Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

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

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

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

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

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

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

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

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

This fight is for everything.

The lights are all blinking red.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Leftovers

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Leftovers

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gop leftovers sheneman

(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)

Because sometimes all you can do is cope. One foot in front of the other, one step at a time. Got a nice Thanksgiving message (okay, a block email) from my senior Senator Elizabeth Warren…

I buy all sorts of things for Thanksgiving that no one in the family eats much during the rest of the year. Jell-O for Aunt Bee’s special dish (she’s gone, but the green Jell-O salad lives on). Canned onion rings. Marshmallows.

I’d stopped doing the sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows on top, only to get protests from the family. I said I wasn’t going to keep making it. “You don’t eat more than a few nibbles, and I end up throwing most of it out.”

My daughter Amelia and son Alex dissolved into gales of laughter. “No, no, you’ve got to keep making it.” Even Bruce was in on the joke.

Finally they confessed why they looked forward to the dish. The last thing I do, once all the dishes are laid out and the turkey is on the table, is put the sweet potato casserole topped with carefully arranged marshmallows under the broiler, while everyone heads to the table.

And about half the time, I get distracted and remember the sweet potatoes only after the marshmallows have caught fire.

Amelia and Alex claim that, while they were growing up, that was the highlight of Thanksgiving: Would mom set the marshmallows on fire again this year? And, if I did start a fire, how exciting would it be? Would I scream? Would I set the kitchen towels on fire again? Would I carry the flaming dish to the sink while everyone rushed into the kitchen and yelled advice? …

Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful. As I look around this morning at my own kids and grandkids, making new traditions and hopefully not setting the house on fire, I’m deeply thankful to have the opportunity to fight for families in Massachusetts and all across the country – and I’m thankful to have you with me for those fights.

***********
Best of luck to all the people traveling after the holiday (or wishing they were). What else is on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Thanx for the laugh Anne, and Elizabeth, a great way to start a sucky weather Saturday. (rain, cold, more rain, wind, more rain) Gonna spend the day in the shop I think.

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @OzarkHillbilly: Going to hit 70° again today and should be a lovely weekend, but then it cools off and gets rainy most of the week. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the day, but right now it’s still dark so shall go back to bed for another few hours.

    @Anne Laurie: Love the cartoon, and your story from Senator Professor Warren!

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning all. Packing for a 2-week vacay to an undisclosed (so far) location that allegedly does not have much wifi. Look forward to possibly redeveloping an attention span.

    Hope everyone’s Turkey Day was fine, and perhaps the leftovers are still holding out.

  5. 5.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    I’m thinking about buying a 2d/3d lens for my samsung camera. I found one on EBay that’s about $100 less than on Amazon. Sez it’s new, un-opened in the original packaging.

  6. 6.

    Kathleen

    Thank you for the brilliant cartoon and Senator Warren’s story, both of which have me laughing out loud at 6am.

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Hopefully not! They make the wifi sound so expensive and slow that decided to forego, if possible.

    No norovirus either, please.

  13. 13.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    The cocoa stout cupcakes were a hit. Now I need to replenish my supply of stout.

    Bothersome lingering cold has really messed up my already-unpredictable sleep schedule.

  21. 21.

    Mustang Bobby

    My agenda today is to take the Mustang in to Jiffy Lube for an oil change, then lie in wait for them to tell me that it needs new brakes, hoses, and whatever else their corporate headquarters is pushing this week. Then I will wave the 99-point inspection results that I got from the Ford dealership yesterday when they replaced a power window regulator that showed all other systems are functioning within normal parameters. I have no intention of being ripped off by two sharks in two days; one was quite enough, thank you very much.

  22. 22.

    raven

    Tough day yesterday. Fished from 8 until 3:30 and caught two beauties in the last hour. Then we packed up and went to Northwest Florida College in Niceville to see Virginia Tech (my brides alma mater) get hammered by Iowa State and then my Illini beat UAB. I was shot from the day in the sun and water and, because it was already 10pm, we left at the half for the hour-long ride. We still have today and tomorrow here and we’ll watch football, eat Turkey gumbo today and fish one last day Sunday. The traffic out of the beach on T-day Sunday sucks so we go home Monday.

  25. 25.

    Phylllis

    @Baud: Should not post until 2nd cup of coffee. Put that one in the top 5 worst sentences I’ve ever written. Proper punctuation is indeed your friend.

  26. 26.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: Wow, you’re right. I watched my Huskies beat Yutsy’s Cougs like a rented mule yesterday; I’m hoping for a similar fate for Mnemo’s Trojies as they face my Bruins this afternoon.

  27. 27.

    dmsilev

    Speaking of leftovers and (former) Massachusetts politicians, Micahel Dukakis’s ‘I will make soup from your turkey carcass’ story has, so far, left his family with 20 carcasses to deal with (link is to his daughter’s Twitter feed). That’s a lot of soup.

  30. 30.

    scav

    @Phylllis: I’ll take up some of that avoiding burden for you. I’m hoping for an entire day of outdoor gardening as a first step towards (ideally) months of avoiding certain familial relational ruts that I’m tired of being dragged into in the role of chief witness and chorus. Avoiding Netflix and Grocery Stores for a single mere day would be an incidental byproduct.

    ETA: only quibble with the cartoon is that I doubt the candidates in question were ever attractive, well-cooked dinner food-stuffs. Some absolutely half-baked.

  31. 31.

    The Pale Scot

    I’m helping elderly family members do a garage sale down here FL. Successfully resisting the urge to add “Huge and Very Very Classy” to attract probable local demographic… so far.

  33. 33.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    No plans, which is bad because it usually means I’ll amble into some kind of attractive looking trouble.
    Weather will be OK today so dog walkies is one amble that will happen for sure.
    Need to send some early Christmas cash off to a young niece who is setting off on the Southeast Asian leg of an epic 6 month trek. We are absolutely sure she will come to some harm there, but she’s not. Which only means we’re old and she’s young and we should stay out of the way and let her be her.

  34. 34.

    dmsilev

    @efgoldman: 20 was the number as of last night. Since a lot of people don’t have picked-over carcasses until Friday or Saturday, I’m guessing it might still increase.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: I have a niece who travels to SE Asia when ever she can (stewardess so it is often) and the only harm she has ever come to was breaking her foot while biking in Thailand. Then again, IIRC that was the same trip she and her hubby got out of the country the day before the 2014 coup.

  38. 38.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    My niece is 25 and lives by herself in New Orleans. She loves to travel so she’s off on a 4 month wander that started at Burning Man. She’s been through part of India 2 years ago.
    Family worries, but I point out that NOLA is no paradise either, and she’s been fine there.
    She wants to pick a college in the fall, and I encouraged her to go travel NOW because chances are if she doesn’t she never will and she’ll regret it.

  40. 40.

    JMG

    After a small Thanksgiving, only three people with LOTS of leftovers despite turkey sandwiches and leftovers for dinner, including fried mashed potato cakes, an old family recipe from my grandmother I call Cardiologist’s Delight, we’re having friends over for drinks and dinner tonight. There will be 8 for dinner, 12 for dessert. My wife’s baked ziti with sausage and still more pie (oh, we have too much) is on the menu.

  41. 41.

    Satby

    Studebaker museum today, with a stop at the mall for my one frustrated shopper who couldn’t get the coat she wanted online yesterday after. Depending on how long all that takes, maybe even a quick trip to the grocery store. But probably that will have to wait until tomorrow.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: If you got that itch, it needs to be scratched, otherwise it never goes away. Most times not even then. Tho the urge has waned for me, and I’m not quite done, I’ll always wish I had gotten more in. They can’t take those experiences away from you.

    “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you — beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.”

    -Edward Abbey

  44. 44.

    Satby

    And if planning holds, tomorrow is a lesson on making soap, which the girls have been anxious to do.

    Last week I taught them to make ricotta cheese, and a month ago how to make jelly. Their parents must wonder what kind of hippie their kids are staying with.

  47. 47.

    Mike in NC

    @efgoldman: Alas, no time for clams but we did tour the Sam Adams brewery in Jamaica Plain, where admission is free and samples are generous.

  48. 48.

    Germy

    @Mustang Bobby:

    My agenda today is to take the Mustang in to Jiffy Lube

    Are you sure you want to do that? I recall scanning the “help wanted” ads and seeing them looking for someone with “no automotive experience necessary”

    But I suppose car maintenance is a crapshoot no matter where you go, unless you’re one of the more macho balloon-juice commenters here who can take apart and reassemble their vehicles blindfolded.

  49. 49.

    Phylllis

    @efgoldman: Ours never made it out of the freezer. I’m convinced that no matter how you plan, it’s an unwritten rule that you forget something.

  50. 50.

    JMG

    @efgoldman: Just had the Thanksgiving breakfast of champions. A slice of apple pie warmed in the oven until the slices of Emmenthal on top get a little but not too melty, and black coffee.

  51. 51.

    geg6

    Going to see the last Hunger Games with my sister and youngest niece. This has been a ritual for us for every one of these movies, much like it was for all the Harry Potters. Guess Divergent is all we’ll have left!

  52. 52.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    Looking at Thanksgiving from an analytical standpoint you could conclude that the point isn’t eating, it’s cooking. Otherwise why would we have 4X as much food as could possibly be consumed? We have this holiday for the pleasure of incinerated marshmallows. Eating is just a necessary consequence of the main event, the preparation.

  55. 55.

    D58826

    From an earlier thread

    The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (28 C.F.R. Section 0.85)

    Now it seems that this would apply to yesterday’s shooter but what about the so called ‘patriots’ who staked out the mosque in Texas while armed to the teeth. I understand the first amendment right to protest but armed? It seems to me the entire purpose of the weaponry was to terrorize or intimidate the members of the mosque. The group has since moved on to posting the addresses of the members of the mosque. For what purpose, other than foo intimidation. So I guess my question is are there federal statutes that cover the type of intimidation that stops short of violence but still is meant to terrorized?

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    Thank you for the good wishes. Wish I could tuck you all along in the luggage. Not kidding there.

    Needed to get away and think a bit, and this sounded like a good opportunity.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Germy:

    I suppose car maintenance is a crapshoot no matter where you go,

    No, it’s not. It takes patience, and perseverance but you can find people you can trust to work on your vehicles. As one of those people who has taken a vehicle apart and put it back together again, it is easier for me. I found a local shop and have been using them for a decade plus. Saved me and my wife tons of money. You’ll know you found a good one when they say, “You don’t need to do that right now, but it is coming up.”

  59. 59.

    Kay

    I worry that the private sector can’t come up with any way to make money other than stealing from poor people:

    She says she rolled her electric wheelchair out of the Goodwill Industries store in Tustin after inadvertently neglecting to pay for a few items. The pack of purple napkins, headband and small purse came to $6.97.
    But once a security guard stopped her that day in March 2013, things got heated. Black, 64, said she was frightened into signing a confession and agreeing to complete a six-hour “life skills” course and pay a Utah company $500.
    When Black did not pay, she received multiple calls and letters from Corrective Education Co., including this final warning: “Contact us immediately to prevent the filing of a criminal complaint.”
    Black unsuccessfully sued the firm, which refers to itself as CEC, along with Monument Security Inc., contending they were debt collectors that had violated laws governing that industry.
    On Monday, the San Francisco city attorney weighed in, filing a new lawsuit that alleges CEC’s practices violate the California business and professions code and amount to extortion and false imprisonment.
    The suit seeks civil penalties as well as restitution for every Californian who has paid into the program. About 20,000 accused shoplifters are believed to have participated nationwide.
    The company, founded in 2010 by two Harvard Business School graduates, calls itself “the leading provider of restorative justice education.” It purports to give low-level, first-time shoplifters a valuable opportunity to learn how to make better choices, while saving them a criminal record and sparing law enforcement resources.

    It’s like they are out of ideas on how to make money in the private sector so they insert themselves as middlemen in what is a public sector process- in this case the criminal justice system, but it could be anything.

    The company makes “threats and false and misleading statements to people detained by private security guards in the back room of a store to induce them to sign unlawful and unconscionable contracts confessing to crimes,” the lawsuit contends.
    The suspected shoplifters then agree to pay “CEC hundreds of dollars for an ‘educational’ video program that operates without the knowledge or involvement of the criminal justice system, and that flouts many of the laws that regulate pretrial diversion programs,” the lawsuit says.
    “Whenever we privatize our justice system, especially criminal justice, you run the risk of intimidation from people who are motivated by nothing but profit and I think this is a perfect example of that,” City Atty. Dennis Herrera said in an interview

  60. 60.

    Botsplainer

    @Kay:

    I’m just horrified that Goodwill would employ such a firm.

    Maybe my old shit simply needs to go in the trash.

  61. 61.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Went to bed late last night, as usual, but woke up half an hour ago and can’t go back to sleep, so I’m lying in bed reading and trying not to trigger the dogs before their breakfast at dawn (about another half hour). I can hear the big greyhound occasionally sighing in his sleep, and a while ago I unfurled the comforter so the whippet could go under it for her last “toasty” sleep phase. She alternates on top/under in two or three cycles per night. I’ve internalized the routine so that I barely wake up for the unfurling.

    My cold is almost gone, but I’m still tired all the time. No plans for the day. Will do a check-in call with my mom and perhaps suggest a drive to Red Rock Canyon just to get outside for a bit.

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Hard to describe in words how truly disgusting the privatization of our criminal justice system is.

  63. 63.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Kay:
    That’s got to qualify as extortion. Pay us or we turn you in can’t be construed any other way.

  64. 64.

    Tom

    Still cold out here.

    We usually go out to the movies on Saturday but there was a sale on rom-com rentals on iTunes (99 cents ea.) so we’ll stay in with some hot cocoa and the kitties and watch those.

    Yesterday we binge-watched “Jessica Jones” so we need a bit of a palate cleanser from the noir darkness.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @Botsplainer:

    I’m just horrified that Goodwill would employ such a firm.
    Maybe my old shit simply needs to go in the trash

    You feel like you have to have a part-time job as a scam researcher just to function. They’re everywhere! There’s a grift embedded in every process or service.

    I genuinely wonder about it- whether people will feel they can trust any representation from anyone- I bet most of these people assume this is a government program, that there’s state police power behind this, so they frantically comply. It’s just stomach turning.

  66. 66.

    Satby

    @Botsplainer: Worked for them for a short time, and you can do better with your old stuff. Look for an animal rescue group or homeless shelter support group, lot of them have resale shops or sales that will accept donations and not enrich a scam outfit like Goodwill.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    They need big showy prosecutions- high profile trials and prison terms and perp walks for these kind of crimes. They wouldn’t have to do a lot of them. Just take the most egregious all the way to trial- no fines or consent agreements or money settlements. There needs to be a message sent.

  68. 68.

    AnonPhenom

    I don’t know if anyone has already expressed this (I can’t check, the site redesign causes my tabet to crash. Likely as much my old tablet as the site) but..

    I wanna see the assholes at CNN asking the Christians in this country if they’re willing to take responsibility and apologise for the terrorist who attacked America at Colorado Springs.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @Satby:

    The things my grown kids remember from their childhoods is places they went and things they did- they never mention stuff they got. My daughter had a group of girlfriends from 2nd grade thru high school- the same girls. They remember the things they did at my house- made birdhouses, made Valentines, made potholders on those horrible little metal looms they sell for…potholder making, taking them all to a hockey game. I think you’re on the right track with “doing” rather than “buying”. Jelly-making will be memorable :)

  71. 71.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @Kay:
    Maybe extorting small amounts from a lot of poor people is a market niche they think they can exploit. One big scam gets you busted but a lot of small ones against people with low visibility will fly under the radar. I think it’s appalling but it’s difficult to see who would take up the case.
    This seems of a piece with law enforcement organizations like Ferguson sticking the poor with fines for a lot of nuisance violations as a revenue source. Though in the present case it’s private enterprise getting into the act.

  72. 72.

    FlyingToaster

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: Not necessarily.

    HerrDoctor & I go over to the SIL (his sister) with the turkey and our share of prepped sides; we all cook while the kids go wild. Then everyone sits down, says what they’re thankful for, and we dig in. My (former Republican) BIL and I agreed that sitting down with good food and company you don’t want to pull a gun on is the whole point.

    There are family members who will never again be invited. Their presence is like fingernails on a chalkboard, and our two families have had e-fucking-nough of their nonsense.

    I know people go “Tradition!” and you have to invite Crazy Uncle Larry, but honestly, unless I can dose the bastard with Thorazine* I don’t want him at Thanksgiving. Or anywhere in Eastern Massachusetts, anytime.

    *Valium would work too. They should put these to the level of Pseudoephedrine — not on the shelf, but you can sign for them with the Pharmacist.

  74. 74.

    bemused

    @Botsplainer:
    @Kay:

    Go local if possible and if you reliably know where the money is going and who it is helping. All of our no longer needed or wanted pretty good stuff goes to a local thrift shop run by volunteers with money going support our wonderful local hospital’s various needs, equipment, etc. A local Lion’s club has a rummage sale every summer that has gotten huge to which we have donated bigger items such as furniture. We’ve never gone to a sale because it is a madhouse with a long line of people waiting to get in. I also donate money to our local foodshelf.

  75. 75.

    MattF

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: Makes you think. I know that the ‘good old days’ weren’t actually so good, but at least the ‘poor tax’ went from the rich to the poor, rather than the other way ’round.

  76. 76.

    FlyingToaster

    @efgoldman: Yeah, but:

    a) New England
    Lots of us make stock with the carcass. I took a picture and texted “Pining for the fjords” to my friends, and then it went into the pot.
    b) Brookline
    Good luck navigating! Most of the (non-main-drag) roads are one-way — out of Brookline. Heh.
    c) The Green Line was on a Sunday Schedule yesterday.
    I don’t think anyone wanted to risk taking the C line single cars every 20 minutes while carrying a turkey carcass in a plastic Star Market bag. I just don’t.

  77. 77.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    @FlyingToaster:
    I have one aunt who’s a world class shit-starter. Has been all her life. It’s amazing she can move under all the grudges she carries. But Dad (her brother) says ‘Family is family’ so we just keep her busy and change the subject when she starts ranting about the grocery clerk she reduced to tears over some petty retail outrage.
    She makes a killer fruit salad, though.

  78. 78.

    MattF

    @FlyingToaster: I’ve learned from my eye surgery that Valium sometimes has the side effect of amnesia– so dosing Uncle Larry will likely leave him neither learning nor remembering anything.

  79. 79.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    One for Kay (and everyone else interested in the schools):

    Dean Baker makes a very good point about a NYTimes story. CEPR:

    “In the case of charter schools, researchers have found an innovative way to overcome selection bias: analyzing the admission lotteries that charters are required to run when they have more applicants than seats.

    “Each lottery serves as a randomized trial, the gold standard of research methods. Random assignment lets us compare apples to apples: Lottery winners and losers are identical, on average, when they apply. Any differences that emerge after the lottery can safely be attributed to charter attendance.”

    Actually the claim that differences in outcomes, “can safely be attributed to charter attendance,” is not true. There are two differences between the students who win the lottery and attend a charter school. One is the issue being examined, that they are attending a charter school. The other is that they are being placed in a school where the other students all have parents who were sufficiently motivated to enter their children in a lottery to try to get them in a better school.

    It is reasonable to believe that the second effect will be very important. These parents clearly have more time and energy to get involved in their children’s education. This means, for example, if a teacher is not doing a good job or classroom conditions are not conducive to learning, they will likely complain to a school principle. All the students in a school will benefit from having such parents overseeing their kids’ education. Any school in which all the children had parents that selected the school because they considered it to be better for their kids would likely have better outcomes than a random neighborhood school which enrolled all children regardless of the interest of the parents in their kids’ education.

    Just comparing the performance of lottery winners with lottery losers will be picking up both the parent effect and the school effect. A true randomized experiment testing the impact of the charter school itself would compare the test results of students who won the lottery and went to a charter school with a situation where children who won the lottery all went to a traditional school filled with other lottery winners.

    It’s very hard to do comparisons like this right. Beware of hidden (and not so hidden) biases.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  80. 80.

    shell

    Have to finish up a few illustrations , and TCM has a few good movies I can have streaming in the background. “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House”, “Woman of the Year…”

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    @Flying Toaster

    The reason psuedoephedrine was moved behind the counter and sale quantities severely limited has zilch to do with anything medical, it was done at the behest of the DEA because it can be used in meth manufacturing*. Royal pain in the neck (sometimes literally) for those of us with frequent sinus problems to be able to purchase only a few days’ supply.

    *As can household bleach, but that isn’t regulated at all.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    @Elizabelle

    Have heard several horror tales about shipboard wi-fi being priced outrageously.

    And cell phone charges even worse, to the point where it has been recommended that when a ship is at dock, any people on land (whether passengers or not) stay at least a quarter mile away lest they too be slapped with a gargantuan roaming charge.

  84. 84.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @NotMax: I blame the PATRIOT Act:

    The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 has been incorporated into the Patriot Act signed by President Bush on March 9, 2006. The act bans over-the-counter sales of cold medicines that contain the ingredient pseudoephedrine, which is commonly used to make methamphetamine. The sale of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine is limited to behind the counter. The amount of pseudoephedrine that an individual can purchase each month is limited and individuals are required to present photo identification to purchase products containing pseudoephedrine. In addition, stores are required to keep personal information about purchasers for at least two years.

    Gotta keep Daesh from getting high on Meth, ya know.

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Who also hates being treated like a potential addict because he has pollen allergies…)

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    @Satby

    TCM available on Roku through Sling, but there have also been reports that their streaming of it is not the best, particularly with people experiencing audio problems. Dunno if that has since been rectified.

  86. 86.

    FlyingToaster

    @MattF: He wasn’t going to anyway. And not exposing the kids to his vitriol has a positive side effect — the newly minted teenager observed that “yeah, we don’t allow that hateful talk around here.”

  87. 87.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @WereBear: Hey! Glad to hear you enjoyed them.

    Also that the cats didn’t tear into the box first.

    I understand that the leftover cookies can be frozen with no ill effects. However, “leftover cookies” is a hypothetical thing at our place, so I can’t confirm that.

  88. 88.

    Randy P

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    @Elizabelle:

    Packing for a 2-week vacay to an undisclosed (so far) location

    So you don’t know where you’re going?

    I had a vacation like that once, in Virginia. Started out picking up the kids from Girl Scout camp around Roanoke and the Shenandoah Forest with a vague plan to end up at Virginia Beach by the end of the week. Leisurely stops in Charlottesville, Williamsburg, Richmond. Pauses along the way to check out Civil War history. Still stands out in my mind as one of my favorite family trips, though the kids may have a different recollection.

    Last remnants of the visiting family are due shortly for a final bagel breakfast. Most have departed. The rest of the turkey will probably disappear this morning but I’m squirreling one last duck breast away (finally came out right after 3 Thanksgivings of trying!) for myself.

    My brothers and sisters and their kids are all right. Really great people. I love Thanskgiving and I love hosting.

    But no politics, ever. Not since my brother had me actually shouting at him just before dinner was served, one time when my Mom was still around.

  90. 90.

    MomSense

    @FlyingToaster:

    We have a thanksgiving with friends and some family every year. Works really well. Our friends can all use us an excuse not to be with their families.
    Yesterday we took the coolest walk and found some amazing mushrooms. We only observed and photographed them. Pro tip. If you ever post mushroom photos on Instagram, leave out the #shroom. There is a whole world of religion, art work and hallucinogens out there that are really Out there.

  91. 91.

    cmorenc

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Then I will wave the 99-point inspection results that I got from the Ford dealership yesterday when they replaced a power window regulator that showed all other systems are functioning within normal parameters.

    I’m fortunate in that the local Ford dealer I use to service our two Ford Escapes is honest and trustworthy – about the only “product pushing” they occasionally attempt when any of my tires get into the downhill side of their lifespan is a little gentle suasion to buy a new set from them instead of a tire-specific merchant. They seem to understand that in the long run, keeping my trust in them will bring more revenue than will trying to finagle me in some instance into some several-hundred $ “repair” of marginal merit, leaving me to stew the whole way home questioning whether I just got ripped off or not.

    Not all Ford dealers are quite like that – when my daughter went away to another city for grad school for two years, the couple of times she used the local Ford dealer I always got the vibe they aggressively pushed her to get extra stuff done every time she brought the car in. I was glad when she returned home and could again bring the car in to our local Ford dealer who is more trustworthy.

  92. 92.

    gelfling545

    @Botsplainer: Had some dealings with Goodwill locally when I was working on a project for homeless veterans & was not impressed. My stuff goes to 1. the St. Vincent de Paul Society or 2. Salvation Army. I also had dealings with both of those organizations & felt like they were doing better service to the community. Yes, both are associated with religious beliefs that are not mine but I found (at least locally) they did not let them get in the way of serving those in need. I especially liked the St Vincent group as they have placed their HQ in the middle of where they are needed: across the street from the methadone clinic, a block away from the Veterans’ Housing & quite close to 2 homeless shelters so people who need this stuff can actually get it instead of being where suburbanites can grab it to make some tasteless project they saw on Pinterest.

  93. 93.

    different-church-lady

    OK, that message has me thinking that the Draft Warren movement was a better idea than I first realized…

    “Cooks dinner. Sets fires. Kicks Congressional ass.” The ads write themselves.

  94. 94.

    MattF

    @MomSense: Oooh, mushrooms. The last two years there’s been a mushroom stand at my local farmer’s market, and some of the fungi there are just astonishing. I’ve tried many of them– my current fave is the royal trumpet. Unlike many other fancy mushrooms, trumpets just dry out over time, rather than getting gunky. When you’re ready to cook them, add water. Lately, I’ve been adding them to rice in my rice cooker. Flavorful.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    I think the bigger mistake they’re making is treating “charter schools” as if they’re national. They’re not. National analysis of what are extremely local systems is misleading, and it’s misleading whether it’s done by cheerleaders or critics.

    The best analysis is local and at minimum any real analysis has to be state-specific. If you read a lot of this stuff you see a pattern. The cheerleaders cite Boston and the critics cite Ohio and Michigan cities- Cleveland, Detroit. Schools are systems- Massachusetts has the best public schools in the country whether those schools are public or charter. I can compare Massachusetts public schools to Ohio public schools and make an argument for public schools by saying “look at Massachusetts public schools- we should build those all over the country!”. You just can’t compare schools like they do- they’re systems in states and then local areas and there’s hundreds of factors.

    I just read a NYTimes piece that purported to be about “charter schools” but was actually about “NYC and Boston charter schools”. If the NYTimes had chosen Michigan and Ohio instead, their pro-charter argument falls apart. It’s not just that schools don’t lend themselves to national analysis, it’s that national analysis is all but invalid. Just on the lottery question it’s invalid in my state. Ohio is flooded with charters. They’re poaching each other’s students. We don’t have lotteries and wait lists.

  97. 97.

    PurpleGirl

    Just got back from some Green Market shopping. I had some checks/coupons from NYS that could only be used to buy fresh veggies/fruits at a Green Market. They had a Nov. 30th deadline for use. (They gave us poor seniors a one-time $20, in 5 $4 coupons.) So I bought some potatoes, yams, brussel sprouts, garlic, red and yellow onions. And a dozen free range eggs, although those I paid for with cash — couldn’t use the state coupon for them. Decided with the deadline on Nov. 30 and the harder trip that it is to a Green Market, I’d spend the coupons I still had at one time. Mission done.

  98. 98.

    Woodrowfan

    @Germy: Jiffy Lube tried to rip me off last year. They loosened the drain plug on the oil pan then told me I had a leak, which they offered to fix. I took the car to my normal repair place and ohho! they screwed the plug back in right and “fixed” the “leak.” No charge.

  100. 100.

    Feebog

    Count me among the traveling public today. At LAX waiting to board a flight to Cabo San Lucas. Toe weeks of sun and golf, woohoo!

  102. 102.

    Anya

    It’s amazing that not much is known about the Colorado Planned Parenthood terrorist. I am guessing he doesn’t have much online presence.

  103. 103.

    Ang

    Habitat for Humanity also has their ‘Restore’ stores – they don’t take clothing but do carry household goods, glassware, linens etc. The special thing is they have is home repair stuff. Painting supplies, new and used doors, windows, cabinets, large appliances, tile, pvc, etc. Discontinued stuff from home improvement stores, leftovers from construction projects – definitely worth checking out if you have one nearby. Staffed by (usually) older volunteers with additional help from folks working off community service hours. I see quite a few teens getting their high school required volunteer hours.

  104. 104.

    Botsplainer

    Well THAT was close. Youngest daughter’s cat was in my arms as I was cuddling him. The dog came to harass him, which brought struggling and claws.

    I release cat, cat leaps to couch with dog close behind. Cat leaps to top of couch and makes for an easy leap to the buffet, but realizes that it is covered with our good Lenox china and crystal that hadn’t been put away yet. He pulls up short BUT catches runner and is dangling, threatening to pull all of it down. Managed to catch him just in time.

    He snagged the runner and one stemmed non-crystal dessert thing hit the ground. Also scratched the shit out of the buffet.

  106. 106.

    trollhattan

    @Botsplainer:
    You should check to find out whether you’re actually living in a sitcom or Warner Bros cartoon. If so, expect either an eccentric sidekick or falling anvils.

  108. 108.

    ? Martin

    @Anya: White guys don’t get their countertops inspected. The US Rep from that district immediately went to ‘must be insane’ and ‘I demand an apology from Planned Parenthood for suggesting that anyone is driving domestic terrorism’.

    Fucking Colorado Springs, how does it work?

  110. 110.

    MomSense

    @MattF:
    Over the summer we discovered the mother lode of chanterelles.

    The trail yesterday is next to the marsh. There were a lot of dead and decaying trees which means woodpeckers. We found yoooge and very classy reishi mushrooms which are spread by woodpeckers.

  111. 111.

    Cervantes

    @Elizabelle:

    Bon voyage! Unalloyed pleasure, I hope.

    In Brooklyn for a few days: business and pleasure mingled; and sometimes they aren’t easy to tell apart, either!

  115. 115.

    Germy

    How to Live With Cats c. 1607
    It must be considered what harmes and perils come vnto men by this beast. It is most certaine that the breath and sauour of cats consume the radicall humour and destroy the lungs, and therefore they which keepe their cats with them in their beds haue the aire corrupted and fall into feuer hectickes and consumptions. There was a certaine company off Monkes much giuen to nourish and play with Cattes, whereby they were so infected, that within a short space none of them were able either to say, reade, pray, or sing, in all the monastery…

  116. 116.

    Eric U.

    @Satby: I gave a batch of stuff to Goodwill when I was cleaning out my mother’s house. Around here, we have plenty of options. At that time, I didn’t realize that Goodwill is just a thrift store masquerading as a charity, but I’m not sure it would have kept me from giving to them. My other easy options were the Habitat Store, and I gave them the stuff that I thought they would sell easily.

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    @? Martin

    Picked up a ‘gotta look really, really close to see it isn’t brand spanking new’ beauty of a sofa for a song from there just a few months ago.

  118. 118.

    Botsplainer

    @trollhattan:

    I just kept mentally envisioning about $3000 worth of china and crystal crashing to the floor, and it all being my fault.

    I keep saying “serve it on Chinette”.

  119. 119.

    Eric U.

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: my son went to a charter school. It was founded by a woman that had run a Montessori school, but didn’t have the resources to expand to higher grades. To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t the best school, but the kids that had followed this woman over from the Montessori school were really good students and they were allowed to teach each other. So the outcome for my son was really good. I don’t know what will happen when that effect fades away. It also, for some reason, had a reputation for being a good place for troubled students. So the teachers spent a lot of their time on those kids. Although that actually is a genuine public service if all the troubled students are successfully educated in a charter.

  120. 120.

    Germy

    When I want to get rid of stuff, I put it out in front of my house. It’s gone in five minutes. Furniture, tools, toys… small stuff I put in a box marked “FREE”

    Also, on trash pickup day, men & women come around pushing shopping carts and take bottles & cans out of my recycling bin.

  121. 121.

    ? Martin

    @MattF: Yeah, it’s interesting to see whether gun fetish or fetus fetish is first under the bus. It’s a tough needle to thread to defend both in cases like this.

    But white people can never be evil or adhere to a dangerous ideology, and brown people can never be crazy, so that’s always a safe starting point.

  122. 122.

    Michael Bersin

    @Cervantes:

    The republican side of the 2016 gubernatorial race is a freakin’ clown show. Way too much money (Missouri does not have any campaign finance limits for non-federal races). Two have dropped out already, another committed suicide (the State Auditor at the time). Two of the big money candidates, neither of which who have held public office, got in a public slap fight which included a recording of a phone call between the two of them. Meanwhile, the current Lieutenant Governor (r), who is also a gubernatorial candidate is considered to be the frontrunner for the nomination even though he hasn’t raised as much money and there was this thing a while back with an exotic dancer. They’re all scrambling over each other like a bunch of kids hovering up tossed candy at a parade in an effort to be more right wingnut than anyone else.

    Meanwhile, the lone Democratic candidate for governor, the current two term Attorney General, is sitting on approximately $5 million waiting for the general election. He’s pro labor, pro Medicaid expansion, pro gay rights, but he infuriatingly panders to the right on coal, guns, agriculture, and refugees. He’ll win because the republicans are freakin’ nuts.

    The U.S. Senate race could be interesting. If the Democratic presidential campaign in 2016 has a robust field operation Jason Kander, the current Secretary of State (and also an Army vet), could give the current junior senator (who represents inside the beltway lobbyists) a run for they money.

    The General Assembly is under control of the crazy right. That isn’t going to change. There may be a hope of carving down their veto proof margins.

    I suspect nothing will change in the U.S. House from Missouri, even though there is a great need for change. Redistricting took care of that for the foreseeable future.

  123. 123.

    NotMax

    Back Friday report:

    7½ lb. boneless pork loin, $6.

    4 large loaves of bread (one of the good brands), $7.99.

    Thank you, Costco.

    Parking a snap, in and out in less than 20 minutes, normal sized crowds.

    (Good thing the freezer at home was mostly empty.)

  124. 124.

    PurpleGirl

    I donate stuff to Housing Works, a charity working with homeless people, especially homeless people with AIDS. They had taken part in an RFP and won the contract for services but Guiliani refused to sign the contract. They took him (personally) and the city to court. They also won the court suit. Since then I’ve given them my stuff for their thrift shops.

  126. 126.

    PurpleGirl

    @Germy: I don’t remember. In part it was something personal, they had criticized him about something and Guiliani could hold a grudge and get really petty. I guess I should research the question as to what prompted his reaction to them. But they won the RFP to provide social services and even the court agreed that they won the RFP.

  127. 127.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @PurpleGirl:
    An old article in Gay City News suggests it went back to the opening days of the Reign of Rudy:

    The organization grew out of ACT UP and always put aggressive political advocacy on behalf of its clients at the top of its agenda. On Giuliani’s first day in office in January 1994, the group staged a massive march across the Brooklyn Bridge converging on City Hall Plaza to protest news that the new mayor planned to dismantle the Department of AIDS Services (DAS), established by former Mayor Ed Koch in the late ‘80s to give New Yorkers living with AIDS what was viewed as one-stop shopping in dealing with the city’s health and welfare bureaucracies. From the start, AIDS activists were among the harshest critics of DAS for its failure to live up to its promise of expediting services for people living with AIDS, but no one among that community felt that dismantling the agency was the right way to go.

    The Giuliani administration backed down on the plan, in fact insisting that such a move was never under consideration. However, over the first four years of the former mayor’s tenure, AIDS activists, especially ones affiliated with Housing Works, were vigilant in monitoring the management of DAS, and there were ongoing charges that Giuliani was aiming to achieve a de facto dismantling of the agency, even if it continued in name.

    and

    As the result of the settlement, Housing Works has withdrawn its claims that when Giuliani denied the group millions of dollars in city contracts in 1997 he was retaliating for the group’s repeated and outspoken criticism of his administration’s AIDS policies.

    “The record is clear,” King said. “They wanted to punish us for sticking up for the rights of New Yorkers living with AIDS and HIV. This settlement marks another victory for free speech and another expensive payment by the city over Mayor Giuliani’s vicious and illegal attacks on those who disagreed with him.”

  129. 129.

    PurpleGirl

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Yes, I just found that group of articles. There were something like 28 suits against the City and him and the City lost them.

    He could become unhinged: There is the radio rant against ferrets and people keeping ferrets as pets, for example. I know he tried to claim credit for turning around Times Square. But a lot of the changes there were the result of large property owners finally being able to put together lots of small parcels into parcels large enough to support major buildings. And these moves had started years before he become mayor. I went on a walking tour of Times Square focused on the property issues sponsored by the American Institute of Architects.

  130. 130.

    Suzanne

    Who knew that Senator Warren is apparently related to Cole. I can see Cole lighting the marshmallows on fire and screaming and flipping the fuck out, while everyone else laughs hilariously.

    Due to Spawn the Elder failing to inform me that she had a school project due on Monday, we actually did a bit of shopping yesterday. We went around lunchtime, and it was actually quite pleasant. Lines were reasonable, stores weren’t trashed, staff and customers were pleasant. I have to go to Costco today, though—GOD HELP ME.

    Last night, we went to the Suns/Warriors game, which was a blast. The first quarter was just ridiculously fun. Tonight, I am taking my mom and the girls to the symphony for “Pixar in Concert”. Mr. Suzanne and I will probably go eat and walk around downtown until they are done.

  131. 131.

    Mike J

    @kc:

    No football posts?

    Leicester City are even with Man U and if they can score in the next ten minutes, they go to the top of the table.

  133. 133.

    p.a.

    Jack Nicholson was considered for the dad in A Christmas Story, but would have broken the movie’s budget. I imagine his reading of “You used up all the glue on purpose” would have been more threat than pathos.

  137. 137.

    Mike J

    @Amir Khalid: Vardy should have been greedier on that ball in the 89th minute. If he hadn’t passed it, I think he would’ve put it in the back of the net.

  143. 143.

    raven

    @NotMax: My batch of gumbo is done, eat some and freeze a bunch to have when we get home Monday night. I’ll get a duck for the dumb garden club party. Some genius decided we needed two different gumbo’s as if it’s not hard enough to eat ONE at a party.

  144. 144.

    Prescott Cactus

    @NotMax: State of Alaska forced Cruise ship companies to shut off their Wi-Fi & telecom as the locals were getting crazy big roaming charges from ships.

    Personal advice is shut the phone off as you approach ship and leave it off when on board. Use ships computers if you must, but change your password when you get home. Experience it tell ya.

  145. 145.

    Prescott Cactus

    @Feebog: PLEASE try Tonicol Soda. You will thank me until you find it is not available in the US and cry along with me as you remember it’s delicious taste.

  146. 146.

    HR Progressive

    Not sure if it’s been brought up here or somewhere else, but for me, the mobile version of BJ hasn’t updated since mistermix’s “Creepy” post.

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