Wait, if I don't have an obnoxious Thanksgiving uncle does that mean I AM the obnoxious Thanksgiving uncle?
— a. o. scott (@aoscott) November 25, 2015
Jeb Lund, in Rolling Stone:
… For much of the 2000s, you could enjoy a kind of generalized complaint about how much “Thanksgiving sucks,” which was hackneyed the moment it began. I went over this years ago, but this mostly took the form of assignment-padding pieces, penned 30 minutes before vacation time, saying “Why Having to Use a Rental Car and Go to a Suburb of 80,000 People to Eat 12 Pounds of Food With My Mom Is Basically a Trail of Tears.” Family, friends, food, free laundry. Spare us all.
The underlying tone was a great derisive snorting about the provincialism to which the writer was about to be subject. It conveyed the sense that the worst part of Thanksgiving was being forced to return to the thing that had been escaped and that could in no way define the writer, who was now a being from a brighter place. Going home was a retrograde process, some ignoble devolution that inevitably occasions departing the glittering New York-D.C. axis, which only spent 2002-2008 breaking the entire world.
But beating up hicks and yahoos and white trash — translation: poor people — eating starchy and inexpensive staple food is sort of a bad look in a think piece economy increasingly driven by identity politics and the latest Upworthy-styled headline about changing the conversation. That kind of punching down only problematizes the discourse when you’re humping the latest “[Celebrities/Behaviors/Tweets] Are Problematic” pitch. So the straw man has been refined from the more troublingly inclusive venue of suburbs, places with cars, ranch houses, lots of food, big TVs and football to the universal Racist Uncle…
I get it: In an election that promises to be as much of an unprecedented soulfucker as this one, it’s incredibly tempting to pivot away from the last decade’s think piece framing of Progressive Metropolitan vs. Atavistic Heartland and focus more on universal social divisions. The Racist Uncle is someone who can live anywhere, and negatively affect people in any setting, up or down the economic and social scale. He’s the perfect punching bag in a scripted Thanksgiving.
But if you want to pick a fight over a political issue, maybe pick one over something that is going to at least engage the rest of the audience on a topic they might not have considered instead of trying to deliver Pardon My Zinger burns at someone who still thinks that women shouldn’t be paid as much as men or that gay people aren’t normal or that non-whites are equally valuable despite every goddamn data point in the universe telling them they’re an asshole. That’s not to say that those aren’t all worthwhile arguments, but for Chrissakes, you could be watching football, a billion-dollar non-profit that turns people into vegetables….
Point and mock:
38% of Republicans disapprove of Obama’s executive action to pardon 2 Thanksgiving turkeys
https://t.co/vXqbdapntC pic.twitter.com/27n6ZyWpmu
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) November 25, 2015
Mike in NC
If anybody needs a pardon it is Frank Freaking Luntz.
Baud
Damn, that was whiny.
Srv
If most Americans could go back 50 or 100 years once a year for a day, we’d have a lot less of this progressivism. And the kids would whine a lot less about their lot.
Anoniminous
And that is what happens when a writer has nothing to say and column inches to fill.
Big R
If Frank accurately reported his question phrasing, I’m pretty sure that what he found is that “Obama’s executive action” is a keyphrase to cut off Republicans’ brains.
Amir Khalid
From the PPP story:
It’s partisans all the way down, isn’t it?
Germy
Bobby Big Wheel @BobbyBigWheel
So do conservatives agonize over dealing with their liberal relatives or are they just too mad about other stuff to care?
3:34 PM – 24 Nov 2015
Mike J
Don’t laugh libtards. One of those turkeys immediately went off to join ISIS.
Germy
Point/Counterpoint example?
JPL
Home Depot is going to have a Black Friday deal that is not in the papers for the gardeners on the blog.
A little birdie let me know that a company is manufacturing gardening pruning shears and other items at a loss in order to get in the door. The pruning shear kit is 14.99 and comparable items on Amazon would be around 40.00. They have rosewood handles. It’s all the bird said cuz we were busy talking about other stuff.
Thanksgiving was good and the farmer turkey was delicious. I normally buy turkeys at Whole Foods but never again.
sharl
I think he would manage this just fine, but I could see a President Sanders bitching to his advisers about having to go through the this and similar insubstantial but traditional Head of State duties.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Germy
Did You Know That Thanksgiving was Viewed by the South as a “Trick” by “Yankee” “Abolitionists” to Undermine Slavery?
From Chauncey Devega:
Punchy
@JPL: You couldnt catch me dead in any retail establishment on BF. I dont care what pruning shears are selling for….
Germy
@JPL: If you object to Whole Foods you should google the guy who started Home Depot.
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/bizfinance/finance/features/15300/
JPL
@Germy: I live in Atlanta so I’m familiar with Home Depot. I mentioned the turkey because the farmer turkey for the same price was just that much better.
I don’t know about the execs at Whole Foods but Home Depot corporate has several females in high positions. The person who let me know worked at Kimberly Clark for a few years and the atmosphere is not the same. The corporate office also has one of the best day care centers in the southeast.
Schlemazel
@Mike in NC:
I would strongly object to that turkey getting a pardon!
jeffreyw
I have managed to outlive all my aunts and uncles, but I’m closing in on my due date so I can’t gloat. It does make for a quiet Thanksgiving.
Comment needz moar kittehs!
Ken
@Germy: By Cleek’s Law, conservatives enjoy doing things just to p*ss off their liberal relatives.
jl
The tropes of the Lund piece are so convoluted not sure I understood the point, exactly.
But it seemed to end by saying that the most important thing was to make sure the food, particularly the turkey was cooked well. I agree that is the most important thing.
There is a band of folks who make elaborate denials that turkey can be cooked well every Thanksgiving. I revile, reject, repudiate and refudiate those reprobates, particularly Yglesias.
Contra Malloy on Twitter, Trump would never chop off the heads of turkeys himself, he would get the best most fantastic and elegant and classy turkey-head-chopper experts to do it, and he would look on the spectacle, glowering that they better do it right, as good as he would do it, if it were not beneath his dignity. That is my guess.
Awright, everyone have a good Thanksgiving. I need to put more eggnog with my likker now.
PurpleGirl
I have list of stores to go to tomorrow for specific items, things I need or want to have during December to fix things in the apartment. I’ll be going in and out of stores, not “casual” shopping. Doing them tomorrow (or Saturday) because next week I have three doctor/medical appointments which breakup the day weirdly.
ETA: For example, I need a new flourescent light fixture for under the kitchen cabinets. The current one died and to get the bulb out I had to half destroy the fixture. So the whole thing needs replacement.
Schlemazel
My folks owned a huge old house, the dining and living rooms were each 16×24. They also had a huge array of friends, shirt-tails and various others with no family for the holidays so it was not unusual for us to have 35-40 for Thanksgiving. Two turkeys was the norm with vast tubs of sides. We all pitched in with cooking but working catering we had the rhythms down pretty well. I miss those days. a lot.
The oldest keeps his family at home (mostly as an excuse not to have to deal with his in-laws) Younger son is 2 hours away and had to work today (we will see him Saturday) and daughter is 800 miles away with no time off. The result was just the two of us and tissue thin who had to leave for his night shift. I enjoy the calm & quiet, the greatly reduced work load but I really really miss a house bustling with family and friends, pulsing with corny jokes that can be told in front of family, ohs and ahs over the food and yelling at meaningless football games.
PurpleGirl
@jeffreyw: Squeeeee! So cute.
Librarian
@sharl: Especially the ones that include kids, like the Easter egg roll.
NotMax
Might – might – muster up enough gumption to sneak into Costco on Black Friday*, as a whole boneless pork loin is $10 off and a good brand of bread is buy one loaf, get one free (mix and match, too, so don’t have to get two loaves of same type of bread).
We shall see…
Luckily, there’s a twisty back road that also passes right by the Costco entrance, so don’t have to brave in-town traffic.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mike in NC: No pardons for vermin like Luntz. Only the promise of some Klingon justice.
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid: It’s not so much partisanship as it is the sheriff is near.
JPL
@NotMax: lol.. I don’t brave the Costco near me on a weekend, never mind tomorrow. The best I do is Home Depot.
Brachiator
Quick question for everyone as I pop in and out for Thanksgiving.
Did any of you buy or read a physical newspaper in the past week or so to get information about Black Friday sales?
Did any of you buy or read a physical newspaper to get information about Thanksgiving groceries or recipes?
Hope everyone is having a happy Thanksgiving.
Back to the festivities. I’m not the racist uncle. But I am the almost too radical for some uncle, especially for the very, very, very religious relatives, some of whom don’t hold with that evolution stuff.
ETA: Am hearing very good things about the movie “Creed.” Also has a woman director of photography. Might be a good choice if you have an official Thanksgiving weekend movie.
kc
Jeb Lund, always on point.
Last year’s thinkpiece theme : Going home for Thanksgiving sucks.
This year’s thinkpiece theme: Last year’s thinkpieces suck.
JPL
@Brachiator: I have the NYTimes delivered on Sundays and I purchased the AJC today because of the ads. Going through the ads on Thanksgiving is a tradition for us. We don’t hit the malls though. Tomorrow I am going to go by Home Depot but that’s it.
According to GA colleges.. evolution is just a theory.. They have disclaimers.
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: “but I’m closing in on my due date so I can’t gloat.”
I am finding that sentence somewhat alarming.
NotMax
@Brachiator
To answer your first question, no. Black Friday ads available online, at some sites which specialize in that for weeks in advance.
Schlemazel
@Brachiator:
I have been liking the stuff I have seen about Trumbo & gonna try to squeeze it in this weekend. Creed is a ‘maybe later’ for now
PurpleGirl
@Brachiator:
Did any of you buy or read a physical newspaper in the past week or so to get information about Black Friday sales?
Did any of you buy or read a physical newspaper to get information about Thanksgiving groceries or recipes?
I haven’t bought or read a physical newspaper in years. Just too expensive these days. As I usually have my computer on, I look things up things like recipes there. Also the big stores do put out advertising papers and I get that in my building lobby. Besides at this stage of life, there aren’t many things I need to buy. For example, I use the laundry in my building, have no need to buy my own appliances. I bought a new toaster oven when the previous one died. They never die close to big sales.
jeffreyw
@WaterGirl: I don’t know what my actual due date is, so don’t be alarmed. (I was going to say “unduly alarmed” but I didn’t want to start a run of terrible puns from you know who.)
JPL
We had fun today. The SO, soon to be daughter-in-law and I chatted about the first time she met the ex and I. She had totally forgotten my portlandia moment but remembered meeting the ex. They had been together for eighteen months at the time and had just moved in together. He arrived from John’s home state with a Santa Claus beard and long hair. This is a guy who wore Brooks Brothers suits for decades. She was like okay… He actually decided that he didn’t like all that hair so has shaved since. My portlandia moment was a birthday celebration. I don’t eat veal but have heard stories that some are humanely raised. So I questioned the waiter about the veal and where it was raised. I ordered chicken. I still don’t eat veal. The poor waiter just kinda stared at me.
Germy
This cartoon reminds me of the redesign but luckily everything’s fine now…
raven
@JPL: Reference please.
JPL
@raven: GA public colleges have to have a disclaimer that Sciences are only a theory. It was a state law passed maybe 8 or 9 years ago.
It is part of the first class.
Brachiator
@Schlemazel:
“Trumbo” is on my list as well. But I am leaning toward “Creed” because it seeks to reinvent the Rocky mystique and is the second collaboration of the director and star of “Fruitvale Station.”
I was talking to some of the young’uns at work about how the atmosphere that gave rise to the blacklist and other fear-induced hatreds is around again today.
I had forgot that Sean Penn’s father was the blacklisted Leo Penn. I hate that people think Penn just dabbles in politics, but he knows firsthand what its like when your family is targeted for political reasons.
The Hollywood Reporter has a weak apology (with good background info) on it’s founder’s despicable role in the blacklist.
raven
@JPL: And I ask again, show it to me in writing. This is all you will find.
“Georgia
In 2002, after receiving a petition signed by more than 2,000 parents complaining that alternative theories to evolution were not being presented in public school science textbooks, the school board in Cobb County, Ga., placed stickers on biology textbooks instructing students that “evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things.” In January 2005, a federal judge ruled that the stickers were unconstitutional because they had the effect of endorsing a religious viewpoint. The county school board removed the stickers but appealed the ruling. In December 2006, following a settlement with the ACLU, the school board withdrew its appeal.”
JPL
@raven: lol.. I’m trying to google the law.. it was passed by the religious fanatics years ago. After the sons graduated but before the soon to be daughter in law…
It was not about evolution per say cause that had been ruled against in courts.. so it was a general statement that had to be part of the course.
sharl
Then…
~
Now:
~
What, no more love for haters and losers??!? I feel like I’ve been kicked out of the yuuuuge and classy seasonal Kumbaya Mansion – design by Potemkin, with yuuuge golden ~T~s everywhere – into the cold, and now I’m shivering and looking inside through the window.
Not cool, man, not cool at all!
raven
@JPL: It is not a policy of the University System.
Schlemazel
@raven:
We have good friends that live outside Atlanta & he kept his son’s textbook just because of the sticker. repaid the school for the book & shows it off with a great laugh.
JPL
@raven: They had to have the disclaimer when K graduated from Tech. It was clear in her Earth Science class.
JPL
@Schlemazel: That was the Cobb county case,, what I’m referring to is a general statement the legislature came up with after that ..
It wasn’t evolution specifically but all sciences.
After Cobb County had to remove their stickers, the legislature passed a general statement on science and theory.. It must have been between 2004 and 2005
delk
Growing up in the Back of the Yards, during the Machine years, our Thanksgiving turkey was delivered a few days before the holiday by the precinct captain as a ‘token’ for voting the way they told my parents to vote.
JPL
@raven: I’ll ask K tomorrow.. When she was at Tech, that’s how it had to be presented. Maybe that law got shot down also. At least let’s hope so. Ask when you get back.
JDM
The biggest problem with the sticker statement is that it is untrue: evolution is a theory and a fact. Of course the other problem with the sticker is its rather obvious intent.
JPL
@efgoldman: On her final I told her to answer that the course was based on theory, so the rest of the questions are irrelevant. She didn’t…
Baud
“Balloon Juice is only a theory” should be a rotating tag.
Mike J
@JDM: I have no problem with telling students evolution is a theory, provided they first explain the difference between a theory and a hypothesis (which is what the idiots mean when they say “just a theory”).
Germy
@Baud: “Balloon-Juice is a concept by which we measure our pain.”
Srv
Lots of woods in Texas and Arkansas, but there is no firewood in Texarkana.
I wonder who Trumps EPA secretary will be.
Germy
@Srv: Rex W. Tillerson
ruemara
It is in my best interests to go find people, shove pastries into their hands and run away. Or else I’m going to eat myself halfway to diabeetus.
Brachiator
@Mike J:
Isn’t the hypothesis part of a right triangle?
Just heard a joke about how for Canadian Thanksgiving, you just sprinkle some turkey on your poutine.
Baud
@Germy:
“A Balloon Juice hero is something to be.”
JPL
@efgoldman: I can’t remember if it was my son’s sixth or seventh grade when a neighbor mentioned that she was upset about the teachings of evolution in Science. I simply said that you need to explain that religious classes and science classes are different and should be treated that way. Now that I think about it , that neighbor didn’t share a lot after that.
jl
@Baud:
“A Balloon Juice hero is something to see.”
That may be a Cole naked mopping pet poop reference, or maybe not.
BTW: are you not the BJ candidate for president? Shouldn’t you be out kissing some turkeys or something?
jo6pac
I didn’t read any comments but please everyone have safe thanksgiving and remember why?
JPL
@efgoldman: It still makes a good bumper sticker. It would kinda make you stop and think.
Germy
Vote, v. The instrument and symbol of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.
– Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary
Germy
@jl:
“In balloon-juice, pet poop mops you!”
– Yakov Smirnoff
Baud
@jl:
Presidents don’t kiss turkeys; they pardon them!
@efgoldman:
Don’t you always?
mainmata
@Srv: Um, 100 years ago was the high point of Progressivism in American politics as you can discover from any history book not created in Texas. Oh, that’s right, Conservatives create their own reality and, hemce, their own history. How always convenient to live in Bubble World.
raven
Yuckey night in Green Bay.
Prescott Cactus
@delk: Racine Ave. The aroma of stockyard in the morning.
Canaryvillain ?
raven
@efgoldman:Go Berz.
Suzanne
I wasn’t going to go shopping tomorrow, but Spawn the Elder informed me yesterday that she has a project due on Monday for school, so we I’ll have to go get some stuff to make a model of a lightbulb. That means Michaels or Hobby Lobby. I hate HL for the obvious reasons, and I hate Michaels because StE was seriously injured in one of their stores when she was two because they keep their stores messy and disgusting, and it took an ambulance ride to the hospital and stitches. So fuck.
Other than that, tomorrow is about DECORATING the house for the holidays!
I am stuffed and +3. Trying not to hurl.
Tenar Darell
I managed to get home with just two Tums before the worst of the food coma & headache decided to hit. How about you all?
P.S. Skywatchers, be careful driving because that moon is mesmerizing. I kept on having to remind myself to focus on the road.
Kathleen
@Brachiator: Creed and Trumbo are on my list. I also highly recommend Spotlight. Script, direction, actors, pace, subject matter and cinematography combine to create a flawless – and disturbing on many levels – film.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Light bulbs are only a theory.
Baud
@Tenar Darell:
That’s no moon.
Oh, I thought you said Skywalkers.
amk
@Baud:
/fixt
shell
@JPL: Thought I got two newspapers delivered by mistake. But the second plastic bag was about 50 pounds of store ads. Went right into the recycling bin.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@mainmata: standing ovation.gif
delk
@Prescott Cactus: 48th and Laflin.
13 years ago we moved to the West Loop and I’m actually living on Laflin St again!
Tenar Darell
@Baud: ROTFL, really. Sure wrote my way into that one /laughs at self and gets up for more antacids.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: How do you sleep at night?
ETA: OTOH, Whatever gets you though the night, s’right, s’right.
p.a.
I have much to be thankful for, but would it be churlish to ask for one more selfish thing? A decent effing football game?
NotMax
Cranberry sauce cooked and put in fridge to gel. Waiting for sweet potatoes to cool enough to handle so can scoop ’em out and get to mashing and casserole making.
After that, onions and celery to chop and saute for the stuffing.
The travails of a kitchen with very limited counter space.
dmsilev
@Suzanne: Did the assignment specify ‘incandescent’ light bulb? A model of an LED would be pretty easy: “here’s a chip, and there’s a thin layer of some fancy gunk on it. Hook it up to power and it glows.”
Bonus points if Spawn’s diorama uses a potato chip.
dmsilev
@Kathleen: Definitely second the ‘Spotlight’ recommendation. Very well done film, though it will leave you wanting to run out and throttle the first Catholic Bishop or Archbishop that you can find.
p.a.
@efgoldman: We really are spoiled here in N.E. Given that the rules have basically made the game flag football, there’s widespread horrible offensive play and quarterbacking.
Shit: Hochuli. Flags will fly. No rhythm allowed.
Germy
Donald Trump Wants Neighbors To Monitor Each Other
GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said late Tuesday that everyday Americans should monitor their neighbors for questionable behavior.
“The real greatest resource is all of you, because you have all those eyes and you see what’s happening,” he told listeners in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
“People move into a house a block down the road, you know who’s going in,” Trump continued. “You can see and you report them to the local police.
“You’re pretty smart, right?” he asked his audience. “We know if there’s something going on, report them. Most likely you’ll be wrong, but that’s OK.
“That’s the best way. Everybody’s their own cop in a way. You’ve got to do it. You’ve got to do it.”
—
“There’s something going on in the mosques and other places,” Trump said. “There’s some nastiness, there’s some meanness there.
– from crooksandliars
p.a.
Can that SOB leave the vatican? We have extradition with Italy.
JPL
@efgoldman: All of the candidates positions are close to Trump. The danger is that the others will seem moderate.
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: The only thing you done was Yesterday, now you’re just Another Day.
catclub
cat and owl friends
catclub
@efgoldman: I was thinking that the most effective sounding ad
that Hillary could put up is the one she already stated: “The GOP has fucked up the economy and then the Democrats have to come in and fix it. Happened in 1992, happened again in 2008.
Don’t give them another whack at it.”
This would work well against Jeb or Rubio, but least well against Trump, since he is the antiGOP
establishment candidate.
JPL
@efgoldman: You and I are the opposite of an optimist and a pessimist. I like the way you think though.
Pogonip
@Brachiator: No and no. We did get the tiny local paper this week but I only buy the big-city paper with all the ads on Sunday. It’s one of those 50%-football-40%-Macy’s-ads-10%-news bird-cage liners so we don’t bother with it Monday-Saturday.
Woodrowfan
@Brachiator:
Did any of you buy or read a physical newspaper in the past week or so to get information about Black Friday sales? NO! I don’t do the BF sales.
Did any of you buy or read a physical newspaper to get information about Thanksgiving groceries or recipes? No. internet.
Shana
@Brachiator: I subscribe to my local paper (WaPo) so yes, I did get a special package with all the ads for Black Friday on Tuesday evening. I did read through them to see if there’s anything I’m in the market for that was on a particularly deep discount.
JPL
@Pogonip: Since our tradition is to go through ads, I went to QT, the closest gas station at seven this morning. When I arrived several were walking out with the paper.
As I mentioned earlier, we don’t actually shop on Black Friday we just look at the ads. Some traditions are odd.
Shana
@Baud: There’s a wonderful t-shirt I saw when visiting spawn-the-elder there a few years ago. The front said “That’s fine in practice” and the back said “But how is it in theory?”
Anne Laurie
@Brachiator:
I subscribe to the Boston Globe, Sundays only, so I get the sales flyers/book reviews/theatre&performance news… plus full digital access.
Today I got a “bonus” delivery with the (very thin) daily news, plus a bulk of sales flyers weighing more than the average Sunday edition. So, they seem to have figured out their market very nicely!
Suzanne
@efgoldman: Maybe. Depends on how benevolent I feel tomorrow morning.
I made a tarte tatin with honeycrisp apples for dessert. I dehydrated the apples like the recipe said (two days in advance), though it was still fairly watery. Having said that, it was still absolutely delicious. Also made homemade whipped cream. I bought the pumpkin pie, though—I have tried, and I cannot do better than Costco.
Suzanne
@dmsilev: The project specified an Edison lightbulb, so no LEDs. I am thinking a mason jar is about to lose its life.
dmsilev
@Suzanne: Mason jar and some solid-core wire (a coat hanger, if nothing else). Twist the wire into a coil, with the ends coming down; anchor them in holes punched through the lid of the jar. Shouldn’t be too bad, even for a last-minute thing.
David Koch
That’s the thing: Identity politics supersede economic politics.
There’s reams of rank and file bloggers who naively believe economic populism can win back low information whites. But bigotry is like heroin to these people. Once it gets into their blood stream, the habit is hard to kick and the recidivism rate is high.
While the proposed policy proscriptions are good (ie free college), don’t expect to be rewarded politically, in fact you’ll be punished as low-info-whites resent POC sharing any of the benefits. They would rather cut off their noses to spite them.
mainmata
@efgoldman: The party that prattles endlessly about “Freedom” so loves politicians and policies that are all about authoritarian oppression for anyone oher than rich, white males. Psychological projection: it’s what’s for dinner in every Republican household.
mainmata
@efgoldman: That last is what matters (GOTV) because the GOP will use their overwhelming control of most states to disenfranchise a lot of the electrorate with no penalty since the Constitution allows states to make the rules for federal elections (huge mistake). Anything less than a big turnout and they win even with a hideous candidate.
Villago Delenda Est
@Germy: Cripes. Fascist shitstain is projecting. AGAIN.
TerryC
@JPL: My youngest daughter, 27, has worked her way up from cashier to managing a hardware department in less than a year. The local Home Depot management have been very encouraging to her.