Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Come on, man.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Let me file that under fuck it.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

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

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

In my day, never was longer.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Afternoon Open Thread

Reader Interactions

168Comments

  3. 3.

    BGinCHI

    I hereby suggest that we re-brand the Tea Party as the 21st-century incarnation of the Know Nothing Party.

    I’d be surprised if someone had not already tried to do this from the left (hello, Bill Maher? get off the hookers and get to work). The Nativist, or Know Nothing Party arose in the 1850s as an anti-immigrant party. It was run mostly by white Protestant males.

    Sound familiar?

  5. 5.

    raven

    @Betty Cracker: We spent a fun 4th up there when Raven was still with us. Stayed in Black Mountain and there was this dog friendly joint that had a band and the lil fella sat at the table with us! We’re lying low, the girl may get going on some of the indigo dye projects she learned at art school.

  6. 6.

    piratedan

    house on the market and scouting the available homes for it’s eventual replacement. Job is going well, weight is coming off and doing my best to not stay in a state of perpetual outrage like my wingnut brethren.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: My grandparents used to live in Black Mountain! Asheville was once intolerably Jesusy (and still is, in some parts), but I heartily approve of its hippie metamorphosis.

  9. 9.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    Trying not to punch things as I find myself even more politically despondent than ever these days.

    Thankfully Youtube is here to distract me with things. On the table: “Sullivan” by Caroline’s Spine”. I still don’t know why my musical taste still seems to skew mid-to-late-90’s, but it’s there.

  10. 10.

    raven

    Check this out

    Picture this: Throngs of people, mid-stride on sidewalks. Men neatly suited and top-hatted, women outfitted in crisp skirts and smart hairdos. Cars wedged bumper to bumper along the streets, men running errands, women making social calls. A couple strolls by Hunt & Whitaker’s Loans while shoppers cross to the Jungle Food Store. 1

    It’s 1947. And this is Farish Street, in Jackson, Mississippi, during the post-World War II boom. This photo and others in the series portray Farish Street when that neighborhood served as a cultural and business hub for the African American population of central Mississippi. Born during Reconstruction, the Farish Street District was forged by black Mississippians searching for spaces to call their own. In its mid-twentieth century heyday, Farish Street was the largest economically independent African American community in Mississippi.

  11. 11.

    Iowa Old Lady

    Are there hedgehogs in the US? I mean naturally occurring, not imported as pets.

  12. 12.

    ranchandsyrup

    Heading up to family friends’ beach house in Capistrano Beach and another buddy is bringing down abalone from N. California that he caught. Gonna have a abalone fry and watch some fireworks. Another BBQ on Saturday. Def Leppard and KISS on Sunday.

  19. 19.

    Gin & Tonic

    A thoughtful article about the state of Ukrainian-Jewish relations these days, by an American Jew with extensive experience in the region. Useful counterpoint to the BiP/RT propaganda line.

  23. 23.

    boatboy_srq

    On-call this weekend. I think I’m having my barbecue with a side of BlackBerry.

  28. 28.

    BGinCHI

    @ranchandsyrup: OK, detente. Seriously, have a great weekend. That sounds pretty blissful and delicious.

    Mostly just cocktails, grilling, and some miles on the bike this weekend. And also playing with the kid in this fine weather.

  30. 30.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @ranchandsyrup:
    Cap Beach is just a handful of miles north of me. Nice place. And enjoy the abalone; it’s been years since I had them. I may even watch the fireworks this year. The city is shooting them off of the pier and that’s a block away from where Mary G and I live.

  34. 34.

    ranchandsyrup

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: the san clemente pier? cool. That’s a great town, even with the nixon ties. I hit up Pedro’s tacos quite a bit for fried chicken tacos. Hope you and Mary G have a good weekend and keep up the green thumbin’.

  35. 35.

    Libby's person

    I’m going to lay down for a bit with an ice pack on my sinuses. I’m inland from Hurricane Arthur, so we aren’t getting bad storms, but my sinuses are complaining bitterly about the barometric pressure changes anyway. Ugh! Oh, well, we do need the rain, and it’s a lot cooler now than it’s been.

  37. 37.

    JCT

    Our eldest is flying home from DC as a last minute surprise – haven’t seen her since Dec!

    BBQ for us as well – finally treated my husband to a mini version of his WSM, looking forward to pulled pork tomorrow. Problem is that everyone likes a different sauce…looks like I better make all 3 to maintain family harmony. And home made strawberry ice cream!

  38. 38.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Sitting here waiting for Arthur to hit. Skip and his crew are on the airwaves, one of whom who has been on the job since 3am. He has been saying all day that while people were expecting it to stay off the coast it has actually been shifting west, which means we might get a direct hit. I have to admit that there are times when being a local TV meteorologist seems like a cushy job but at times like this they really do stellar work and they put in the hours to keep their viewers safe. The bands of heavy rain keep coming through and there are numerous thunderstorms with the threats of tornadoes. I can handle hurricanes, at least you know they are coming and can prepare, tornadoes terrify me, there is virtually no warning and there is pretty much nothing you can do.

    As for the 4th I’m doing a typically English roast beef and all the trimmings for dinner to celebrate what my mum calls “the day we got rid of the whole disaster just waiting to happen”. :)

  41. 41.

    raven

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I just read the Island News from Hatteras and Okracoke is having second thoughts about the “voluntary evacuation”. Check this jackass commissioner”

    Contacted at his home, County Commissioner John Fletcher, who represents Ocracoke, said he advocated for the voluntary evacuation because “if you declare a mandatory evacuation on the biggest week of the year, then you have to lift it and stage re-entry.”

    People know the risk from all the talk on the television, he said.

    “They can make up their own minds,” he added.

    He said the strongest winds of this storm will be on the eastern side of it or out to sea.

    “We’re 13 to 14 miles west of Hatteras,” he said. “So, if (Arthur) skirts Hatteras, it’s still far off from us.”

    As for food, he said there’s enough food on this island to feed all the remaining tourists and residents for a week. He also doesn’t think Ocracoke needs a curfew. Some of the big businesses on the island have generators and could be open feeding people, but not if there’s a curfew, he said.

    “That’s just government interference we don’t need,” he said.

  42. 42.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    After a 24 hour drive, my sister will arrive tomorrow from Dallas. In tow will be her 3 kids and her new boyfriend whom the family has never met. His 3 kids will be part of the traveling gang as well. The maid in her blue outfit couldn’t make it b/c she died recently. (too soon?) But first, beers tonight with lifelong neighborhood friends that I don’t see enough. The book of faces is good for staying in touch with first friends at least.

  43. 43.

    Iden Hill

    A small group of us will be gaming the turning point of the American War of Independence. The Saratoga Campaign. I have the disreputable pleasure of assuming the role of Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne and look forward to crushing the rebel upstarts.

  45. 45.

    raven

    BRYAN, Texas | Police say a man arrested for drunken driving blamed a turtle, a cat, a squirrel and an overhanging tree in a Central Texas wreck.

    When police arrived at the scene just southeast of College Station on Tuesday, the 33-year-old slurring driver was still in his seat and unaware of his location. A witness told officers the driver passed him on the right shoulder, hit a guardrail, left the road and struck a tree.

    The Eagle of Bryan-College Station reports the North Zulch man told officers he swerved to avoid the critters and hit the tree.

    Police didn’t buy the explanation and charged the man with drunken driving.

  46. 46.

    ranchandsyrup

    @BGinCHI: yeah that place is cool. Last year I convinced the out of towners at the 4th of July festivities that the earthquake/tsunami speakers that dot the coast were really birdhouses for the swallows. Good times.

  47. 47.

    eric

    My new GF is coming to town to visit for 3.5 days so I am beyond jacked to the point where productivity is at Congressional levels. She is so amazing and too good for a poor wretch like me, but……………i am fine with it :)

    Enjoy the 4th and be safe!!

  48. 48.

    eric

    My new GF is coming to town to visit for 3.5 days so I am beyond jacked to the point where productivity is at Congressional levels. She is so amazing and too good for a poor wretch like me, but……………i am fine with it :)

    Enjoy the 4th and be safe!!

  49. 49.

    JCT

    @raven: Indeed – the big fight is usually mustard-based vs Lexington. There’s always some heretic that wants KC style on pulled pork, oh the humanity!

    And hah- we had to evacuate Myrtle Beach once – found a great BBQ place on the road that made up for it.

  51. 51.

    Hal

    I’m thinking of moving to Seattle. I moved back home 3 years ago, and once again I am ready to leave. I spent 14 years in San Francisco, minus a year in Atlanta, but SF is way too expensive now. My cousin and her husband are getting ready to move for the first time, and I have a feeling there may be a mass family exodus coming, since more than one person seems keen on getting the hell out of here. Upstate NY has never been my favorite place, even though my family lives here. But, there are always planes, trains and automobiles.

  52. 52.

    raven

    @JCT: We were coming back from our honeymoon on Hatteras (I caught a big yellowfin on the boat while the lady wrote thank you notes on the beach) and we locked raven in the car at a BBQ in the fucking middle of nowhere NC!

  53. 53.

    Phylllis

    Friends & their two sons coming over tomorrow. We’re doing burgers on the grill with tater salad and baked beans. Our little town does a first-rate fireworks show, and we can see it from the house.

  54. 54.

    StringOnAStick

    I just got back from a mountain bike ride; I should have gone sooner because of the 90 degree heat, but I have this compulsion to do my internet reading first thing. Of course now I’m feeling sunbaked and lazy. I got a bad stomach ache during my ride, which is a sure sign that my electrolytes are off, something I’m blaming on my recent 2 part dance with ugly prescription steroids to stop an allergic reaction.

    There was a new sign at the bike/hike park: “Stay on the trail or we’ll tell the Ranger. Signed, The Snakes” along with a nice drawing of a rattlesnake and a bull snake. They should have drawn the rattles better, but I agree with the sentiment and with the warning since that particular grassy park is rattlesnake-city, and the grasses are extra tall and thick this year. Letting your dog run off the trail is asking for a rattlesnake bite, and I know 2 people who have had their dogs bitten around here. One cost over $6,000 to save the dog, the other didn’t actually get any venom injected – apparently sometimes the snakes are so freaked out they forget to do it. I always see rattlesnakes at some point during mountain biking season around here, and I don’t go crashing around in my lavender bushes once it gets warm enough for them to be out.

    This weekend’s fun, fun, fun is refinishing our deck and pergola since hubby is on-call and he can’t be more than 60 minutes from a PC. Since we’re in CO I may go avail myself of some newly legal edibles in order to make the deck project a little more interesting.

  56. 56.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Betty Cracker: Will do Betty, I am an old hand at this now, (as no doubt are you), it appears that people are more worried about the storm surge (thanks to sea level rise) that could inundate many areas. We live away from the coast but in a swamp which is connected to the New River by several tributaries we could see flooding. I am well stocked with wine though so if we are besieged I am set :)

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne

    @Libby’s person:

    If you think it might help, some ENTs will tell you to alternate cold and hot packs.

    I am also prone to weather migraines, so I feel your pain. As far as I’ve been able to tell, it’s sudden humidity changes that do me in.

  65. 65.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: Ah Skip is now predicting a direct hit here in Jacksonville. Yippee! (or should I say fuck?). Luckily we have a generator, DH got a new gas tank and filled it today so I should have limited power even if it goes out. Charging my phone as we speak so if we do lose power I can at least let you guys know that I am okay. Did I mention we have lots of wine?

  66. 66.

    Trollhattan

    “Civil” engineer wanted to be uncivil.

    An out-of-work civil engineer from Pennsylvania was arrested early this morning on Seventh Avenue in the West Village with knives, assault rifles, loads of ammunition, and a terrifying note in his rented car. Police first saw 46-year-old Victor Greer driving the wrong way on Seventh Avenue at 1:30 a.m. After pulling him over, they saw two knives in the car, and a subsequent search turned up two rifles, a 9-millimeter handgun, a shotgun, and a bottle rocket. Scarier than the weapons, though, is the note suggesting what Greer might have done with them. “I want to die in combat,” the note reportedly said, “and want to go to heaven and meet god.”

    –NY Mag

    Bottle rocket?

  68. 68.

    Jay C

    Contemplating hitting the road for the Berkshires this evening on shlepping duty – : unfortunately, it will be just me: Mrs. Jay and the cats are staying behind in the City due to bad reactions to pain meds (my wife, not the cats), so I will be coming back tomorrow to pick them up – again. Fun on the road….at least NY traffic might not as bad tomorrow (HA!)

  70. 70.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Excellent! I was always amazed at the amount of rain those things dump when they make landfall. We were in a four-mile-diameter shallow dish and the water got deep then it stayed that way. Deep enough to require rowing to the chow hall in a rubber liferaft. Those were the days…

  71. 71.

    raven

    @jeffreyw: I was lookin at the weber water smokers. Home Depot and Lowes have that 10% vets discount this weekend but, damn, $270 is a lot.

  72. 72.

    JCT

    @raven: Holy crap, that’s the real deal, I bow in your general direction. And I’m partial to the version of that song by “X”, but it’s all good.

    When the kids were very young we went to the Outer Banks every year – stumbled on some incredible BBQ shacks in the middle of nowhere.

    And S&P for the win, haven’t seen that in years.

    We have the 22″ and now the 14″ Weber Smokey Mountains – my husband’s favorite things, no joke. They work like a charm and there’s a great forum filled with tips.

    I say treat yourself and go for it.

  74. 74.

    raven

    @JCT: I have the Brinkmann and I haven’t used it in a while (since I bought my weber gas grill). I went out to use it and, not only was it rusted to shit, it had a wasp’s nest in it. I probably would have gone for the 14″ but they didn’t have any at either store.

  78. 78.

    Morzer

    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/03/oklahoma-earthquakes-fracking-waste-water-wells

    Scientists have, for the first time, linked hundreds of earthquakes across a broad swath of Oklahoma to a handful of wastewater wells used by the fracking industry.

    The research, published in the journal Science on Thursday, said about one-fifth of the quakes that helped turn Oklahoma into the earthquake capital of America were caused by just four wells.

    Oklahoma has had about 240 magnitude 3.0 or higher earthquakes just since the start of the year. The state now has twice the number of 3.0 earthquakes as California.

    Before 2008, when the oil and gas boom got underway, the state averaged about one a year.

    The researchers from Cornell University and other institutions traced a large number of earthquakes through 2012 to just four wells, south-east of Oklahoma city.

  80. 80.

    opiejeanne

    @Iden Hill: be sure to take care of my great x 4 grandfather, John Freeman, and his 13 yo son, my great x 3 grandfather.

    And this time please try not to burn down their house, since John did volunteer for you as scouts.

  83. 83.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: For some reason the middle of our cul de sac always floods which usually results in people using boats to ferry people from our side of the street to the other to get to their houses. Luckily we have a canoe and can help if need be.

  86. 86.

    Steeplejack

    Just had a long, steady rain with a little thunder here in NoVA that dropped the temperature to 72°. Nice. I opened a couple of windows to let in some of that ion-laden air. We’re under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9:00 p.m., but right now everything’s calm. Birds are chirping, for what that’s worth.

    I have no big plans for the weekend. I think my brother and his Brazilian in-laws have gone to Rehoboth Beach for the holiday, so no get-together is planned. It’s just me and the housecat. I am thinking I would like to cook something semi-elaborate at some point. Or maybe just a steak and a gigantic baked potato. Haven’t had that in a long time.

    While I ponder these issues and catch up on Balloon Juice I am having a gin and tonic.

  87. 87.

    JCT

    @raven: I HATE stinging insects.

    Strangely enough out here (AZ) – Walmart has the 14″ WSM – just saying…

    I can’t believe you didn’t eat that pig. Sigh.

    My husband’s current challenge is brisket. So tough to do well and we spend enough time in Texas to be very spoiled.

  90. 90.

    Morzer

    @Steeplejack:

    It’s just me and the housecat. I am thinking I would like to cook something semi-elaborate at some point.

    As a passionate ailurodule, I read this combination of sentences with.. concern.

  97. 97.

    Morzer

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Greek

    ailouros = cat dule (from doulos) = slave

    ailurodule = cat-slave, as in, slave to or of cat(s), rather than slave who is a cat.

    cf. hierodule, iconodule

  99. 99.

    Morzer

    @Howard Beale IV:

    May you suffer a plague of emerods for even imagining that I would countenance the slaughter and consumption of a divine being! May Scalia perch on the ridge-beam of your dwelling and Alito haunt your every dream!

  100. 100.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Morzer:

    Lovely! Thank you! (I did google it; there was exactly ONE entry, and it didn’t have anything to do with cats.)

  101. 101.

    Patricia Kayden

    @raven: Thanks for the link. That whole article is interesting. Integration was a good thing but seems to have destroyed many Black businesses which thrived during segregation. A little ironic I guess.

  102. 102.

    Morzer

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Slightly to my surprise, I seem to have coined the term. The one other use online is a random part of a transformation of one string to another.

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Howard Beale IV:

    Thanks! I know ailurophile and -phobe, of course, but had never seen the -dule suffix. I am now better educated than I was 10 minutes ago.

  106. 106.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Morzer:

    Yup, that’s what Mister Google found for me, and it just didn’t fit with your horror about the possibility of Steep’s cooking his cat, however semi-elaborate the recipe.

    Congratulations on the neologism! Can you submit it to the OED or something?

  107. 107.

    Morzer

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I suppose I could try. I think it would have to be used a reasonable number of times before the OED bothered to include it though.

  108. 108.

    Morzer

    There is, apparently a term “ailuromane” meaning “one who is mad about cats”, also from a good pair of Greek roots. It seems to be more used in French than English.

  109. 109.

    scav

    @Morzer: Logic, fink! It keeps sneaking in. The real two have a ring to themselves, all the same. As to the former, Slave to Dueling would be entirely too much to hope for — there just not enough Musketeers to keep the breed going long.

    ETA OH HELP!!! I am already into Bionic Genetically Modified Alternatives: Aluminum ailuro-allium alleles!

  110. 110.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Morzer: Scalia and Alito haunting me? Bah. They’re fucking pikers. At least Nino serves a useful purpose on occasion-Alito is a grade A 100% stooge.

  111. 111.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @BGinCHI:
    Thomas can never be buggered at all.

    @Trollhattan:
    To carry his soul to heaven.

    @BBA:
    We live in a democracy. We are always at the mercy of a large section of the population deciding human sacrifice is virtuous behavior.

  112. 112.

    Anoniminous

    @raven:

    Heh.

    National Hurricane Center has moved the projected track west with the implication the strongest winds will be over the Outer Banks. I hope dipshit stays where he is and drowns.

  113. 113.

    Violet

    Wow, it is really raining where I am. Just throwing it down. The whole house is shaking from all the thunder.

  114. 114.

    Violet

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    As for the 4th I’m doing a typically English roast beef and all the trimmings for dinner to celebrate what my mum calls “the day we got rid of the whole disaster just waiting to happen”. :)

    Heh. That’s how it is with the English contingent in my household. Lots of calls for Americans to drink tea and pay their back taxes.

    Stay safe. Hope Arthur moves through quickly.

  116. 116.

    shelley

    Just waiting for ANOTHER massive thunder storm to roll on thru. Please, let the lights stay on.

  117. 117.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    One thing I have noticed during this hurricane, every county has a “pet friendly” shelter, one of the problems in the past is that people will not leave their homes and go to shelters because they would not leave their pets. During this hurricane there is at least one pet friendly shelter in each county around us. This is a huge leap forward for Emergency Management Services, they have finally figured out that unless you accommodate people and their pets then people are going to stay in potentially dangerous places. DH and I would NEVER think of leaving our pets in our home and evacuating without them. We have the truck staged in the back of the driveway, the dogs can sit in the front with us, I have enough cat boxes to pack all of the cats in the bed of the truck. If we have to get out, we can do it.

  119. 119.

    Violet

    @Litlebritdifrnt: That’s a lesson learned from hurricanes in the past decade. So many people refused to leave their pets. I’m so glad emergency managers have realized they need to accommodate pets to get humans to leave and be safe.

  120. 120.

    Steeplejack

    @Elmo:

    Well, you’re in “southern,” I’m in “northern.” There’s your problem. Duh.

  122. 122.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Violet: I find it hilarious that the drink of choice in the Southern US is tea, sure it is iced tea, but it is still tea.

  123. 123.

    MattR

    @BBA: @Frankensteinbeck: In addition to what Frankensteinbeck said, I think it could argued that it will be harder for Republicans to restrict access to contraception through a single payer system because it would affect so many more people. It would outrage many of those who were annoyed by the Hobby Lobby ruling but didn’t care much because it didn’t affect them personally.

    The elephant in the room that Klein ignores is abortion. Having government funded abortions is a huge obstacle on the road to a single payer system and those would be the first services Republicans try to cut before they set their sights on contraception

  124. 124.

    Trollhattan

    @Howard Beale IV:
    Is that more worser than West Nile? We’ve had serial fatalities from that, and two nights ago a helicopter visit spraying some crap for mosquito control–in the middle of the city, no less. Lovely.

  125. 125.

    David Koch

    So today GOP establishment propaganda organ Politico is pushing a 3rd Mittens’ candidacy.

    It’s like a dream come true. You can smell their desperation.

  127. 127.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Morzer:

    I’ll help.

    ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule ailurodule

    Oh, you say the OED wants it used in a sentence? Very well.

    “Ailurodule” is a nice word. “Ailurodule” is an interesting word. “Ailurodule” is a funny word. “Ailurodule” is a new word. “Ailurodule” is a Greek-rooted word. “Ailurodule” should be in the next edition of the OED.

  128. 128.

    Anoniminous

    @Trollhattan:

    And what is this “rain” of which many speak?

    A potentially dangerous weather condition where the corrosive chemical compound dihydrogen oxide falls from the sky.

    ETA: The word of the day is “ailurodule.” Use it wisely.

  129. 129.

    Roger Moore

    @Trollhattan:

    And what is this “rain” of which many speak?

    It’s when water falls out of the sky. There are claims it used to be observed occasionally here in Southern California, but those are just rumors.

  131. 131.

    WaterGirl

    Just found out that I am supposed to bring homemade ice cream to dinner tomorrow night. I have an ice cream maker and the silver thing that goes in the freezer, but it’s been about a decade since I made homemade ice cream.

    Does anyone have a great recipe?

  132. 132.

    Suffern ACE

    @David Koch: really. Oh lord. Let’s have a Clinton/Kerry vs Romney/Bush fight, proving once and for all that we haven’t had a new idea about leaders since 1980.

  133. 133.

    Steeplejack

    DVR (Semi-)Alert!

    TCM is running a Mae West marathon tonight, starting at 8:00 EDT: I’m No Angel, She Done Him Wrong (both 1933, both with a very young Cary Grant), Belle of the Nineties (1934), My Little Chickadee (1940, with W.C. Fields) and The Heat’s On (1943).

    Semi-alert because I don’t think a lot of West’s movies hold up very well. She was obviously a force of nature, as well as a huge box-office hit on the New York stage, but the movies exhibit all too well the problem of “WTF can we do with her that won’t get us censored in an instant?!” If I had to pick one, I’d go with She Done Him Wrong. You would think that pairing her with W.C. Fields in My Little Chickadee would be pure gold, but my memory is that you come to it with inflated expectations that are disappointed. But it has been a long time since I’ve seen it. I will probably give it a look.

    Which brings up the question of Fields’s complete absence from TCM. I can’t remember the last time they ran one of his movies. I don’t know if it’s a rights issue or what. Okay, I can dimly remember seeing The Bank Dick and maybe a few of the shorts. But he doesn’t come up nearly often enough.

  134. 134.

    PurpleGirl

    @Howard Beale IV: He did not say anything about making real Chinese food.

    One time my friend’s cat (I think it was Dragon Fly) was walking around on top of the stove while we were trying to cook dinner. Maria picks up Dragon Fly, looks directly at his face and says “You too could be Real Chinese food.” and plops him on the floor. We kept having to shoo him off the stove and out of the kitchen.

  135. 135.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Trollhattan: As far as treatment goes, West Nile and Chikungunya share the same regimen: supportive treatment only, although West Nile has claimed several lives in its most advanced stage.

    The US DOD considered using Chikungunya as a biological weapon, per Wikipedia.

  137. 137.

    Violet

    @Roger Moore: Oh, they are more than rumors, good sir. The old timers…they know. Once in Southern California there would be mighty rains–so much water coming from the sky that lakes would fill, rivers would overflow and even the great steed of the City of Angels, the automobile, would be unable to pass through the flooded streets.

    I know this sounds like the stuff of dreams, but the old timers remember. They may not admit it readily. They’ll look down, mutter under their collective breaths and exchange knowing looks. They know you won’t believe them. Why, really, should they waste their energy trying to convince you–you young ones who have never known anything but sun and dust. You don’t believe the stories. They’re fiction to you. But the old timers know. Once–once there was rain.

  138. 138.

    Howard Beale IV

    @PurpleGirl: I saw an HBO documentary that showed how they prepped various animals for feeding the populace: they showed a live cat getting dumped in a boiling cat and a snake’s head being cut off with scissors.

  141. 141.

    PurpleGirl

    @Patricia Kayden: A very good book for further information on pre-integration African-American communities: I’ve Known Rivers | Lives of Loss and Liberation by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot (1994, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company). I bought this very soon after publication and in hard-cover. This is in my permanent collection. (Every few years I do weed out some books.)

  142. 142.

    D58826

    @Howard Beale IV: Latest from huffington and NY times WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court on Thursday allowed, at least for now, an evangelical college in Illinois that objects to paying for contraceptives in its health plan to avoid filling out a government document that the college says would violate its religious beliefs.
    The justices said that Wheaton College does not have to fill out the contested form while its case is on appeal but can instead write the Department of Health and Human Services declaring that it is a religious nonprofit organization and making its objection to emergency contraception. The college does provide coverage for other birth control.

    Isn’t this the way the Alito solution was to be triggered? While it isn’t a final decision, my understanding from reading these things over the years is the court will issue the stay if the court thinks the requesting g party will prevail. Sounds like the boys are sending up a real bright flare. The slope gets slipperier

  144. 144.

    PurpleGirl

    @Morzer: That sounds better than “crazy cat lady.” It can be gender neutral and apply to people like our blog host.

  145. 145.

    Violet

    @WaterGirl: I’ve had good luck with recipes from Smitten Kitchen. This is the list of posts with the tag Ice cream/Sorbet. The ice cream recipes seem to start on Page 2 of those posts. (Click on “Previous Entries” on the bottom of the page.) Haven’t tried an ice cream recipe, but they sound interesting.

  146. 146.

    Howard Beale IV

    @D58826: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned:

    Even assuming that the accommodation somehow burdens Wheaton’s religious exercise, the accommodation is permissible under RFRA because it is the least restrictive means of furthering the Government’s compelling interests in public health and women’s well-being. Indeed, just earlier this week in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.[…] the Court described the accommodation as “a system that seeks to respect the religious liberty of religious nonprofit corporations while ensuring that the employees of these entities have precisely the same access to all [Food and Drug Administration (FDA)]-approved contraceptives as employees of companies whose owners have no religious objections to providing such coverage.” […] And the Court concluded that the accommodation “constitutes an alternative that achieves all of the Government’s aims while providing greater respect for religious liberty.” […] Those who are bound by our decisions usually believe they can take us at our word. Not so today. After expressly relying on the availability of the religious-nonprofit accommodation to hold that the contraceptive coverage requirement violates RFRA as applied to closely held for-profit corporations, the Court now, as the dissent in Hobby Lobby feared it might, see ante, at 29–30 (GINSBURG, J., dissenting), retreats from that position. That action evinces disregard for even the newest of this Court’s precedents and undermines confidence in this institution.

    Et Tu, SCOTUS?

  148. 148.

    JCT

    @WaterGirl: I agree with Violet re: Smitten Kitchen. The NYT yesterday devoted most of the Dining and Wine section to Ice Cream. There is even a useful video as making the custard base properly is non trivial. I was planning on trying a couple of the recipes this weekend.

  150. 150.

    Roger Moore

    @WaterGirl:

    Does anyone have a great recipe?

    I have a recipe for mint frozen yogurt that I’m very fond of:

    1 scant quart milk (full fat, non-homogenized preferred)
    8 oz fresh mint
    2 oz yogurt
    1/2 tsp salt
    1 cup simple syrup
    1 cup corn syrup

    Clean the mint and chop it coarsely. Heat the milk to scalding hot (85°C, 185°F) on the stove. Add the chopped mint and allow the milk to re-heat to scalding. Stir. Allow the milk/mint mixture to sit on the stove top for at least 15 minutes, then filter the milk into a 1 quart container. The milk should be pale green from the mint. If necessary press on the remaining mint to get a full quart of milk out.

    Allow the milk to cool to about body temperature (~37°C, 100°F). Stir in the yogurt as a starter. Insulate the milk or, better, place it in a yogurt maker or other controlled temperature location. Allow it to sour into yogurt, usually overnight.

    Combine the warm yogurt, salt, and syrups and mix well. Place the mixture in the freezer with occasional stirring until it nearly starts to freeze. Use the mixture in the ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. Makes approximately 1 3/4 quarts.

  151. 151.

    D58826

    @Howard Beale IV: The Taliban 5 will decide each case based on what their corporate/religious masters dictate. period. full stop.

    The only surprise is that they issued the order this quickly. I think most people assumed that the oral arguments would be held next year and then Alito would forget everything he wrote about the backup plan and decide for the religious folks.

  153. 153.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Howard Beale IV: I lived in Hong Kong for two years and during that time visited China. It got to the point that my best friend had to walk in front of me so that I did not have to witness incredible animal cruelty first hand, we were in a market in China and she shoved me back from a stall that displayed boiled dogs. We were at the local market in Hong Kong and I had to witness a cook slicing a live crab into fours and then tossing it into a pot preparing it for a customer.

  154. 154.

    Trollhattan

    @Violet:
    Gosh Miss Violet, that sounds so…grand! Water from the sky, why, that’s as crazy as speaking through tubes!

  156. 156.

    Bob In Portland

    @Gin & Tonic: Gee, I hope you’re right. How about for ethnic Russians? Things hopeful on that front? And what about the ceasefire agreed to by Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany? Where’s the US? They bought the coup, don’t they get a say?

    By the way, where’d you pick up your Ukrainian language skills?

  157. 157.

    MattR

    Who loves wet dog smell? Thought I saw a window of no rain to run out to toss the trash and let Ellie take a quick pee. I was wrong. Very wrong.

  161. 161.

    scav

    @Violet: Hey, I share the same delusional memories! I’m suddenly so Old timey I can visualize physically lifting and filling sandbags building walls to protect our very own home from flooding (The extraneous detail that the Army Corps of Engineers put that exact kink in the dyke presumably to counter-act the stream-straightening they created elsewhere that also worsened things is a fascinating grace note of fantasy. Second mod at least provided good sledding. First meant we were sandbagging behind the fire dept.) In Southern California no less! Armchair-size boulders in roads from flooding before that. I’ll now retire to my rocking chair and reminisce about the burro-trains up the canyon. Mutter about gold-dust and lost lapis mines and the big one of ’36 that took out the glass dance floor. All of you youngsters off of my scree slope.

  162. 162.

    Morzer

    @Violet:

    I read this really cool story once about how there were huge reservoirs and water flowed from them and came out of taps and shower-heads in your home. I can’t remember who the author was now. Bruce Sterling maybe? Or was it Neal Stephenson?

  163. 163.

    D58826

    I know the D’Souza ad was mentioned on a previous threat but does his photo share a resemblance to the hedgehog that started this threat?i

  164. 164.

    Violet

    @scav: Those original Levi’s jeans we wore back in the prospecting days sure were uncomfortable, weren’t they?

    @Morzer: I think it was even older than that. Isaac Asimov, maybe?

    @D58826: What did the poor hedgehog do to deserve such an unflattering comparison?

  166. 166.

    Betty Cracker

    @Litlebritdifrnt: We haven’t found a chicken-friendly shelter yet, but one year when a hurricane threatened, we thought of disguising them! As what, I’m not sure. Parrots maybe? Glad you’ve got supplies. Keep us updated!

  168. 168.

    SectionH

    I should change my nym to “Pirate Scum” (as in “late again, Pirate Scum” – from RotK), but must thank Betty for the hedgehog picture. I am passing that along to a good friend who loves the little critters. She’s had more than her share of worry and stress for years, and a little squee-thing can’t hurt.

    Might post again after reading all the comments – hah, which might be a reason I’m so late so often, but that’s the way I roll. I’m home alone, well except for the kittehs, until Sunday night. Mr S is in Salt Lake City, working’, and doesn’t need my help, thank FSM.

Comments are closed.