Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

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

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

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

It’s the corruption, stupid.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

When we show up, we win.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Dump Saturday Open Thread

Dump Saturday Open Thread

by | 174 Comments

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Like a culinary version of the Kardashians, the “dump” recipe trend is taking over the checkout line magazine rack:

dump food

As far as I know, the dump trend was started by that adorable, bejeweled grandmotherly lady who stars in an astonishing number of 4 AM infomercials, where she can be seen dumping an odd assortment of ingredients into crockpots and a variety of other vessels and producing five-course meals in one steaming glop.

Seems like the dump trend originated with dump cakes, which may be a variation on the “cuppa-cuppa-cuppa” cake recipe made famous by “Steel Magnolias” in the ’80s. After that, there was no stopping the dump, which has been applied to soups, appetizers, main dishes, etc.

It’s raining hard here in Central FL, so we’re using that as an excuse to do very little, although there’s plenty that needs attending to indoors. You?

Consider this a “dump” post, i.e., an open thread.

Reader Interactions

174Comments

  1. 1.

    ShadeTail

    It is *NOT* raining here (though some high-altitude non-rain clouds are keeping it overcast), so I will be heading out to a bunch of Dungeons&Dragons games.

  5. 5.

    jeffreyw

    I had a fling with dump cakes a while back but a recent disaster with a recipe that included 7-Up, white cake mix, and blueberries chastened me. Mrs J is making blueberry banana muffins with a crunch topping today, I’ll be roasting chicken bones for stock after she clears the kitchen. Chilly here, but sunny. Too cold to mow but the lawn isn’t too shaggy looking so I award myself a guilt free day to remain inside.

  6. 6.

    Betty Cracker

    @redshirt: I think it’s any recipe that involves just dumping stuff into a cooking vessel and cooking it with no prep involved.

  7. 7.

    Yutsano

    Wait…I thought that’s what a casserole was. You dump a bunch of stuff into a baking dish, mix it up, cover with something crunchy, and bake. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything new here except for the marketing.

    Today I really should be doing stuff like organising the house and stuff. But I really don’t want to do much of anything.

  9. 9.

    raven

    Basketball Jones.

    At the free-throw line of life, someone I can pass to
    Someone to hit the open man on the give-and-go
    And not end up in the popcorn machine
    So cheerleaders, help me out

    Basketball Jones, I got a Basketball Jones
    I got a Basketball Jones, oh baby, oo-oo-ooo

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    First have ever heard of the term. It sounds ugly and unappetizing.

    Certainly there are times when shortcuts wind up at dead ends.

  12. 12.

    El Caganer

    @Jacel: Yes, probably that era was the only period in the English-speaking world where it would have been considered polite for a gentleman to ask a lady to take a dumpe with him,

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    Chilly here, so the first cup of coffee is particularly helpful.

    But then it’s only 7 in the morning, so will warm up in a few hours. Relatively speaking, that is. Cold front has been stalled over the ocean for a few days now and is being slow to dissipate.

  15. 15.

    StringOnAStick

    I had an English-then-Australian friend who referred to his cooking style as “sludges for bachelors”. Then I saw what he was making and thought “yep”.

    I’ve been battling the not-flu Betty mentioned yesterday, on day 14 currently and nearly coughed up dinner last night. Plus the house is torn up and dusty from remodeling and I had surgery on both feet 7 weeks ago and JHC, I need to get out of the house but it snowed a foot yesterday. I’d drink but you know, sinus issues.

  17. 17.

    ? Martin

    Dump meals do not appear to have made it to my part of California. Perhaps our hipster radiation is holding it at bay.

  18. 18.

    ruemara

    If I couldn’t eat a restaurant called Aureole, I’m not eating anything called “Dump”. It’s like they’re trying to destroy delicious.

  19. 19.

    hamletta

    @redshirt: Dump recipes don’t involve fresh ingredients. If it doesn’t come from a can or a box, it’s not in there.

    We used to do train wreck stew in Girl Scouts. Everyone would bring a can of something and take off the label, and you’d dump everything into a big pot. Our troop used to make fake labels for Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts and stuff like that.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    @redshirt

    Anything under, say, 65. Personal thermostat long ago recalibrated from mainland temps.

    Probably low 60s up where the abode is at the moment, closer to 70 at sea level. Overcast so far today, too.

  24. 24.

    Waldo

    Sorry, but “dump” is the least appetizing food term since “toad in the hole” or “spotted dick”

  25. 25.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Soon Enough to Be Andy K Again)

    @raven:

    I wish. With both the Spartans and Wolverines out, the State of Michigan has nothing for which to live.

    Time to go watch The Big Short again.

  28. 28.

    different-church-lady

    I’m sure I’m not the only one for whom “dump” connotes the back end of the digestive process, rather than the front.

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    @srv:

    Clinton voters may face a tough choice – support Trump or hand it all over to Paul Ryan

    Also known as history’s easiest tough choice.

  31. 31.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    The weather is clear and cold up here north of Toronto. Just below freezing but sunny.
    I arrived at 7:00 am and already two people I hardly know have expressed puzzlement and curiosity about Trump. I just shrug. Not supposed to discuss politics on company time.
    Back to the grind (laser testing).
    Have an excellent weekend.

  32. 32.

    Eric S.

    I got in my morning training run for the half marathon in running May 1. Now, I’m taking it easy before picking up The Lady and heading to a coworker’s 50th birthday.

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I’m spending the afternoon with Beethoven (this week’s “culture at the cinema”). It’s the Berlin Philharmonic doing Symphonies 4 and 7, preceded by a documentary on their ambitious “Beethoven Project,” which is to say, the entire cycle of the nine symphonies, both in concert and recorded for posterity. Very interesting and inspiring so far. But sadly, there are only about five people in the theatre.

  38. 38.

    raven

    @humboldtblue:

    Up on the hill
    People never stare
    They just don’t care
    Chinese music under banyan trees
    Here at the dude ranch above the sea
    Aja
    When all my dime dancin’ is through
    I run to you

  40. 40.

    Shell

    I always thought dump cake was a midwestern phenomena (Keillor often poked fun at it on Prairie Home Companion), along with tater tot hot dish.

  41. 41.

    humboldtblue

    @raven:

    OK

    Up on the hill
    They think I’m okay
    Or so they say
    Chinese music always sets me free
    Angular banjoes
    Sound good to me
    Aja
    When all my dime dancin’ is through
    I run to you

    I wonder what music Northern Iowa is listening to today. Talk about lousy seeding, lower seeds almost went .500 in the first two days.

  42. 42.

    John Revolta

    @father pussbucket: My favorite moment from the old “Lost in Space” TV show was when Dr. Smith was (once again) posessed by some alien intelligence and was chasing Will R. around:

    “You can’t escape from me, William. I’m your id”.
    “My what?”
    “Your id. I-D. Id!”
    “Aw…………you can’t fool me with your big words.”

  43. 43.

    p.a.

    Bears 8 Crimson 3 at the half, refs doing their best to keep the Johnnies in it; 4-0 penalties.

    Never heard of dump food, sounds fun- I don’t mind experimenting on myself. Lots of crockpot recipes tend to be Sandra Lee stuff: add one can beef broth, sodium is your friend; add one can cream of x soup, gloop is your friend…

  44. 44.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    Made the annual trek to see the Academy award nominees for best animated short. Every year there are some great ones, some sad ones and some odd ones, this year was different. I don’t think there was a single happy one in the bunch. There were no quirky interesting ones it was wall to wall depressing, bitter and sad. The last one, which they held until they had shown some non-nominated ones, came with repeated warnings to remove children as it contained nudity and violence. Like life, it was nasty, brutal and short as 4 men, two naked, kill each other in bloody combat witnessed by a little girl – a real family fun flick.

    The non-nominated ones shown between the body of G rated and the bloody mess at the end were actually the winners, a couple of funny and a quirky one.

  46. 46.

    Randy P

    Having a curmudgeon moment. Spending the afternoon at one of my favorite branches of our local public library system, but this branch is also haunted by a Loud Guy. No matter where he is in the building, his voice dominates your hearing, making it difficult to read or think. The librarians have so far shushed him twice. And this guy is always here, at least when I choose to be.

    Across from me, my wife is blissfully listening to music on headphones. I’m just sitting here grinding my teeth (hence “curmudgeon”), but maybe I’ll try the headphone thing too.

  49. 49.

    Randy P

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): One of our favorite annual traditions. We like to see the Live Action shorts and the Animated Shorts as a double feature.

    I think I heard that bloody one about the warriors is part of a larger feature in development.

    My wife had the same observation about how depressing the animated shorts were this year.

    One of the things that depresses me, independent of the subject matter, is that Disney and Pixar often have entries. Seems unfair for them to turn their juggernauts loose to stomp all over the same competition with the little guys slaving away for years in their attics. I wish they’d leave the field alone for the independents.

    Did you see the live action movies? They were much more mixed in mood and there were some real charmers. Of course, you get some pretty upsetting ones there too, for instance watching child soldiers shoot people.

  50. 50.

    Randy P

    @Randy P: Oh lord, now he’s have a 130 dB “discussion” about the merits of Dickens and Dostoyevsky with the librarians stuck behind the counter. And apparently it penetrated through my wife’s music screen, as she is looking up and looking annoyed in his direction.

  52. 52.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Randy P: We go to Panera Bread on Sunday morning after we walk, and there’s always a guy there with a loud voice too. He and his wife sit across the aisle from another couple in a booth and talk to one another the whole time they’re there. We can’t hear one another or read unless we sit as far from them as we can, preferably with a wall of banquets between us.

  53. 53.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    Finally got my Internet fixed. The lawn maintenance people keep cutting the sidewalk edgers too deep, and they refuse to pay attention to those nice red flags marking where the cable lines go.

  56. 56.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Randy P:
    They show the live shorts in a separate show & I expect that to be later next month if they stick to past schedule.

    The Pixar one was not good this year. I’m OK with them doing shorts because I assume it allows their people to take creative license & do things they can’t do for the big pictures. Since I have never seen one of theirs win I don’t see them as a problem.

  58. 58.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @srv:
    Yes, has he picked out his leni riefenstahl yet?

    I know the one thing I always want out of a President is that they personally clean up our cultural events. Having seen the Trumpster fire’s entries into pop culture & how YOOOGE and classy they are I am sure he is just the guy to enforce moral rectitude on us savages.

    You really are a world class dumb ass

  60. 60.

    redshirt

    Does anyone have good info on the effects of bird feeders on not just the local bird population, but overall? Like, I assume since the squirrels and chipmunks get their fair share from the ground, they benefit, and so too do the foxes and cats and hawks who eat those guys, and so on.

    I estimate I add about 50,000 calories a month into the bird feeder and thus out to the general feeder population. What does this do the local fauna and flora? Does it help or hurt? Like for example, since the birds are focusing on sunflower seeds, they’re not spreading pine seeds as thoroughly.

  61. 61.

    GregB

    @srv: Now we know who is really responsible for the moral squalor and filth that Hollywood pours into the world.

  62. 62.

    Hal

    I have a friend who loves him some Bernie, so every other facebook post is how terrible Hillary Clinton is, in between the occasional “oh yeah, republicans suck too.” It’s getting annoying when you start sounding like a Republican in order to pump up another Democrat, or at least an independent Democrat leaning candidate. But, Hillary did some of the same shit in 2008. Is it November yet?

  63. 63.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    When I heard Trumpster was having a rally in Fountain Hills I was surprised because it’s a small area outside Scottsdale on one end and bordering an Indian reservation on the other end. It’s a valley with crescent like road so there’s only two roads into the place. There is a third road but it goes to a wilderness area going outside town. Anyhow, the only reason to pick it would be that Joe Arpaio lives there.

  65. 65.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Randy P:
    I had completed a major network cut-over that had literally taken all nigh and was at the airport about 8AM (with no sleep) I went to the airline club room which I was a member of given all the travel. It was Sunday morning & the only other people we a couple with two small children quiet playing. I sat in a far corner & tried to relax. In walked 3 high-power business types. The woman of the group was painfully loud & she went on & on & on about how it only cost her $180 a year to use the club & she could easily drink that much of their free booze in a year. Of course they had to sit right next to me. I picked up & moved over by the kids who were better behaved.

  66. 66.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @raven: Last weekend I accompanied a friend to the NBA store on Fifth Avenue and 45th Street so she could buy her mom a birthday present, and after half an hour in the store I found myself humming that song.

    @Randy P: I feel your pain. The library where I work had a group of 5-6 Loud Guys, who liked to take over a table near the reference desk and hold forth, and if anyone asked them to lower their voices they would scream bloody murder that their rights were being violated. The other patrons didn’t have it so bad, because they could move, but staff working on the desk had to just sit there and suffer. Made us crazy…

  69. 69.

    cckids

    @Hal: Yes, some of my Bernie buds are bugging me as well. The BS about RELEASE THE TRANSCRIPTS has to be the worst. It reminds me of the Republicans “why won’t Obama release his college grades?” crap. Completely unrelated to reality or anything that matters.

  71. 71.

    gogol's wife

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):

    Great movie last night with Merle Oberon as a Norwegian underground person who had to marry her Nazi boyfriend in order to keep her cover. The wedding ceremony was a Triumph of the Will parody.

  73. 73.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @cckids: @Hal: Yes, some of my Bernie buds are bugging me as well. The BS about RELEASE THE TRANSCRIPTS has to be the worst

    I started out agreeing it was good that he was in the race. I was surprised when it seemed like he’d convinced himself he can win. I was (and am) bothered by his hedgehogged-ness. This constant harping on the speeches is what pushed me into the “Bernie’s an asshole” club.

  74. 74.

    Amir Khalid

    @cckids:
    If Hillary were to share with Goldman Sachs staff TEH TOP SEKRIT PLANZ FOR WERLD DOMMINASHUNS it would surely be at some secret underground lair (I’m sure all the big commercial banks have them) with five or six people present, not in a conference-centre auditorium or hotel ballroom with hundreds of people.

  78. 78.

    MaryRC

    @Randy P: He may be hearing-impaired. In my old neighborhood I used to take the bus every morning with a woman who spoke loudly and very flatly. I dreaded the mornings when she found a seatmate to talk to because her voice seemed to penetrate your skull. You could hear her from any seat on the bus. A neighbor who knew her eventually told me that she was partly deaf and couldn’t control or may not have been aware of the volume of her voice.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Amir Khalid: I haven’t looked for it because I really don’t fucking care, but someone here said that Nancy LeTourneau of Political Animal linked to a video of one of the Goldman Sachs Speeches (I wish there were some kind of sound effect emoji where we could play the Frau Blucher sound clip or the three note dramatic music every time we mentioned the Goldman Sachs Speeches).

  80. 80.

    MattF

    OT. In other news, the British Natural Environment Research Council made the– perhaps understandable– error of asking the public to choose the name of its new polar research ship. The current leading candidate is Boaty McBoatface.

  82. 82.

    Anoniminous

    @Amir Khalid:

    The only person dumb enough to commission a battleship since the 1940s was Little Ronnie RayGuns who brought three of the Missouri class battleships out of mothballs in the 1980s. Once the senile moron was out of office, and out of the way, they were promptly mothballed again. In the age of anti-ship guided missiles battleships are nothing more than fat targets and potential fish habitat.

  83. 83.

    MattF

    @Amir Khalid: Have you ever read any of Iain Banks’ ‘Culture’ novels? The warships in that series are advanced AIs and choose their own names. So, they have names like ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ and ‘What Are The Civilian Applications?’ Wikipedia (as always) has the complete list.

  91. 91.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Anoniminous: They were deadly for the crew also, too.

    The USS Iowa turret explosion occurred in the Number Two 16-inch gun turret of the United States Navy battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) on 19 April 1989. The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret’s crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. Two major investigations were undertaken into the cause of the explosion, one by the U.S. Navy and then one by the General Accounting Office (GAO) and Sandia National Laboratories. The investigations produced conflicting conclusions.

    :-(

    Lehman’s, Weinberger’s, and Webb’s fetish about a 600 Ship Navy got too many people killed and wasted far too much money.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    J R in WV

    @srv:

    You’re terrified by blocked roads? Strange.

    Terrorists don’t block roads like that, they blow up a bus with a truck in an intersection. You’re mistaking civil disobedience for something very different.

    Most common for you, though, I must say. Quite divorced from reality.

  95. 95.

    Anoniminous

    @Amir Khalid:

    As I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet said, it was all part of the Little Ronnie RayGuns fantasy of a 600 Ship Navy to Save the World From the EVIL COMMIES! In fact the Missouri wasn’t “promptly mothballed” but was kept around for awhile for reasons passing all understanding and was deployed and went into combat during Daddy Bush’s Great Mesopotamian Adventure.

  96. 96.

    J R in WV

    @humboldtblue:

    This shouldn’t be just a hit at the Royal Navy. I served on a sub tender, and we commonly had submarines moored alongside the tender.

    One day some workers on a sub accidently unbolted a valve that was under thousands of pounds of pressure, pretty common on a sub. It blew a hole in the pressure hull below waterline. They were using small engines with water pumps to keep the sub from sinking, and had sailors with axes standing by the mooring lines in case they lost ground and it looked like the sub was actually going to sink.

    Those guys were going to cut the mooring lines to keep the sub from capsizing the tender, a much larger ship than the boats alongside. All worked out in the end, no one sank, but Navy ships are as dangerous as a cocked gun almost all the time.

  98. 98.

    Anoniminous

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    I had forgotten about the Iowa turret explosion.

    The 600 Ship Navy fantasy was completely over the top. The Navy liked it because they got a bunch of new and slightly-used toys to bobbing around the oceans with. Everyone else thought the basic, fundamental, questions of Defense Policy:

    1. What is this supposed to do?

    2. So What?

    3. Who Cares?

    Were never, quite, answered.

  99. 99.

    MattF

    @Anoniminous: Also, more ships means more opportunities for commands and a path to higher ranks. Which, for the Navy, makes it a very big deal.

  100. 100.

    Anoniminous

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Yeah. I’m guessing the Navy hopes she gets barnacled to the bottom so no other dumbass can come along and try to re-commission her.

    I was aboard her a bunch times back when she was tied up at Bremerton Harbor in the days of me yooth. Later when I was living in Long Beach, CA it was real WTF? moments to see her under tow and then underway after the refit.

  102. 102.

    Anoniminous

    @MattF:

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’m going to guess the junior officers were less than thrilled. “I served 2 years as the Chief Gun Captain for the forward 16″ turret on a battleship” was hardly a career boosting assignment.

  107. 107.

    Weaselone

    @srv:
    True, but unless the 3rd party candidate the Republicans run is Bernie Sanders, the most likely outcome would be to split conservative votes and hand Clinton victories in States she otherwise would have lost.

  108. 108.

    humboldtblue

    @J R in WV: That wasn’t a shot at the Navy, royal or otherwise. That ship sank because it’s been untended and uncared for for the past 30 years.

    If I was going to take a shot at the Navy I’d bring up Army’s series-historic record of consecutive wins in the annual …. wait, no I wouldn’t’ do that, I wouldn’t do that at all.

  110. 110.

    Feathers

    @Anoniminous: I remember the Iowa explosion because of the Navy’s Scary Gays Panic explanation for what happened – namely that a homosexual sailor had deliberately caused the blast after getting dumped by his crewmember boyfriend. That there was no evidence of a detonation device and there were perfectly plausible scenarios by which the explosion could have been accidentally triggered didn’t seem to matter to the Navy. Bad, bad stuff.

  117. 117.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Found these via DougJ, I wonder if Trump read the column, or if he only read it after an underling told him a about it (and I wonder what kind of scars are common the Underlings designated to give Mr Trump bad news? What gets hurled on those red hat days?)

    Donald J. Trump ‏@ realDonaldTrump 17h17 hours ago
    Reading @ nytdavidbrooks of the NY Times is a total waste of time, he is a clown with no awareness of the world around him- dummy!
    Donald J. Trump ‏@ ealDonaldTrump 17h17 hours ago
    While I have never met @ nytdavidbrooks of the NY Times, I consider him one of the dumbest of all pundits- he has no sense of the real world!

  118. 118.

    Mike in NC

    All four Iowa class battleships were recommissioned under Reagan. In fact, there was even talk about taking additional WW2 era ships — heavy cruisers and carriers — out of mothballs but fortunately saner heads prevailed. Congress for years insisted the battleships be kept around just in case something something …

  121. 121.

    jl

    Even I cannot mess up dump cake recipes, therefore I consider them a small advance in niche cook books for the dessert baking cursed set. A second-best solution, no doubt, but something that comes in useful sometimes.

  122. 122.

    Jay Noble

    Why battleships? Battleships go “BOOOM!!!” and scare the crap out of the enemy when they know a VW bug is headed their way. The psychological effect works on both the good guys and the bad guys.

  123. 123.

    Felonius Monk

    Gloriously sunny day here in the Great Northeast, so we went for a nice drive. From here in eastern NY over to Bennington, VT then down to Williamstown, MA thru the Taconic Trail State Forest and back to NY. Found a wonderful little cafe on the outskirts of Bennington for lunch. Not a cloud in the sky all day. Just got back home about 30 minutes ago. No observable snow anywhere.

    I’m really happy we got a chance to do this. Tomorrow we are supposed to get a few inches of snow and more into Monday. I guess winter is getting one last gasp.

    Interesting observation: Never noticed a single Bernie sign the entire trip, but did see a couple of Drumpf signs.

  124. 124.

    humboldtblue

    @satby: So glad you enjoyed.

    Speaking of battleships and their usefulness, they were certainly used until they fell apart, the USS Arkansas, laid down in 1911, was part of the bombardment squadron off the beaches of Normandy. The ship was so old there were no showers, sailors bathed from buckets and there were no toilets, just a grating over a slough of running seawater. But she had those 14 inch rifled guns and that’s what mattered.

  125. 125.

    redshirt

    @Felonius Monk: That part of New England is so foreign to me – the NY/VT/MA triangle. And be honest, that part of NY is more New England than it is New York. I bet there’s more Pats fans, for example.

  127. 127.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Jay Noble: The “VW Bug” isn’t headed their way as such, it’s headed in their general direction and with luck and if the wind isn’t blowing in the wrong direction and a whole load of other factors it might hit within a couple of hundred yards of something important.

    In contrast a Tomahawk cruise missile has ten times the range of a 16″ battleship shell and it can choose which porthole on its target it will punch through. The old Soviet Moskit is even scarier, and nuclear-capable if shit really hits the fan.

  129. 129.

    humboldtblue

    @trollhattan: The story of what the U.S. Navy accomplished in WW2 is an extraordinary one and I have barely scratched the surface and I’ve been reading about it since I was a kid. They had 8 fleet carriers, 8 light carriers and 18 escort carriers at Leyte along with 12 battleships, 24 cruisers, 141 destroyers and escorts, and around 1,500 aircraft. Just extraordinary because at the same time and in another ocean on the other side of the world they had another fleet invading Europe.

  130. 130.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Hal: I know a couple of Bernie fans who are spewing so much invective about Hillary that there’s no way they’re voting for her in the general. But… they were not Obama 2012 voters either; I think one voted for Jill Stein and the other was a Ron Paul supporter who probably voted Libertarian.

    One point in Sanders’ favor is that he probably could have brought these sorts of folks into voting for the party, if just for once. But they’re probably not numerous enough to be worth worrying about too much.

  132. 132.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Dayum, Norm Ornstein works for the American Enterprise Institute

    Norman Ornstein ‏@ NormOrnstein 4h4 hours ago
    CNN: the Leni Riefenstahl of American politics.

    I’ll assume he’s talking about their coverage of the anti-Trump demos in AZ and NYC? I had MSNBC on in the car briefly this morning, and they were sounding very solemn and Concerned.

  134. 134.

    Felonius Monk

    @redshirt:

    I bet there’s more Pats fans, for example.

    I think there are a fair number of Pats fans here. I see a lot of decals, etc. but it’s pretty reliable Giants territory. I follow both, but when they play each other I go with the Giants. ;-)

  137. 137.

    redshirt

    @Felonius Monk: I always feel for rural NYers, because by license plate alone everyone else thinks you’re some mobster gangster hipster from Brooklyn, when in fact you could be from the most rural, idyllic place possible in the lower 48.

    No one makes the same mistake with Maine plates. In fact, as a former Masshole, Maine plates are the best because you get excused for any and all asshole behavior in Boston and New York because, obviously, you don’t know what you’re doing.

  139. 139.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mai.naem.mobile:

    When I heard Trumpster was having a rally in Fountain Hills I was surprised because it’s a small area outside Scottsdale on one end and bordering an Indian reservation on the other end.

    Wait, what? That’s where my parents used to live (after my father died, we convinced my mom to move in with my brother in Illinois). It’s an affluent town full of annoying wingnuts.

  142. 142.

    Felonius Monk

    @redshirt:

    everyone else thinks you’re some mobster gangster hipster from Brooklyn

    I always have my wife call me Smoothie or Shifty (but never D-Money) when we are in the New England states.

  143. 143.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @hamletta: yeah, but to go Godwin on CNN…? Either Don Lemon or Wolf Blitzer must’ve really out-Don Lemoned themselves today.

    And now I think that may be too soft on Wolfe

  144. 144.

    PsiFighter37

    Anyone interested in a mid-June BJ meetup outside of NYC? I have mandatory leave for my job, and I have a couple of days to kill at the end after coming back from out of the country. Willing to travel anywhere. Would be a Wednesday or Thursday night.

  147. 147.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    @Ridnik Chrome:

    If staff is being bothered by rude or abusive library visitors it is well within the library’s rights to call in the police on a non-emergency visit to stop by and inform those rude and abusive SOBs that they can be trespassed for being disruptive and for harassment of staffers. If they want to fight it, let them, but I doubt any jury is going to side with a bunch of SOBs talking loud in a place most people recognize as a place where you don’t pull that kind of crap.

  148. 148.

    debbie

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The 7th is my favorite bit of Beethoven (I’m fickle enough to mostly like Baroque). At some point, I’d really like to hear it live.

  151. 151.

    Mnemosyne

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    It depends on that library system’s policies, though. The one that G works in is large enough that they have their own security guards, so the staff has been instructed to not engage and call security at any hint of trouble. Other library systems only have the option of calling the cops, and not everyone wants to escalate the problem that far and that fast.

  154. 154.

    catclub

    @Mike in NC:

    Congress for years insisted the battleships be kept around just in case something something …

    Part of that something was the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983. It got bombed because we had said we would be kind of like peacekeepers, but we took sides and started shelling, using those battleships.

  155. 155.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @debbie:

    I’ve listened to the 7th, I’m not exaggerating, probably hundreds of times in my life. I heard things today I had never heard before. And I expect the next time I listen to it, I’ll hear other new things. That’s part of the incredible genius of Beethoven. It’s really hard to choose a favourite symphony from among the nine because each one is unique and innovative and I love them all, but I do have a particular affection for No. 7.

  156. 156.

    Bill Arnold

    @MattF:
    Hah. My wife and I are both Iaan M. Banks (RIP) culture story fans and she immediately gave us ship’s names (which I will not share. :-) after reading her first.
    I miss that him, re-reading The Hydrogen Sonata now.

  157. 157.

    PurpleGirl

    @redshirt: Riker was offered several commands and turned them all down. The one I can remember right now (because was the show was just shown) was a ship going to a far distant system for a potential first contact; Riker’s father came to meet with him to pass on the details of the assignment.

  162. 162.

    geg6

    @PsiFighter37:

    I’ll tempt him with quality time with Lovey. Plus, it will be summer, so he’ll have free time. And his sister Devon often has him here, I think. He certainly knows where I live, too. I’ll talk to him and we’ll see if we can set it up. Do you have set dates?

  165. 165.

    PurpleGirl

    @redshirt: It should affect his career but it doesn’t. There was a two-part story where his position was challenged by an up-and-coming female officer. But, of course, he managed to keep his place. (It was in the Borg story arc.)

    ETA: Good job Ben Cisco. Yes, that’s the show I’m thinking about.

  166. 166.

    Brachiator

    @Matt McIrvin: I can see a lot of disaffected Bernie lovers voting enthusiastically for Trump. And note that these people are not even Bernie loyalists. They yearn for revolution and see Bernie as their possible Savior. But they would vote for Trump because they believe that revolutionary paradise would eventually arise out of the ruin of a Trump presidency.

  167. 167.

    Brachiator

    @Ben Cisco: Of course ultimately Star Trek crews are kept together because that is what fans want. It would be interesting, but maybe difficult to have a Trek saga that included promotions that took characters to new ships and adventures.

  169. 169.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Felonius Monk: Bernie’s campaign seems to go more for bumper stickers (which are legion in eastern MA).

    Trump has been giving out a lot of those enormous yard signs that look like billboards. They do an effective job of exaggerating his level of support just by being gigantic and impossible to miss.

  170. 170.

    PsiFighter37

    @geg6: Would have to be either June 15 or June 16. No flexibility around those, unfortunately.

    If Cole’s interested, he has my email and is Facebook friends with me.

  172. 172.

    PsiFighter37

    @redshirt: I got married a little over 1.5 years ago. To be frank, it has not resulted in a huge day-to-day change in my life, and I am paying a lot more in taxes now than we used to. The kind of tax reform I can support is the one that says 2 married people’s tax rate is equivalent to what they would be making single.

  173. 173.

    Matt McIrvin

    @PsiFighter37: The tax code’s treatment of married couples still kinda-sorta assumes that the household is going to run on a single breadwinner’s income.

  174. 174.

    PsiFighter37

    @Matt McIrvin: Yep, and that’s a really, really out-of-date interpretation of it and is incredibly unfair to people like myself and my wife.

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