wingnuts here, can explain WHY Rove, Libby, etc. perjured themselves. We know why Clinton did; he didn’t want his sexual dalliance to be revealed. But why is half the WH staff lying to a federal prosecutor? For kicks?
Tim F
It’s a medieval term for setting a bomb with too short a fuse. The castle doors get ‘hoist’ and so do you.
jg
IIRC they couldn’t make the perjury charge stick. He was impeached for obstruction of justice and continuing perjurious testimony in the second deposition. They didn’t bust him for lying but they found a way to say he was telling the same lie the second time we asked him.
And now they don’t think lying is that big a deal. What politician would?
Sojourner
” After holding off for more than a year, the Commerce Dept. has quietly released a study of offshoring – the movement of white-collar jobs to low-wage countries. But it’s not the even-handed assessment completed by staff analysts in June, 2004, after six months of research. The staff report was largely ditched, say outside experts who heard the staffers’ views. Instead, these critics charge, Commerce political appointees put out a 12-page report that portrays offshoring as an unconditional boon to the U.S. economy. After BusinessWeek’s print edition went to press on Oct. 5, the Commerce Dept. responded by saying: “In carefully developing the report, we sought to ensure that it was thorough, objective and that the competitive environment was properly assessed and supported by hard data.”
Commerce has only released its final report to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) who ordered it up, but BusinessWeek has obtained a copy, as well as a slide show tied to the original research, presented by staffers at a conference last December.
The staff researchers’ presentation gave both the pros and cons, comparing factors that favor U.S. high-tech job growth with those that favor offshoring. The official version dispenses with most of the disadvantages. Instead it points to pro-offshoring studies done by McKinsey Global Institute and uncritically cites data from a lobbying group that represents the U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies. “No objective analysts, even if they were in favor of outsourcing, would write a report like this,” says Ron Hira, a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, who saw the December presentation. To see the slide show and official report, go to http://www.businessweek.com/extras ”
Don’t you conservatives ever get tired of the lies and misinformation spread by this administration? They just can’t stop.
scs
Is that true? Maybe some of you legal types can tell me. I thought you HAD to answer grand jury questions. Not only can a grand jury ask you any old question it pleases, you have to answer it, without a lawyer, and if you fib, whether it’s relevant or not to the case, you could do years in prison. You could probably put half of Washington behind bars by trumping up some charge, putting a person in front of the grand jury and then asking “did you ever cheat on your spouse.” Then dismiss the charge and prosecute the witness for lying. Simple. And, if you didn’t catch what I wrote before, I didn’t think it was fair when they did it to Clinton either.
Slide
No of course the government can’t ask you to testify against yourself. That violates the Fifth Amendment. Anyone that testifies in a Grand Jury does so after WAIVING their right against self incrimination. Guess it won’thave looked too good if Rove and Libby refused to testify.
satby
Tik Tok is for attention hounds hogs.Though I have had balsamic so good you almost could drink it.
Same miserable heat here. New thermostat due any minute. Can’t wait to have air conditioning again.
Paul in KY
I don’t think the Coca Cola company is worried…
Same weather here in the Central KY, John.
Jerzy Russian
It is currently sunny with temperatures in the low 70s on San Diego. The relative humidity is low. I can’t necessarily say the same thing about the relative stupidity though.
Elizabelle
Hmm. I think people used to make refreshing beverages with vinegar. But not in the last century or two … Balsamic is a new twist on that. No idea if it would be palatable. Maybe.
lee
I posted this is a mostly dead thread but I’m going to repeat it in this open one:
I visit some of the less savory areas of the internet. There are more pics of Lauren Boebert than those on that site.
I’d put the story about her being an escort at +90%.
Baud
I blame video games.
WereBear
@lee: interesting
oatler
Just read an article about Wal-mart discontinuing sales of MyPillow. Will no one think of the Giza Sheets?
Old School
This was a Moment of Zen on Monday’s (?) Daily Show.
There was a local news clip of them giving the Coke recipe a try. The male host takes a sip and obviously doesn’t care for it.
Wag
@lee: Link?
Amir Khalid
@Elizabelle:
I’m surprised that there’s no sugar at all in the recipe. I think you’d wind up with something that looks like Coke, but tastes absolutely nothing like it.
Tony G
That girl with the balsamic vinegar sounds like a pretty benign way of looking for attention. When I was a teenager back in the Stone Age certain kids (not me of course) did pretty self-destructive things to get attention.
no comment
I remember commenting here previously about a “ginger soda” I tried which included balsamic vinegar as an ingredient. Turned out that balsamic vinegar was also the major flavor of the soda. It was…interesting.
patrick II
@lee:
I knew some nice, smart young ladies who were escorts ages ago. I care much less about that than the fact she is dumber than a rock.
Barbara
@Elizabelle: Well, wine and juice are pretty darn acidic, and so-called Shrubs are not that much more sour. I got a bottle of raspberry shrub at Mount Vernon. Here is a website: https://www.wozzkitchencreations.com/blogs/specialty-foods-online/drinking-vinegars-aka-shrubs-a-refreshing-healthy-tonic
Is this the time to admit that I sometimes put balsamic vinegar on ice cream?
Kay
Two of my neighbors, an older couple, told my 19 year old he could come over and pick any record from their collection for his birthday. Such a nice idea!
He chose “lessons of jazz”, “jazz lessons”, something like that. He knows more about music than I do. But he’s going to have to go back over there to play it because I don’t have a turntable.
Tony G
@lee: Probably so. Hell, most of the job experience on her “resume” consists of waiting tables while scantily dressed and carrying an AR-15. For the right-wing male mind (at least the ones that I’ve known) that pretty much makes her the perfect woman. If she hooked on the side (or as her main gig) that makes her even better. The evangelicals won’t mind, because she can always say that she found Jesus and gave up her sinful ways. That makes her biography even better in their eyes.
lee
@Wag: I’m not sure the spam filter will allow these links and I’m not too keen on sending folks to them. I’m pretty sure they have made it to reddit by now.
@patrick II: I agree.
Eunicecycle
@Barbara: my son was trying to get me to try that! Couldn’t quite get there.
debbie
@Kay:
That’s a great idea! I still love all the CDs my mother left me of the music she and my father had loved in their younger days.
BruceJ
@Barbara: I have seen that on cooking shows; although they use the 100-year old stuff that pours like syrup and costs “If you have to ask, HAHA! No!” dollars a bottle…
I’ve had fresh strawberries with some decent balsamic on them and it’s quite good.
Kay
@debbie:
Isn’t it? I like the idea of not buying anything new and it’s fun to choose just one.
geg6
@BruceJ:
Agreed about balsamic + strawberries being very good. I’ve actually had some of that super old, super expensive balsamic on an ice cream dessert. It’s actually kind of sweet/sour and syrupy.
Butch
We experienced extremely high winds and heavy lightning last night; found maple branches in our yard, which wouldn’t be unusual except that there are no maple trees in our yard and we’re surrounded by farm fields. The nearest maple trees are about a half mile away. Today the temperature isn’t bad but it’s still windy, to the point where it’s actually annoying to be outside.
I use balsamic vinegar a lot. I don’t think I’m going to experiment with that cocktail.
Anyway
Strawberry ice cream with the right amount of balsamic vinegar mixed in is divine.
Kent
@Tony G:
The right wing male nut jobs that I’ve known probably look a little askance at women actually carrying their OWN weapons. That’s a little bit too liberal right there. And also a little unnerving. When women are armed you can’t mess with them quite so much.
NotMax
Goes well with Pop Rocks.
//
mrmoshpotato
@satby: I hope this heat actually breaks tomorrow. And electricity prices need to calm down.
Booger
@Barbara: Kindred spirit! It’s the best!
dm
Vinegar and water is often called “switchel”. I usually hear about it made with apple cider vinegar. It’s pretty refreshing on a hot day, and probably better for you than a coke.
Googling “switchel” turns up pages that use ginger, too, and molasses or maple syrup as a sweetener.
I’ve encountered pickle-juice consumed that way, too.
PaulWartenberg
We doing anything to honor the 50th anniversary of a third-rate burglary? The Watergate break-in happened June 17th 1972.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/watergate-50th-anniversary/
dm
@dm: I think it’s also one of those drinks Terry Pratchett makes fun of in the rural bits of the Diskworld books.
Barbara
@BruceJ: You can make your own balsamic vinegar reduction that has a thicker texture and caramelizes the sugar in the vinegar. You can buy it as well — it’s not expensive.
Ten Bears
Sounds pretty good, actually. Long as it’s organic …
Bill Arnold
@Kent:
Creating/amplifying a fad for castration knives as right-wing female fashion accessories might be amusing(dangerous though). Like long hatpins, as weapons. (Below is about a brief localized killer whale fashion incident):
oatler
@dm:
I was struck by this quote in an unrelated Guardian thread: “Once you had a good excuse, you opened the door to bad excuses.” I looked up the purported author and it turned out to be from a fictional Pratchett character.
Tenar Arha
@dm: yeah, they sell it at my favorite orchard…it definitely makes me make the “sour face” until I get accustomed to it, & honestly anything that strong is never going to “taste like Coke.”
By “sour face” I mean like these ladies in this TikTok here.
Feathers
You need a pretty high quality balsamic vinegar, but it is quite tasty. Not a Coke, though.
Shalimar
@Jerzy Russian: From experience, the relative humidity is almost always non-existent. Years ago, I moved from NW Florida to San Diego and took a patio set with me. After six months of never going on the new patio, I went out and touched a chair cushion. It crumbled to dust.
NotMax
‘@Barbara
But it still tastes like balsamic vinegar.
Mega blech.
YMMV.
Frank Wilhoit
@patrick II: You’re saying that she washed out as a sex worker and had to fall back on politics?
Dan B
62° and mostly cloudy with possible showers in Seattle. Five more days of the same and then it may warm up to “normal”. The plants love it except for Watermelon seedlings, Elephants Ears, Cannas, and other subtropicals. Global Warming is throwing the Jet Stream into chaotic swings which this year’s El Nino is making the Northwest wet and east of the Sierras and Rockies crazy hot.
I can’t complain but the garden party for my partner’s big birthday on Sunday may be dicey. Oh well. He doesn’t like birthdays, or so he says.
brendancalling
@Elizabelle: one of my go-to summer refreshers is seltzer w/a splash of cider vinegar.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
There’s a traditional Iranian drink called Sekanjabin that’s got white wine vinegar in among the sweetener & massive amounts of mint—keeps it from being too sickly-sweet.
I saw (and now cannot find) a TikTok with a righteous rant about the “clean eating” bs and how a soda now and then won’t kill you. It was healing.
Roger Moore
@patrick II:
This. I think we need to destigmatize sex work, and that means not treating a past as a sex worker as some kind of disqualification. That said, there’s something of a sauce for the goose aspect to this. If she wants to criticize sex work, she needs to be forthright about any sex work in her past.
That’s not to say that one can’t have a past doing X and come out against X today. Maybe the decision to oppose X comes from bitter personal experience. For example, I know plenty of people who hate tobacco smoking because of their past as smokers. But if you’re going to take that path, you need to discuss how your own experience led to your current beliefs.
Chyron HR
Sounds like that’s on you, brah.
GrannyMC
She got your click. Mission accomplished.
JustRuss
I gave up sugar months ago and balsamic vinegar is one of my go-to sweeteners, it can be quite good. Just tried adding some to soda water….can’t say I love it. Might need to add a bit more. Coke’s overrated anyway.
mrmoshpotato
@Jerzy Russian:
LOL! Too long for a rotating tag though. :(
Roger Moore
@Frank Wilhoit:
Depending on what kind of politician you want to be, the skills could transfer remarkably well.
mrmoshpotato
Cursing the names of all involved?
NotMax
‘@NotMax
Shall add I have no problem with most vinegars White vinegar, cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, even have a bottle of tarragon vinegar in the recesses of the pantry. Might still be a little gift container of sherry vinegar there as well if I go digging.
But balsamic? Hard pass. Redolent of the aroma and the imagined taste of mildewed cardboard.
raven
@mrmoshpotato: Complain.
NotMax
‘@Roger Moore
Strange bedfellows, indeed.
;)
David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch
Coca Cola is a hellva drug
David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch
NotMax
‘@PaulWartenberg
Sip a Deep Throat?
:)
mrmoshpotato
Seconded. Then we can just focus on Boebert being a walking trash heap aka a Republican.
geg6
@NotMax:
i won’t argue, but I think you’re nuts! It’s the most delicious vinegar.
raven
@David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch: fuck lbj
Peale
I would call what she made “Low Rent Kombucha”.
I look forward to her recipe for a healthy Aperol Spritz.
Tarragon
@Barbara: Yup, was going to mention shrubs.
I also like Sekahnjebin, (spelling from web, so who knows how correct). It’s basically a mint and vinegar simple syrup. Super refreshing and easy to make and keep. Super good as an ounce filled out with 8-12 ounces with water, or seltzer, or even iced tea.
We do something like this https://food52.com/recipes/21731-iranian-persian-sekahnjebin-vinegar-mint-summer-drink
You can make a nice drink out of splash of a quality balsamic in seltzer. Hits like those flavored seltzer’s that so popular but you control all the details.
David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch
Boebert moving from D-List escort to Congress shows she knew how to reach around the isle to build a loyal clientele
H.E.Wolf
Francis Marion, the old Swamp Fox himself, reportedly drank water with vinegar in it. Childhood hero of mine. My mental picture of him was with his mouth all puckered-up. :-)
Geminid
@Tarragon: I haven’t mixed vinegar with water. I can see how people like it, because straight water is not that palatable to me.
I make a summer hydration mix with most of a gallon of water, lemon or lime juice, and a little sea salt.
JWR
@oatler:
I wish my late night TV station would Cancel dear ol’ Mikey.
Tarragon
@Tarragon: Someone else mentioned Sekanjabin, so I’ll talk more about shrubs too. A shrub is basically a fruit infused vinegar simple syrup. Apparently used to be used a a way to use up excess fruit to have a nice treat all year.
Something like: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-a-fruit-shrub-syrup-174072
These can be very good and can be in a mixed drink alcoholic or not, or by itself with water or seltzer to make a nice refreshing drink.
Liminal Owl
I have two bottles of “drinking vinegar”: cheap balsamic with fruit juice (blueberry and pomegranate in this case) added; refreshing summer drink when mixed with water or seltzer.
(I like sour. In my college cafeteria, long ago, my usual dinner drink was half grapefruit juice, half seltzer, with a lemon squeezed in. Later, during a time when I could find a good pink-grapefruit soda, I mixed that half-and-half with unsweetened cranberry juice.)
NotMax
‘@geg6
Can speak to only personal quirk. A restaurant here, when they bring out the bread basket, also sets down a saucer with a puddle of olive oil and and also of balsamic vinegar.
Each time dine there I request the saucer be removed and replaced with another with just the oil, otherwise the stench sends appetite fleeing faster than the cartoon roadrunner on a straightaway.
Elizabelle
@NotMax: All right, you’ve made your point.
Urban Suburbanite
There’s a subgenre of online videos where people commit food crimes (like putting crushed Sweet Tarts on chicken) that are passed off as cooking. The whole thing is a gag.
Tarragon
@Geminid: I’m hooked on Sekanjabin. A bit in a glass with seltzer. It’s sweet, tart, and minty. I can’t drink just plain seltzer but add a bit of of Sekanjabin and it’s really good and super refreshing on a hot day.
Jay
@NotMax:
mildewed cardboard don’t taste like that.
Don’t ask me how I know.
You can’t have a Caprisi salad with out balsamic.
Elizabelle
@Tarragon: Sounds refreshing. Served with sliced cucumbers in it.
Hot climates know a thing or two about restorative drinks. Dehydration is a serious issue.
I wonder if the vinegar also helps to purify the water. Didn’t drinking water used to be an issue?
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@Roger Moore: Harry Truman once said his career options were politics and playing the piano in a whorehouse, and as he got older he didn’t see much of a difference between them.
JWR
Aww. Mikey’s ANGRY! Again! (From boingboing)
NotMax
Vinegar music (in the broadest sense of the term).
:)
debbie
@JWR:
Mikey, it’s you who are disgusting which is why you’re being canceled!
Delk
Thanks Luttig.
Yes I fell asleep and just woke up.
NotMax
‘@JWR
When you’ve lost
CronkiteWalmart….;)
CaseyL
A well-aged balsamic vinegar is actually kind of tart-sweet: I’ve had it on ice cream and it was fine.
A fake-Coke made with the stuff might taste quite good. I mean, no one knows what Coke is actually made from; it’s a Secret Recipe. Who knows – maybe it actually has some balsamic vinegar – that would account for the slight battery-acid burn that I like about Coke.
justawriter
Might be OK. My standard nonalcoholic drink at a bar is Angostura bitters, Rose’s lime, and soda. I like more bitters in mine than most people.
nwerner
@Tarragon:
Agree with all the other pro-vinegar posters. A little cane vinegar, some condensed juice or syrup and any number of of flavor combinations over ice and seltzer make a fine refreshing beverage.
This company used to sell their mix in local markets but now seem to have recast themselves as a cordial company.
CarolPW
@David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch: I was just thinking about Marshall when trying to come up with a jurist the left esteems the way the right esteems Luttig. I would normally think of RGB but wanted to avoid “stupid bitch should have left earlier” (not my opinion).
So why doesn’t Marshall get the same shit from the left as Ginsburg? He had to leave the court during a republican administration for health reasons and could have left earlier to avoid that. And we got fucking Clarence for it.
raven
@Delk: so what
Benw
@Delk: way out of my usual schedule I got an iced mocha at my fav cafe this afternoon. Felt like a million bucks for about 30 minutes and now crashing…
Miki
@Tarragon: I made a black berry shrub about 10 years ago. Mixed with rum and club soda it made for a nice cocktail. I should make it again. (Recipe here )
TriassicSands
The DOJ says the January 6 Committee is hampering criminal investigations by refusing to provide witness interview transcripts.
Is that even possible? If so, then who is refusing? Thompson? Everyone.
In the end, the only chance for accountability will come from the Justice Department.
NotMax
‘@TriassicSands
Just as the DOJ’s boilerplate message is “We don’t comment on ongoing investigations,” waiting for the committee to conclude proceedings and issue its final report before transcripts are released doesn’t strike me as out of the ordinary.
lurker
@CarolPW:
one, the example of him holding out until he just could not do it and was forced to retire was pointed out repeatedly as the reason why Ginsburg and Breyer should retire strategically. So, there is criticism of the result in explaining why one should learn from the past and do better the next time around.
two, there is/was some commentary that Marshall should have retired earlier, although in his case the best he could have done was retire when there was a different judiciary chairman, as he retired in something like the 11th year (1991) of 12 straight years of Republican presidencies, and he retired when the Democrats at least had control of the Senate (for all the good that did). The last time he could have retired with a Democratic president was during 1980 with President Carter, and that would have meant he served only 13 years on the Supreme Court. In contrast, Ginsburg and Breyer had both served almost 20 years in 2013 when some of this talk heated up – and Ginsburg had survived at least one major health scare by then.
All of that being said, the system gives Justices a lot of control over how they serve and when they retire. Kennedy is the only one who clearly retired strategically (and in a fishy way), O’Connor to a lesser degree, within the last 20-25 years. Souter retired during a Democratic administration after being nominated by Bush I, and if anything, he chose to retire to give the seat to the nominal other side. So, Ginsburg really stands out as choosing to hang on when there was a lot of realpolitik-based reasons to choose otherwise. And the results clearly suck…
eclare
@Miki: That sounds really good! Recipe bookmarked.
TriassicSands
@NotMax:
Huh? It is the DOJ asking for transcripts so they can proceed with their criminal investigation.
Why would the committee not cooperate? What does completing their investigation have to do with the conduct of the DOJ’s investigation? Are they worried that Justice might steal their thunder? If so, that is turf nonsense.
Eolirin
@lurker: They suck, but if she had lived just a couple of months longer we would have gotten a much better replacement than we could have gotten had she retired under Obama. No one can predict outcomes like this. Decision making over them is always rolling the dice.
J R in WV
@no comment:
When we visited Tuscany, in Italy, and did a cooking class on a farm where they made wine, and balsamic vinegar, and all sorts of great Italian things, we had a lunch outdoors. Much of which we made in the early morning cooking class.
Dessert was vanilla ice cream, with balsamic vinegar on top. Was fabulous sweet and sour topping for ice cream. NOT available in stores in America, not like this stuff. A tiny bottle is $50 with a big wine order. Still, amazingly good stuff. Would make great soda drink.
It is 90+ here again. Was tough when the power grid was down, no A/C at all. Back on now, doing well. Keeping inside temps in the upper 70s to not over burden the production grid…
Thank Dianne for all the trees giving us shade all day long!!!
J R in WV
@NotMax:
You have only experienced shitty commercial balsamic vinegar, then. Well made, properly stored and handled, it is wonderful sweet and sour stuff.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NotMax:
My nephew was all excited to take me to a gastropub near his house. A young chef whose rich parents set him, and whose secret ingredient was balsamic vinegar on just about everything. I was not impressed.
MomSense
Does anyone have a recommendation for sheets that stay cool?
David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch
@CarolPW:
I don’t want to criticize Ginsburg.
The difference is most people don’t remember Marshall as their political conscious was low in 1990, which was prior to having an election stolen by the Supreme Court, prior to impeaching a president for a blow job, prior to invading a country that did nothing to us, prior to the right making Roe a litmus test for republican nominees.
That said, Marshall was 72 in 1980 and he had only been on the court for 13 years, while Ginsburg was 83 in 2016, had been on the court for nearly a quarter century, and most importantly, had survived two bouts of cancer, including the very dangerous pancreatic type.
In her defense, she, like the entire country, could not foresee Russia’s unprecedented interference coupled with Comey’s October coup.
StringOnAStick
@MomSense: Sheets made from bamboo fiber are nicely cooler than cotton.
StringOnAStick
Since we’re talking acidic drinks, I started making kombucha 7 years ago and I mix the results with 1/3 celestial season’s Country Peach for summer and Cherry Berry for winter. The touch of acid is super refreshing in hot weather. I don’t bother doing a secondary fermentation to carbonate it, too much hassle and added sugar. I’ve had the same SCOBY for all 7 years and made a brewing chamber out of a mid sized cooler with a hearing pad
GoBlueInOak
@raven: Show us on the doll where the greatest President of the 20th century touched you.
GoBlueInOak
@Jay: Yeah actually you can. Traditional Italian caprese salad doesn’t have balsamic on it.
Adding balsamic to it is an American thing.
Jake Gibson
@patrick II:
Considering that sanctimonious panty sniffing is the world’s second oldest profession.
Interrobang
There’s a drink that used to be ubiquitous in the Islamic world called sekanjubin that’s made with vinegar, sugar, and mint made into a syrup and stirred into cold water. It’s delicious. I absolutely might try drinking balsamic vinegar mixed with carbonated water if I could get some decent balsamic vinegar.