Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Motown is Joe-Town!

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Republicans don’t trust women.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Democrats are back in array!

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

T R E 4 5 O N

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

“woke” is the new caravan.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

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Reader Interactions

74Comments

  1. 1.

    geg6

    Heh. That’s some Real Merkin food, there.

    I am out of the office at noon to go home and pre-cook the ham so all my sister has to do is to turn on my electric roaster to warm it up. My John is horrified by my sister’s tendency to overcook all meats and insists on it being done before she can get her hands on it.

  2. 2.

    Linda Featheringill

    I did grocery shopping yesterday for the holiday. Tell me again how it is that we have no inflation.

    Job is insecure. I work for a small business that is scrambling for clients. I should be okay through the first of the year. I guess I can spend tomorrow being thankful that I am overworked and underpaid. Sigh.

    And, yes, I have a lot of company in that regard.

    Thanksgiving will be peaceful for me, with no trouble from family. The troublemakers have died off by now. That is one real advantage of getting older. :-)

    Animals are thriving, Daughter is pretty, and I am still here. All in all, it should be a good holiday.

  7. 7.

    donnah

    I prepare a ton of food for Thanksgiving; I’ve already gotten a head start by baking a couple of pies and slow cooking southern green beans all afternoon.

    My mother-in-law is bringing her favorite Jello cranberry mold, which looks like a medical disaster: red and gloopy and filled with bits of celery, nuts and something orange. My husband loathed it when he was a kid and she made him eat it, so I thought it would be fun if she brought it this year. I’m kind of mean that way.

  8. 8.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    Today’s xkcd was drawn by Bill Amend, the creator of Foxtrot. The creator of xkcd has some major family illnesses to take care of, and so he’s been taking a break.

  9. 9.

    BGK

    @Linda Featheringill:

    I did grocery shopping yesterday for the holiday. Tell me again how it is that we have no inflation.

    I’ve been wondering that myself since about 2002.

    So, mainly because I didn’t want to stop the work I was doing to change the teevee, last night I subjected myself to the horror that was Willie Geist as substitute host of “the Last Word.” One of his guests was the creator of the book and site “Stuff White People Like.” Geist spent much of the time fawning over this clown’s (cough) genius. So, I’m far, far from a humorless grind, but, in the words of the late Gregory Peck, I don’t understand why this is funny. He seems like another “South Park” conservative to me.

  11. 11.

    Ross Hershberger

    This year for the first time my grandmother is letting someone help her make Thanksgiving dinner. This will be about the 75th one she’s cooked. At age 93 her eyesight isn’t good enough to allow her to prepare a full meal for a dozen people fast enough so she’s letting my dad, age 72 help in the kitchen. I’d never tell her this but for the last 3 or 4 decades he’s been at least as good a cook as she is, and that’s a pretty high bar to clear.

  13. 13.

    Poopyman

    I’m spending the day at home before going to my sister’s tomorrow, so no cooking here. But I do need to getinto the shop to make a bunch of Christmas presents that will get regifted. Gotta be ready for the trip tomorrow.

    But it’s hard to break away from watching yoga on FitTV and reading BJ :^)

  15. 15.

    Culture of Truth

    “The ’50s have gotten a bad rap. For all the decade’s flaws, it was a human time”

    The 2010’s are a kitty time, Peggy, get used to it!

  16. 16.

    Poopyman

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Thanksgiving will be peaceful for me, with no trouble from family. The troublemakers have died off by now. That is one real advantage of getting older.

    Be careful what you wish for. Our T’giving will have exactly 4 people. It’s been a long time since we’ve had the kind of gathering like Ross implies he’ll have.

    Enjoy your elders, because too soon that’ll be you.

  17. 17.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @beltane:

    Tom Friedman is so winning this thing. Suck. On. That

    The next six hours will be crucial in determining whether Friedman can win this.

  19. 19.

    PurpleGirl

    I have lunch with a friend today and pick up the apple crumb pie and cranberry sauce she bought from her company cafeteria; tomorrow before coming to my apartment she picks up the turkey and veggies she ordered from a shop on the Upper East Side (Manhattan). Tomorrow will feature good food and good company — that is the best you can ever wish for. To everyone: Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.

    (I’ll be cranky on other threads.)

  22. 22.

    marcopolo

    Taibbi goes to Florida to spend an hour sitting in on a special mortgage foreclosure court aka “rocket docket”.

    The foreclosure lawyers down in Jacksonville had warned me, but I was skeptical. They told me the state of Florida had created a special super-high-speed housing court with a specific mandate to rubber-stamp the legally dicey foreclosures by corporate mortgage pushers like Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase.

    Think it is about time to get a subscription to Rolling Stone; I keep seeing his pieces on-line then going out to buy the magazine.

    And no I don’t think he writes the word “fuck” in the piece even once.

  23. 23.

    Montysano

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Job is insecure. I work for a small business that is scrambling for clients. I should be okay through the first of the year. I guess I can spend tomorrow being thankful that I am overworked and underpaid. Sigh.

    Same here. 20 years with a small, locally owned business, at a job that I really enjoy. I’m OK until maybe late spring/early summer, but the outlook beyond that is grim. We’re even thinking of selling our house (which would likely sell easily), taking the equity, and hunkering down.

    I’m thankful that Mrs. Monty and I and our kids are reality-based types. If there’s a different world on the horizon, we’ll deal.

    I’m also thankful for our neighbor Kerry, organic gardener extraordinaire. I’ve got a big pile of fresh kale and collards to cook up!

  24. 24.

    Chat Noir

    Going to the store later on to get fixin’s for Friday Txgiving dinner. Have to go to the Patriots/Lions game tomorrow at Ford Field (long story) so the husband and I pushed our Txgiving dinner back.

    Excellent book alert: Keith Richards’s memoir is fantastic. Parts of it are like an instruction manual for guitar players on how he did a lot of experimenting with various stuff to come up with the chords and sounds that ultimately found their way onto Stones’s albums. Great back story from a fabulous guitarist and song writer.

  25. 25.

    CA Doc

    My only Thanksgiving job is to chill and transport the champagne/wine. I had great fun wasting an hour in BevMo picking the selections.

  29. 29.

    Crashman

    Our oven broke last week and it looks like the landlord won’t be able to fix it in time for tomorrow. This may mean that the new Mrs. Crash and I have to move everything to another venue. Gonna be weird cooking away from home turf.

  30. 30.

    Linda Featheringill

    @Montysano:

    Same here. 20 years with a small, locally owned business, at a job that I really enjoy. I’m OK until maybe late spring/early summer, but the outlook beyond that is grim.

    Good luck to you and your family. One advantage of a small company is that it doesn’t take too much of a business surge to put it back on its feet.

    Let us know how the house thing works out. It would be good that could serve as an emergency fund.

    Lost my house last year but we are renting a single-family home and rent is 20.00 less than mortgage payments [and I don’t have to pay for repairs]. My newer neighbors are peaceful and friendly and the neighborhood has some awesome trees that were in full exhibition last month. Change is not always terrible.

    Again, good luck.

  32. 32.

    geg6

    @CA Doc:

    My John’s job is to bring the wines. He had a blast at the State Store in Giant Eagle (can’t sell the wine in the grocery story, but at least PA is finally allowing State Stores inside the grocery stores) yesterday picking out various wines. The wine drinkers in my family are pretty adventurous, so he picked up some different stuff than we usually go with (we’re big fans of Rodney Strong Pinot, our usual T-giving pick). I don’t know yet what he got, but he said he got an Australian, a Spanish, and an Italian. He’s pretty good with his picks, so it should be fun to taste them.

  34. 34.

    Poopyman

    @Crashman: Brings to mind a tale from when Mrs. P and I were first married. I had bought a little house as a bachelor that had a really old gas oven, as in having no pilot light in the stove. Well, Mrs. P had turned on the gas to preheat for the turkey. When she opened the door to put the turkey in, the updraft pulled the gas up to the stovetop,which did have pilot lights.

    It was a fairly muted explosion, as these things go. But it did blow a load of carbon all over her. I tore into the kitchen to find her standing in front of the oven, stunned, still holding the turkey pan. She kinda looked like Daffy Duck does after Elmer Fudd shoots him in the face, but no way was I going to break out laughing.

    No damage to the stove, and somehow no windows broke. Her nerves, however ….

  35. 35.

    srv

    @Chat Noir: Since when is Thanksgiving on Friday?

    My first one home in years, and the first one the siblings will miss in a a long time (not causal). But I’ll have a Federal Judge to argue with.

  36. 36.

    aimai

    @Poopyman:

    What a great story! My congratulations to Mrs. Poopyman for surviving. My nerves would still be shot after that.

    We are, at this very minute, making a pumpkin pie in a gingersnap crust (we learned our lesson last year and are not waiting until the last minute to make it really “fresh”–they absolutely have to set up), a chocolate pecan pie in a rosemary cookie crust, roasted vegetables for the *&^%$ vegetarians who get a kind of savory tarte tatin as their main, and then all the rest of the crazy stuff.

    aimai

  39. 39.

    Chat Noir

    @srv: We are celebrating our Txgiving on Friday. My husband and I have to spend Thursday at a football game we don’t want to go to with family we don’t want to see.

  40. 40.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Tell me again how it is that we have no inflation.

    Silly rabbit: inflation isn’t measured by the fluctuations in the prices of things that actually affect people’s lives. Those are categorized as being too volatile. Instead, inflation is measured by the fluctuations in the prices of important things like titanium thumbscrews, left-handed monkey wrenches, zircon-encrusted tweezers, and buggy whips.

    It’s just another of the little techniques that the government uses to paper over the fact that real wages have been going backwards for thirty fucking years.

  41. 41.

    Martin

    According to my wifes upbringing, a proper Thanksgiving jello needs to have walnuts, pineapple, and sour cream and be considered a ‘vegetable’ with the meal.

    I miss my late mother-in-law, but not her holiday dinner contributions.

    Small group this year, but no shortage of cooking.

  49. 49.

    New Yorker

    Does anyone here follow Palin’s tweets? The same part of me that shamelessly enjoyed watching Jerry Springer back in the day wants to know how Mama Grizzly is coping with Bristol’s loss on “Dancing With the Stars”

  51. 51.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Culture of Truth: Hey you think you’re joking, my proudest Thanksgiving was when I invited everyone over and when I went to cook the turkey I realized I didn’t have an oven.

    It was sort of a new apartment but I’d lived there for three months.

  52. 52.

    paradox

    Thanksgiving is at my house tomorrow and I have all the heavies: turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, broccoli with white sauce and walnuts, cranberry sauce, drinks. Plus a lot of work today to get the place ready.

    I have a seriously dysfunctional family who amusingly would be so shocked to have that easily stark classification pinned on them. Everyone for the last 20 years has succeeded in making sure nothing happens, so holidays are all right.

    I feel saddened. I’ve had the worst year of my life save one, puke and insomnia and bad mixes from a hard past, trying to get stuff straight for the present. I’ve been a lousy writer, of course, stretched real thin all over the place, and I’m getting close to a point where I don’t care much what happens. About anything.

    Still, I have my duty, it’s something to do. Steps to take, earth to enjoy. We shall see what happens. Please have a wonderful Thanksgiving, mistermix.

  53. 53.

    Montysano

    @Dennis SGMM:

    It’s just another of the little techniques that the government uses to paper over the fact that real wages have been going backwards for thirty fucking years.

    With those 30 fucking years being exactly my post-college work life.

    Meanwhile, the members of my parent’s generation cruise the highways in 45′ RVs at 6 mpg, lighting cigars with with their Social Security checks. I try not to be bitter.

  56. 56.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Poopyman: No kidding. Well I did have a microwave, which I cooked everything in, including the turkey, by the way, which was a large turkey breast, not an entire turkey. Surprisingly good, I’ve done it that way often since actually, even once equipped with a real oven.

    Back then though, nope. I literally was carrying the turkey back and forth looking for the oven and it only slowly dawned on me that it wasn’t there and I had just never noticed.

  57. 57.

    Montysano

    @srv:

    I’ve hiked that in the Fall, lots of color. Might not be too much water now.

    We’ve had plenty of rain lately. Our son and his college buds went backpacking there last weekend and there was plenty of water.

    The best part about the Sipsey is that, for the most part, it’s a true wilderness. There are a handful of marked trails, but there are also large swaths with no roads or trails at all. You’re free to wander off and camp wherever you please. The downside is that it’s a devilishly easy place to get lost. After decades of being a doctrinaire map-and-compass guy, I now pack a GPS.

  59. 59.

    catclub

    @Culture of Truth: “The ‘50s have gotten a bad rap. For all the decade’s flaws, it was a human time”

    The 2010’s are a kitty time, Peggy, get used to it!

    Also, It was a ‘human’ time if you were, white, male, straight,
    and not lableled a pinko and blacklisted.

    Unions of white males did pretty well, though.

  60. 60.

    Michael

    I’m dreading tonight’s suffering – the imposition of the Tyranny of the Wedding China.

    Each year at Thanksgiving, out comes the wedding china and crystal – we have to lovingly wipe down each bit of it, each serving piece, and have to concern ourselves over the possibility that someone (me) might handle it too roughly (let the plates make any sound when touching) or might tomorrow scrape the plate with their forks and leave a scratch (me).

    If it was up to me, we’d have a buffet with bunches of chinet plates, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and cranberries, and we’d serve the gravy out of a bucket. Mixed drinks would be served out of plastic glasses, and men could pass out in front of the tube after dumping their plates in the trash.

    Sigh.

  62. 62.

    Charity Froggenhall

    My mother-in-law — grew up in Illinois, now lives outside of Kansas City — makes cranberry salad: cranberry sauce, walnuts, lemon Jell-O…. I think pineapple, and maybe something else. It’s actually rather refreshing alongside all the mushy rich food.

    And smack me for saying it, but I think I prefer the inlaws’ Thanksgiving to Mom’s. But we’ll be going out for Xmas this year, because SIL (husband’s sister), BIL, 5-year-old Nephew & 2 1/2-year-old Niece are spending Thanksgiving with BIL’s family.

    Our jobs for tomorrow are homemade vanilla ice cream, rolls (I’m slacking a bit & just baking crescent rolls premade), and the wine. Which is a job I’m happy to take on as we’d probably have some overly sweet jug wine otherwise. I love buying wine for people who only drink it once or twice a year…

  63. 63.

    Bmamccnm

    My kid is living on campus in another city. I just returned from a month in Maasailand, and have no spending cash. I am working a 12 hour shift today and another tomorrow. (There are no holidays in nursing, only opportunities for OT.) My job is very secure. I had volunteered to bring grren veggies au gratin and baked squash with chutney for tomorrow’s pot luck, but the oven is jammed on “clean” and it will not unjam, even after unplugging and replugging. The door is locked and the fan won’t stop. I am thankful I am not an unlettered 12 year old third wife of a 50 year old man.

  64. 64.

    Tonybrown74

    Jell-O Salad?

    Ugh!

    Being from Trinidad, my family does a more unconventional Thanksgiving. We’ll do a turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce and pies for dessert, but everything else is like a Caribbean-style Potluck.

    On top of what my mother’s cooking, I will be bringing the following:

    Curried Shrimp with Potatoes ,,,

    Calalloo (a creamed spinach dish made with spinach, okra, Coconut Milk, crab meat for flavor, and spices).

    Paratha Roti (I’m nervous about this dish since I have never made it before).

  65. 65.

    Montysano

    @Michael:

    If it was up to me, we’d have a buffet with bunches of chinet plates, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and cranberries, and we’d serve the gravy out of a bucket.

    When I was a kid, we went to two Thanksgivings: my mom’s family and my dad’s. Mom’s family was the wedding china gig, stuffy and boring.

    My dad’s family, fresh out of Appalachia, was your dream Thanksgiving: beer, cigars, dirty jokes, football.

  66. 66.

    CADoc

    @geg6 You can never go wrong with Rodney Strong! We are heading to the coast next weekend and will likely take a detour to their tasting room on the way home.
    But I tried to be more adventurous as well, picking a couple of Spanish sparklers, a French dry rose, an Oregon pinot, and a Californian fume blanc (actually I’ve had the last 2 before so I know they’re good, I guess you can’t count that as adventurous!)

  67. 67.

    Mnemosyne

    @Admiral_Komack:

    Ah, the usual whining from the Villagers that the Democrats in the White House aren’t being deferential enough to them. I’m sure that Michelle and Hillary have stories to swap by now.

  69. 69.

    debbie

    Since I’ve been unemployed for more than a year, my family is bankrolling my dessert efforts. This year: pumpkin pie, tiramisu cake, and pear-hazelnut crisp.

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    Courtesy of the LA Weekly and California winemakers, recommendations for wines to accompany your Thanksgiving feed (Thanksgiving Wine Pairings: You Could Ask Your Sommelier, Or Go Straight To The Source): A sampling:

    First up, a bright, peachy, ripe Spätlese with a couple years of age on it, like JJ Prüm ($22 for a half bottle). This is a semi-dry Riesling with peach and wet stone flavors and a citrusy clean finish. A totally delicious way to start the meal that will pair with the turkey, yams, cranberry sauce and sweeter parts of the Thanksgiving spread. Actually, you could even finish the meal with this wine.
    __
    Bottle 2: A mineraly, dry Rosé from Santa Barbara like Blair Fox Cellars Hailey’s Rosé ($16 directly from the winery). These wines are nice “tweeners” with refreshing acidity that will go great with lots of different dishes — drink this with your salad, green beans, and turkey breast.
    __
    Bottle 3: An earthy, spicy Côtes du Rhône or Châteauneuf-du-Pape like Chateau de Montfaucon (about $18). Spicy, earthy, gamey. This wine is what you want choice for the meat, potatoes, and stuffing.

    Obviously, specific wines may not be available where you are, but this may provide a few ideas.

    Cheers!

  71. 71.

    JCT

    Husband’s family is so picky they make me insane every Thanksgiving — this year I’ve rebelled and our menu will be brisket, moroccan stewed chicken with lemon and olives and pumpkin couscous. Desserts will be all be homemade, apple pie (2 kinds) — scored some beautiful Northern Spy apples! Pumpkin pie with nutmeg ice cream and for the chocolate fans, my daughter’s excellent molten chocolate cakes with belgian chocolate and homemade mint ice cream.

    If they don’t like it? Too bad!

  73. 73.

    Phyllis

    It’s just me & the SO tomorrow; the sweet potato gratin is mixed and in the fridge, ready for its topping of marshmallows and candied pecans seasoned with chipotle chili powder tomorrow (available for 99 cents at World Market*). The turnips are cooking as we speak. The rest of dinner consists of turkey, which I plan to wrap in bacon, dressing, gravy, and those tiny rolls that come in their own cooking pan. I think they’re my favorite part. And store-bought pumpkin pie. I’m more of a cake maker, never have had much luck with pies.

    *Also available at WM-wine by the truckload-my rule is once my arms/hands are full of bottles, it’s time to go.

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