My sister and I went to a wine tasting event the other night. We go every year, and we always arrange transportation because we get quite tipsy, even though we only take teeny-tiny sips of each wine selection.
This year, we arrived separately, so I told her, “Meet me under the giant stingray.” No further explanation was needed.
To stave off premature drunkenness, we sampled various hors d’ oeuvres. Our favorite this year was stuffed peppadews. We were stalking the poor peppadew server all over the venue. I’m surprised she didn’t sling her giant tray at us and say, “Here! Eat them all! Just leave me alone!”
Please feel free to discuss whatever. Except eddie-Fray deOer-Bay.
? Martin
Okay. You’re from Florida where a 64oz Big Gulp is common. Teeny-tiny sip is what, 12oz?
John Revolta
Only slightly less confusing than the photo from the gas pump thread.
Those things can FLY? Holy crap. Im’ma stay inland.
JPL
Betty, What were they stuffed with?
Josie
Exactly what was in these peppadews that made them so addictive?
Morzer
Is that Walder Frey’s idiot son? I can never keep Games of Thrones minor characters straight.
Cassidy
@John Revolta: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1401302092/ref=mw_dp_mdsc?dsc=1
Betty Cracker
@JPL: Boursin cheese. Gyad, they were good!
elmo
Timely open thread!
About two weeks ago – the night before we put down our ancient German Shepherd, in fact – my wife came across two kittens, about six weeks old, in a box tossed on the side of the road. So she brought them home. We are a dog family, not a cat family, but what can you do?
So today, she was out in town, and apparently it’s kitteh season. Three of them this time, semi-feral, next to the dead body of their mother. These aren’t even weaned.
So. Lots of kitteh peeps in this community. Anybody in the Delmarva area up for fostering kittens? We can handle the first two, easily, but these additional three are going to put a strain on this rescue home (six dogs in the house now). She’s networking them as well, but I thought I would get on here and ask.
sparrow
I made a version a couple times stuffed with goat cheese mashed with cilantro. Then you roll them in a bit of cornflour + salt and fry em (preferrably in olive oil, because that’s healthier).
They were delish, but I could never taste that cilantro. I blame it on the grocery stores which sell weak looking herbs.
sparrow
@elmo: First: poor kitties with the dead mother… how sad. :( Second: PICTURES
Villago Delenda Est
@Morzer: Walder Frey has non-idiot sons? When did this happen? He hasn’t bedded any Starks or Tullys that I know of…
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL: Probably the livers of unborn born-again Christian babies. Mmmmmm.
burnspbesq
No new Supreme Court decisions. Today was a good day.
BGinCHI
@burnspbesq: I recorded the Man City match from today but I think I’m too scared to watch it.
Oh, Liverpool, why must you break my heart?
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
Like I posted in the previous thread, Digby has a great article about the pathologies behind open carry pushes and their consequences.
Morzer
@Villago Delenda Est:
Hey, go easy on Walder Frey. He doesn’t have an army of rabid, anonymous commenters to protect him or the visibility of writing for a big publication. Spare a thought for the little guy with just one feudal domain to call his own.
Villago Delenda Est
@BGinCHI:
“It’s our nature”
You know, like the Cubbies.
Morzer
@BGinCHI:
You’ll always have Everton.
Villago Delenda Est
@Morzer: Yeah, but that domain is at a strategically significant geographic location, which means you attract attention whether you like it or not.
If you want a quiet life, go live on some damn island off the west coast of Westeros, like the Greyjoys do.
bemused
Republicans played hide the hearing room for unemployment extension hearing until it finally ended up outside. They pulled stuff like this more than once during Bush years. I have a vivid memory of Sensenbrenner cutting the mike and ending a hearing held in the basement. What I don’t remember is Dems doing this, acting like sandbox bullies.
Villago Delenda Est
@bemused:
Democrats want to govern.
Rethuglicans want to rule.
It’s that simple.
The Other Chuck
That’s a Manta Ray. Sting Rays don’t have that weird-shaped mouth.
Amir Khalid
@BGinCHI:
My heart was broken too. We really need to improve our defence for next season.
Citizen_X
@Morzer:
Well, now that you mention it, did Cole simply buy his spot on the internet, or did he pay the iron price for it?
ranchandsyrup
Vent ahoy:
Dealing with a CA state agency today (that the vast majority of other states don’t have any more) that has mini-feifdoms in each county that can interpret the state regs however they want. We have introduced legislation which would fix some of the issues with the agency, but in the interim they are throwing a titty fit.
So each county office must test products prior to them being used (again, only state that does this). The problem is that their testing facilities are old and their own reporting shows that they fail things at an artificially high rate. So, we dropped off 500 products in one county and a thousand in the neighboring county from the same manufacturer on the same truck. The 1st county failed all 500. The 2nd passed all 1000. The first county is saying that they must destroy the products that failed, even though they admit that their test facility is crap. We could still use these in other states. I had to call the state office to halt the destruction.
Susan K of the tech support
I posted some sore back solutions that’ve helped me waaaaaaay at the bottom of yesterday’s open thread.
Where it’ll never get read.
Unless I come to THIS open thread and tell you to go look.
Yours for healthy spine, muscles and fascia*,
Susan
*note: fascia is a thing that has no political overtones (or undertones) whatsoever. SRSLY. It’s, well, gristle. Sort of.
Botsplainer
Benghazi.
Morzer
@Citizen_X:
I thought he looted and mooched it, along with his five free Obamaphones.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
Me and you should have the drunken mother of all blog wars Betty. That’ll nip this freddie mecurial shit in the bud.
In.
The.
Bud.
Nip.
It.
Nip.
It.
burnspbesq
@Amir Khalid:
Villa is not rolling over and playing dead. I shall say no more.
Alex S.
Silly story including Game of Thrones photoshopping, President Obama and an outraged conservative:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/white-house-game-thrones-disturbing
Morzer
@burnspbesq:
Bit of a premature ejaculation there, Burnsie, judging by recent events.
bemused
@The Other Chuck:
Right. I just will never, ever understand how the quite normal Republicans, some my friends, can vote for these thugs. Drives me batty.
jharp
Can you grow peppadews in the Midwest?
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
Alas. City have scored twice against Villa since you posted that. At least this season I’m not threatening to shift my allegiance to Melchester Rovers.
Ash Can
Had to look up peppadews. Learned something new thanks to Betty — plus, the boursin-stuffed ones sound great.
D58826
Rand Paul wants Hillary to testify before the new House committee. He wants to find out what was going on inside the White House during the attack in Benghazi. He is concerned that Obama was not even home and left the decision making to Hillary and she was the one that issued the stand down order.
Now this is beyond delusional even the alternate universe that the GOP occupies. The military chain of command is not going to an order from the secretary of state just because she thinks it would be a good idea. Never mind that the House military affairs committee has already debunked the stand-down issue.
The whole point of this line of questioning is that there is treason in the white House. This seems to be an article of blind faith on the right. The administration can’t just have made a mistake it has to have been planned with malicious intent to destroy America. I don’t remember any other time when a President was required to account for his whereabouts during a crisis.
Issa has issued a subpoena for SofS Kerry to appear before his committee. Why other than as an attempt to humiliate.
Villago Delenda Est
@Alex S.: They are such incredible fuckheads. They just can’t help themselves…humorless twits who are fucking proud of their stupidity and humorlessness.
ulee
Betty, did you try to move that piano after you had a few teeny-tiny sips? I’m sure you thought you could do it.
Villago Delenda Est
@D58826:
Well, of course there is. I mean, it’s staring you right in the face. Look at the color of the President’s skin!
Aardvark Cheeselog
@The Other Chuck:
Came here to post this, was beaten to it.
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
Make that three times. Or, in fact, four times.
Calouste
@D58826:
Last thing I heard was that Rand Paul was not in the House. But considering how far removed from reality he is otherwise, he probably thinks he is.
Iowa Old Lady
@D58826: These people infuriate me.
Re wine tastings, Mr IOL likes them because he likes free stuff, but I don’t get the point because I am a very fast drunk. I was always a cheap date.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@burnspbesq: I thought the ED Wisconsin Club for Growth decision might be pretty scary, but I haven’t read it yet.
Amir Khalid
@Morzer:
Now I feel the way Luis Suarez did after we threw away that three-goal lead at Palace.
Villago Delenda Est
@burnspbesq: Is giving up three goals the definition of “rolling over and playing dead”? Because if it is, well, yes, premature ejaculation, fer sure.
burnspbesq
After holding firm for 64 minutes, Villa collapsed quite abjectly. That leaves it to Sunday.
COME ON YOU FUCKING SAINTS!
Villago Delenda Est
@burnspbesq: It ain’t over until the fat lady sings, or the Broncos give up a safety in the first 12 seconds of the Super Bowl.
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
@D58826: Issa used to be one of Bill Maher’s favorite guests, for reasons I could never quite fathom. (If he wanted better soundbites from the same neighborhood he could’ve gotten them from ‘Dinosaur Farts’ Rohrabacher up the road.) Has he ever been asked to explain what the fuck it is that he’s doing by somebody like that? Sure he’d probably babble on until the questioner gave up, but I’ve never understood what the outrage about BENGHAZI was actually supposed to be, from a scandal/criminal offense/impeachment standpoint. I know that the wingers don’t need a reason, but I’ve never even understood the pretext. (The argument about the talking points was baffling, and the obsession with CALLING IT TERRORISM was the weirdest hill I’ve ever seen a Presidential candidate die on in a general election debate, by far.) And since I don’t foresee Kerry or Clinton telling his committee that diplomatic staff were willfully sacrificed in the name of Jihad as part of a stealth campaign by the Kenyan to undermine the Great Satan, what is the payoff here? Base-stoking for the mid-terms since the ACA is losing its status as the dominant ideological chewtoy? Pre-emptive strike on the Hillary ’16 juggernaut? It seems like kinda weak sauce on both counts; this shit’s been done to death.
Higgs Boson's Mate
The cons’ outrage over Benghazi springs from the same rich reservoir of bullshit as their arguments against gay marriage, their arguments for low taxes on the wealthy, etc., etc. ad nauseum. There’s never any “there” there and that doesn’t bother them one little bit.
Omnes Omnibus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Randa is nuts. He granted a preliminary injunction that contained this direction : “The Defendants must cease all activities related to the investigation, return all property seized in the investigation from any individual or organization, and permanently destroy all copies of information and other materials obtained through the investigation.” WTF? The 7th Cir. will reverse, at least in part, Randa’s order.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
My non-lawyer brain was kind of wondering about that. How could a preliminary injunction order the destruction of evidence?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: I kinda had the same take, skimming it. But I’m taking muscle relaxants for bad backs spasms, so I’m, well, pleasant. Until I move wrong and it hurts and I make a noise that frightens the dog. So I’m not going to trust my comprehension until tomorrow.
Soonergrunt
All over the OKC metro, foundations are cracking and failing. The Engineer who came out to my house today told me that his company is busier than they’ve been in years. He says that the drought is the main culprit, with the low grade earthquakes we’ve been seeing, mostly north and east of the metro (3.0-4.0 on the Richter scale) more and more frequently, contributing. USGS just recently issued a warning that a 5.0 or greater sized earthquake is probable within 60 days, and that wastewater injection wells, also known as fracking, are likely responsible.
We have to have 12 piers put in underneath the south wall and southwest corner of the house. Our Builder came out with the Engineer, and they agreed it needed to be done, and the Builder told me that he’s going to pay for all of it because the house is less than one year old. Cost will be about $23K.
The Builder says that he’s got a house in another development that isn’t even finished building and they were going out there after they met with me because that house is having problems too.
We just got the concrete patio refinished with acid stain (it looks beautiful, btw,) and they’re going to tear it out because 8 of the 12 piers need to go under the house on that side.
EDIT–we also purchased an earthquake rider on our homeowner’s policy, JIC.
Betty Cracker
@Soonergrunt: Damn! That sucks, but I’m glad the builder is going to cover the cost. Scary situation.
Hal
From dailykos:
.@RepWestmoreland tells me “206” House Rs have asked to be considered for the #Benghazi select cmte
— @DavidMDrucker
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/07/1297654/-Only-206-House-Republicans-have-asked-to-be-on-their-Benghazi-committee#comments
This should be amazing to watch. I’m still sticking to my theory that this is going to blow up in Republicans faces just like the shutdown.
Riley's Enabler
@elmo: Oh, poor babies. We took in two feral kittens about 6 months ago, and sadly lost one. Our vet said “failure to thrive” is not uncommon in ferals. The other is growing like a weed and delights in playing with his big sister, a 40 pound rescue mutt (Riley of the BJ calendar). I hope you’re able to find a good foster; bottle feeding every 2 hours is really tough. Good luck!
Villago Delenda Est
@Hal: It’s probably going to be filled with frothing teabag scum who will all shit themselves repeatedly and then pat themselves on the back for what a great job they’ve done.
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: The causes you list have actual arguments and reasoning behind them. Shitty arguments and reasoning based largely on what can very generously be called “traditionalist” and “business-friendly” ideas (rather than say, bigoted and corrupt) but at least you can have an argument. The ACA thing has an argument history with it, one that’s almost exclusively ideological at this stage now that the practicalities have been demonstrated as workable, but it has an argument history. This Benghazi thing, I don’t even understand what the argument actually is. It’s the closest thing to a ‘wingularity’ that’s tried its damnedest to become a mainstream debate outside of Bircher circles.
Villago Delenda Est
@Soonergrunt:
However, it won’t be possible to prove that to a standard that will hold up in court, so the energy companies have once again pushed their externalities on the populace as a whole. Socialize the risk, privatize the profit. Standard corporate responsibility
What an oxymoron that is. “Corporate responsibility”, of course.
Roger Moore
@ranchandsyrup:
Could you give a hint about which state agency this is, or do you not want to make them any angrier?
WereBear
@Soonergrunt: Dear heavens. Glad you had a conscientious and ethical builder… wonder how many Republicans do not?
SiubhanDuinne
Never heard of Peppadews, so looked them up on The Googlez.
The only thing I know about the Limpopo is “the great, grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees,” so now I guess I once again have to spend the entire evening re-re-re-re- (ad infinitum) -reading my way through the Just-So Stories.
Do you see, O Best Beloved?
Roger Moore
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
I can’t read that thing; the formatting is screwed up so badly it’s practically illegible. Am I doing something wrong?
Mnemosyne
@Soonergrunt:
They’ve been talking about allowing fracking here in California, but I can’t imagine why anyone doesn’t realize that it’s a really bad fucking idea to destabilize the ground inside the Ring of Fire. For fuck’s sake.
ranchandsyrup
@Roger Moore: W&M. they can’t get much angrier. we got a bill through the legislature in 2012 that would have taken them out of testing specific products but governor brown vetoed it after consulting the unions. they’ve been on a tear since then. threatening criminal and civil liability for manufacturers that submit products to their test benches that fail the products–even though their internal reporting acknowledges that the test benches don’t accurately test.
in all other states, these products are certified by the manufacturer to national standards and can be installed. they test at the manufacturers using fricking laser beams. then they come out to CA and fail on antiquated testing benches. it’s like having a 3rd grader check a computer’s math.
Roger Moore
@Hal:
I agree with the guy who said they need Thunderdome to choose the lucky members.
Frankensteinbeck
@Comrade Nimrod Humperdink:
Anger is its own payoff. Attacking someone you don’t like based on imaginary scenarios in your head is its own payoff. Trolls right here at Balloon Juice demonstrate this. Never assume your opponent has a logical master plan or has thought things through. The conservative movement is about alcoholic style rages.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: Try this.
Also, here is a decent analysis of the state of play.
SiubhanDuinne
@Villago Delenda Est:
I usually save this until October, but since you insist:
Hal
HGTV has cancelled a planned real estate series by a couple of twin anti-gay bigots. What really shocks me about this story is HGTV has a huge gay audience, and shows like house hunters regularly feature gay couples. How did this get passed the powers that be?
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/07/meet-new-hgtv-reality-stars-who-hate-gays-muslims-divorce-and-public-schools/
Soonergrunt
@Mnemosyne: Oklahoma wasn’t perfectly geologically stable to begin with, but we’ve had more earthquakes of 3.0 or higher range in the last 15 years than in all of previous recorded history.
I lived through the Loma Prieta quake in 89. I can’t imagine anyone with half a brain thinking that fracking anywhere near all those fault lines is anything remotely like a good idea.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hal:
You know, like critical thinking skills that lead one to question the received dogma of a book of fairy tales.
SiubhanDuinne
@D58826:
Rand Paul is not a member of the House. He has fuck-all to say about who does or does not testify.
ETA: Calouste got there first.
Villago Delenda Est
@SiubhanDuinne: Rand Paul believes he is the avatar of John Galt, and therefore can command things to happen at his whim.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Mnemosyne:
Of course they’ll start fracking in California. The water that you can light that’s cropped up in other states and the fact that Oklahoma, of all places, has begun to suffer frequent quakes won’t deter them a bit. Wait’ll they do enough fracking to make New Madrid cut loose. None of the destruction will matter and the petro companies won’t pay a dime.
Remember, in this proud land of ours it is the God-given right of someone who owns something under the ground to tear up everything on top of the ground in order to get his stuff.
SiubhanDuinne
@Villago Delenda Est:
Rand Paul believes he and Hillary are going to be their respective parties’ nominees in 2016, and he’s indulging in a pre-emptive strike 2-1/2 years in advance of the Presidential election.
Calouste
@Hal:
Tell me again who was the governor to sign the “no fault” divorce law that spawned a wave of no-fault divorce laws in other states. I can’t really remember his name. He might have done something else later.
ranchandsyrup
@Villago Delenda Est: He has a group of Eddie Willers ready to do his bidding and they all think that they’ll get in the gulch. Not gonna happen.
Omnes Omnibus
@ranchandsyrup: I could never get further than about 20 pages into that book, I presume Eddie Willers is a toady of some sort in the “story?”
ranchandsyrup
@Calouste: the same guy who signed the assault weapons ban because of scary blah people?
ranchandsyrup
@Omnes Omnibus: he’s dagny taggart’s toadie. They let him into the Gulch because he was so loyal.
Trollhattan
@ranchandsyrup:
Is there a lab QAPP? Are they following it? Certifications up to date and whatnot? Do you send in lab blanks etc.?
Roger Moore
@ranchandsyrup:
So ISO9001 and NIST traceable isn’t good enough? That’s fucked up.
burnspbesq
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
I’m struggling to understand how there is subject-matter jurisdiction here. Certainly the order doesn’t do fuck-all to explain the basis for jurisdiction. How does a Federal court assume supervisory authority over a State investigation?
ranchandsyrup
@Trollhattan: Each county has its own testing facilities and neither the state nor the counties themselves have the $$ to get them up to code. We offered them a “faucet” in the bill that was vetoed that would have allowed them to fix their benches. So to answer your question, yes there are standards and certifications. But they aren’t held to them because they’re broke.
Omnes Omnibus
@burnspbesq: IIRC that is part of the defense.
ranchandsyrup
@Roger Moore: for these products there are NIST and AWWA national standards that aren’t good enough because “local control” is better and “self certifying” is bad.
burnspbesq
@Omnes Omnibus:
Has a motion to dismiss been filed?
Trollhattan
@ranchandsyrup:
Lovely, just lovely. Good thing you have some Professional Tax-Cutters there to help fix things right up.
ranchandsyrup
@Trollhattan: It should work out. We got the agency to agree on some legislation that has no opposition yet that will fix a bunch of issues. But until it passes, the counties are doing everything they can to stamp their feet in protest. Sigh. I love our state, but not everything about it.
lol chikinburd
@burnspbesq: 7th circuit just stayed the injunction less than 24 hours after it was issued. Womp womp.
Omnes Omnibus
@burnspbesq: Yep.
Omnes Omnibus
@lol chikinburd: There is more than a little slapdown in that order.
Morzer
Red State is having themselves all sorts of conniptions in comments over the Tillis win in the GOP primary in NC. Allegations of voter fraud, denunciations of Tillis as Kay Hagan without the skirt, evocations of the Lost Cause of Scott Brown etc etc. Good fun!
Funkula
@Aardvark Cheeselog:
Yeah. My take was going to be “good thing your sister is as aquatically illiterate as you are” but I decided that would just be too despicable.
burnspbesq
@Omnes Omnibus:
Wow. The order denying the motion to dismiss is laughably, any-one-L-could-blow-it-to-bits wrong.
Omnes Omnibus
@burnspbesq: FWIW the investigation was authorized by a unanimous vote of the Government Accountability Board which has the power to authorized outside investigations – they did just that in the case of the Waukesha County Clerk.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: Only one of the “authorizeds” needs a “d,” damn it.
different-church-lady
Spoilsport.
Betty Cracker
@Funkula: Despicable, no. Arrogant, dickish, supercilious, assholish, pompous, patronizing, condescending and smug — yes.