I was hoping to take today off, but that didn’t pan out, so I’ve got a normal workday scheduled interspersed with kitchen prep work and cooking for tomorrow. We’re having Thanksgiving at my sister’s house this year, so I am happily spared the chore of cleaning my house for company.
It continues to be rainy and windy, and now there’s a chill in the breeze; temperatures won’t get out of the 60s today. My dogs are disappointed about missing another morning walk. Here are their “walk me” faces:
I’m dreading a trip to the grocery store later. It will be like the fall of Saigon in there. Now that my daughter is old enough to drive, I could send her. But I’m not sure she could handle a day-before-Thanksgiving grocery run solo. She’s just a baby, damn it!
What are y’all up to today?
Morzer
I am discovering that Don Lemon got badly owned by Jesse Jackson:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jesse-jackson-explains-ferguson-don-lemon
Betty Cracker
@Morzer: Lemon got squeezed pretty hard by Van Jones yesterday too, according to a clip I saw earlier. Maybe he should have a nice steaming mug of STFU to spare himself further embarrassment.
Phylllis
We’re home for Thanksgiving for the first time in several years. And I’ll be making a grocery/wine shop run myself. After taking a two-hour certification exam. Calculating Net Present Values. Woo hoo.
Mustang Bobby
Don Lemon is the Steve Urkel of cable news.
I am at work today, but the e-mail server for the school district is on the fritz, can I go home?
Betty, it’s warm and humid down here, and as I was driving in I saw cloud lightning that looked like distant artillery to the north. Who are you all fighting with over there?
Morzer
@Betty Cracker:
I am guessing that wherever Don Lemon went to school is investigating whether they can deny that he graduated.
HeartlandLiberal
@Morzer: I just looked up how many Americans today are under age 40. 60% of Americans are younger than 40. That means they were not even born when those events in our history took place. Combine this with the abysmal failure of our schools to teach basic history, and the pressures from the right to simply remove all reference to uncomfortable events which do not suit a narrative from the history books, and I guess I am not surprised Lemon is an ignorant buffoon.
debbie
There’s been a run on brussels sprouts this year for some reason. I had to go to 2 stores to get the quantity I needed. That’s never happened before.
OzarkHillbilly
Do you here that, Betty? It’s the worlds tiniest violin…
JPL
This is a day of cooking and cleaning. There’s a farm to market restaurant that I purchase my pies from. This year I decided to buy a few side dishes from them also. I’ll still make the turkey, stuffing, fruit salad and peas, and potatoes. The sweet potatoes are from my garden.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: What? I can’t hear you over the air conditioning.
OzarkHillbilly
Going up to STL today with the hopes of selling my old truck to an old black guy who really wants it but needs a loan and the loan company won’t loan him they money with out looking at the truck and the paper work etc (surprise surprise). I know, I’m a sucker. But I was going up there to work today anyway so the only thing I’ll be out is the 20 bucks I put into the tank instead of riding with my wife.
JMG
The food is all bought and stored. Today there will be some prep work, such as breaking up the bread for the oyster stuffing, but mostly there will be dealing with the vague but maybe as much as six inches amount of snow we’re supposed to get. My daughter, who works in the wine business, has to drive here from Southie after 9 p.m. as it’s a busy day for their place. Luckily, she has our old Subaru Forester and all-wheel drive.
JPL
@Mustang Bobby: This is the time of year, that my monthly utility bills are quite low. That’s something you can’t say. bah humbug
raven
Back to the water when it warms up to 50.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: I guess you can’t hear the violin either. May you be cursed with earworms entitled Journeys Best from the 70s and 80s
Mustang Bobby
@JPL: I’m on budget billing so it’s the same year around, and it’s about $100 a month from Florida Power & Light. During the winter the A/C comes on only when I need it to get the humidity out of the house. On the rare occasions when I need to get warm, I put on a sweatshirt.
Morzer
@OzarkHillbilly:
There’s always The Duggar Family Sings Sound Of Music.
MattF
I’m at home because of the weather uncertainty– not to mention that if I went to work I’d be the only one there. I’m stocked up for the weekend, otherwise no big plans.
OzarkHillbilly
@Morzer: Ooooooohhh…. that’s even better, cruel AND unusual.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: Backatcha with Pat Boone Croons Led Zeppelin.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: @Mustang Bobby: Here’s a nice song from the sixties about sunshine. link
enjoy
mine appears to be the anti-duggers
Betty Cracker
@Mustang Bobby: Totally different climate there in South Florida than in the central and northern parts that I inhabit. My favorite story from the freeze y’all had a couple of years back was when some dude gathered up cold-stunned iguanas that had fallen from the bushes and put them in his car to sell at a pet shop, but then they woke up when his heater warmed them and started crawling around in his car. I still get a chuckle imagining that scene!
burnspbesq
Maybe I haven’t looked in the right places yet, but nothing i have read in the aftermath of the grand jury’s failure to indict Darren Wilson has talked about how appallingly pro-shooter Missouri law on self-defense is (and even more so when the shooter is a cop)
I was shocked when i read the model jury instruction. Pretty much the only thing that is legally relevant is the shooter’s subjective belief as to whether he/she was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm. That belief can be (as i think Wilson’s belief was) totally fucking nuts, but if it is sincerely held there is almost no chance that the shooter will be convicted.
That really, really needs to change. Not that i have any hope that it will.
Elmo
Working from home at boss’s insistence: the office will close at 1pm and he says there’s no point me coming in for a half-day, as my commute is horrific. Good boss.
Of course, he also knows me well enough to know that I’ll both get more done AND won’t stop working at 1pm just because the office is closing. Clever boss.
Botsplainer
Green beans are a huge problem this year. Can’t be found.
raven
@Elmo: People don’t believe them when I tell them I’m more productive at home. Of course I’m in year 11 so I don’t know what going into an office would be like.
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
How are those different from their “feed me,” “pet me” and “let’s ride in the car” faces?
satby
I made my turkey Sunday because I’m staying home this year, the son who usually cooks has to work Thanksgiving night, catering pizzas to all the big box stores opening late that night or in the wee hours for Black Friday. So I’m already on day 3 of turkey leftovers, and it’s about time for soup. I’m looking forward to a quiet day at home on the holiday, I have several soap orders to make. Puttering around in the kitchen making soap is my happy place, and the dogs will make sure I take regular breaks. But today… work.
raven
@satby: Gumbo
satby
@raven: biggest adjustment this year for me is that I have to drive to work now after spending the last 7 years as a home office based worker. Not fun, and it feels like I waste so much time driving.
satby
@raven: yum! Good call!
Mustang Bobby
@Betty Cracker: The wildlife agents actually warn us about falling iguanas during “cold” snaps (scare quotes since I spent a number of years where the seasons were Winter, July, and August). Apparently they weigh enough to cause injury to those they land on.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: Damn! How am I gonna bet that???
Bill Cosby does Aretha Franklin’s “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”.
burnspbesq
Looks like it’s going to be a dismal and dreary day in Lake Wales. A good day for writing nasty letters to the people who looted the joint venture my client was in.
raven
@satby: Before they decided on virtual office I was driving and hour-hour 1/2 every day for no reason except someone decided that we needed to be in a certain facility. I left home pissed and got back pissed.
burnspbesq
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VufacXIcHuA
p.a.
@burnspbesq: It will change as soon as black cops start shooting white j-walkers.
Betty Cracker
@Mustang Bobby: The Middle Keys have been taken over by iguanas. There were several at the house we rented awhile back, one of which must’ve weighed 25 pounds or so — he was over three feet long, counting the tail. I’d hate to be walking under a tree and have that big bastard fall on my head!
Iowa Old Lady
@satby: I recommend audio books from the library. I don’t even have to leave my house to get them, just download them onto my computer and then load them onto my Ipod. They saved my sanity when I commuted 100 miles. Look in the kids section. Harry Potter books are great read aloud.
We’re going to our son’s in Chicago tomorrow morning so I don’t even have to cook.
Baud
@p.a.:
Not really. They can easily prosecute black cops under the current legal standard.
Punchy
@burnspbesq: I figured that was the legal “standard” in most states nowadays. Especially so if the shootee is/was a Blah, in which case “fearing for one’s safety” is considered automatic matter of fact amongst white-based juries.
Mustang Bobby
@Betty Cracker: I hear that if you saute them with caramelized onions, they can serve four.
burnspbesq
@Baud:
I’m sure you have a long list of such cases that you’ll be happy to post.
The law on the use of force by cops isn’t about black or white. It’s about blue.
Baud
@burnspbesq:
Black cops shooting white jaywalkers? No, I thankfully don’t have a list.
Waratah
I am staying with my daughter, for a while to be close to doctors, and we decided since there would only be four for thanksgiving, and only three Restaurants in a large city on I 40 we would have a Mexican Fiesta.
We had ordered green chili enchiladas from a bistro that also caters and we’re trying to decide what else. Friend of my daughter suggested a close by Mexican grocery store, who made really good barbecoa and she said refied beans. We ordered barbecoa, beans and rice and queso,and their fresh tortilla. We will make guacamole, chop onions and cilantro.
Steeplejack
The holiday hijinks have already started here in NoVA. The plane carrying aged mother and RWNJ brother from Las Vegas to Washington National got diverted to Chicago last night, which sent them into a tizzy. They hate to fly and are not good travelers. (When any disruption arises they sort of go into preëmptive victim mode and focus on how the system is screwing with them. Almost but not quite the “Thanks, Obama!” zone.) I got a text from the brother at one point wanting me to send him the telephone number for the airline because he “couldn’t get it on Google.” Then later he called and wanted me to somehow “confirm” their new reservations for today. When I asked him how I would even do that and wouldn’t he get text confirmations on his (late-model) cell phone, he got testy and said he’d call me from the airport this morning. I don’t know if he was having trouble getting a wi-fi connection or what, but these weird angles always come up when they have a problem. They seem to live in a Joe Btfsplk world.
So now they are supposed to get into National at 1:10 p.m. It’s already raining here, and sometime today it’s supposed to change to snow, although the predicted amount keeps changing. I don’t think it will be much, if any—it’s too warm—but it’s still mucky weather and the traffic will be horrible. I will deliver them to Sighthound Hall, my other brother’s palatial Arlington manse, where they will be staying for the duration. I am so grateful that I will be able to slink home to my rooms in Threadkill Lane when the family togetherness gets too intense.
And at some point today—probably in an hour or so—I have to make a grocery run just to get what I need to make a sweet-potato casserole, which I guess I will make tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. Will use an old recipe from Southern Living. You can’t go wrong with the classics. With foodie brother and a CIA-graduate friend in charge of the meal, I get relegated to lesser side dishes. At least I wasn’t told to bring the cranberry sauce, which has happened to a couple of people in the past. And I did make the titanic liquor run to Total Wine yesterday, so there’s that.
I hope all Juicers have safe travel and a good Thanksgiving!
burnspbesq
@Punchy:
That’s only half the problem. In Missouri, justification isn’t an affirmative defense. The absence of justification is an element of the offense, which the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Given what i know of the evidence, i think i would have voted to indict for either first-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter; I’m sold on specific intent to kill but wavering on premeditation. But given the way the deck is stacked, i doubt Wilson would have been convicted.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Probably a long day at work today – after that, 4 day weekend! Woot! The snow will likely miss us, but it looks like we’ll have coldish rain most of the day. We’ll probably be going to a 100 year old hole-in-the-wall local restaurant tomorrow – there are just 2 of us, and we don’t need a mountain of leftovers, so I won’t be cooking dinner (even though I’ve enjoyed doing so in the past).
Enjoy, everyone. Stay safe.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@satby:
My “quick” car safety inspection ran long yesterday and I ended up getting caught in rush-hour traffic for the first time in forever. I got that strong feeling of “Man, I do not miss this at all!”
beth
Our Thanksgiving trip got cancelled due to lots of stupid reasons so today I’ll be out buying the last few items I forgot to get yesterday and making desserts. At least I don’t have to “company clean” the house.
I would not be able to resist those adorable “walk me” faces. So cute!
ThresherK
“Trip to the grocery store later“?
The grocery store trips were performed yesterday. It’s my Thanksgiving week tradition to stay out of the groceries today.
Kathleen
I’m visiting my daughter and family in Tampa and recovering from the worst bout of flu in 6 years. We’re seeing lots of rain and expecting cooler temps later today. My son in law is a great cook so I eagerly await tomorrow’s repast.
Woodrowfan
Dc is supposed to get snow today, and it’s the day before Thanksgiving, so I bet the groceries will look like the scene in “the Day After” when the sirens go off…
Poopyman
Sitting here at work, having just listened to the govvies in the next cubicle. The one seemed skeptical about Ferguson, but the other was pretty insistent that Michael Brown was a thug and “probably in a gang”. It went downhill from there. I had to get up and take a walk.
I’ll leave y’all with this. If I don’t get back on tonight, Happy Thanksgiving!
Hunter
@Botsplainer: Wow — my local Jewel has been selling fresh green beans at 99 cents a pound for weeks now.
Other than that, I’m trying to decide whether or not to do anything for Thanksgiving. Family’s all in Florida and friends are scattered around the country, so I’m winging it on my own. I may buy a bit of turkey and cook it, and I’ll treat myself to a pumpkin pie. Probably just as well I have no festivities to attend — I have writing to do which I’m way behind on.
Meanwhile, the temperature may break 30 today, and the forecast says “mostly cloudy.” “Hah!” say I — unless, of course, you consider unbroken gloom “mostly.”
Oh, and add two more states to the equal marriage column — both Arkansas and Mississippi had their same-sex marriage bans overturned yesterday. Mississippi!!?!
Thunderbird
Short day here in the cube farm, closing up at 3.
For the past couple years, we’ve decided to go to the local restaurant in the Northern IN town where my parents and brother and his wife now reside. Mom just didn’t see the point of running herself ragged and having a pile of leftovers afterwards, so we go have a nice buffet lunch and be done with it.
Hopefully, if not for my sake, at least for my 90 year old grandfather’s, my mother and my brother can make it through one goddamn meal without causing a scene. I’m not optimistic. Too bad the restaurant doesn’t serve booze. Family holidays have gone from enjoyable to anxiety-inducing pretty quickly.
Amir Khalid
@Poopyman:
A sensible judge would toss the charge and yell at the cops for wasting the court’s time. If you can’t tell a banana from a gun, you probably lack the skill of observing stuff which is important for police work. If you can, and you’re charging a guy with a felony just because he pointed a banana at you, you are not mature enough for police work.
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
If he’d pointed a donut at the cops he’d probably have to be fitted with a prosthetic hand.
kindness
Those pups faces…I don’t know Betty. You know them better than we do but I think those faces could just as easily been ‘Drop something big, juicy and tasty on the floor Mommy. We’ll clean it up for you even if you don’t want us eating it.’
The Ancient Randonneur
Hey Betty it seems The Smoking Gun has linked to that Witness #40 statement you brought to our attention. Unfortunately that author doesn’t seem to have read it through, or are being willfully (or maybe selectively) ignorant about the veracity of the story. Newsmax then links to THAT story as more proof that Michael Brown got what he had coming. I can’t bring myself to link to the Newsmax story but you can find it quite easily. Of course, every mouth breathing racist f*uckstick is commenting on the story.
J R in WV
I not doing anything special this week, really.
Neighbors are having a neighborhood dinner Saturday, as he works nights Sunday-Thursday. So I’ll make a casserole with veggies, probably cauliflower/cheese, maybe a pie. Or Tamara’s cranberry cake from the other day.
I do have a pork tenderloin, one of the small1.7 pound ones, and I’ll do something with that tonight. Or tomorrow.
I’m trying to avoid the news, all of it. I’ve decided I need to lay off that stuff for a couple of years and take care of myself. Mentally, I mean. All the news is bad, don’cha know?
I got some pot-boiler novels to read, and stacks of others to re-read, and the web has lots of stuff other than politics and news…
Got flu and pneumonia vaccinations yesterday, wow are my shoulders sore today!! Very unusual, I normally don’t notice a thing from those shots.
Bob In Portland
Another fixed case.
Bob In Portland
Meet the men put in power with your tax dollars. A shining moment in European history indeed.
Bob In Portland
The ADL is willing to look the other way from some Nazis.
Another Holocene Human
@Morzer: At least Clown Lemon didn’t shout him down.
Jesse Jackson was speaking the truth. Good on him.
Another pet peeve, some assholes think “no justice, no peace” is some sort of threat. Actually, it’s just an acknowledgement of what happens to those who are denied justice. They know no peace.
delk
We are going to a restaurant tomorrow, but we hit the grocery store this morning to load up on snacks and food to get us through the weekend. The store was deserted at 9 am. No line at the deli counter, bakery, meat section, or check out line.
Another Holocene Human
@Betty Cracker: That clip sucked, Lemon just yelled over Van Jones the entire time. I think Lemon is a budding wingnut for real and hating Van Jones, the “communist” is like an article of faith. I love Van Jones, everything he tries to do is create something positive and he gets cursed, disrespected, and turned into a RW symbol of evil.
Another Holocene Human
@Mustang Bobby: Insult to Steve Urkel.
Another Holocene Human
@p.a.: jaywalkers in cul-de-sacs in Grosse Pointe.
Another Holocene Human
@Baud: Black cop stalked and shot and killed and innocent civilian in PG County in the late 1990s. Huge outrage but I don’t know if they ever got around to prosecuting him. Victim was Black too obvs despite being middle class he must have been guilty of something.
They shoot Black cops too. And get off. Happened fairly recently in NY, highly decorated Black cop shot by some D-bag from Long Island. And very famously in Boston in a notorious case with notoriously bullshit testimony by the white cops.
Another Holocene Human
@Steeplejack: It takes twenty minutes to make cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries, sugar, and water. I don’t understand why people complicate it because cranberries are delicious! I love it all year round … very similar to lingonberry sauce or jam or sour cherry … okay sour cherry is slightly better, good on pork, but cranberry is acceptable anywhere you would use sour cherry imo.
so I don’t understand why somebody would be told to ‘bring it’ and I like it warm so why set it in the fridge, waste of time
Another Holocene Human
@burnspbesq: burnsie I agree and the MO tweeters were talking specifically about that law right after it happened. In fact the “law enforcement sources” were talking about it too. That’s why they kept talking about that ‘rellos beef and tried to exaggerate the incident. This was all be discussed the day of.
Given those facts it’s been amazing how fucking incompetent Nixon and others are. They’re shitty liars and it shows. Watch how competent GOP liars in Florida do. MO is stuck on stupid. You don’t create a spectacle for the international press, get caught in dumb lies … no you pretend to follow a process and then let your pro-cop and SYG stupid laws do their magic. McCullough has a modus operandi and he didn’t waver from it so now the whole world knows this is how he kills cases against cops.
Missouri Dem Party is finished, and Nixon and McCollough killed it. Way to go. The rump will still be fighting with more progressive voter factions for control of city councillor seats and stuff for years. MO and a number of other states need a Democratic Freedom Party.