Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Sunday Afternoon Open Thread: WASP Humor

Sunday Afternoon Open Thread: WASP Humor

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Yep, another Bush cousin. Thanksgiving at Kennebunkport is going to be a barrel of laughs, this year.

Speaking of barrels and their bottoms, Curt ‘Wave the Bloody Sock’ Schilling held the weekend’s saddest Trump rally…

… but at least he’s found his true media home, according to NYMag:

… On Monday, Breitbart plans to announce former Red Sox pitcher and Trump supporter Curt Schilling will begin hosting a daily online radio show featuring political commentary and calls from listeners. The broadcast will eventually include a video livestream. The show marks Schilling’s return to media six months after ESPN fired him for sharing an anti-transgender Facebook post with a message that read: “A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.”…

Schilling’s jump to Breitbart will give him a national platform as he prepares to challenge Elizabeth Warren for her Senate seat in 2018…

Senator Warren’s reaction?

Reader Interactions

338Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    : “If you can’t stand the nut on the left & you can’t stand the nut on the right, go for the Johnson”

    What if you can’t stand Stein, Trump, or Johnson?

  6. 6.

    bostondreams

    Man, I wish Schilling would just stop. I love him for what he did, but now, come on. Stop.

  12. 12.

    Tokyokie

    Pedro (Martínez) would run a better race against Elizabeth Warren than that other former Bosox pitcher will. Except that I think he retains his Dominican citizenship, and even if he is a naturalized U.S. citizen, he’d probably be a Democrat. But then, Pedro was a smarter, tougher, and better pitcher (and person) than Schilling, not being burdened with a load of entitlement.

  14. 14.

    local observer

    Are there not a bunch more Bushlet’s (spawn) in various state offices, undoubtedly with higher political aspirations?

  16. 16.

    Mary G

    I can see Liz Warren is shaking in her boots there.

    The Breitbart-alt/right vision getting so much mainstreaming is horrendous, but it’s gotten a lot of the nicer Republican voters to wake up. I have had more than one acquaintance I talk to about Doug Applegate tell me that they used to think I was a DFH, but now they see what I I was talking about. Not good news for Darrell Issa! Of course, after the election they’ll be all in for Paul Ryan’s brand of more-in-hatred-than-in-sorrow Hillary-bashing. Obama has taught me the value of incremental changes, though.

  18. 18.

    Suzanne

    I’m so glad that I don’t give a fuck about sports. Curt Schilling used to play here—in fact helped in a World Series for the D-Backs—but he kept his mouth shut about his politics when he was here. Randy Johnson got the street named after him, anyway.

  19. 19.

    Chris T.

    … “men’s room was designed for the pen1s”? “designed for the pen1s”? WTF is he talking about?

  22. 22.

    Mnemosyne

    I like how the guy on the right (campaign staffer) rolls his eyes so hard, they almost fall out of his head.

    @Chris T.:

    Maybe urinals? I do agree that unisex bathrooms shouldn’t have urinals in them (unless it’s a single room with a locking door). It just leads to embarrassment for everyone.

  24. 24.

    Anne Laurie

    @Chris T.: Apparently Schilling can only piss into urinals, and he assumes other penis-bearers have the same problem. Don’t ask me why he would think this, I’ve never had to manage a penis of my very own…

    I guess he can afford to have his home bathrooms customized, but what does he do at private parties?

  27. 27.

    sp98

    I guess he can afford to have his home bathrooms customized, but what does he do at private parties?

    Brings his own?

  29. 29.

    Bostondreams

    @redshirt:

    I am reminded that when someone on Gerry Remy’s facebook page posted a pro-Schilling article, it was swamped with ‘Love what he did, but he’s an idiot now’ comments. So that gives me hope.

  30. 30.

    Barbara

    Jonathan Bush is Billy’s brother but athenahealth is a real company that he helped found. As in a lot of things related to health care over the last 50 years, obvious truths are often avoided because of political allegiance. I am surprised that he tipped his hand in such an obvious way.

  33. 33.

    Suzanne

    @Mnemosyne: As someone who has designed hundreds of public restrooms, I can tell you that absolutely zero building owners would pay to make bathrooms larger to accommodate additional fixtures like urinals unless forced to by law or code. Having to make bathrooms ADA-compliant is still a battle I’m fighting, 26 years after the ADA was passed.

  37. 37.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    I hope the HRC campaign can turn Jan Brewers comment about Hispanics not showing up to vote into a Spanish language media ad. It’s not on tape,its a print media comment unfortunately.

  38. 38.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: In a unisex bathroom, they would be space-wasting, because you’re required to have the toilet, and since almost all unisex restrooms have to be accessible to the disabled, you can’t add fixtures without increasing size. In a multi-stall restroom, they can only sub for a certain percentage of toilets, and not the ADA toilets.

  39. 39.

    Mike in NC

    About ten years ago I had a coworker who kept a sign that read ‘The only Bush I trust is my own’ in her cubicle.

  43. 43.

    SFAW

    @Anne Laurie:

    I guess he can afford to have his home bathrooms customized, but what does he do at private parties?

    If he’s shit-faced, probably piss in the sink. If he’s really shit-faced, he’ll just piss on the rose bushes, not bother with the bathroom.

  45. 45.

    scav

    maybe if some men are too frightened to pee into a scary individual stall (with oppressive seats!) in a unisex bathroom, one could provide a special two-urinal stall where they could huddle together for comfort.
    ETA: Maybe officially classifying the characteristic as a disability to get it past the requirements?

  46. 46.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Are there ANY descendants of Prescott Bush who shouldn’t be placed on a rocket ship to be shot into the sun?

  47. 47.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @bostondreams:

    I’m pretty sure Brady would be a Republican, but I don’t think he’s as dumb as Schilling. Who knows though. He accepted the invitation to Bush’s SOTU.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @Suzanne:

    It’s more that some people will stick a “unisex” sign on an existing bathroom without stopping to think that if there’s a urinal in it, guys will use it. And then one has to walk out of the bathroom without washing one’s hands because no woman wants an accidental glance of some guy’s dick, especially when you know you’re going to have to work with him the rest of the weekend.

    (Okay, yes, I’m talking about the Clinton campaign field office in Nevada that I was working at last month. Marking both bathrooms as “unisex” was well-intended, but didn’t work with a large group in the office.)

  56. 56.

    Baud

    I’m going to invent a women’s urinal and make a fortune. It’ll be the best Shark Tank episode ever.

  58. 58.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Omnes Omnibus: George P though definitely is already on the tumbrel manifest. Neil’s daughter gives me hope that apples can sometimes fall far from the tree and bloom on their own in the light.

  62. 62.

    Barbara

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I don’t know what his intelligence level is but he is definitely not brave enough to say what he thinks about much of anything. Not that what he thinks really matters but he has consistently answered questions about anything issue oriented by conspicuously changing the subject or just refusing to give his views. I also don’t think he has much charisma, just by watching commercials he does — compared to Aaron Rodgers or Peyton Manning.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @gogol’s wife:

    I assume the director was trying to be fair and balanced (as opposed to “Fair and Balanced”(TM)). But, yeah …

    And I have to shock everyone again and reveal that I haven’t actually watched it yet. G and I want to watch it together but our work and school hours haven’t dovetailed yet.

  64. 64.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Omnes Omnibus: As far as I’m concerned, membership in the Federalist Society marks you as someone who falls into the “domestic enemies of the Constitution” basket.

  65. 65.

    NorthLeft12

    Has Schilling always been this politically tone deaf? I mean, who in their right mind would start rallying for Deadbeat Donald now? You have to think that these Tea Party maroons enjoy embarrassing themselves.

    I love Senator Warren’s response to the news of this expected challenge. I think I would have burst out laughing.

  66. 66.

    Iowa Old Lady

    We just got back from a lovely brunch with friends in Ames. We had a mushroom soup, that our host entered in the State Fair competition this year to win the blue ribbon. Then roast winter veggies. Then fried chicken and French toast made with home made brioche. And for the birthday cake, raspberry charlotte. I could learn to live with that.

  67. 67.

    hovercraft

    @debbie:
    Never, for a bunch of WASP’s they sure did reproduce a lot. I thought they were supposed to have 2.3 kids, but apart from W, they kept going.

    ETA: And the media is already jonesing for their next Bush fix, they are already counting down to when P will become our first Latino president in 2024.

  68. 68.

    Arclite

    I disagree with “both sides are nutty!” but my 13-year-old self thought that comment was mildly clever.

  70. 70.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Barbara:

    He’s smart enough to not be Curt Schilling level dumb. Plus, his teammates seem to buy into him, so I think he’s relatively woke in a way that Schilling, playing baseball which is still a white man’s sport, isn’t. Pitching at his level is white elitist. Remember, too, baseball pros are selected early, and don’t really go to college like pro football athletes do, so they’re a bunch of good ol’ boys. They get scouted out of high school.

  72. 72.

    ThresherK

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I have a “two bites at the apple” tolerance for celebrities and politics. If someone like that says something dumb I usually give them another shot at making sense. (The tweets by Schilling are beyond the pale. No way to misinterpret that.)

    That said, things are changing. (See Kaepernick and the start of the end of the meaningless, feelingless national anthem ritual.) When Brady went to GWB’s SotU, was it simply something an athlete did if invited? Did Brady angle for an invite? Where is it on the scale of Things You Simply Do, like go to the White House as a team when you win a title? (And I know some people have stopped on that.)

  73. 73.

    gogol's wife

    @Mnemosyne:

    It’s well worth watching. Some of the White House versions that were never on YouTube, etc. It’s online but I’m not sure how long it will be up. Definitely in tears by the end no matter how many times I watch it.

  74. 74.

    hovercraft

    @bostondreams:

    Praying to god that Tom Brady never ever ever takes a political position at this point.

    He may be a great quarterback, but he’s definitely is not the sharpest tool in the tool box, he should stick to TV or the movies.

  77. 77.

    Arclite

    @Chris T.: …

    “men’s room was designed for the pen1s”? “designed for the pen1s”? WTF is he talking about?

    Urinals? >_<

    EDIT: Ninja’d by Baud.

  78. 78.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Karl Rove: Donald Trump Can’t Win

    I guess Karl isn’t going to spend election night hysterically looking under the table for votes this time. Shame really, that was one of the highlights of that election.

  80. 80.

    Ruckus

    @Mary G:
    Incremental progress is the only kind there is. Even revolutions that bring progress are incremental. Technology, medicine, law, love, living, culture, art…. it is all incremental, although not all is progress.

  83. 83.

    Doug R

    @WaterGirl: I don’t understand why toilet seats in public washrooms, especially gender neutral and men’s don’t have spring or gas rod loaded seats. Wouldn’t have to be much pressure, just enough to lift the seat when no one is sitting on it.

  84. 84.

    hovercraft

    @WaterGirl:

    Age old question: Why should I have to wipe off the seat if you could perfect your aim? :-)

    Also too, since we need the seat down for both of our bathroom needs, and you need the seat down for one of the two of your bathroom needs, I think it makes sense for you to lift the seat on those occasions you need to.
    And since we are now into ripping things up, it’s pretty easy to imagine ripping other things off. I was never a big fan, but Lorena Bobbitt may have been onto something.

  85. 85.

    Arclite

    @hovercraft:

    So that’s where he blew all those millions he earned pitching, got it.

    Actually he lost it running a videogame company into the ground: 38 Studios.

  86. 86.

    Ruckus

    @scav:
    Some men might like that.
    And in a lot of large venues, like stadiums there is just a large trough that we all use together. Saves lots of space and allows a very fast throughput. So it’s not like we haven’t done that before.

  89. 89.

    Suzanne

    @Doug R: It is due to cost. Restrooms are expensive to build, intensive to maintain, and do not return a profit to a building owner, as they aren’t leasable or license-able. Building owners hate bathrooms and do their best not to put in any more than are code-required.

  92. 92.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:
    Someone posted on FB a urinal that is for old men whose shutoff valve is defective or worn out. It might just work for this.

  94. 94.

    bostondreams

    @ThresherK:

    @hovercraft: “Vote Schilling! It’s the only way he can pay it back!”

    Except his company went broke in Rhode Island, not Massachusetts. So that doesn’t even work as a slogan. Heh.

  95. 95.

    Schlemazel

    @Bill E Pilgrim:
    See, now, that scares me. If KKKarl insists Hillary is going to win I am afraid she stands no chance. Or maybe he is signaling that his dirty operations are not going to be available to Trump.

  96. 96.

    hovercraft

    @SWMBO:

    Wonder how long a gofundme would take to get enough fuel to get them off of Earth?

    If you threw the Trumps in with them, I’m sure that with world wide donations, one
    could raise billions within a couple of days. Mind you no one could vouch for the safety of either clan from each other, but if they do go at it, shit happens.

  97. 97.

    dogwood

    The extended Bush family is pretty large, so it stands to reason you’ll get all types among them. They’re the least of my concern right now. It’s the Cheney’s who won’t go away; Liz is headed for the House as her stepping stone to the Senate in the future. We’ll never be rid of her.

  100. 100.

    Suzanne

    @Major Major Major Major: If you’re talking about transgender-friendly restrooms, that will all depend on local ordinances and interpretation. The IBC allows for unisex restrooms in some but not all occupancies, but building ten unisex restrooms is a hell of a lot more expensive than building two five-stall restrooms segregated by sex.

  102. 102.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Suzanne: Yeah I can’t remember where I saw it, I think in Europe somewhere. I doubt it was a public restroom, probably a restaurant or hotel.

    Of course, in Paris there have been entire units for years that do one better and put themselves through their own little car wash when someone leaves. I’ve used those, they basically work.

  103. 103.

    jl

    @Suzanne: So, we need mass civil disobedience to get enough womens’ bathrooms in arenas and malls?

    I’m a guy, but yeesh, it’s ridiculous. I’ll go the barricades. I won’t give a woman any problem if she decides to go into the guys’ when her line is around he corner and down the hallway, either. So I’ll be with you at the barricade, but being a guy, if I am short taken, well, you may be asked to look away while I take a leak on it.

    One reasons I soured on Sanders, the dude had no public bathroom reform plank in is platform. i wanted a full service political revolution.
    Of course, HRC? Nada. She left the middle class. I suppose she has a few hokey sentimental memories of cute middle class potties from long ago. She has access to luxe and exclusive VIP power potties now, I am sure.
    If Trump can come up with a public john plank before the election, I’ll vote for him. But it has to be his best most terrific, biggest, effort. I want a real massive classy dump of a Trump potty plank. Solid gold, and heated, johns for all. None of this cheapo gold plate stuff.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @hovercraft:
    We could even use this as an excuse to revive our space program. Bet we could pay the European space program to send them. Or that guy from CA.

  105. 105.

    Suzanne

    @jl: You need to comment during the public comment period every three years when your municipality considers adopting the latest-and-greatest building code.

    FWIW, the newer editions of the Code do require more women’s fixtures in those types of occupancies than they used to for that reason. But if your facilities were built a while ago, it’s likely that they’re never going to be able to accommodate an increased quantity.

  106. 106.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Schlemazel: Well one way to look at it is that while he thought Romney was going to win, he also thought Bush was going to win, and was right, twice. He’s not exactly a Bill Kristol, more mixed.

    Of course, Kristol is also saying she’ll win, but I think when it gets this obvious, the “whatever Kristol thinks, the opposite will happen” principle is washed away by the sheer undeniability.

  108. 108.

    JanieM

    @ThresherK:

    Where is it on the scale of Things You Simply Do, like go to the White House as a team when you win a title?

    Speaking of that, when the Patriots made their post-Super Bowl visit during Obama’s presidency, Brady didn’t go. He did go all three times they had the chance during Bush’s presidency.

  109. 109.

    jl

    @JanieM: Maybe the rest of the team didn’t want Brady there, wrecking it by grousing around about having to go the WH under and admin he didn’t like. My understanding is that Brady is such an irritant, few people want him around anyway for anything.

  110. 110.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Schlemazel: Probably the wisest strategy.

    On the other hand, just for a peek into the evidence piling up that it’s probably not just going to be a win, but a massive, historic win, here are some things I sent my worry wart relative:

    John Harwood ‏@JohnJHarwood Oct 22
    senior GOP Senate strategist: “Trump now tied in Indiana. down 11 in PA and 14 in NH. Going down hard”

    David PlouffeVerified account
    ‏@davidplouffe
    Final margin closer to 400 electoral votes than 270.

    Then there’s this.

  112. 112.

    ThresherK

    @JanieM: I did not remember that, or anything he said about why. I really don’t want to know what kind of policy geek (sic) had Brady’s ear to make him do that.

  114. 114.

    jl

    @Suzanne: Thanks for tip in three year review.

    I don’t care about ripping out space for more restrooms. In NorCal, a lot of super high price real time drip by the cup coffee joints that are sprouting up, outrages and a threat to human decency, that need to go. Could use that space for toilets and drinking fountain, or just plain old honest empty space.

  115. 115.

    Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Nope. I know a bunch of wingnuts who still think Trump is going to win. There are outlier polls that come out once in awhile they will cling to. Also this whole nonsense of skewed polls and silent majorities is making the rounds again just like in 2012.

    The right always thinks they are winning no matter what. Wish progressives were a bit more like the right in that respect. They always think they are losing.

  116. 116.

    WaterGirl

    @Iowa Old Lady: I love good fried chicken, but sadly good fried chicken is very hard to come by. They even opened up a restaurant here that specializes in fried chicken – that’s their thing! – and even that was boring and tasteless. I’ve pretty much given up on ever getting good fried chicken again. So how was the fried chicken? If it was good, perhaps I can live vicariously through you!

  117. 117.

    Suzanne

    @jl: Because of the ADA’s requirements for toe clearance, our restroom partitions stop 9″ above the floor. Of course, that’s only a requirement for accessible stalls, but some of the municipalities interpret that as applying to all stalls. So in Europe, the partitions get to go down to the floor, but we don’t get that. So everyone gets to hear you pee. It sucks.

  118. 118.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: Oh I wasn’t saying anything about what those people think or don’t think. I was making a joke about the idea of our being able to just assume whatever Kristol thinks, the opposite will happen, and how that’s off now. But it’s not a serious point, what Kristol thinks or doesn’t think isn’t anything anyone should go by. And wingnuts will think what they think no matter what evidence there is to the contrary.

  119. 119.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @WaterGirl: How was it fried? Funny, someone asked the hostess that. The host usually cooks, but she’s the one who always makes their fried chicken. She said she coats it in buttermilk and dredges it in flour, then fries it in shallow oil in a pan. She mentioned salt and something else too, but I admit I was too busy scarfing stuff down to listen.

    She grew up on a farm and learned to fry chicken from her mother when she was about 12. She’s used to cutting up the chicken herself, and disapproved of the way the grocery store had done it.

  120. 120.

    Patricia Kayden

    @redshirt:

    I wish a Schilling would

    That should be Senator Warren’s logo when Schilling runs against her and gets his behind whooped. Perfect.

    @Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: I’m okay with the Left being more realistic about our prospects instead of pretending that we are winning all the time. For example, right now I’ll have to admit that while Secretary Clinton will win in a landslide, I’m not too sure about the Senate flipping. It’s better to be realistic than over confident like the Right. I hate disappointments.

  121. 121.

    divF

    @jl: Whenever people start talking about unisex bathrooms, I visualize the one in Ally McBeal.

    To your main point though, pour-over coffee shops are a waste of space, with or without bathrooms. Give me a cup of Peet’s Major Dickason’s, made in a drip pot and not allowed to stand for more than 30 min, and I’m good to go.

  124. 124.

    geg6

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    That ABC poll is fascinating. Those internals, if backed up by more top line polls, are devastating for the GOP. The House becomes a real possibility if those Republican drop out numbers hold up.

    I’m afraid to get too excited. But damn!

  125. 125.

    Ruckus

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    Probably adds salt and pepper to the flour. That’s how my grandmothers both did it and they came from two entirely different backgrounds but their fried chicken tasted the same. Very good. One of them raised the chickens, wrung their necks, plucked and cut them up herself, the other was just fine with store bought.

  126. 126.

    divF

    @Chris T.: Some parts of San Francisco Airport use this design, IIRC. The bathrooms are segregated by sex now, but they may be planning to switch over in the future.

    ETA: That image of the young Bush screams out to me, “Too much inbreeding! Diversify your gene pool!”

  127. 127.

    Schlemazel

    @WaterGirl:
    Part of why chicken can’t be as good as you remember is that the whole growing process has gone to hell. They have found a way to get chicks to market weight super fast and the flavor is a victim of the method. Same thing with pork, it used to be juicy and taste like pork. In an effort to be more healthy they have eliminated the fat and the speed it to market feeding program has robbed it of flavor.

    Add in that producers are allowed to add water (up 15% by weight I believe) and all meats are pale imitations of what they once were.

  128. 128.

    jl

    @Suzanne:

    ” So everyone gets to hear you pee. It sucks. ”

    Life is tough. I guarantee you that come the great Ladies’ Restroom Riots of 2020, the guys on the barricades will want to take a leak right there.

  129. 129.

    Chris T.

    @Schlemazel:

    In an effort to be more healthy they have eliminated the fat

    Dammit, that not only messes with the taste, it actually makes a lot of these things less healthy.

  131. 131.

    debbie

    @Chris T.:

    If you read the comments at your link, you’ll find many in disagreement with them. It’s much easier for a tall guy to pee down into a urinal, but a short woman can’t squat up.

  132. 132.

    jl

    @divF: There is a useless blue bottle coffee joint next to one of the ladies’ rooms at the SF Ferry Building. I’ll be there to take a pic if they ever take that one out for more lady terlets.

    That place really messed up a New Orleans iced coffee for me once. They are dead to me, dead, I tell you!

  133. 133.

    Suzanne

    @jl: You don’t care, and I don’t care, but building owners really, REALLY care. Again, they are the space that doesn’t make them any money. They can’t rent it or display merchandise on it or put a patient in it. And for climate change reasons, we actually need to find ways to make buildings smaller.

  134. 134.

    dmsilev

    @geg6: That poll could be an outlier. But if not, if it’s anything like accurate, then the GOP is fucked this time round. and there’s still time for things to get worse.

  136. 136.

    Suzanne

    @jl: I realize that hearing other people tinkle is a First World Problem of the highest order, but it still strikes me as eminently uncivilized.

  137. 137.

    Schlemazel

    @Chris T.:
    It became a big deal at the time of the “The Other White Meat” campaign. They wanted to have pork that was as low in fat as chicken breast. It worked & the only thing we lost was flavor & health.

  138. 138.

    Ruckus

    @Chris T.:
    Read the comments at your link and it reminded me of a toilet that I used on a pier in the Azores. It’s a porcelain hole in the floor with foot prints. Your aim had better be good or your feet are getting a bit of a, shall we say, exhaust wash. Not an upgrade on the current technology.

  139. 139.

    scav

    @Ruckus: Doesn’t surprise me – I woudn’t be surprised if some wouldn’t prefer an open dirt pit with a corncob sitting nearby to better envoke their manly pioneer and hunting ancestry. Or maybe tennis-ball cans in a replica big-rig. Just don’t see why the minority yelling get to determine the entire structure of the entire restroom, everywhere, for everyone. Insofar as possible, maybe they can be accommodated in a stall.

  142. 142.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:
    It might just be because men have been hearing and sometimes seeing strangers pee for our entire lives. It may not be that we like it, it’s just that we are used to it. Ya gotta go, ya gotta go.

  143. 143.

    WaterGirl

    @Iowa Old Lady: What makes good fried chicken? Part of it is the coating, part of it is the spices that are used, some of it is the frying itself. Just like a bloody mary – I know a good one when I taste it, but I cannot make a good one myself. Even though I was a bartender for a year!

  144. 144.

    Schlemazel

    @jl:
    WAIT! Girl-type people pee? Heaven forefend! Next thing I suppose you will try to tell me they poop just like real people do. These are such horrific functions they simply have to be kept secret and never admitted to.

  145. 145.

    GregB

    Shilling lost any goodwill he had for breaking the curse by being a loudmouth, race baiting ignoramous too stupid to know what he has become.

    At least Elizabeth Warren will be able to farm the field of moronic statements that Shilling will be planting daily at Breibart.

  146. 146.

    Chris T.

    @debbie: I didn’t say they were any good. :-) The variant you find elsewhere in the world is very low down, a la squat toilets. That’s an improvement, but still no good for people with non-functioning knees.

  147. 147.

    WaterGirl

    @Schlemazel: I agree with you. I only buy the “smart” chicken which doesn’t have the added hormones or antibiotics. I can really tell the difference – the smart chicken is much more tender.

    In truth, I have never even tried to make true fried chicken because I have never had a good recipe from someone who really knows how to make it. But hope springs eternal!

    @Ruckus: I add salt and pepper and cayenne and paprika to the flour when I saute chicken tenders, so mine have a pretty good zing to them.

  148. 148.

    germy

    athenahealth CEO Bush on election: “If you can’t stand the nut on the left & you can’t stand the nut on the right, go for the Johnson”

    Ah yes, the tasty nut in the middle.

  149. 149.

    Ruckus

    @scav:
    See my comment at #142.
    I pee in a toilet at home and it isn’t an imposition. I pee in urinals when that’s what’s available. But I also recognize that men and women have different anatomies that do really require a different methodology. Some are too silly or stupid to recognize that I can use the same facility as women, not all women can use the same facility as me.

  150. 150.

    Chris T.

    @Ruckus: Well, squat toilets are supposed to be healthier for the other kind of output too. I have no actual experience with them myself (and am already partly on the way to the “people with non-functioning knees” category)…

  152. 152.

    catclub

    I just saw this at Slate:

    Almost 70 Percent of Republicans Say Clinton Could Only Win by Cheating

    For normalization, ask them if Obama won in 2008 and 2012 by cheating.
    I am guessing at least 50% will agree with that as well. Mention ACORN and it will rise to that same 70%.

  153. 153.

    germy

    The son and mother team that appeared on “Shark Tank” with their Squatty Potty product (basically a piece of plastic that you rest your feet on while you poop) made millions of dollars with their invention.

    A pile of old phone books would serve the same purpose, but that ain’t capitalism.

  154. 154.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:
    I watched both my grandmothers make fried chicken numerous times, simple recipe, flour on a sideboard, add salt and pepper, dunk in buttermilk, bread in the flour mix, fry in about 1/2 in of oil, or maybe a little less, take out and let drain on paper towel for about 30 seconds, done. Now chickens were raised different 50-60 yrs ago and I’d bet that is the biggest reason it tasted better. I haven’t eaten fried chicken in decades, navy cooks cured me of liking chicken.

  155. 155.

    Chris T.

    @germy: The younger crowd would say “what is a phone book?”

    Rural folks would object that it would take 50 phone books.

    Anyone from NYC, SF, LA, etc., would realize it would only take two. :-)

  156. 156.

    catclub

    @Schlemazel:

    pork that was as low in fat as chicken breast.

    I consider that nowadays eating Chicken breast is similar to eating chalk. Thighs are going that direction, too. [Fried Chicken excepted.]

  159. 159.

    Schlemazel

    @WaterGirl:
    Maybe you should ask TaMara. The only frying with a wok. As many things as I would like to deep fry I find the whole process messy and wasteful so I am no help with a tested & true fried chicken recipe.

  160. 160.

    Ruckus

    @Chris T.:
    You haven’t seen me try to get up from my morning relief or from a chair that is too low. We have office chairs around the break/lunch table and some of the ass…. younger fellas like them all the way down. I do not as I like to be able to get back to vertical when necessary.

  161. 161.

    JeffH

    20 years ago when he was with the Phillies the GM made the comment about Schilling “Every fifth day he’s a horse. The other four days he’s a horse’s ass.”

  163. 163.

    catclub

    Also, the name of teh 2012 GOP report on the election, was the Growth and Opportunity Report. Abbreviation GrOPR – Groper.

    Nominative determinism wins again.

  164. 164.

    Schlemazel

    @catclub:
    agreed. The city here will allow us 6 chickens in the yard (but no butchering so I guess I’d have to take them for a ride to the country) and I sometimes think that might just be worth it. If I had a time machine & could bring a chicken from 1966 here and serve it I think people would wonder what the heck meat it was & also demand to be able to buy more of it.

  165. 165.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: okay, I saved your recipe. Will let you know how it comes out when I try it.

    1/2 inch of oil seems like a lot, but I guess it depends on how much is left after you cook the chicken!

    p.s. forgot to say thank you!

  167. 167.

    jl

    @Uncle Cosmo: A Schilling town hall would be fun, when he tries to connect with the constituents.

    “Look here, little lady, don’t get me wrong, but you seem like a nice young white Christian girl. Why aren’t you all big Andrews Sisters fans these days? I mean, why aren’t they selling records like they used to? Just asking, hope you don’t take it wrong. I thought your people all were into hep music.”

    “Hey now, that sounds like a French name, but you didn’t bring any frog legs or snails at the townhall potluck. Before I answer your question, I have to ask you to explain, if you can no offense intended, how you can explain why all your people eat that stuff? I hope that doesn’t come off as politically incorrect,. I;m just a plain yokel you sent to clean up DC and I need to understand how things work, is all.”

    “Now, I just have to ask all the red haired freckle people here…”

  168. 168.

    Gelfling 545

    @Mary G: My daughter informs me that my son in law has decided that he will keep his Dem registration and vote for Hilary. He was a Republican mainly because that’s what his father was & didn’t take all that much interest in politics until the last few years. He changed to vote for Bernie & was quite anti-Clinton. Didn’t plan to stay. He’s decided that the GOP is essentially dust & ashes and Democrat, at least at this time, is the way to go. She tells me he also joined the ACLU today. We live in interesting times.

  169. 169.

    jl

    IMHO, good fried chicken, or any chicken, starts with a good chicken coop. Fed lots of slop. Fruit slop from a drying stone fruits is good. Kitchen slop, if freshly made (sorry to offend the squeamish, but that is how it is). Miscellaneous bugs, which can be delivered from lawn clippings, or few hand fulls of custom cut alfalfa, timothy or Sudan grass, and the grass and legume clippings are good in themselves. Pruned vines and tendrils from the vegetable garden. Squashes, pumpkins and melons what you found too late to pick, thrown high over the coop fence, so they go splat and the chickens can get to all the good parts.

  170. 170.

    WaterGirl

    OT, but does anyone else feel like Barack Obama is trying to get us used to the idea of him not being president anymore? I don’t recall other presidents doing that, but then I never followed any other president in the way that I do President Obama.

    This will be my last White House Correspondents Dinner. This will be my last big night of music in the white house. I have 100 more days as president. This is my last State Dinner. I think he’s also setting the stage for what he will be doing afterwards. Publishing articles in journals. Making more speeches (okay he would be doing that anyways as part of campaigning).

    Always the teacher, always looking ahead …

    Forgot to add that I think he is already transitioning into the new role as he still holds the old one. Smart man. Always.

  171. 171.

    Mary G

    @Mnemosyne: Your work seems to be paying off. John Ralston, Nevada political journalist extraordinaire:

    Democrats destroyed Republicans in the first day of early voting in Nevada, amassing a 13,500 raw vote lead and dominating in Clark County.

    The raw numbers, according to the secretary of state, combining early and mail ballots: 41,017-27,606. That’s 49 percent to 33 percent. Democrats are 10 percent above their registration numbers and Republicans right at theirs.

    Just watched the Hamilton doc again. Ryan didn’t bother me the first time through, but now if I had popcorn I’d be throwing it at the screen. Yeah, right you’ve read the Federalist papers many times. Four Pinocchios.

    ETA: Elizabeth Warren is the best politician in it. She is so passionate and knowledgeable! And getting to be a better communicator every time I see her.

  172. 172.

    jl

    @Mary G: Hamilton Alexander Hamilton?

    I remember reading in a bio that he did olde tymey GOTV on election days. IIRC he got some rocks thrown at his carriage when he took some African-Americans to the polls. That was a long time ago. Hamilton should be an example to us all.

  173. 173.

    Ruckus

    @scav:
    Don’t disagree.
    I can see one point though. How many women feel comfortable dropping trou when strange men are in the same room? Not an issue for me but I can see that for a lot of women. Because a lot of men are strange for sure and not all stalls are secure.

  174. 174.

    Joel

    @redshirt: never much respected schilling, having seen his output on internet message boards. But was sure glad the Sox got him when they did. If wingnutty behavior was going to dissuade you from rooting for a team you probably shouldn’t follow any sport with white athletes.

  175. 175.

    jl

    @WaterGirl:

    ” but does anyone else feel like Barack Obama is trying to get us used to the idea of him not being president anymore? ”

    HRC is good enough replacement. And Obama will not be exiled from planet earth, no matter what tricks the Trump and GOP lawyers are instructed to pull. So, will be fun to have another ex-president who has something interesting to say from time to time, in addition to Carter and Big Dawg (GOPer ex-‘s are hopeless, of course).

    And if I run into him, after congratulating him on a great job, I can give him shit for what I think he did wrong without Secret Service types getting too jumpy.

    I am looking on the bright side.

    Also: I think protocol indicates that it will be OK to start bugging Michelle to run for office.

  176. 176.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:
    Half inch would be maximum. A quarter inch is more than enough and you can get by with less. Both grandmothers used a cast iron fry pan as well. Not sure what oil they used this was around 55-60 yrs ago. Damn I’m old.

  179. 179.

    Mary G

    @Gelfling 545: W00t! One step at a time gets you a long way if you just keep stepping. Seems men are waking up fast to all the Republican BS, especially the younger ones.

    @Mnemosyne: Your hard work is paying off. John Ralston, Nevada political journalist extraordinaire:

    Democrats destroyed Republicans in the first day of early voting in Nevada, amassing a 13,500 raw vote lead and dominating in Clark County.

    The raw numbers, according to the secretary of state, combining early and mail ballots: 41,017-27,606. That’s 49 percent to 33 percent. Democrats are 10 percent above their registration numbers and Republicans right at theirs.

  180. 180.

    Ruckus

    @jl:
    This is funny. And it’s not. It actually sounds like what a lot of conservative office seekers would say. I can’t imagine how they’ve lived long enough to have seen the world change as much as I have and yet not believe their own lying eyes.

  182. 182.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: i”m gonna guess that they used Crisco. I think that’s what they used for everything back then.

    Good to know that I can do with less. I will definitely try that. I have never used buttermilk, either. Maybe that’s part of the trick!

  183. 183.

    Ruckus

    @jl:
    You sound like my grandmother who raised chickens. Chickens ate leftovers. They didn’t like it they got eaten.

  184. 184.

    jl

    @Ruckus: I simply cannot believe that BS is still tolerated. I cannot believe Tapper didn’t laugh Schilling off the air, or tell him to quit talking like an idiot on his show.

    Where I grew up was not perfect. Lots of residential segregation, and plenty of white bigots walking around. But, where I grew up, talk like was always considered weird and rude and people would think ‘WTF…?’ So, I have zero sympathy for these bigots trying so hard to understand these supposedly new and scare times and ways. They can shut up and quit causing ordinary people a lot of trouble.

    Edit: not being Jewish, I thought at first that the rancid and vicious antisemitism that Trump brought out in his fanatics was some kind of bad joke. But apparently it isn’t. This crap never dies, and must always be stomped on. No exceptions.

  185. 185.

    JMG

    @WaterGirl: Don’t overthink it. My guess is a big part of him is counting off the days like prisoners in old cartoons did on their cell walls. And that part is 99.9999 percent of Michelle.

  186. 186.

    Aleta

    OK, since the fried chicken lives on…my sil gave me an amazing recipe for baked fried chicken (ie not really fried, but tastes as good as). If anyone wants it, I’ll look for it in the loose recipes in the books on the shelf.

  187. 187.

    Amir Khalid

    “If you can’t stand the nut on the left & you can’t stand the nut on the right, go for the Johnson”

    Dear God, he actually said that on TV. /facepalm

  188. 188.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:
    Grandmother who raised chickens, not sure what she used for oil. It might have been lard, that was available real cheap at the time. She lost her husband in the middle of the depression and had five kids to feed. So her entire back yard was a garden and chicken coop. She died in the late 50s. Other grandmother I’m pretty sure it was Crisco. She passed in the mid 60s.

  189. 189.

    Schlemazel

    @Ruckus:
    The thing is though that you need really hot oil to maintain the steam that prevents the fat soaking in and making it greasy & soggy. I am afraid if you added cold/room temp chicken to that little oil the temp drops too much and you gett greasy results. One of the reasons grandmas used cast iron was because they were big & heavy & kept the heat up.

  192. 192.

    Helen

    @jl: May I intervene?

    I interpret “Obama did nothing wrong” as he did the best he could given the circumstances. I truly believe that when we are all dead, the history books will say that he saved America. No hyperbole. We needed him so badly. He saved us from our stupid selves. And this election is just a referendum on him. Women and minorities will save America once again. I am actually very proud of us.

  193. 193.

    Schlemazel

    @WaterGirl:
    I am sure many used shortening like Crisco but many used hog lard.

    The buttermilk is a bit acidic & can cause a chemical reaction with a little baking soda in the flour to make a puffier crust.

  195. 195.

    redshirt

    Gosh. I just saw a pure Benghazi ad for Trump.

    I cannot believe they’ve made such a momentous deal about this. 4 people died!!!!

    Fucking A. How many people died in Sandy Hook? In Orlando? In Denver? Across the country every day? We could do something about that. But nope. Day after day after day for freaking years now, it’s about Benghazi. It’s a joke and outrageous at the same time.

  199. 199.

    divF

    @redshirt: I started to see one of those on the Dodgers – Cubs game last night, but I switched the channel immediately.

    These people are slime.

  202. 202.

    Ruckus

    @JMG:
    Called short timer calendars. Everyone had them when I was in the navy. This being a family blog I won’t describe mine. Or anyone else’s either. Maybe that will give you the idea of what they looked like. I started my first one early enough that I had to use months. My second one when weeks worked. And then they discharged me early and I never got to start my days one. Oh well, all good things come to an end. Bad things usually do as well.

  204. 204.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    Also too, temperature control. 375 is about right to begin pan frying. Don’t crowd the pan with chicken pieces, that lowers the oil temp. Use tongs to carefully flip the chicken a couple of times while frying, pierce a piece to the bone to check if done (juices will be clear rather than pink when ready, probably at about 6 minutes after being put into pan). Oh, and under no circumstances use olive oil

    Kids today don’t often get the fun of shaking chicken pieces in a brown paper bag into which the very slightly seasoned (paprika and if desired, salt and pepper) flour has been put.

  208. 208.

    redshirt

    I know, IOKIYAR, but imagine if Kerry ran ads for years about the 2000 people killed in 9/11 because Bush didn’t respond to direct warnings! Imagine!

    Jesus I am so upset right now thinking of this imbalance. It’s OUTRAGEOUS. And yet, that’s our media.

  209. 209.

    burnspbesq

    @redshirt:

    This thread is truly in the shitter.

    So, unfortunately, is my FB feed, which has a sudden Berniac infestation.

    I’ve beem told a couple of times today that there is rock-solid science behind that “Stanford study” that says that there was only a 1 in 70 billion chance that clinton won the California primary fair and square.

  211. 211.

    Steeplejack

    @Aleta:

    Recipe, please!

    Just yesterday I saw Martha Stewart do a baked chicken parm that looked plausibly as good as traditional.

  215. 215.

    Ruckus

    @Schlemazel:
    I know about the heat and yes that’s one reason they used cast iron. The other was, that’s what was available to them and they lasted for ever. Both grandmothers used less than 1/2 in of oil most of the time, usually about 1/4. This may have been the depression era money thing more than that was the best way. But it worked, they both fried a lot of chicken and one fried rabbit whenever she could get away with it, her husband hated rabbit. When he knew he was eating it. She was a pretty funny lady that one was. She had me take the wrappers from the store bought rabbit over to the neighbors trash can once so he wouldn’t find them and swore me to secrecy.

  218. 218.

    Ruckus

    @redshirt:
    Even more, how many people died at embassies during the GWB troubles? I understand the number was a lot higher. IOKIYAR. They keep coming back with this crap and it keeps being OK with the base that 2+2 doesn’t equal shit.

  220. 220.

    redshirt

    @Baud: I mean it. Even with a Clinton blowout, they are going to deny everything, obstruct everything, hate everything, attack everyone. They are only going to get crazier than they already are – can you imagine?

    We are entering the Wingularity, and woe be upon all of us.

  222. 222.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:
    Sounds about right on the temp and yes no olive oil. My grands never measured the temp, it looked hot enough, they fried. The turning and time also sound about right. Once in the oil they never walked away or set down the tongs. I’ve fried a bit of stuff myself but not in years, I’d prefer to not have another heart attack.

  223. 223.

    redshirt

    @Ruckus: How many marines died under Reagan? Doesn’t matter. Nothing Repukes do matters; every single thing that happens under Democrats is the worse thing ever. Heck, Hillary has been literally ruining every single thing that exists for the last 30 years, apparently.

  225. 225.

    Schlemazel

    @Ruckus:
    We had rabbit a lot when I was a kid. I was a teen before I realized chickens never came with 4 legs! Mom never fried anything and I am following suit. Wifies family were farm folk & fried anything that stood still long enough. I have seen them do it but don’t pay much attention. I learned enough about cooking to know how it should work but no experience so if 1/4 inch worked for them it must be right. Watergirl got it right, it is really simple but very complicated.

  227. 227.

    Roger Moore

    @Schlemazel:

    Add in that producers are allowed to add water (up 15% by weight I believe) and all meats are pale imitations of what they once were.

    Unless you go to the trouble of finding ones that raise their meat the old fashioned way. It’s much more expensive, but most Americans eat too much meat anyway, so something that encourages you to eat less and enjoy it more is probably a good thing.

  228. 228.

    Li'l Innocent

    @Chris T.: Urinals, no? Women’s rooms don’t have them (in case you’re a gent and have never been in one). Women’s rooms follow the pattern of bathrooms in private homes, which men manage to use, though at great sacrifice of personal convenience and dignity. I think it’s very noble of them (assuming their aim is reasonably accurate).

  229. 229.

    Gravenstone

    @WaterGirl: I highly recommend marinating chicken in buttermilk several hours, preferably overnight. You can experiment adding different spices to the marinade. And yes, salt and pepper in the dredging flour. Shortening in the pan, coming no more than a third of the way up the chicken pieces.

  230. 230.

    Ruckus

    @Schlemazel:
    If you use more than 1/4-1/2 inch then you are deep frying and everything should be covered. The grand who cooked rabbit would not serve all 4 legs, graddad wasn’t stupid. He could be gullible at times but he could count. Good cooking always looks simple and easy when done by someone that knows what they are doing, but doing it right takes skill and experience. And the understanding that if you experiment, it may not taste like you thought it would. I’ve created a lot of dishes on my own, just by understanding how different foods like to be cooked and what different ingredients do for flavor. Presentation I suck at but taste I can do.

  231. 231.

    Schlemazel

    @Roger Moore:
    Having been poor I can tell you that cheap eats are a gift this industry has given to the disadvantaged. Everything else is the downside but fewer people are hungry tonight because of this. For the rest of us, yes, you are right.

  232. 232.

    Helen

    @Baud: Me, right?

    But seriously, folks. I think that she has defied every negative thing that has been thrown at her. At what point do we admit that she can FUCK YOU UP!!!!

    At what point do we (by we I mean America) admit that she has succeeded not because the MSM is on her side, not because the polls are rigged, not because Trump sucks elephant dick, not because she is getting a free “girl” pass, but because she is fucking awesome.

    I suspect that is once again only in 50 years when we are all dead. I mean really. People are still moaning about what a loser President Obama is.

  233. 233.

    NotMax

    @Helen

    Wait until she chooses to decorate the Oval Office in shades of pink.

    And doilies. Lots and lots of doilies.

    :)

  234. 234.

    Roger Moore

    @Ruckus:

    Not sure what oil they used this was around 55-60 yrs ago.

    Probably lard, unless they had switched to Crisco. Refined peanut oil might work, too. I think you want a neutral tasting oil with a high smoke point.

  235. 235.

    frosty fred

    @Gelfling 545: The first time my now-son-in-law came into my house he picked up a copy of The Nation. My daughter said “that’s my dad’s liberal magazine” and he dropped it as if it burned his fingers. The other night at dinner he said “oh, why can’t we just have a third Obama term.”

  236. 236.

    dww44

    @redshirt: I saw a National Enquirer today at the grocery store check out in a more rural area of this red state. It had a photo of Hillary and the screaming headline read something like “Hillary’s Hitman Tells All” from his 20 years doing her bidding, like covering up/getting rid of all those women Bill had flings with. Also, “This could change the Outcome of the Election”. There was only one copy left, so I presume the desire to believe that HRC is corrupt and evil runs deep with these rural residents. Lots more Trump/Pence signs, too. And, they will vote.

  237. 237.

    Schlemazel

    @NotMax:
    If Trump were doing it there would be lots of dollies, lots and lots of dollies. Hopefully they would come with crotch protectors.

  238. 238.

    Ruckus

    @Helen:
    There are lots of us who think that Hillary Clinton is awesome. And more so that she was 8-9 yrs ago. She’s like fine whiskey, she’s smooth, she’s sharp, she really has aged very well. The rest may just be philistines.

  242. 242.

    Honus

    @redshirt: schilling never was that good. He was basically a low rent a j burnett, but since he pitched for Boston in a series, he got in the HOF. If he’d pitched his whole career in Pittsburgh or Cleveland, nobody would have heard of him.

  243. 243.

    Ruckus

    @Roger Moore:
    Bet granny with chickens used lard. That was quite common and there were lard trucks just like there were ice trucks in her day although they were pretty much gone by the time I came along. I know the other one used Crisco, just like mom, I remember the can. We did have the amazing Helms Bakery truck though, probably until around 1960. They used long Chevy panel trucks with custom built wooden drawers in the back that were several feet long Open the back doors and slide out that drawer and the smell, oh the smell. It was better than the ice cream truck.

  246. 246.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @redshirt:
    I don’t think we’ll see as much fanatical obstructionism, although there will still be a lot. Like this election, we’ll see less unified, absolute defiance and more open, ugly attacks. It’s the difference in assumptions made by racism vs misogyny.

    @dww44:
    Where I live, the gorocery store has a stand for Hillary and Trump bobbleheads. The Hillaries sold out. The Trump shelf is still full. While I was standing in line, a small child noticed the stand and chanted ‘Dump Trump!’ over and over.

  249. 249.

    Helen

    @Ruckus: I’m a NYer. She was my Senator. I watched how she lured all those upstate NY people to vote for her.

    I am also an old feminist. I remember when she became first lady and the shit hit the fan when she said her name was Hillary RODHAM Clinton. Why????? the fucking MSM said. Why didn’t she tell us that BEFORE the election?

    Yeah. Prolly because you are having a stupid hissy it about it.

  250. 250.

    Baud

    @hovercraft:

    Not a new sentiment

    “Throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools,” he said. “The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad.

    “[T]he pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America,” Falwell continued, “I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.'”

  252. 252.

    Aleta

    @NotMax: Right! It uses corn flakes, maybe buttermilk, and good seasoning. (I looked online but there are now quite a number of different ones w/ corn flakes, incl a very simple one from Irma S. Rombauer and co.)

    — Still looking for the one I know, from >10 years ago.

    Interestingly I just came across a recipe given to me by a carpenter I met 20 years ago (he was then late 80s) who in his 20s worked as a woods cook for the winter logging camps. He’s gone now. He grew up living with his grandfather, who had gone to the Civil War from Monroe, Maine. He had his sword. I asked him if he had been told any stories, and he said his grandfather did not talk about it.

  254. 254.

    Roger Moore

    @Schlemazel:

    Having been poor I can tell you that cheap eats are a gift this industry has given to the disadvantaged.

    I agree with you. It’s something that pisses me off about people who talk about how much better our ancestors ate than we do today. A handful of rich people eating during harvest time might have eaten better than we do today, but most people ate much worse. Poor people ate monotonous diets and everyone was desperately starved for fresh produce for much of the year.

    Factory farming and industrial food processing has had a negative effect on the quality of the very best food, but it’s raised the average quality while massively reducing the time and effort ordinary people need to put into food preparation. Global supply chains have hurt worldwide variety, as a few popular cultivars have displaced heritage varieties, but they’ve increased the variety that’s actually available to one person at one time. People who really care and can afford to pay can still find heritage foods, while ordinary people have access to unprecedented variety at historically low prices.

  255. 255.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @JPL: Hillary paid fucking attention to Matthew 6:5. Robertson and Falwell obviously missed that one.

  257. 257.

    The Lodger

    @jl: now I know what to do with the hundreds of Bartlett pears that hit the ground in my backyard every late summer. The chickens won’t mind the fruit worms either.

  258. 258.

    workworkwork

    @Ruckus: That’s all my mom added – flour, salt and pepper. I don’t think she fried them, though – she used the oven.

    I’ve been tempted to try and reproduce the recipe, such as it is. I’ve managed to duplicate her chili.

    She didn’t write any of these recipes down, at least based on talking to my sibs.

  259. 259.

    Ruckus

    @Aleta:

    I asked him if he had been told any stories, and he said his grandfather did not talk about it.

    For the most part people that have been in combat don’t talk about it. Even to a fellow vet. Even after 40+ yrs. If they get to know you and know you are a vet, they might. I’ve been exposed to it in hospital, in a setting where talking about it pretty much was required. I found out why they don’t talk about it. I wasn’t in the shit and I won’t talk about what others told me. It’s too personal. It’s too horrible. That was during the Vietnam war. And today I talk to vets from the era most days and it takes a long time to see people open up and talk about it, even when they are only among vets. The reason is they are trying to forget those days and can not. Not in days, not in decades. Not with booze, not with drugs. They may not think about this every day, decades later, but it still comes back to you at times. But the combat times, most guys will not talk about that. They will tell you they were there, they might tell you it was bad, but describe it? Rarely. It’s one way you know a guy is full of shit if he starts talking about how great it was, how great he was, because it never was and never is. It’s dirty, nasty, deadly and you have to be a very sick bastard to like it. It has been the same for ever and it will be the same for a long time to come.

  260. 260.

    scav

    A lot more people could have access to still more cheap food if the modern factory farming and industrial food processing juggernaut could stop tossing the less that perfect looking foodstuff to the side in their quest for nothing but pretty pretty foodstuffs to tempt the most delicate consumers picky eyes.

  261. 261.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @WaterGirl: Really cold chicken and really hot oil. I use a little less than 1/2″ – more like 1/4. Salt, and pepper in the flour. Dredge and bread, then fry. But take chicken and buttermilk out of the refrigerator right before you start and get the oil not quite smoking. Of course pastured chicken will have actual flavor, also too. I add paprika and sometimes garlic powder now, but it’s not traditional.
    In early college, during a gap quarter, I was hired to housesit 3 children (the regular sitter couldn’t as her husband was having surgery) while teir parents skied for 3 weeks. Every young woman should. All I had time to do after cleaning, laundry, cooking, and ferrying kids about was read maybe 2 chapters of a novel. If I had the energy for that. And these kids weren’t overly scheduled either. The older teen boy worked part time at a butcher shop he could ride his bike to and the 10 year old daughter was mildly developmentally delayed; the younger teen was amazing with her.
    I made a mistake the third night and made fried chicken. They insisted on it all but 3 other nights when I simply refused. They told me it was the best fried chicken they’d ever eaten and I made them swear an oath to never utter that statement to their mother – that was the condition of my cooking it again. I told them I’d find a way to punish them if they ever said such a thing and I think they believed me.

  263. 263.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ruckus: I know I have mentioned it before, but my grandfather who served in Europe in WWII never talked about the war with any of his children. He did tell me some stories and offered me some bits of advice. It was after I was already in the military and he wanted to talk to me, old sergeant to young officer, about how to effectively work with my NCOs. Most of his stories were in that vein.

  266. 266.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @NotMax: Keerist, I forgot to mention don’t crowd the chicken and add slowly so as not to cool the oil! I forget that things like that – implicit to me (and you) – are not obvious to everyone. ::hangs head in shame after poor coaching::

  267. 267.

    Ruckus

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
    That sounds exactly like what my grands used to do. I suspect there is/was a recipe out there somewhere that they got it from, too many people, separated by miles and years used it.
    I like the story of taking care of the kids. We did that, our family was the oldest of all the cousins and I’ve baby sat and changed enough diapers to know that I never wanted to do that again. I’ve never told the younger ones that I changed their diapers, there are some things people just don’t need to know.

  270. 270.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @redshirt: My grandfather did tell his kids stories about things he saw in Europe. Blacksmithing that he saw in Belgium, etc. He did not talk about the war with them.

  272. 272.

    hovercraft

    The Price I’ve Paid for Opposing Donald Trump
    by DAVID FRENCHWARNING National Review
    October 21, 2016 12:55 PM @DAVIDAFRENCH Trump’s alt-right trolls have subjected me and my family to an unending torrent of abuse that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

    I distinctly remember the first time I saw a picture of my then-seven-year-old daughter’s face in a gas chamber. It was the evening of September 17, 2015. I had just posted a short item to the Corner calling out notorious Trump ally Ann Coulter for aping the white-nationalist language and rhetoric of the so-called alt-right. Within minutes, the tweets came flooding in. My youngest daughter is African American, adopted from Ethiopia, and in alt-right circles that’s an unforgivable sin. It’s called “race-cucking” or “raising the enemy.” I saw images of my daughter’s face in gas chambers, with a smiling Trump in a Nazi uniform preparing to press a button and kill her. I saw her face photo-shopped into images of slaves. She was called a “niglet” and a “dindu.” The alt-right unleashed on my wife, Nancy, claiming that she had slept with black men while I was deployed to Iraq, and that I loved to watch while she had sex with “black bucks.” People sent her pornographic images of black men having sex with white women, with someone photoshopped to look like me, watching.

    We need to crush these people.

  274. 274.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ruckus:

    My cousin has lived in Canada since he was 8 years old (he’s 71 now, and became a dual citizen about 10-15 years ago). He was drafted into the U.S. Army in his early 20s, went to Nam for a couple of years in 1966-67 or thereabouts. He mostly had a desk job in Saigon as far as I can determine, but reading between the lines I am pretty sure he either had to kill someone or saw someone die. He will.not.talk.about.it., and I won’t press. In fact, it’s only been in the last few years that he’s even talked about his draft board experience, which was utterly stupid from the outset.

    The memories must be excruciating. I wish there were something we civilians could do to provide comfort and help.

  275. 275.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @hovercraft: The white supremacists are vile as hell. I don’t know enough about French to know how much of a hand he had in mainstreaming the assholes, so I don’t know how much sympathy I have for him. Attacks on his wife and children are simply fucked up.

  276. 276.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Did he ever tell you about actual combat?
    My dad was also in the navy and he never talked about his time in and I worked with him on a daily basis for decades. I have pictures of him in uniform, I know his rate, but that’s it. I had a friend I rode with to events in his truck for a year after he lost his wife of decades and he flew in a C47 over the hump in Burma as a radioman and never heard a word from him about it. And this was after I was in the service and he knew it. I think we were good buddies, although we were separated by decades in age. I have spent the last 8 weeks at a major VA facility, every day and I sit with vets that were paratroopers (101Airborne), F4 pilots, fellow sailors and Marines and we talk about our time in, where we were stationed, what it was like but rarely about actual fighting and then only generally.

  278. 278.

    SWMBO

    @WaterGirl: you need oil halfway up the side of the thickest piece you’re cooking . Cook the thickest pieces first so they cook all the way through . Cover the skillet with a lid to help steam the inside of the chicken. Don’t get burned by the oil when you open the lid or turn it.

  281. 281.

    aimai

    @hovercraft: Not that I’m victim blaming but French and his wife are truly awful people, and their adoptions from Africa are part of a creepy evangelical movement to adopt from Africa which has gone terribly, terribly, wrong a lot of the time. I am horrified by what has happened to them but as writers and political figures they have long celebrated crap nearly this bad, as long as it was aimed at Democrats. The chickens, they have come home to roost.

  283. 283.

    NotMax

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Yeah, there are always plenty of little things involving any recipe taken for granted which can make a world of difference.

    BTW, if the breasts are very large, can always cut them in half cross-wise before flouring them (slice through meaty part, then slam down on a sharp heavy knife or cleaver to get through any bones cleanly without leaving bone splinters).

    Oh, and white pepper can be used (some folks find the specks of black pepper offputting).

  284. 284.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ruckus: He was not in a combat unit. His unit moved directly behind the combat units and provided support. Given that the front was fluid, he was sometimes in crappy positions. Aside from that, since I haven’t shared what he told me with my dad (I got the impression that he expect our conversations to be confidential. I have shared what I have said here with my dad, but no more.), I won’t go into details here.

  286. 286.

    Roger Moore

    @Honus:

    schilling never was that good. He was basically a low rent a j burnett

    Nonsense. Schilling was a quality pitcher who was also quite durable, and he was outstanding in the post season. He threw 3200+ innings with a 127 ERA+ and led the league multiple times in a bunch of important statistical categories. He also had a 11-2 post-season record with a 2.23 ERA in 133 1/3 innings; he won a series MVP twice and his team won the World Series three times. Baseball-Reference.com gives his 10 most comparable pitchers as Kevin Brown, Bob Welch, Bartolo Colon, Tim Hudson, Orel Hershiser, CC Sabathia, Freddie Fitzsimmons, Milt Pappas, Mark Buehrle, and John Smoltz. I think that gives a decent picture of who he was as a pitcher; those are a bunch of guys who were capable of being a staff ace but weren’t quite HOF caliber.

  287. 287.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @WaterGirl:

    I agree with this – he’s President Black Ninja, acting in ways that don’t get noticed until you realize much later he was deliberately acting in a way that deliberately and inexorably led us to this place, where he knew we’d get to. All day long I’ve been cogitating on a poll that I read a while ago. The poll said that the most optimistic group of voters in this country, by far, are black women. Hello, Michelle Obama. The antidote to the angry old white male Trump voter is black women, young and old. Black girl magic happened – look at the Olympics, as an example – and why Hillary embraced Obama and got her winning coalition of loyal Democratic base voters of black women to beat old white clueless Bernie and certainly now Trump. PBO is the Kwisatz Haderach of America, and his and Michelle’s impact on this country is still far from being felt and understood in its implications, because of the ripple effect outward. When they go low we go high is really the mantra of all enlightened beings and can’t ever be wrong to embrace.

  289. 289.

    Anoniminous

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Clinton winning women by 32 POINTS!!!

    That’s over 50 million votes. Obama got a total of ~66 million in ’12. Assuming Clinton doesn’t improve Obama’s numbers with men we’re looking at an speculative total of around 79.7 million or 65.3% of the vote.

  292. 292.

    Davebo

    The one comment on that Boston Globe story is pure gold.

    Think we convince him/her to come comment here?

  293. 293.

    Dmbeaster

    @hovercraft: Since he is dumber than Trump, he lost both RI’s money and a lot of his own, unlike The Donald who took out money even as his businesses failed.

  294. 294.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Get fucking congress to fully fund the VA. They have programs to help but they need more money. Counseling can work but it has to be done over time and with a deeper saturation than 1 hr a week to allow the people to open up in the right way. But it is tough, the programs I’ve seen are too general and run by people who mean very well and do a great job but have no experience in combat. There needs to be a better experience for the vets, there needs to be real discussions by vets that understand. My exposure to actual combat is zero. My exposure second hand is deeper than most but it is still second hand. And I have a difficult time seeing that a person who only has second hand experience can really make a breakthrough with combat vets in the limited time that the money available allows. There are too many vets and it is a huge expense for the country and combat vets don’t have copays but we have asked a lot of people in the military, especially combat people and we reward that with crappy pay and little help to address the mental problems of killing people, watching your buddies get killed and then coming back and fitting into the real world. I know of one vet, we became friends a while back, he was in the latest bullshit war and his experience with the VA therapy program was unsatisfactory. He has gotten help outside and is doing OK but it is not simple and it is not easy.

  298. 298.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    Oh, and white pepper can be used (some folks find the specks of black pepper offputting).

    That reminds me, whatever happened to commenter Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)?

  299. 299.

    TS

    @Baud: Hillary often says she is a Methodist (included said fact at the recent Al Smith dinner). She has followed her faith all her life. I have never heard her opponent give voice to any branch of Christianity – yet many of them vote for him like he is the second coming. Just weird.

  301. 301.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Very much understand. Wasn’t asking for info, I already know far more than I every wanted to. It’s easier for me to forget some stuff, I wasn’t in the shit, it didn’t happen to me. But it did leave a lasting impression on me, the stuff that Marines in hospital told me about in 1973.

  302. 302.

    redshirt

    @TS: We’ve learned with no doubt that they will believe anything, say anything, excuse anything, as long as it’s for their team. They have no real issues other than supporting the team/attacking the other team.

  304. 304.

    divF

    @Elizabelle: I think the management is holding out until they see a fried chicken recipe that meets their standards.

    Or they are just busy watching the football.

  305. 305.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Support candidates who will fund the VA.

    Of course, that goes without saying. (Would not really be useful to my Canadian cuz, though — I was thinking more of what I, as a loving relative, might do by way of response/support of him.)

    Edit: I should add, he is a pretty level-headed and even-tempered guy. AFAIK, he doesn’t have any significant PTSD symptoms. But there are some conversational places he simply won’t go, even with his nearest and dearest.

  306. 306.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    It feels like Al Michaels is talking even when he’s not talking.

    Oh, well, Elementary in 20 minutes.

  307. 307.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @redshirt: I’ve been to Paris, but not pissed in the streets of Paris.

    Now, the streets of some Korean or German towns after a long evening of quaffing brews or spätlese, yes…

  309. 309.

    sdhays

    @TS: He talked about being “Presbyterian” during the Iowa Caucuses when he was saying that Ben Carson, who is a 7th Day Adventist (I believe) was “out there”. Of course, Mr. Two Corinthians doesn’t really have any business calling himself anything other than a member of Church of Donald Trump…

  313. 313.

    TS

    @redshirt:

    They have no real issues other than supporting the team/attacking the other team.

    I can understand it about everything except their faith – I’m somewhere between a failed Episcopalian and an atheist so to me religion has no meaning in a political leader – but until the buffoon arrived it meant everything to a large % of GOP supporters. I have more religion in my (very long) little finger than the man they support.

  318. 318.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @redshirt:
    Sorry about the delay. I’ve been mostly offline with a migraine.

    My reasoning is that racism and misogyny involve different emotions, beliefs, and reflexive responses. It’s not a question of which is worse, but rather how they manifest. As a black male, white racists found Obama scary. They were afraid of him, and their response was absolute, desperate opposition. They HAD to stop him. That emotion won’t disappear, so I imagine President Clinton will face a lot of obstructionism, but I don’t expect it to be as absolute and hysterical. Misogynists think women are weak. They see women as targets. While Obama got a fair amount of insults, I think that will be dwarfed by the openness and viciousness of the attacks leveled at Hillary.

  321. 321.

    Roger Moore

    @TS:

    I have never heard her opponent give voice to any branch of Christianity – yet many of them vote for him like he is the second coming.

    He’s a member in good standing of The Church of Hating Those People, which is what they really care about. One thing this election has truly shown is how many Evangelicals care more about hating the wrong kind of people than about anything Jesus said.

  322. 322.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Be there for him if he asks. Listen and don’t run away in horror if he does open up. He’s 71, he’s lived with this for a long time and if he isn’t a drunk or drug addict he probably is at least OK. Time may not heal all wounds, there may be scars, but it does tend to allow them to stop bleeding. He’ll talk about it if he wants, as he ages he may want to get some things out in the open. All you can do is listen.

  323. 323.

    Aleta

    @Ruckus: Yes, same in my family. My aunt’s father went to WW I very young, straight from a NYC orphanage, was a medic at three battlefields in France, and never spoke of it, though there was a picture on his wall. In my family were WW II vets who’d been in the SP (Marine), in Europe and Japan, and close family friend Dan S who landed on DDay (Army). (We younger ones never knew until the 50th anniversary observance.) The others only spoke of the time the war ended. (Friends and relatives went to Vietnam and Iraq also.)

  324. 324.

    Roger Moore

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    We thought we crushed them in 1945. In 1865.

    We did crush them in 1945 and 1865. But one of the things bad TV shows get right is that evil is never permanently defeated. There’s always another would-be evil overlord out there ready to take over when the current one is defeated.

  325. 325.

    Ruckus

    @Ruckus:
    This really isn’t different that normal counseling with the exception that the subject matter is likely off putting and experience helps. I was in hospital in 73 with Marines mostly who were fresh out of Vietnam. I went daily to group sessions for 2 months, only a couple of us got to leave every night, I went home and stayed in my own bed. The rest were behind locked doors on the mental health floor, and some of them I think would be there for a very, very long time. I’ve been to counseling recently because of trying to learn to live with my cancer and a couple of long term issues that are incurable but can sort of be made livable. That’s how I met my friend who is in his late 20s and is having issues adjusting to a life that has some real deep scars. It’s how I understand a bit of the work of the VA currently, I’ve experienced it both decades ago and recently.

  327. 327.

    Aleta

    @Ruckus: In my town and in my family, a number of the professional roofers are Vietnam vets. Therefore I’ve thought about roofs as being a kind of workplace that gives a particular kind of mental freedom. (Besides the freedom of urinating off them of course.)

  330. 330.

    Ruckus

    @Aleta:
    Pissing on the world can be very satisfying. I won’t tell how I know, but it is. Especially if you feel that the world pissed on you a lot while you were just trying to make the best of a situation that you have absolutely no control over.

  331. 331.

    JosieJ (not Josie)

    My grandmother used a lot of the same tips and tricks I’ve seen posted here: cast iron pan, Crisco heated really hot, seasoned the flour instead of the chicken, not too much oil, etc. One thing she always did was use a plastic bag to shake the chicken in the flour, and then she’d leave the pieces in there, in the fridge, for at least an hour before frying. She’d take the bag out when she was ready to heat the oil, so the chicken wasn’t ice-cold by the time it was ready to be fried. This helped the chicken fry up extra crispy. She also started using kosher chickens–they had a better taste. So my black grandma’s soul food chicken owed its taste to the rabbis of Brooklyn!

  332. 332.

    Xenos

    @Schlemazel: as someone working in civilised europe, I think it uncivilised that someone in a wheelchair would not be able to use the facilities at my office. The ADA is something that Americans should be quite proud of.

  334. 334.

    Brachiator

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    They see women as targets. While Obama got a fair amount of insults, I think that will be dwarfed by the openness and viciousness of the attacks leveled at Hillary.

    I don’t know. This seems to contradict your other points. If her opponents see Clinton as weak, wouldn’t they consider her to be a pushover? No need for vicious-calculated-and-despicable attacks.

    In any event, I think you are incorrect in your guess about the future. GOP obstructionism, modern style, began with Bill Clinton, with Newt foolishly shutting down the government. We may have seen a hint of things to come with McCain’s promise to block all Supreme Court nominees.

    The Republicans think that they are the only legitimate governing party. Obstructionism is their official policy. The racism or sexism are just extra sprinkles thrown on top.

  335. 335.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Brachiator:

    The Republicans think that they are the only legitimate governing party.

    Which is why they need to go the way of the NSDAP and the CPSU.

    Oblivion.

  336. 336.

    prob50

    @Tokyokie:

    Pedro (Martínez) would run a better race against Elizabeth Warren than that other former Bosox pitcher will. Except that I think he retains his Dominican citizenship, and even if he is a naturalized U.S. citizen, he’d probably be a Democrat. But then, Pedro was a smarter, tougher, and better pitcher (and person) than Schilling, not being burdened with a load of entitlement.

    He’s got a better gig now – Baseball Analyst on “MLB Tonight”. Looks like more fun than running for office against nutbar like Schilling.

  337. 337.

    prob50

    @Baud:

    I’m going to invent a women’s urinal and make a fortune. It’ll be the best Shark Tank episode ever.

    Better still, a men’s toilet where they don’t have to sit down.

    Oh, wait, that’s called a “diaper”.

  338. 338.

    Matt

    Shorter Babby Shrub up top: “If you’re worried that you might get dirty looks on the cocktail party circuit by voting for the Orange One, go with the guy who’s got all the retrograde social policies & misogyny but tokes up from time to time.”

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