Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

In after Baud. Damn.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickle?”

Let’s finish the job.

We still have time to mess this up!

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

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

This blog will pay for itself.

No Justins, No Peace

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

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Reader Interactions

101Comments

  3. 3.

    Scout211

    Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

    We will be celebrating our holiday tomorrow. All three kids and spouses, all six grandkids and one exchange student will pile into our home for the day tomorrow. Yay!!

    Today I will be baking–3 pies and two trays of homemade cinnamon rolls with caramel and pecan topping–a family tradition started by my mother. Yum.

  5. 5.

    Warren Terra

    Sadly, The War On Jewish Christmas means that what by tradition was a peaceful day of us Red Sea Pedestrians having the Chinese restaurants and movie theaters to ourselves has been spoiled by all the people who celebrate Christmas but no longer stay home on the day. Instead of a day when Jewish families easily got into whatever Chinese restaurant or film showing they wanted, December 25 is now one of the biggest days of the year for ticket sales and the restaurants are full. We really need to restore traditional family values so all the Christians and other celebrants of Christmas stay home for the day.

  6. 6.

    PurpleGirl

    The year my friend and I went to Christmas Day service at Riverside Church (upper west side of Manhattan) we then drove down to the lower east side for Chinese food for lunch. Another year we did Chinese food for dinner after a Christmas Eve service (both on the upper east side).

    In my current home neighborhood there are several Chinese take-out places but no sit-down restaurants. For that I’d have to go to Manhattan these days.

  12. 12.

    Zinsky

    Whew! At first I thought the caption was, “Christmas Rapist”! I thought it might be about Donald Trump!

  13. 13.

    Davebo

    I’ll be heading to china town for noodles and lamb in about an hour or two! Then perhaps I’ll treat myself to a foot massage.

  14. 14.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    WQXR is kicking ass today for those who haven’t burned out on holiday music but want a change from the 50 recordings which have been in commercial radio rotation for a month.

    It is heavily hymnal/choir/sacred, however.

    Tangentially, I have not heard Adam Sandler’s Hanukah song or any of the other contemporary tunes this year. I believe there are four in total.

    In a world where Israel Baline gave us the most popular Xmas song ever, is the paucity of Hanukkah songs a problem or not?

  15. 15.

    Gimlet

    And.. God has given a second abstinence baby to the lovely Bristol Palin.

    Be sure to have them both up on stage while on the abstinence lecture circuit.

  16. 16.

    Prescott Cactus

    Chicago Combo’s aka Italian Beef and Sausage 3 ways: Wrapped in a tortilla, sliced and baked into Pillsbury biscuits and traditional on french bread w/ garlic butter. All with Mozzarella and Au Jus for dipping.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Actually get to see my sons today. The Baton Rouge boy and SO are up for the holidays and the older one has (I suspect) been guilted into coming out by the new GF. The reason this rarely happens is because I stopped caring about Xmas before they were born which made Holidays real simple post divorce: “Do whatever you want, you #@*&$##*!!!!” As the years have gone on we’d just see each other in the normal rhythm of things and I’d give them their “Xmas present” then ($$$.$$) and we’d share the annual poteca.

    So anyway, I made cookies yesterday and today I’m gonna bake a crusty Italian bread to go with Tim F’s pork tenderloin, some potatoes, and a garden salad.

    I will enjoy the very rare pleasure of having them both under my roof at the same time.

  20. 20.

    Felonius Monk

    @BillinGlendaleCA: But do you have the correct scowl and say Bah Humbug in the proper sneering manner?

    I do and I don’t need no hat to do it. :)

    Merry and Happy to all Juicers. May your Egg Foo Young be savory, your Turkey be golden, and your Rib Roasts be medium rare.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Has anyone else ever noticed that the only difference between Satan and Santa is a misplaced ‘n’?

  24. 24.

    schrodinger's cat

    Merry Christmas everyone.
    OT Totally unrelated to Christmas.
    I have to see Bajirao Mastani, even if the nearest theater is an hour away.

    Eros just released the video that goes with Gajanana. The traditional Ganpati aarti reminds me of my grandfather doing the same, without of course the Peshwa finery! Its called kapur aarti ( camphor aarti) usually the honor goes to the head of the family or his wife.

  25. 25.

    Shell

    @ThresherK (GPad): Ive hadd QXR on a lot this week too. (Though they seem to launch into the entire Nutcracker every day around 6PM.)

    Damn, after reading all t his, Im seriously craving some shrimp toast and steamed dumplings.

  27. 27.

    PurpleGirl

    @ThresherK (GPad): Thanks. I’ve turned on WQXR. I’ve turned off the TV which I use for background sound. I like the sacred/orchestral music of the season. I’ve sort of ignored/forgotten about WQXR — my classical station of choice was WNCN many years ago.

  28. 28.

    HRA

    Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

    I had a much needed laugh! Thank you, Adam!

    Two roasted turkeys, one whole baked ham and several sides to accompany them for our 26 member family celebration later this pm. My part of the table are homemade rustic Italian bread, pogacha (Balkan bread), dinner rolls, cherry filled trifle, lemon pie cheesecake and several kinds of cookies.

  29. 29.

    Mike in NC

    Wife is watching the “Homicide Hunter” marathon on ID channel. That just screams Merry Christmas to me.

    Please put down the gun, dear.

  31. 31.

    PurpleGirl

    @Mike in NC: There are days when I’d watch “Homicide Hunter.” I like Lt. Joe Kenda and his commentary about the stories. But I think it is a bit off message for Christmas day.

  32. 32.

    PurpleGirl

    @Baud: Well, almost. The Day After Christmas sales commercials have started and the New Year’s party goods commercials have also started (on the teevee).

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @Zinsky:

    At first I thought the caption was, “Christmas Rapist”! I thought it might be about Donald Trump!

    No, that would be YHWH, who had his way with Mary without so much as a by your leave.

    @Gimlet:

    And.. God has given a second abstinence baby to the lovely Bristol Palin.

    I guess He’s decided to use her as an example to bad girls who can’t keep their pants zipped.

  34. 34.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    Damn, that’s a religion with good music.

    @Zinsky:
    I… am… not sure if that would cause Trump to lose his base of support. I think it would ensure that the Republicans not voting for him now would never, ever vote for him in the primary, and would even depress Republican voting in the general. Mind you, it would take criminal charges to produce this effect.

    @Gimlet:
    This would be none of our business, if they weren’t friggin’ moral scolds. Welcome to Fundamentalism.

  45. 45.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Frankensteinbeck: Thanks! I love the aartis, they are in Marathi not Sanskrit, anyone with Marathi roots knows them. Cymbals and bells accompany the aartis. The aarti in this song was written in the mid 17th century and it is the first aarti you begin with.

    Ganeshutsav (Ganesh celebrations) is a huge deal in Maharashtra even today. Celebrated usually in the first or second week of September. When the British banned freedom of assembly, Tilak, Gandhi’s predecessor as the leader of Congress, held huge meetings and political rallies under the guise of a Ganeshutsav. Usually the British administrators steered clear of religious gatherings after the disastrous experience of meddling with the same.

  46. 46.

    PurpleGirl

    @Amir Khalid: Nope, not among the general population. That’s one Britishism and observation that didn’t make it across the pond. Maybe because we didn’t/don’t have the same kind of aristocracy and servant system.

    ETA: debbie’s comment (#38) is much more succinct.

  47. 47.

    thruppence

    Soon I’ll be out the door to see a 70 mm presentation of Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, then I’ll wander the neighborhoods to find an open non-chain interesting restaurant.

  49. 49.

    BGinCHI

    Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all from Norway.

    Whatever you are celebrating I hope it is in health and happiness.

    Or, for Cole, dogged resignation.

  51. 51.

    PurpleGirl

    @Germy: I see chestnuts in the supermarket, so there must be chestnut trees somewhere. If I had a fireplace I’d love to roast chestnuts. I haven’t tried them in the oven in a long time. My friend Cassie has a wood heating stove in her living room — I bet it would be great for roasting chestnuts. (I’ll mention it to her as a reason to get it working; she only recently bought the house.)

  52. 52.

    Amir Khalid

    @Germy:
    Well, chestnuts still exist, so there must still be chestnut trees. As for roasting them on an open fire, maybe there’s an issue wit fire safety codes or something.

  54. 54.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @PurpleGirl: and @Germy:
    There are no American Chestnuts left. The tree exists, but in small numbers, thanks to a fungus imported a hundred years ago. It kills every American Chestnut tree upon reaching adulthood. All of them. They have exactly enough time before dying to reproduce once, which is why they’re not completely extinct. There are other kinds of chestnut trees, but they’re not the ‘roasting chestnuts’ kind!

  55. 55.

    Germy

    @PurpleGirl:

    My friend Cassie has a wood heating stove in her living room — I bet it would be great for roasting chestnuts.

    Wow! I bet that’d be delicious. I remember having some MANY years ago.

    There was a time when U.S. streets were lined with beautiful chestnut trees, and then a blight destroyed them. I remember reading there is a project to try to resurrect them. I don’t know how successful it’s been…

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    ZOMG they used “Happy Holidays”! STONE THEM!

    Merry Christmas, Happy Saturnalia, etc, Juicitariat!

  57. 57.

    Germy

    @Frankensteinbeck: “Under the spreading chestnut tree” was part of early American folklore. What a tragedy. I believe most modern people aren’t even aware.

    I remember reading they were trying to create a new blight-resistant variety to restore the population. Do you know anything about it?

    EDIT: I wonder how many 19th-century men proposed marriage under spreading chestnut trees…

  58. 58.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @PurpleGirl: If I’m not mistaken, didn’t Boxing Day really get started in the Victorian Era? Which would explain it not migrating across the pond in a natural cultural fashion. Along with your very apt explanation as well.

  60. 60.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Germy:
    I do not. My information comes from agriculture college (ah, the weirdness of getting an entomology degree) twenty years ago. It’s a bit out of date. For current chestnut events, I am as depended on The Google as you are.

  61. 61.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @PurpleGirl: A holiday that is all about Mammon worship. How appropriate that the most rabid Mammon worshipers in this country get so bent out of shape when you don’t say “Merry Christmas”. The irony, it is so thick you have to cut it with a chainsaw.

  62. 62.

    Oatler.

    @Ruckus: If you really want to kill Christmas, check out Comedy Central’s bargain basement rejects Jeff Dunham and Hot Fluffy, on 24/7 this weekend,, and MSNBC’s prison porn.

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack

    @thruppence:

    Going to see it at 7:00 tonight. Don’t know much about the movie and am not expecting a lot, but the attraction is 70mm film! A vanishing thing.

  66. 66.

    Germy

    Once king of eastern forests, the American chestnut was wiped out by blight. Now it is poised to rise again.

    Nearby are rows of chestnuts that stand about a metre tall, the most promising hybrid yet to emerge from nearly 30 years of breeding experiments. This ‘restoration chestnut’ is 94% American and 6% Chinese and seems to show strong resistance to the blight. But the Virginia trees may not thrive in other locations, so the researchers are working to adapt the restoration chestnut to other climates. At the same time, they are breeding new hybrids at other experimental farms to preserve a healthy degree of genetic diversity.

    More than 1,100 kilometres to the north, researchers are experimenting with chestnuts that contain genes thought to provide resistance, which were taken from Chinese chestnuts as well as plants such as wheat, peppers and grapes. At the State University of New York in Syracuse, plant pathologist Bill Powell and forest biologist Chuck Maynard have planted some 600 transgenic trees for field trials of disease resistance. A transgenic variety with a wheat gene for the enzyme oxalate oxidase, which disarms the fungus, has already shown resistance in the field.

  67. 67.

    Elie

    We are “eating Chinese” today for Christmas after seeing Star Wars..

    Last night we had Rabitt with Polenta and a wonderful acorn squash pudding that my husband made. For dessert we had some wonderful triple chocolate and toasted coconut cake/s from one of our fine local bakeries. Good time was had……

  68. 68.

    PurpleGirl

    @Villago Delenda Est: That’s possible. The English use of decorated pine trees also didn’t start until the Victorian age. Queen Victoria is credited with its introduction because her Prince Consort Albert wanted to have a decorated tree of the type he knew from growing up in Germany.

  69. 69.

    Ruckus

    @Oatler.:
    No thanks, I’ve seen JD before and have never gotten why the interest. Rather lame effort from what I’ve seen. Besides I not only don’t watch TV, I don’t have a set or service. Because really how much has it improved since our first TV that the parental units got in the early 50s? There’s color now and the screen is bigger and things are in focus without shadows, but how much has the content improved? Overall I’d put it in negative units with rather occasional deviations to the positive.

  70. 70.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Frankensteinbeck: There are, however, American/Chinese hybrids that are beginning to thrive in western NC. There’s also a GMO project to insert a single blight-resistant wheat gene into the American chestnut DNA. The blight kills by producing oxalic acid as a waste product; the wheat resists the blight by converting the oxalic acid into something else.

    The hybrids are American enough that the local deer will eat the leaves. They won’t eat the Chinese chestnut leaves.

    The project in WNC has been successful enough that my CSA has had chestnuts available for the past two years.

  71. 71.

    Anoniminous

    Latest on the American Chestnut. After decades of work:

    “There is reason for optimism. In 2006, the foundation’s breeding program achieved what they call the Restoration Chestnut 1.0, and they have now produced more than 120,000 seeds that are being used in trials geared toward understanding the best ways to reintroduce the tree to Eastern forests. The 500 trees planted in three National Forests in the Southeast appear to be thriving, though full testing could take five years or more.”

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @Germy:

    Are there any chestnut trees left?

    It was only American chestnut trees that were susceptible to blight (or at least only those that had no resistance) so there are still plenty of European chestnut trees left.

  74. 74.

    Mike E

    @schrodinger’s cat: Went and saw Brooklyn, lovely, my 1st in a theater since Monty Python’s swan song…then, went back to see the latest Star Wars mishegas. Oh well. I had almost forgotten you could do this sorta thing!

  77. 77.

    raven

    So, we’re staying at the in-laws “airbnb”. We just got back from the long drive and and getting are getting ready to leave for dinner at the Hotel Roanoke. Little did we know that the genius BIL shuts the goddamn water heater off between “guests”.

  79. 79.

    Gordon, the Big Express Engine

    My son was born 9 years ago tomorrow and my wife and I went to the *fancy* Chinese restaurant for dinner on Christmas with a Jewish couple.

    My buddy told my wife not to worry if she went into labor because there were many doctors in the house….

  83. 83.

    PurpleGirl

    @raven:

    Little did we know that the genius BIL shuts the goddamn water heater off between “guests”.

    Wouldn’t it be as costly to restart the heater from its cold status as it would be to leave it on between guests? Seems like a false savings for a cheapo BIL.

  91. 91.

    HRA

    @Baud:

    You have to be out and among the crowds to get votes :) Our family equals a crowd and then some on other occasions.
    Our security system is the dog who hates strangers at home and at the neighbor’s house, other dogs and even some family members. (sigh)

  95. 95.

    Debbie

    @PurpleGirl:

    We used to buy roasted chestnuts from pretzel vendors on Manhattan streets. What a wonderful, evocative aroma roasting them makes! To butcher Duval in Apocalypse, “Smells like holidays.”

  96. 96.

    Suzanne

    @Lamh36: God, she is such a cutiepie!

    Happy Xmas, Juicerz! I am currently resting on my couch, as I am still hurting a bit from tumbling on the stairs two days ago. Mr. Suzanne and I want to go to the movies tonight. Thinking either The Big Short or Spotlight.

  97. 97.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Baud: Thanks! Its for the very first time AFAIK that any part of Maratha history has been presented on the silver screen in Hindi. Marathas were the most important polity in the 18th century India after the death of the last powerful Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Marathas and Mughals were engaged in a death match that went on throughout Aurangzeb’s life. More than Hindu-Muslim fight which the current Hindu right likes to portray it as, it was more a north-south fight. Muslims fought under the Marathas and most of Aurangzeb’s top brass was Rajput (Hindus from Rajasthan). History is more complex than a clash of civilizations and/or religions.

    Marathas are usually not given their due by the British historians since they fought them till the bitter end. Many of the leaders of the first war of Independence were Marathas, namely Nanasaheb Peshwa, Tatya Tope and Laxmibai the queen of Jhansi. Even independent India has had a north Indian/Hindi speaking bias which is reflected in Hindi movies. The average John Doe portrayed in Hindi movies is usually a dude from Punjab or the Hindi heartland.

    Bajirao of the current movie was the most charismatic and successful ruler of the Marathas after Shivaji who founded the kingdom. Bajirao became Peshwa (Prime Minister) at 21 and died when he was 40 of a heat stroke when he was away on a campaign.

  98. 98.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Baud: Thanks! Its for the very first time AFAIK that any part of Maratha history has been presented on the silver screen in Hindi. Marathas were the most important polity in the 18th century India after the death of the last powerful Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Marathas and Mughals were engaged in a death match that went on throughout Aurangzeb’s life. More than Hindu-Muslim fight which the current Hindu right likes to portray it as, it was more a north-south fight. Muslims fought under the Marathas and most of Aurangzeb’s top brass was Rajput (Hindus from Rajasthan). History is more complex than a clash of civilizations and/or religions.

    Marathas are usually not given their due by the British historians since they fought them till the bitter end. Many of the leaders of the first war of Independence were Marathas, namely Nanasaheb Peshwa, Tatya Tope and Laxmibai the queen of Jhansi. Even independent India has had a north Indian/Hindi speaking bias which is reflected in Hindi movies. The average John Doe portrayed in Hindi movies is usually a dude from Punjab or the Hindi heartland.

    Bajirao of the current movie was the most charismatic and successful ruler of the Marathas after Shivaji who founded the kingdom. Bajirao became Peshwa (Prime Minister) at 21 and died when he was 40 of a heat stroke when he was away on a campaign.

  100. 100.

    divF

    @Lamh36:
    Hurray for Zoe !

    We completed our last official acts of the 2015 holiday season last night. Now it’s off to the one cafe in town that is open on Christmas Day.

  101. 101.

    ET

    Now that most of the festivities are done I was hankering for a daiquiri. Thankfully I am visiting New Orleans and the place at St Charles and Carrollton opened at 4 so one 32 ounce egg nog without the extra shot for me.

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