Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

This blog will pay for itself.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Finding joy where we can, and muddling through where we can’t.

Everybody saw this coming.

How stupid are these people?

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Second rate reporter says what?

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

“But what about the lurkers?”

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

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Archives for 2014

Nap Time (Open Thread)

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IMG_3461.JPG

I’m trying to get shit done today because tonight is the annual drunken Christmas cookie baking marathon at my sister’s, and I’ll be completely useless for the next two days.

But my dogs are a terrible influence. They’ve pinned me to the sofa. Resistance is futile.

ETA: Also, I’m so pissed — my kiddo’s Christmas surprise got ruined. I got her a rather extravagant gift this year — a nice quad copter drone with an HD video camera that you can control with an iPhone or iPad. It’s a stupidly expensive present, but she’s a great kid, and I knew she’d go nuts when she saw it Christmas morning.

However, it arrived today in a box that said HD DRONE with a big fucking photo of the item on the package, and the kid happened to answer the door when the mail came. Gah! I know, first world problem. But damn.

On the other hand, what a cool drone! I finally got to play with it a couple of hours ago, for about five minutes. Somehow I made it do a roll. Still haven’t figured out how, but it looked professional. It hovers like a champ, and the video is amazing. Once I completely master flying it, I’ll terrorize the dogs and hens with it and share the vid with y’all.

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Can’t you just feel the moonshine

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I was first introduced to Tom Waits by my college roommate, who was from Glendale, but I didn’t really get into him til I moved to the Bay Area where it was foggy all the time and my only friend was my old college roommate’s dive-bar-loving sister.

The other day I put on Nighthawks at the Diner and it really put California, especially LA, in my mind. So I thought it would be fun to do a post about songs and albums that are evocative of a particular place. For some reason, there’s a lot of songs I like that are evocative of LA (“Carmelita”!) and almost none about New York, except “Across 110th St.”, even though I’ve never spent much time in LA and I used to live in NY.

Anyhoo, how about songs that remind you of a particular place? It doesn’t have to be a place you’ve ever actually been, it could be a place you want to go because of the songs.

I’ll start with the above songs mentioned plus:

All Dr. John, Professor Longhair, and James Booker — New Orleans
All Desmond Dekker — The Caribbean (unfortunately, Bob Marley by contrast makes me think of college-aged dude bros)
Dixie Chicken — Memphis
Don’t Go Back to Rockville — Athens, Georgia
White Man In Hammersmith Palais and London’s Brilliant Parade — London (though I’d never been when I first heard these songs)
Songs In the Key of Life and Innervisions — Parts of Rochester (even though I think they’re about parts of Detroit or New York)

Update. I’ll add a few more, including some New York ones

Blue Sky (Allman Brothers) — Route 441 in Georgia
Coney Island Baby, Romeo had Juliet, I Happen To Like New York — New York City
All Leonard Cohen — Whatever godforsaken place McCabe and Mrs. Miller takes place
All Pogues — Ireland (though like a good Irish-American, I’ve never been)

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“We Spent Too Much Money on Riot Gear, So… “

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(1978 – via Slate)

From the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” department, courtesy valued commentor LAMH36, Bloomberg reports:

Ferguson, Missouri, which is recovering from riots following the August shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman, plans to close a budget gap by boosting revenue from public-safety fines and tapping reserves…

To close a projected deficit for fiscal 2014, which ended June 30, the municipality will deplete a $10 million capital-projects reserve, Jeffrey Blume, Ferguson’s finance director, said in a telephone interview. For the current year, the city is budgeting for higher receipts from police-issued tickets.

“There are a number of things going on in 2014 and one is a revenue shortfall that we anticipate making up in 2015,” Blume said. “There’s about a million-dollar increase in public-safety fines to make up the difference.”

Revenue from violations, which already represents the city’s second-largest source of cash after sales taxes, will rise to 15.7 percent of receipts in fiscal 2015, from a projected 11.8 percent this year, he said. In 2013, fines brought in $2.2 million, or 11.8 percent of the city’s $18.62 million in annual revenue, according to budget documents…
***********
Two bills that were pre-filed last week in the State Senate would limit what municipalities can collect from public-safety fines.

‘‘For Ferguson to respond to all of this and say that increasing ticketing was a good idea is outrageous,” Scott Sifton, a Missouri state senator who sponsored one of the pieces of legislation, said in a telephone interview.

The bills will be reviewed and voted on after the legislature reconvenes on Jan. 7, he said. If approved, the measures would take effect in August at the earliest, Sifton said….

Let’s hope Ferguson’s budgeting geniuses get together, over the holiday, with some relatives who can tell them to stop eating the smart pills.

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Saturday Morning Cartoon Open Thread: Tragedy Edition

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I know, I know, it’s been four whole days, why can’t I just get over it?!?…

abu ghraib self torture toles
(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)

torture tmi danziger
(Jeff Danziger’s website)

torture libertys torch luckovich
(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

torture global stature davies
(Matt Davies via GoComics.com)

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All Dogs Go To Heaven

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lily

So sayeth the Pope:

Pope Francis confirmed during his weekly address in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square that canines, along with “all of God’s creatures,” can make it to heaven.

The leader of the Catholic Church made the remark in order to comfort a young boy who was mourning the death of his dog, according to the New York Times.

“One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures,” said the 77-year-old Pontiff, according to Italian news sources.

My only question is how Lily will know the difference. All she does now is sleep on clean sheets under a down comforter, wake up for walks and treats and meals, and occasionally belly rubs and petting.

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Friday Night Open Thread: Welcome to the New Age

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.

If I’d realized how predictive this mashup would be, I’d have gone into hibernation back last January. Mr. Pierce sums up this last week, in particular — “The Contagious Exercise of State Violence“:

… Somewhere in itself, and not very far from the surface, either, this country has gone mad with fear and rage. As a result, it is finding sustenance in the acts of official violence, and doing so in more different ways than the republic has seen since we had lynching, union busting, and Red Scares at the same time, back when the 19th century was turning into the 20th. Anyone who can’t see the political and sociological tissue connecting the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and the revelations of a decade’s worth of CIA brutality, and the execution of Robert Holsey isn’t looking hard enough. In the country’s untrammeled fear and rage, it is exercising the only function of self-government it can recall as its mad brain turns to red fire — to encourage the exercise of the state’s power to wound and kill all the right people. In this madness, race and class are mere diagnostic categories. In this madness, the politics of right and left, of Republicans and Democrats, of conservatives and liberals, of red and blue, are pathetically inadequate to assess the situation. In this madness, the choices are not made within the easy and obvious contexts. This is a choice between barbarism and not, between savagery and not. This is a choice between the national soul and the national Id. This is a choice of whether to take inchoate and weaponized vengeance against the living representations of the monsters in our paranoid dreams. That’s the last vestige of self-government that we have allowed ourselves. The right to demand that the institutions of government kill what we fear. By any means necessary, as someone once said…

By any means necessary!…

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Friday Recipe Exchange: Holiday Gifts, Salty-Sweet Edition

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tamara caramel-corn-compressed

From our Food Goddess, TaMara:

I love popcorn. So much so, I actually have an electric stirring popcorn popper. It must be a family thing, because my brother, Paul, has all the ingredients to make movie popcorn – and he did serious research on how to get that flavor. I’m good with butter and salt, myself. But my true weakness is caramel corn, so one year when I was trying to think of something fun to give for those neighbor Christmas treat boxes, I decided to try my hand at caramel corn.

And to take it up a notch I decided to make Bacon Caramel Corn. The featured recipe tonight.

But let’s begin with some other salty-sweet ideas for the holiday gift box.

Tex-Mex Popcorn Mix, recipe here.

White Cheddar Popcorn and Chili-Cheese Popcorn, recipes here.

And if popcorn is not your thing, how about some Cajun Spiced Nuts or Indian Spiced Nuts, recipes here.

Finally, the dinner menu this week is all about improving Oven Fried Chicken and amazing Baked Garlic Potatoes, complete menu, recipes, shopping list are here.

What favorite recipes are in your gift box this year? If you give food gifts for the holidays, do you include copies of the recipes? I’m always torn. Either way, go ahead and share some of your favorite recipes in the comments. Next week we’ll tackle sweet treats for gift giving.

Tonight’s featured recipe actually came about because I read this comment at Balloon-Juice, I was intrigued enough to search out a recipe. If bacon isn’t your thing, just omit it from the recipe below to make regular caramel corn, or caramel corn with nuts.

Cashew Bacon Caramel Corn

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