Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

He really is that stupid.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Another Slow Saturday Night

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83Comments

  1. 1.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Making spaghetti and watching Laura Branigan videos on Youtube. No one told me she died in 2004. Bastards.

  2. 2.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    Okay, WTF with Opera and "Bad Behavior"? Sometimes it seems to work OK, then others I get that obnoxious error message.

    Anyone else use Opera around here? (and right now, I’m using Google Chrome, which seems to be working fine.

  5. 5.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Not even a VD thread, John? Why do you hate love?

    Prolly for the better. I’d have mucked it up with my story about luring Mrs. Fuckhead back into the sack this morning with my Henry Kissinger cover of Tavares "It only takes a minute girl."

  6. 6.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    The daffodils are blooming here in NC, and the crocuses. Some of my viola have happy faces on them too, and the hyacinths have buds on them. Soon they will smell glorious when I walk down the pathway in the evenings. Soon it will be spring there is reason to rejoice, oh that and I can’t stop smiling every time I hear someone say "President Obama"

  7. 7.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    Here’s a headline from today’s WaPo.

    Obama Scores Early Victory of Historic Proportions

    But you have to read the piece. Here’s a snippet.

    In size and scope, there is almost nothing in history to rival the economic stimulus legislation that Obama shepherded through Congress in just over three weeks.

    From miserable failure to historic success in ten days. Whoa! Am I the only one suffering from whiplash after reading the establishment since the inauguration?

  9. 9.

    El Tiburon

    Um, hello?

    The cinematic masterpiece Fool’s Gold debuts on the HBO in about 10 minutes.

    Yowzza!!!!!

  12. 12.

    magisterludi

    I fried two chickens and mashed 5 pounds of potatoes. I also made cabbage and andouille sausage soup (a true colon cleanser). Then I made a corn bread cake and some rhubarb sauce. And some cole slaw with the left over cabbage. And some pepperdew spread.

    There are only two of us. I don’t know what I was thinking.

  13. 13.

    Bill H

    The daffodils are blooming here in NC, and the crocuses.

    And the flowering pears are blooming in San Diego because of our January heat wave (3 weeks+ of temps in the 80’s), freaking people out because it is not yet "Spring" and early bloom means they will get frost damage when the freezing weather finally does arrive.

    Um, when is the last time San Diego had "freezing weather" at any time of year? We do get a light frost in the inland valleys in Feb once in a while, but…

    Oh well, I’m making "Good For You Spicy Chicken" for dinner tonight. One of my wife’s favorites. It’s called that because the recipe calls for salt-free diced tomatoes. I use regular ones, so I probably should rename it.

  15. 15.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Bill H: We had a brush fire in front of my office on Thursday when the landscaping caught on fire. Took us three fire extinguishers to put it out and then it kept coming back until the fire department showed up and hosed it down for twenty minutes.

    We should be getting snow in a week or two.

  16. 16.

    Laura W

    Repeat of Bill Maher on King. Wish I’d been there at the start of the hour. He comes back this Friday.
    Yay.

  17. 17.

    AhabTRuler

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, I really do.

    Edit: I am currently suppressing 90% of the things I have said, or even thought, about British cuisine. With difficulty, I might add. Lulz.

  18. 18.

    Fern

    Flowers. Hrumph.

    We had rain, followed by freezing, followed by snow. So now there is a layer of fresh snow on top of a sheet of ice. And I have to wear those rubber thingies with the spikes that you slip on over your boots so I can walk outside without risking life and limb.

  22. 22.

    Ming

    @TheGrandPan, I saw the same piece. I agree — what bloviating nonsense. I think Obama’s doing fine, but do we really attribute the fact that he’s passed a ginormous piece of legislation so quickly to Obama’s fantabulousness, or could it be that, um, he walked into what the country recognizes is a huge crisis that demands a huge response?

    pfah.

  23. 23.

    D-Chance.

    Well, we now know why they rushed the so-called stimulus bill through the Senate, even dragging a grieving son away from his dead mother’s side as she lay there in restful repose… looks like Burris is in deep shit.

    "Naaahhhhh… nothing to do with Blago, never even heard of the guy. OK, maybe once mentioned him with an associate, but I swear that’s all. Well, except for the three times Blago’s brother and I… yeah, I know, it slipped my mind when I was being deposed and when I was under oath, but…"

    But a "yes" vote for $900 bil is a "yes" vote for $900 bil, no matter who or what makes it.

  24. 24.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @AhabTRuler:

    That is because what most people know about British cuisine is the same as they know about British Dental Health. There seems to be this thing, that all British people have bad teeth (I noticed it on Celebrity Squares years ago when any question about Britain involved an answer that involved bad teeth). Anyone born from the 60s onwards has perfectly good teeth thanks to the NHS (and believe me living here in NC I have seen far more toothless or one tooth wonders than I ever saw in my life in the UK), and British Food can be wonderful, cooked right. The problem with American food is that it tends to be over seasoned, which means when you have food cooked and served without an inordinate amount of seasoning people think it is "bland" no it is not bland, it tastes like it should before you start adding cinnamon.

    PS) I know your comment was snark but it is something that I have found to be a common myth over here and it sort of bugs me.

  25. 25.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    PS) My boss visited London about 5 years ago and he came back and said to me "oh eggs are obviously precious, they only give you one" (talking about a full English breakfast), well yeah that’s cause they also give you bacon, mushrooms, sausage, fried bread, beans and tomatoes. His other gripe was "Ice is poison to the British" whereupon I said "okay who is more stupid, someone who pays a pound for a glass of ice and a dribble of coke or someone who says no ice and gets a full glass of coke?"

  28. 28.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Joke just told me by the DH as was told to him by his Christian Pastor Principal.

    OJ Simpson dies and goes to hell and the Devil says "sorry we don’t have the room for you but I do have three rooms that I can move you into" he opens the first door and there is Ted Kennedy diving from a bridge into a river, swimming around then doing the whole thing over and over again. OJ says "can’t do that, black guys can’t swim;" next room the devil opens the door and there is George Bush turning big rocks into little rocks with a sledge hammer, OJ says "can’t do that I have a shoulder injury from football" they go to the next room and the devil says "okay this is your last choice" he opens the door and Bill Clinton is spreadeagled on the bed and Monica Lewinski is giving him a blow job. OJ says "okay I got this, this I can do" the devil says "are you sure" and OJ says "hell yes" The devil then says "okay Monica you can leave now we have a replacement"

  30. 30.

    Laura W

    @Litlebritdifrnt:I made a very mediocre meatloaf tonight. I did nothing different from every other time I’ve made it (well, maybe cooking it at 400 to hurry it up), yet it was underwhelming. I can’t replicate recipe results to save my life. My "cooking" is totally hit or miss. Mostly miss.

    it tastes like it should before you start adding cinnamon.

    In staunch defense of cinnamon!
    This thread needs that song. It has to be the most boring open thread in all of existence. Although the flowers, food and music themes are more interesting than Suze Orman’s theme show on Love & Marriage.
    I need to learn how to read books again.

  31. 31.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Laura W:

    Laura I have nothing against cinnamon in its place but around here they add it to everything, I love apple pie, but I cannot stand cinnamon added to apples, it totally and utterly ruins the taste of the apples for me. If I make an apple pie I simply lightly stew the apples and then sprinkle a smidge of nutmeg on the top before putting on the top crust. At Christmas you cannot move in NC without being surrounded by the smell of cinnamon, it makes the world smell like cough medicine. My other pet peeves, bacon in vegetables, I mean what is wrong with the taste of green beans or cabbage (both of which I love) why the need to add bacon to them (it also pissed me off mightily when I was still a vegetarian and I would ask for green beans and end up sticking a fork full of bacon fat in my mouth).

  32. 32.

    AhabTRuler

    @Litlebritdifrnt: All in jest, really! Well, mostly in jest. The two hamburgers I have had in the UK made me want to die. I felt fine, but the sheer horror of the funky, gray-blue meat before me made me wish for the negation of self.
    SRSLY, there is some fantastic food in Britain, but as a tourist in London, if you have to eat cheap stick with the fish and chips.
    Now Beer, OTOH, is good. Cask ale is nummers!

  34. 34.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @AhabTRuler:

    Ah well that was your problem, you ate hamburgers, (there are McDonalds in the UK you know, you could have gone there). Fish and chips is truly a joy, also Chip Shop curry and chips, the best thing in the world after a night of heavily imbibing alcohol. However regional food is the best, I mean there is nothing better than a real Cornish Pasty eaten in Cornwall. A Devon cream tea in Devon, or a truly sumptuous Ploughman’s lunch with real cheddar cheese in Cheddar Gorge. A Lancashire Hot Pot in Lancashire, Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding in Yorkshire or a full English breakfast just about anywhere (even a greasy spoon roadside cafe). I suppose it is a little like saying that the best Philly Cheese Steak is always found in Philly (there are two competing stores I believe) so you know what I mean. If I ever win the lottery I have a dream of opening a truly authentic English Pub here in Jacksonville. I will serve ONLY authentic English Pub Food, I think it would go down a storm.

  36. 36.

    TheHatOnMyCat

    I did nothing different from every other time I’ve made it (well, maybe cooking it at 400 to hurry it up), yet it was underwhelming.

    Depending on where you are buying your meat, the meat can be quite different from one time to the next. Supermarket ground beef especially. But even meatmarket ground beef can vary considerably in flavor, texture and fat content.

    Even if you buy your own cuts and grind them yourself, you can run into this.

    Not much can be done about it.

  37. 37.

    John Cole

    But a “yes” vote for $900 bil is a “yes” vote for $900 bil, no matter who or what makes it.

    D-Chance, rocking that Republican math we all know and love.

    The bill was $787 billion. If you want to round that up, it would be $800 billion.

    Now I know that Bush and company pissed away several trillion dollars, doubling the national debt, but a 100 billion is still big money to some of us.

  39. 39.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Speaking of food John asked about Earl Grey tea yesterday, personally I can live without it, due to the fact that it is the Princess Royal’s favorite tea so every time there was some sort of shin dig with the Princess Royal (which seeing as she was the Commandant in Chief of the WRNS was alot) we had to stand around like cheese at fourpence and nibble on sammiches and drink Earl Grey Tea. I do drink it when it ends up being the only tea bag available at a convenience store when I stop to get a drink but if I have a choice I ALWAYS drink P G Tips. The best tea in the world IMHO.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PG_Tips

  40. 40.

    AhabTRuler

    @Litlebritdifrnt: The first hamburger was when I was 12, just of the plane from the US, and sitting in the Restaurant in the bowels of the fortress-like US embassy (in the UK one knew about anti-terror, even back then), where my father was working.

    The second burger was appx. 20 years later when I was visiting London with friends before traveling to Amsterdam for New Year’s Eve (the SO and I had gone to Paris first). It was Boxing day, and precisely F-all was open. Still should’ve ordered something different. This was also when it was 2 dollars to the pound, so it hurt twice over.

    I am actually posting the photo’s from that trip tonight. I only have Amsterdam up so far, but London should be up soon.

    Also: Preview sucks a donkey’s pecker.

  42. 42.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @AhabTRuler:

    Yeah we were doing that "war on terror" thingy long before you guys even heard about it. When I met my DH in 1990, he arrived from the US as part of the 2nd Marine Division Band and they pulled up to Earls Court in London, the security staff told them to stay on the bus, cause they thought they had sighted a sniper on the roof. DH said at the time "no problem give us all weapons and we will find him" He he he. DH was so naive at the time. Of course 911 made him realise what I had gone through my entire time in the British Military, it was like a wake up call for him, it was kind of weird to think that there were people out there who wanted you dead, a fact that I had lived with for 14 years.

  45. 45.

    demimondian

    @Litlebritdifrnt: You do need to remember the historical roots of Southern cooking — the American South had an economy more similar to that of a developing nation as recently as the 1950’s, with the classic agricultural patrician class and the whole nine yards. Food with lots of fat was important, since much of the food available was of quite low quality.

  46. 46.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Polish the Guillotines:

    What doesnt have the moxie to survive are the people who truly believe that men walked with dinosaurs, and Fred Flintstone was real, and God was so smart that he created fossils for us to find to wonder at his greatness. Yeah right.

    PS) the key that my cat tore off my puter the other night was the " ‘ key, so I apologise for my puncutation (or lack of it)

  47. 47.

    Calouste

    @AhabTRuler:

    but as a tourist in London, if you have to eat cheap stick with the fish and chips.

    Stick with curry, far tastier, healthier, better value for money (should get a good meal under £10) and less risk of getting food poisoning. Take the tube to Liverpool Street or Shoreditch and walk to Brick Lane (Or if it is still there, my favorite when I lived there, Spice E1 on Shoreditch High Street.)

  49. 49.

    Laura W

    @TheHatOnMyCat: I read this quickly in my haste to play link wars and I thought you wrote that even if I ground my own cats there could be inconsistency.
    But yes…good point. This was organic beef from the natural foods store’s butcher counter. I don’t normally buy theirs, getting Coleman or the like at Ingels. I think it was 15% fat even, but alas. (I’m fairly certain I overcooked it by a few minutes as well.)

  50. 50.

    AhabTRuler

    Stick with curry

    I have an unfortunate allergy to curry. When I eat it, I have an uncontrollable urge to stop eating.

  51. 51.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @OriGuy:

    I miss curry like you would not believe, there is nothing better than after a night on the town and imbibing copious amounts of alcohol going to a late night Indian restaurant and downing a serious curry. I tend to cook my own these days seeing as there isn’t a single decent Indian restaurant in the area (closest one is Wilmington),

  52. 52.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Laura W: If you didn’t watch it past the one minute mark, you missed my best part where I start freestyling at the end. Is there nothing on earth more cool than sliding on the linoleum with a pair of crew socks?

  54. 54.

    TheHatOnMyCat

    This was organic beef from the natural foods store’s butcher counter.

    Ah, well there ya go. I don’t generally love the flavor of the organic beef, I think I am spoiled by years of eating beef laden with toxic chemicals and hormones. Which add, you know, flavor.

    Anyhoo, you might try experimenting with some different (or more aggressive) seasoning strategies with the organic beef.

    The dull flavor of that product surprised me, because I tried some free range chicken and it was so good I couldn’t believe my taste buds. I expected the beef to do the same … it didn’t.

    Luckily now with the new Bush FDA we are getting that great salmonella-laden beef, with its great flavor. But, you know, the mortality rate is a little high for my preference. So, you have to take the bad with the good. Or something.

  56. 56.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    As an aside the baby possum is eating at the front door right now, his parents were killed, (cars etc) and the pup, who used to come to the cat feeder with his mom and dad is now out there alone, nomming on the cat food. It does my heart good to watch him, stuffing his face with food.

  57. 57.

    Laura W

    @Fern: Great idea I never would’ve thought of. (Which is not to imply that I think of many other great ideas by myself.)

  58. 58.

    Polish the Guillotines

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    What doesnt have the moxie to survive are the people who truly believe that men walked with dinosaurs, and Fred Flintstone was real

    He… He… wasn’t?

  62. 62.

    Wini

    I can’t remember who the other Friday Night Lights fan was, but if you’re around, am curious what you think of this season so far (watching last night’s episode as I type).

  64. 64.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @John Cole:

    I cannot fathom putting sliced olives into meatloaf, despite the fact that I love Olives. My husband would have a canipfit if I did such a thing, being the Olive hater that he is, I tend to make it the traditional way, ground beef, breadcrumbs, egg, and seasonings, (with me Oxo)

  65. 65.

    Laura W

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Well, Lil Darlin’, it makes the flavors taste brilliant because those cubes are packed with monosodium glutamate. No can do MSG. It’s like being high on pot, only in a far more irritating and anxious way.
    MSG is everywhere…in nearly every Ranch dressing made, in flavored chips, in Progresso soups. It’s crap. Toxic Crap.
    (But thanks for the tips. I just can’t metabolize the crap and hold a thought at the same time, but that’s just me.)

  66. 66.

    Indylib

    @AhabTRuler:

    I have an unfortunate allergy to curry. When I eat it, I have an uncontrollable urge to stop eating.

    I have the same problem. Of course the first place I ever tasted curry was in Japan (don’t laugh- they have curry shops everywhere) and I was not impressed. I have since then tried curry in several different places here in the good ol’ USofA and have tried several different kinds, and can’t stand any of it.

  67. 67.

    Annie

    I have played 9,000 games of Spider Solitaire, read a trashy novel, and drink some wine. Typical Saturday night. My husband’s away, and the two monster cats went out.

    I put green pepper in my meatloaf.

  69. 69.

    Indylib

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    I always make my meatloaf with an Oxo cube

    I used to use Oxo cubes, started buying them at the military commissary (you’d be amazed at the odd variety of foreign food you can buy at a commissary due to the number of foreign spouses), but I switched this year to using concentrated meat "base". There are a couple different brands, and FSM do they make for good gravy and soup/stew base.

  70. 70.

    Annie

    I love it. Just watched the video "howling at the moon and shoot out the light." My Saturday night just got better. Always open to new ideas…although I think I may need more wine…And, probably new neighbors, as I live in the city.

  71. 71.

    Punchy

    I’m addicted to–I kid you not–Forensic Files on the TruTV channel. Must have my daily dose of it.

  73. 73.

    gbear

    I cannot fathom putting sliced olives into meatloaf

    Have you ever had an egg salad sandwich with sliced olives mixed in (the pimento too)? I never knew any other way when I was growing up, and a friend told me that the downtown Minneapolis Woolworth’s lunch counter made them that way too. Excellent.

  75. 75.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I put green salad olives in my potato salad. I also put bacon in it but I put bacon in everything. My inner canadian cries out for it, eh.

  76. 76.

    AhabTRuler

    I finished uploading the London photos. Only 7 good photos, and 3 of those are of the Westminster Underground station. There might be 2 or 3 more that I might be able to salvage later, put it’s a pretty poor showing for 5 days.

  77. 77.

    gbear

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    JSF, The Onion is on top of your bacon habit.

    Johanns cited the rise of bacon as a condiment as the most universal example of this trend. "By 2015, our researchers predict bacon alone will supplant condiments as diverse as mustard and Worcestershire sauce," Johanns said. "Crumbled ‘bacon bits’ are a classic addition to salads, and in recent years, slabs of bacon are increasingly used to wrap vegetables, fruits, and seafood. Adding bacon as a topping to cheeseburgers is old news, but now we are seeing bacon-topped meatloaf, bacon-covered chicken wings, and deep-fried, bacon-wrapped bacon sprinkled on pork chops."

  78. 78.

    AhabTRuler

    Bacon, like Coffee (and its close cousin Coffee flavored ice cream) and chocolate, is a substance that can be consumed in dangerously large quantities.

  79. 79.

    Cat Stevens

    Another slow Saturday night
    And I ain’t got nobody
    I got some money
    ’cause I just got paid…

  82. 82.

    Shey

    Slow Saturday night my ass. I just knocked off a valentine day shift in the high end food service business. We were boned from 4:30 till midnight.

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