Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Bark louder, little dog.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Let’s finish the job.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

I was promised a recession.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Come on, man.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

People are complicated. Love is not.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Long Read: The Forward Interviews President Obama

Long Read: The Forward Interviews President Obama

by | 156 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Sercon (serious & constructive), as befits a Vulcan like President Obama. A taste:

… Q: So let’s talk about Israel for a moment. Unquestionably, your administration has given unprecedented military and strategic support to Israel. But it’s also apparent that the relationship in many ways between the United States and Israel, between the governments and even, in some cases, between some peoples, has grown toxic. And I’m wondering now, looking forward, what do you think the Israeli government can do to repair this? What can your administration do? And what can American Jews do?

THE PRESIDENT: There are always going to be arguments within families and among friends. And Israel isn’t just an ally, it’s not just a friend — it’s family. The relationships between our peoples, the shared values, the shared commitment to democracy — those things are so deep that they have survived arguments in the past and they will survive this argument.

And so I understand the anxiety that it causes. But I think a testament to how sturdy the relationship is, is that despite this very significant policy disagreement, all the military, security, commercial, cultural cooperation that existed before this debate came up has continued unabated and will continue unabated.

I think that once we have completed the congressional debate and the deal is in the process of being implemented, it will be important for my administration and the Israeli government to move forward on what I’ve been calling for since April, when the political framework agreement in Lausanne was first announced, and that is to sit down and ask the question, what are the major security challenges that we together face in the region, and how can we build on the already robust, unprecedented military and intelligence cooperation that we have to make our security arrangements even stronger?…

I think the most important thing for those of us who believe it is our sacred obligation to stand up for Israel and to ensure its security — and that’s for American Jews but also non-Jews who feel that same affinity — the most important thing we can do I think is to continue to have honest conversations and honest debate about what is most likely to provide that kind of long-term security. And I will say that sometimes fights within families and among friends can be more heated than fights with people that you don’t care about — it’s been true in my family, anyway. And so even over the next several weeks as we get to the conclusion of the congressional debate, I think it is important for everybody to just take a breath for a moment and recognize that people on both sides of the debate love the United States and also love Israel…

… I think it’s very important to distinguish between impugning the motives of people. I don’t think somebody like a Chuck Schumer wants war. That’s not the argument I was making. What I’ve said is that if you reject the deal, we have to be realistic about what options are available, and we shouldn’t be pedaling the notion that there’s going to be some easy answer and we’re going to grab some magic beans and suddenly solve this problem, or that there’s a short-cut where we just kind of continue with business as usual, and the Chinese or the Russians or the Indians or the Japanese are all going to agree to continue maintaining sanctions as they have been, despite the fact that they believe, as I do, that this is a very good deal and they disagree with those who oppose it….

Also, our President makes the only correct choice for “favorite bagel flavor“.

Reader Interactions

156Comments

  2. 2.

    Keith G

    What I read without clicking further is quite good.

    I understand the reason behind the “We are family” rhetoric, but I do not agree. I think it is a very wrong-headed and problematic construct.

  3. 3.

    Gin & Tonic

    I’m not going to RTFA, but did they really transcribe “pedaling the notion”? Are there no copy editors anymore?

  7. 7.

    beltane

    @Keith G: I agree. Do not like the “We are family” construct at all.

    Ess-a-Bagel in the East Village has also closed this past year. Rents in Manhattan are too high to allow for the continued existence of bagel shops and other small businesses.

  21. 21.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Amir Khalid: cream cheese

    Also, our President makes the only correct choice for “favorite bagel flavor“.

    pfpffpfpfpfpft…. Pumpernickel or onion. And lox. Obama’s softness on lox is a grave disappointment to me. I won’t vote for him again.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    @efgoldman:
    Well, there are gaps in my knowledge of American culture, which is a vast thing.
    Ah. Cream cheese is what I like on a bagel too.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    Alex Wagner (substituting today for O’Donnell) really needs to work with a vocal coach. Her voice (both timbre and cadence) is irritating enough to make my ears ache.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    Code fix.

    Alex Wagner (substituting today for O’Donnell) really needs to work with a vocal coach. Her voice (both timbre and cadence) is irritating enough to make my ears ache.

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    @redshirt:

    I’ll witness you in Valhalla.

    We will both be shiny and chrome.

    And for those in Seattle: You can ride like Max and Furiosa.

    Glorious news today, if you’re someone who watched Max Rockatansky get strapped to the chassis of a nitro-boosted Hot Rod and blasted across the sandy nightmare of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and thought to yourself, “Yes, that seems like a sensible way to get around. If only I could be transported in like manner.” Well, now that can be reality, as long as you live in the Seattle area. Complex reports that Uber is currently offering rides in cars based on those found in Mad Max: Fury Road to its customers, meaning you, too, can soon make the glorious trip to Valhalla. (Shine not included, so maybe ask any huffing enthusiasts you know if they’ve got a spare bottle of silver you could borrow.)

    http://www.avclub.com/article/what-lovely-day-uber-offers-free-mad-max-style-rid-224664

  31. 31.

    pseudonymous in nc

    I remember staying with friends in the UES — probably a decade ago — and we stopped at H&H for bagels. And yes, poppy seed is the right answer even if you’re in a job that requires drug testing.

    @beltane:

    Ess-a-Bagel in the East Village has also closed this past year. Rents in Manhattan are too high to allow for the continued existence of bagel shops and other small businesses.

    And Streit’s sold up their matzo factory and moved to Joisey: property values are too high not to sell.

  34. 34.

    Joel

    @efgoldman: I was pissed about “everything” bagels displacing poppy — the one and true king — at many cheap bagel retailers (any port in a storm) and long suspected that it was due to the prohibitive cost of poppy seeds.

    But then I ran into fruit-filled and cheese-covered bagels and all bets were off. Those should be jettisoned into space, and the responsible retailers held in stockades until they repent.

  36. 36.

    benw

    My current favorite is a “everything” bagel w/cream cheese, but sometimes a fresh, toasted, plain bagel with schmear is a perfect thing. Never lox.

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    Wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that some places now offer bacon-flavored bagels.

    Hawaii style: bacon flavored bagels with Spam.

  40. 40.

    sigaba

    @efgoldman:

    It’s Yiddish for an indeterminate amount of cream cheese, applied to a bagel.

    The ISO standard schmear is 0.3 mL (+/- 0.2mL) per sq. cm of substrate, applied uniformly to the sliced side of the bagel, with a vertical profile of not exceeding 8 mm and no less than 1mm over 90% coverage.

    And while it’s Yiddish it’s a common Germanic root — the Danes have “smarbrod”, which is an open-faced sammich, usually with a herring and onion spread. The related dish gravlax gives us our word for raw cured salmon.

  41. 41.

    CaseyL

    @NotMax: The water makes a BIG difference, and Jersey water used to be the one and only water to use when making Italian rolls, esp. if those rolls were for hoagies. Something about the water puts extra chewiness in the bread, or snap in the crust, or something.

    I’ve lived in Seattle long enough to no longer pitch a fit whenever I see bagels made with fruit, or jalapenos, chocolate bits, or FSM knows what else. I just shudder now.

    Yet, verily, I have sinned. Here you sometimes find bagels crusted with cheese AND crumbled bacon bits. It’s so wrong on so many levels, and absolutely delicious. (Obviously, I don’t put cream cheese on those. I’m an apostate, not a savage.)

  42. 42.

    katie5

    @efgoldman: You have to like crunching salt crystals (plus, I brush a bunch off before I eat them). I’m polluted anyway. I like Montreal bagels, which are more like bialys than the cake-like substances called bagels in NYC.

  44. 44.

    Amir Khalid

    Off-topic:

    Throughout this long Merdeka weekend, my Internet access was slow, particularly if I tried to follow a link to a news site or to some place like Flickr or Instagram or YouTube. And then, a few minutes ago, it was back to normal. As I’ve mentioned, there has been a protest rally in KL this weekend, from which someone may have tried to post photos or video. Hmm …

  45. 45.

    beltane

    My bagel rankings:

    1) Pumpernickel
    2) Poppy
    3) Sesame
    4) Plain
    5) Onion
    6) Garlic

    All other varieties should be banned.

  48. 48.

    greennotGreen

    My favorite bagel flavor is cheese and jalapeno. Although cousins on both sides of my family converted to Judaism, I remain a satisfied Pagan, and I will eat whatever I please.

  49. 49.

    Peale

    @sigaba: schmear is also what one is supposed to do in the game of sheepshead when one knows ones partner is likely to take a trick. I just always assumed that when people were asking for a schmear, they wanted someone to cast off an ace or a ten.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @benw

    NYC area. Flight leaves about 5 hours from now (hurricane Ignacio weather front permitting).

    Chopped liver pairs beautifully with n onion bagel.

    @katie5

    Cake-like? Classic NY bagels are boiled then baked, coming out chewy from the slight crust, with fluffy interiors..

  55. 55.

    Gin & Tonic

    @sigaba: The related dish gravlax gives us our word for raw cured salmon.

    Thank $DEITY, for the one person in the thread to use the word “lox” correctly. I’d submit that everyone else referring to a bagel with lox is not talking about lox at all, and has probably never had actual lox, but only smoked salmon. I think some people here may have even argued this issue with some guy named Cole, or Coal, or one of those weird monosyllabic names.

    Yes, this *is* a hill I am ready to die on.

  56. 56.

    Mike in NC

    @beltane: What, no love for cinnamon raisin? We live in a rural backwater but are lucky enough to have two decent bagel bakeries. Not as good as Brookline, MA but OK.

  62. 62.

    Ruckus

    @beltane:
    When I allow them in my diet, toasted blueberry with butter. But it’s OK, as far as I know, no jewish blood. Pretty much every other identifiable though. So it’s just good eats.
    And that cream cheese/cottage cheese/hard boiled egg thing? 100% agree.

  63. 63.

    mclaren

    Obama is great at talking.

    How about examining Obama’s actions as president?

    How many wall street criminals who committed proved fraud did he jail?

    How often did Obama stand up to the Pentagon/police/prison/surveillence/torture complex and refuse one of their unconstitutional requests for ever more illegal powers?

    Did Obama ever shut down any illegal wiretapping?

    How many members of the criminal Bush maladministration did he instruct his DOJ to prosecute for high crimes and misdemeanors?

    Obama seems to have reserved all his zeal for prosecuting people for whistleblowers who publicyl reveal crimes by the U.S. government. How does that square with our allegedly “Vulcan-like” president?

    More akin to a “Klingon-like” president, wouldn’t you say…?

  64. 64.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Amir Khalid: Not sure they have anything on this topic, but Dyn, who has absorbed Renesys, provides interesting Internet monitoring services. Most of their products/services are for organizations that pay them big money, but they have a public portion as well. Try research.dyn.com.

  67. 67.

    Amir Khalid

    @efgoldman:
    I’ve mentioned this before: my cousin’s husband holds the Malaysian franchise for Burger King (which is halal here, of course). A bit fancier than Mickey D’s, but not really better.

  68. 68.

    Richard Fox

    My late great Uncle Phil owned a bagel bakery in Far Rockaway. The bagels were so unique and flavorful.. To go back 40 years and have an onion or salted bagel or a poppy bagel with butter.. Simple, nothing elaborate. Though I loved lox –these bagels demanded no strong tastes to interfere. Yumm. Made other bagels almost… Seem like toast. !

  69. 69.

    sinnedbackwards

    This midwestern-bred dude is kindly helping all of you by not competing at all to consume bagels, leaving a larger supply and lower price for everybody else.

  70. 70.

    CaseyL

    @Joel: Never even heard of Eltana before – thanks for letting me know about them! I have googled and they certainly take their bagels seriously. Though I’m not sure about the honey wood-smoke thing. I’ll check them out some time, though I don’t get to Cap Hill all that often.

  71. 71.

    beltane

    @Richard Fox: When my oldest son was a toddler, he made up a word, “shabbida”, to describe little bits of unknown stuff in food, e.g. the pieces of nuts and raisins in multi-grain waffles, etc. Nowadays it seems that the simple pleasures of a well made bagel or slice of pizza have been ruined by a proliferation of shabbida.

  72. 72.

    benw

    @NotMax: Have fun! I’ve lived about an hour drive from NYC for about 3.5 years now and gone into the city a shamefully small number of times. But I’m pretty sure I managed to grab a bagel or slice each time!

  74. 74.

    dedc79

    Black russian bagel w/ whitefish salad.

    Also, I wonder if the prez meant nova rather than lox. Actual belly lox is a lot harder to find (and is also too salty for most people’s taste).

  75. 75.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Ben Shapiro
    ‏@ benshapiro
    Perhaps we should just be grateful Obama didn’t decide to rename Mt. McKinley Mt. Trayvon.

    I believe Chris Hayes has this person on his show in the name of ideological diversity?

  76. 76.

    Richard Fox

    @beltane: I think your son was eating an “everything bagel” when he coined that excellent expression.! :-) In a similar vein the best pizza I’ve had-in Venice, was ingeniously simple.. Just the sauce, and the bread, with a bare minimum of cheese.. And it all came together like a dream. Maybe because I’m a bit older but I prefer these taste qualities and recall those I’ve had with great delight. Cheers!

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    @Cervantes:
    Among others. Najib’s current missus is said to have such an extravagant lifestyle, even princesses here mock her for it.

  78. 78.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Yes, this *is* a hill I am ready to die on.

    An admirable choice at that. What about the apostasy of calling a drink with vodka a martini? ::shudders and stomps foot simultaneously::

    On the topic of drinks, has anyone tasted cherry Dr. Pepper? I know it sounds redundant, since Dr. P is a cherry cola. But it’s a remarkably – and surprisingly – competent impression of Dr. Brown’s Black Cherry Soda.

  80. 80.

    Mandalay

    @mclaren:

    How about examining Obama’s actions as president? How many wall street criminals who committed proved fraud did he jail?

    On that front it would be more fruitful to examine his Attorney General, Eric Holder. He has returned to the law firm he had worked for before becoming AG, Covington & Burling.

    Who are Covington & Burling?….

    A large chunk of Covington & Burling’s corporate clients are mega-banks like JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America. Lanny Breuer, who ran the criminal division for Holder’s Justice Department, already returned to work there.

    In March, Covington highlighted in marketing materials their award from the trade publication American Lawyer as “Litigation Department of the Year,” touting the law firm’s work in getting clients accused of financial fraud off with slap-on-the-wrist fines.

    Covington, American Lawyer says, helps clients “get the best deal they can.”

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Josh Barro, among others, is reading through the latest dump of Hillary Clinton’s emails. We still don’t have the stand down order.

    *These emails sure as hell vindicate President Obama’s refusal to allow Hillary to bring Sid Blumenthal to State.
    *These emails are an annoying reminder of all the 90s-era hangers-on who will resurface with a vengeance if Clinton becomes president.
    *Like, these emails are a reminder that, if Clinton wins, Lanny Davis will be on TV a lot again.

    Only if he’s invited. And hopefully that will only be CNN. Fox can have Blumnethal, who IIRC is pretty combative
    and Ryan Lizza

    Ryan Lizza ‏@ RyanLizza 2h2 hours ago
    My favorite new Hillary email so far is David Brock’s memo to her (via Sid Blumenthal) outlining an insane plan to impeach Clarence Thomas

  84. 84.

    jl

    @Gin & Tonic: pish posh my man. I certainly have eaten lox, gravlax, and hot smoked and cold smoked salmon, and I certainly know the difference. Begone with your insolence!

    I do admit ignorance of Del’s lemonade.

  86. 86.

    jl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: And every one of them is worthy of a criminal probe, and after a guilty verdict is rendered, she should be exiled, and the issue of her blood be declared unconstitutional, lest we risk a future coup by Chelsea Or just pass a bill of attainder and be done with it.

  89. 89.

    Suzanne

    The bagels here are crappy. Phoenix has lots of good food, but not bagels or delis. We have Einstein’s bagels, which are highly disappointing.

    I do love a good pumpernickel bagel, though.

    Now, here’s a question. Cream cheese: regular or whipped?

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    The really good thing about gefilte fish is that it’s an excuse to liberally slather something with red horseradish. Then some more horseradish, topped with horseradish.

    As a kidlet, was known to make and wolf down horseradish sandwiches.

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Call me a rebel, but have grown fond of these in a martini in place of olives.

  94. 94.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @NotMax: I’m strictly a lemon twist purist. But if I used green, I’d try your idea in a heartbeat.

  96. 96.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I’ll always have your back on this one. And I think I can round up a bit of a crew.

    I’ll note that, when James Bond came up with his gin, vodka, Kina Lillet drink, he felt obliged to come up with a new name for it.*

    *Yes, I am compulsive about citing precedent. I think Bond novels are binding precedent on this type of question.

  100. 100.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: I concur. I am not a fan of the whipped stuff. But it seems that I am in the minority, and when people bring bagels to work (where 98% of my bagel consumption occurs), they bring the whipped stuff. I miss real cream cheese.

    There was an essay on Slate recently about how most places put too much cream cheese on the bagel when you order the schmear. I agree with that, too. Also, things like that are why I read Slate. They are not afraid to ask the tough questions.

  103. 103.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’d be quite surprised if you were not compulsive about citing precedents. I agree that Bond novels are absolutely binding precedent on this type of question. To argue otherwise would be foolhardy.

  107. 107.

    Suzanne

    I just googled “best bagels in phoenix”, and the list that came up contained Einstein’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, Chompie’s, Jamba Juice, Paradise Bakery, and While Foods.

    SAVE ME FROM THIS PURGATORY.

  111. 111.

    Redshift

    I like plain bagels best (though I actually like several other of the “real” varieties) and I’ll also admit to a fondness for cinnamon-raisin if I’m not in NYC. I love cream cheese, but I’m lactose-intolerant, so it doesn’t love me. Sometimes I can tolerate just a taste of it, sometimes I have to do without. I love salmon, but I can’t stand smoked salmon. I’ve probably never had real lox.

    I don’t know if I ever had bagels until I went to college; if I did, it was nothing but what grocery stores pretend are bagels (and therefore completely unmemorable.) My roommate was from Brooklyn and we’d have them when his mom came to visit. I introduced him to the idea of putting them in plastic bags instead of just the paper ones they came in, so we could actually eat them all before they became suitable for hammering nails.

  114. 114.

    Suzanne

    @Redshift: Smoked salmon is one of my favorite things to eat ever. I bought Mr. Suzanne a smoker for his birthday so he can make it at home, along with smoked cheese and ribs and other carnivorous deliciousness.

  116. 116.

    Suzanne

    God help me. I like not one but two songs by Luke Bryan.
    Sixteen-year-old me is horrified by myself.
    Hell, thirty-five-year-old me thinks I am lame.

  117. 117.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Maggie Haberman ‏@ maggieNYT 3h3 hours ago
    Blumenthal on Boehner: “He is louche,
    alcoholic, lazy, and without any commitment to any principle.”

    “louche”? Makes it sound like Boehner has more of a personality than I’ve ever been able to discern through the TeeVee machine, but other than that…. Yeah.

  119. 119.

    Peale

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: meh. I think Lanny Davis will be around to criticize whatever administration he isn’t a part of. But I’ve always liked Sidney for some reason. He can be fierce, but no one has accused him of being corrupt. I would be shocked to find him working for anyone else. He does not roll over.

  120. 120.

    Suzanne

    @katie5: I’ve only had gravlax once, and that was kinda enough. Still, maybe I’ll try making it myself. It’s gotta be better than the slimefest I ate.

  121. 121.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Peale: Yeah, I meant “combative” as a compliment. That’s why I want him on Fox, shouting right back at O’Reilly and Hannity.

  123. 123.

    jl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    OED says:
    Oblique, not straightforward. Also, dubious, shifty, disreputable.

    from Old French, squinting or cross-eyed.

    But, here is the first example the OED gives, indicating some intricate shades of meaning:

    1819 Lady Morgan Passages from Autobiogr. (1859) 318 There is some~thing louche about him, which does not accord with the abandon of careless, intimate intercourse.

    OK, so the problem is, louche is too fancy and liable to misinterpretation. If he’d just written, for example, Johnny Bones is a cheap two-bit hood and crooked penny ante ward heeler, a lousy little crumbum mook, well, then there would be no problem at all.

  124. 124.

    Peale

    @Mandalay: and if I got in trouble and had the cash, I’d probably try to hire them. Unless my trouble involved political trouble…in which case I’d try Williams and Connolly. Thankfully, I don’t get in that kind of trouble. I did try to get the ACLU to fight my parking ticket, but apparently they were too busy fighting for justice to help.

  126. 126.

    Anne Laurie

    @efgoldman:

    but the jalapeno bagels were about five bridges too far. Also sun-dried tomato, blueberry, asiago….PAH!

    There’s a vast array of bread products labelled “bagels” that are not. Some of them are perfectly tasty, as bread products, as long as you don’t expect them to be proper bagels.

    The Michigan town where I went to college had a bagel shop, back in the early 1970s, when that was still a rare & daring thing in the Midwest. Since they were modeled on actual kosher products, they made passably good poppy seed / onion / sesame “real” bagels. The biggest seller, though, was a “fragel” — a raisin bagel deepfried in cinnamon sugar. Insanely tasty, especially for a college kid’s appetite, but Not A Bagel…

    My tastes have so degraded that I can be happy, these days, with Panera bagels. Mediocre bagels, but at least they’re actual bagels, not just bread products labelled that way.

  127. 127.

    trollhattan

    I have a hunch that thing in Arizona with the errant bounty hunter raid of the sheriff was the tip of some iceberg.

    Officials say they have arrested 30 bail agents in five Northern California counties on suspicion of numerous felonies for illegal business practices, including employing a felon as a bounty hunter.

    The Department of Insurance said Monday the arrest sweep that began Thursday focused on Aladdin Bail Bonds, Luna Bail Bonds, Bail Hotline and four other companies it didn’t name. It says another bail agent was arranging his surrender. The department says it immediately suspended the licenses of all 31 bail agents targeted in Santa Clara, Alameda, Monterey, San Benito and Merced counties.

    An investigation found bail agents were scooping business away from competitors by paying jail inmates for providing information about newly booked inmates. Officials say one bail agent was employing a convicted felon as a bounty hunter-a violation of the Bail Fugitive Recovery Act.
    http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article33064080.html#storylink=cpy

    Oopsie.

  128. 128.

    Anne Laurie

    @katie5:

    Salted bagel is unquestionably the best.

    Yeah, but they seem to have disappeared, even in kosher neighborhoods, sometime in the 1980s.

    I keep hearing great reports about Montreal bagels. Someday I hope to get to Montreal, for the bagels.

  129. 129.

    Anne Laurie

    @NotMax:

    Wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that some places now offer bacon-flavored bagels.

    Nah, just bacon (or pork sausage) on what they call a bagel!

  130. 130.

    Anne Laurie

    @beltane:

    The NY bagels I grew up with were the opposite of cake-like. More like teething-rings if anything.

    Henry Beard, I believe, claimed the word bagel came from a Yiddish phrase meaning “to wrestle with the devil in the morning.”

  132. 132.

    trollhattan

    Please join me in a chorus of the old hymn, “About fucking time, my Lord”

    A Christian official who refused to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples in Kentucky has been ordered to do so by the US Supreme Court.

    Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis had argued that her faith prevented her from carrying out her duty. But the Supreme Court rejected her argument, which means she now has no more legal avenues to pursue. Her lawyer has said she will pray tonight and decide what to do when her office opens on Tuesday.

  133. 133.

    Anne Laurie

    @jl:

    OK, so the problem is, louche is too fancy and liable to misinterpretation. If he’d just written, for example, Johnny Bones is a cheap two-bit hood and crooked penny ante ward heeler, a lousy little crumbum mook, well, then there would be no problem at all.

    I’ve almost always seen “louche” used in connection with ladies of wide-ranging, sometimes negotiable, affections.

    Perhaps the implication was that Boehner’s political opinions could be purchased on the open market?

  136. 136.

    Peale

    @NotMax: perhaps it would be a good time to open our borders to relieve Europe from the pressure that results from our desire to make sure as many counties in the Mideast are as hellish as possible.

  137. 137.

    seaboogie

    @Suzanne: That’s not good. Been to both Montreal and NYC, and I pick the slightly sweet boiled skinny MTL bagels. NYC bagels are like eating a support pillow that wasn’t quite right.

  138. 138.

    RK

    Bagel (any kind outside of the crazy stuff like blueberry or chocolate which is fine plain) lox, cream cheese, onion, tomato and sometimes capers. Don’t you people know how to eat properly?

  141. 141.

    Cervantes

    @trollhattan, quoting:

    But the Supreme Court rejected her argument, which means she now has no more legal avenues to pursue.

    Not true. She still has a case pending. What the SC did was to tell her she can’t stop doing her job while waiting for that case to be decided.

    I do like that hymn, though.

  142. 142.

    Cervantes

    @Anne Laurie:

    Henry Beard, I believe, claimed the word bagel came from a Yiddish phrase meaning “to wrestle with the devil in the morning.”

    Henry Beard is a funny guy.

    The Yiddish word beygel is from the old German for “bracelet.”

  145. 145.

    redshirt

    Also, I find the focus on Israel to be disturbing. A nation of what, 8 million people? The size of a US state and of no particular strategic importance if you don’t think we’re at war with Islam. No big deal. It should be dealt with like Kazakhstan or Uruguay or any other small, insignificant country.

    It’s the Bible, right? That’s why Sarah Palin, for example, had an Israeli flag flying in the Alaskan governor’s office.

  146. 146.

    Betty Cracker

    @redshirt: Yep, it’s the Bible. I’m pretty resigned to the fact that nearly all American politicians will genuflect to Israel. But Obama has been more even-handed in deeds if not words than his predecessors, which is a good thing.

  148. 148.

    sm*t cl*de

    the Danes have “smarbrod”,

    This aggression cannot stand. It’s Smørrebrød.
    Now I crave picked herrings.

  150. 150.

    WereBear

    it”s garlic bagel with a schmear and smoked salmon. Man, those were the days. The crumply brown paper bag, the bagels hot from the oven and just cooled enough to eat during the drive home, the cream cheese at room temperature.

    Now I have to stay away from all wheat. But I certainly enjoyed them at the time. Bagels are not good even a day later, and salmon is fragile.

  151. 151.

    WereBear

    @redshirt: It’s the Bible, right?

    There has to be an Israel for god to destroy in the Second Coming.

    Yes, it’s sick. That branch of Christianity basically exists to be torn off the tree to beat people with.

  153. 153.

    Joel

    @Suzanne: Honestly, Lender’s frozen is better than Einsteins. I don’t even know if people can get Lender’s anymore. Does anyone remember when that was all you could find in most parts of the country? Bruegger’s changed that, IIRC.

  154. 154.

    Cervantes

    @Joel:

    To your first three statements: yes, yes, and yes.

    (Just FYI: Lender’s is now owned by Pete Peterson’s Blackstone Group.)

  155. 155.

    Cervantes

    @redshirt:

    the Israeli state seems like Republicans Gone Wild. And it’s our fault.

    Not our fault, exactly — their fascists and fundamentalists have been feeding on their own ugliness for decades — but have we acted as enablers? To some extent, yes.

  156. 156.

    debbie

    @Regnad Kcin:

    Their bagels were the best! I lived a couple blocks from the East side store. We used to get them while they were still warm. Poppy, sesame, pumpernickel — they’re still the best in the world!

Comments are closed.