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Consistently wrong since 2002

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Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Democrats are back in array!

Joe Biden can go out like FDR, not by dying in office, but by crushing the fascists.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

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Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

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We still have time to mess this up!

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

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We won’t go back.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Morning Open Thread: In the Bleak Midwinter

Friday Morning Open Thread: In the Bleak Midwinter

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Happy Shortest Day, y’all! It *is* a Friday, so we can still hope. Actual lede, per the Washington Post…

… With a fluffy red cap and a bulging bag slung over his shoulder, Obama delivered presents (and more than a few gasps) to the young patients at Children’s National hospital in Northwest Washington on Wednesday.

First on Obama’s list was a group of patients 4 and up who were making snowflakes in one of the hospital’s playrooms. After the excitement died down, the former president handed out jigsaw puzzles (which were his grandmother’s favorite, he told the crowd), Hot Wheels sets, remote-control cars, and glittery nail polish, among other goodies collected by Obama and his staffers. Hey, the guy knows his audience…

Before leaving, Obama thanked the staff for working during the holidays and recorded a video message to be played on the hospital’s internal TV system for those he wasn’t able to visit during the trip.

Only a handful of the Children’s National staff knew that the president was coming to town, but word spread quickly during the 90-minute visit. By the time he was headed for the door, a crowd had gathered at a nearby nursing station. The group of doctors, residents and nurses cheered for Obama before busting into an impromptu rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”…

Elsewhere in DC…

Reader Interactions

223Comments

  2. 2.

    Amir Khalid

    It’s amazing how Barack Obama can illustrate the vast gulf between himself and Donald Trump just by being a likeable and thoughtful guy.

  3. 3.

    Betty Cracker

    Obama visited that hospital for 90 minutes. It wasn’t a drive-by like Trump’s brief invasion of shooting victims’ hospital rooms for a hideously inappropriate, grinning, thumbs-up photo-op.

  6. 6.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Barack is a mensch. T is a monster who can’t even pretend to be human. Related to Barack’s menschlichkeit, have you noticed that he’s kept a low profile during Michelle’s book tour? I think it’s deliberate, to let his wife shine…which she does with aplomb. It takes a strong, good, and loving man to do that. They are both good people.

    And good morning, all!

  8. 8.

    JDM

    You know, I wish Obama had to work hard, real break a sweat, to be a better human being than his successor in office. I mean go out and bang some nails like Carter, at least. But true, all he’d need to do would be to not slam a door in someone’s face as he leaves Five Guys with a bag of burgers. That’s sad. But great that he does much more than he would need to.

    I’m glad he was there for those kids and the hospital personnel who care for them.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    My Suwannee River flood refugee relatives are arriving tomorrow. Yesterday, we had a huge storm and flooding of our own to deal with — our property is fine, but the roads are terrible. It’s a good thing everyone drives trucks. I still haven’t made it to the grocery store, which I absolutely have to do today at some point. Ugh, I dread that shopping trip more than I can express! Gonna need two carts and at least $600!

  13. 13.

    JPL

    It would not surprise me if McConnell changed the rule to pass the CR with 50 votes. The republicans are afraid of the orange man in the white house.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    On 6 December, the 20 workers signed a letter to Filter Digital management seeking better employment terms.

    “We have decided to be courageous and take change into our own hands by standing together in proposing changes to improve our working conditions,” the letter stated. “Many of us work second jobs, have subpar living arrangements, and/or cannot afford necessary medical care for ourselves and our families … Many are simply one emergency away from possible homelessness.”

    The letter addressed inequities between the Filter employees and other employees at the Facebook facility, including workers employed by other contractors. Facebook closes its office for 11 holidays per year, according to the letter, but Filter only observes five of those holidays. Since Facebook’s offices are closed on those days, preventing the Filter employees from working, they are forced to use six out of their 10 days of paid time off to cover the other holidays – or go without pay.

    The workers also requested paid sick leave, subsidies for public transportation equal to those enjoyed by other Facebook contractors, and a significant wage increase (from a starting wage of $22 an hour for research assistants to a starting wage of $30 an hour).

    The letter requested that Filter respond to the group’s demands “collectively”. Collective bargaining is regulated by the National Labor Relations Act in the United States, and workers are shielded by some legal protections when they engage in “protected concerted activity”, whether they belong to a recognized labor union or not.

    A Facebook FTE shared a copy of the letter on Workplace and “got a lot of positive reception from full time employees and other contingent workers”, the Facebook software engineer explained.

    Then on Thursday, a Facebook FTE posted an update on the situation, stating that Filter had responded to the worker letter by holding a series of one-on-one meetings with the workers before sending them a group email on Wednesday evening.

    The email, which the Guardian has seen, stated that the workers had to accept Filter’s terms of employment for 2019 or leave the company: “As we discussed in our meetings, the Facebook contract renews in January. Therefore, for business planning purposes we need to hear from each of you regarding whether you wish to continue working for Filter on this engagement … If you do not return the signed offer letter by that time, we will assume you do not wish to continue your employment with Filter.”

    ………………………….

    After publication of this article, a Facebook spokesperson said that the company had intervened with Filter Digital.

    “We hold our vendors to a high standard and we immediately looked into the situation when these issues were raised,” spokeswoman Andrea Schubert said in a statement. “As soon as we heard about this email to Filter Digital employees and the potential concerns about the deadline, we addressed it with Filter Digital and they took action to communicate back to their employees.”

    Melanson also contacted the Guardian after publication, to assert that the email with the 5pm deadline had not been intended as an ultimatum. Melanson said that the company had contacted the contractors Thursday afternoon to “clear up any confusion”.

    “We’ve notified our employees that it was not an ultimatum,” Melanson said by phone.

    The company subsequently provided a written statement: “The letter sent to our employees at Facebook Reality Labs by Filter’s HR manager was not intended to deliver an employment ultimatum. Upon learning that our message was not received as intended, we sent a follow-up email to those employees this afternoon clarifying that their employment with Filter and their engagement on our outsourcing contract with Facebook will continue at their new wages and benefits in 2019.”

    It was all just a simple misunderstanding.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: I am making a 2nd potica today, for the family of my older brother who’s been wanting to learn how to make one for years. His Sendai daughter is here for the holidays and they are having a family gathering for her tomorrow.

    I must really love them or something.

  17. 17.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: So props to Pope Francis for trying to chat up first lady Melania Trump about potica, a baked specialty from her native Slovenia. And a big ol’ “we feel ya, girl” to Mrs. Trump, who seemed caught off-guard by the question, which took place Wednesday during President Trump’s visit to the Vatican. To further complicate the situation, it involved a translator.

    According to accounts from such sources as the Associated Press and the Guardian, the pope gestured toward the president and asked something along the lines of, “What do you give him to eat? Potica?”

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Hmmmm…. I don’t think trump married her for her culinary skills. Maybe her mother makes one for special occasions but I just get a feeling that Melania doesn’t love Barron enough to soil her hands with flour.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: Only to help schlep the groceries upstairs. We have different shopping styles, so we avoid shopping together if at all possible.

    @JPL: We make the same thing every year: lasagna for Christmas Eve and prime rib for Christmas Day. My husband usually makes the lasagna, but he has to work part of Monday, so I’m making what he calls “cracker lasagna,” which is a lot less gourmet-ish than his version, though he admits it’s just as tasty. IMO, prime rib is the simplest thing in the world to make — as long as you have a good thermometer.

    The thing that’s unusual this year is the necessity to feed and entertain a crowd for four straight days. We’ll have a BBQ on Saturday, pot of chili on Sunday and various snacks, cold cuts and breakfast foods. Plus, my relatives are bringing food as well, of course. The biggest expense will be the beer, wine and liquor bill! I’m sure everyone will chip in. I’m not complaining, really; they’re family and have taken me in when I was in a tight spot, so I’m glad to return the favor.

    What do y’all make for holiday dinners?

  22. 22.

    TS (the original)

    @JDM:

    I’m glad he was there for those kids and the hospital personnel who care for them.

    It’s what he’s always done – just carrying on after leaving the white house. A real president who cares about people.

  23. 23.

    raven

    @Betty Cracker: We’re driving up to Virginia Christmas eve, a quick Unitarian Christmas Eve in Blacksburg, Christmas Dinner at the Hotel Roanoke , over to Appomattox for quick visit ( her brother and sister are fighting over money so no family event). Back to Athens for 2 days and then drive to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl and 5 days in the beautiful place in the Qtr our friends are letting us have! Laissez les bons temps rouler!

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven:

    Like a lot of yeasted breads, potica takes time and effort to make. That’s why even back in Slovenia, you’re more likely to grab one at the local bakery or grocery store.

    “It’s a dying art,” said Bernadette Kovacic Fitzsimmons, president of the Olney, Md., Branch 108 of the Slovenian Union of America. Fitzsimmons, who helped edit “The Slovenian American Table,” a cookbook published in 2015 by the Slovenian Union of America (available by calling the group), said there are plenty of recipes out there that call for shortcuts, such as using a store-bought refrigerated dough, to make the process less demanding.

    Still, as the daughter of two Slovenian immigrants, she’s determined to make everything from scratch, frequently alongside her mother. Slovenian cooks may keep a potica in the freezer to serve when guests show up, in addition to making it for the holidays. More often, it’s served as a snack, or maybe for breakfast. “It’s a little heavy for following a dinner,” Fitzsimmons said.

    While her family adores potica (there’s a homemade loaf ready for her daughter’s high school graduation this week), it can be a bit of a harder sell for Americans, she said, because it’s not necessarily as moist as the cakes we tend to favor.

    NO,no,noooooooo… Store bought dough? The horror. The most important ingredient is love and that needs to be added in each and every laborious step. The one I made last week took 5-6 hours to make, this one should go a little quicker. My mother always made one for Xmas and another for Easter, served with ham and boiled eggs.

    I might someday give the filling in that recipe a try, but it will be hard to turn from Grandma’s. She died 2 years before I was born so this is how I know her.

    I’m gonna order that cookbook. Went to their web page and they are located in…. Joliet, IL. :-)

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker:

    We have different shopping styles, so we avoid shopping together if at all possible.

    You’ve said that before so I was just funnin’ wit ya.

    My mother always did a roast beast for Xmas eve and left overs for Xmas (who wants to cook on a holiday?) I follow her lead and also do leftovers but skip the roast on Xmas eve.

  27. 27.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Betty Cracker: My wife found a large chuck roast. Low and slow, lots of root vegetables, then blend the veggies and add to the stock. Add horseradish and kummelwick rolls, and you have the true WNY delicacy, beef on wick (all props to chicken wings).

  28. 28.

    germy

    Nikolas Cruz took photo of dead mother with "MAGA" hat https://t.co/Epn2de733a— Patrick (@TrickFreee) December 21, 2018

    Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz was obsessed with guns — and to the chagrin of his mother, also appeared to be a fan of President Donald Trump.

    So when his mother, “a liberal anti-gun type,” died in 2017, Cruz used his own “Trump hat” to get a twisted final word on their political differences, a friend told police in a 425-page investigative report released on Thursday.

    “Due to the fact that his mother hated Donald Trump he put it in her casket with her when she died and took a picture of her with the hat,” the friend, Hunter McCutcheon, told a detective, according to a report authored by the lead detective in the criminal case against the confessed mass murderer.

    https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article223374745.html

  31. 31.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: That sounds like fun! We love New Orleans but haven’t been in ages. Gotta get back there sometime soon. We always joke about telling everyone we’re going on a Christmas cruise so we’ll be off the hook for hosting the dinners. Maybe someday we’ll really do that but take a trip to NOLA instead!

    @JPL: Roasts really are simple, thank goodness. I also always make potatoes gratin and something green on the side, either asparagus or Brussels sprouts. Yeast rolls or Yorkshire puddings too.

    On Christmas, we always give the dogs a prime rib bone each. That’ll be funny with Badger this year since he’s so small! He was born in March, so Christmas is all new to him. He was in the yard with hubby when I set the tree up, and when he (Badger) came in the house, he barked at that tree like it was an alien from another planet! It was hilarious! I’ve been shooing him away from low-hanging ornaments and presents for days now.

  32. 32.

    Quinerly

    @JPL: I’m trying to take solace in the fact it is the shortest day of the year. When it gets dark, I may just hide under my electric blanket.

  33. 33.

    Betty Cracker

    @A Ghost To Most: I’d never heard of beef on weck until I married into a family from Buffalo, but now I’m a big fan of it! I’ve never made the rolls from scratch, but I buy plain kaiser rolls and use a slurry of cornstarch and water to stick the kosher salt and caraway seeds on it. Delish!

  37. 37.

    debbie

    My solstice candle is burning in the hopes of a better world for us all. It has to work eventually.

  40. 40.

    Quinerly

    On a serious note… Does DNI guy Dan Coates ever speak? The last I heard of him was after the Helsinki debacle.

  41. 41.

    Suburban Mom

    @Betty Cracker: For Christmas Eve my husband makes gumbo which I supplement with salad. We often have someone singing in a choir that night, so we keep dinner simple and flexible. Christmas at our house doesn’t have a fixed menu, but I often do short ribs braised in red wine served over polenta and garnished with a citrus and herb gremolata. The gremolata brightens the dish and cuts the richness.

  45. 45.

    Quinerly

    @JPL: I can’t settle my mind enough to watch a movie. This has been going on for months. I did shut up Sun in this walkout basement apartment that I’m trying to finish. Have put a larger Roku TV down there for guests and I have been down there a lot with Poco testing out the comfort factor…. Zoned out watching “The Last Waltz,” a very good 10 year old documentary on Steely Dan and the making of “Aja,” and a poorly made documentary on Lowell George. I concluded the binge with the original “Westworld” with Yul Bryner. Weird day… Worked myself into a strange stupor. Not healthy. Lost all track of time.

  46. 46.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Betty Cracker: We mostly do the same for wick, but I made them last time, and they weren’t bad. Chicken wings are WNY’s food gift to the world; they kept beef on wick for themselves.

  49. 49.

    Keith P.

    @Amir Khalid: He even does it with something simple, like wearing a well-fitting suit rather than the cheap, rumpled number that Trump has to hide with an undercoat.

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    @Suburban Mom: Oh man, braised short ribs are the bomb! I made a batch in the Instant Pot recently, and they were delicious. I had to Google “gremolata,” but it sounds like a fabulous addition — gonna try that for sure!

  53. 53.

    Quinerly

    Morning Trump tweet: “The Democrats are trying to belittle the concept of a Wall, calling it old fashioned. The fact is there is nothing else’s that will work, and that has been true for thousands of years. It’s like the wheel, there is nothing better. I know tech better than anyone, & technology…..”

  54. 54.

    satby

    Good morning @rikyrah: and all!
    I have to make stuff for tomorrow’s market, but all my online Christmas orders are in transit and should get to the last recipients Monday at the latest.
    I’m exhausted, Sunday and Monday will be my zombie recovery days. My son is cooking brunch for Christmas so I don’t have to cook at all. So I think I’ll make chicken enchiladas tonight and have the leftovers for the next few days.

  61. 61.

    Raven

    @Betty Cracker: I never really thought about the cruise aspect if the Easy until I started planning our parking. Most of the Trip Advisor threads were about just that.

  62. 62.

    Schlemazel

    Start with my news. Biopsy came back negative for cancer. That is the good news
    The bad news is the doctor does not believe it & still wants to perform a radical cystectomy (remove everything from the kidney to just past the prostate). That is a very appealing option fo a lot of reasons. I go back to the doctor at the UofM on 1/2 to review all the testing and see if they are still willing to do a rebuild. That has its own downsides but fewer as far as I can see.
    They did give me some meds to reduce the pain and I hope that will allow me to limp along until surgery

    Thanks for all the kind words of support, they mean a lot to me.

  63. 63.

    Betty Cracker

    @Dave: YES, strong horseradish is a MUST with beef on weck!

    I don’t know if I ever told you guys this (I suspect I’m becoming a boring old lady who repeats stories), but one time, my husband made homemade horseradish because the store bought kind wasn’t strong enough to suit him. So, he bought this huge horseradish root, peeled it, chopped it up and put it in a big pot on the stove.

    Our daughter was an infant at the time, and she and I were napping in another room. Well, pretty soon, we awoke with our eyes burning and noses streaming — the fumes from that pot of horseradish were like fucking tear gas!

    We had to flee to a neighbor’s house until it cleared. The resulting horseradish was fantastic, but he never made it again!

  65. 65.

    Ken

    I must object to Tom Nichols’ tweet. Circuses only look disorderly, but really it’s all very carefully choreographed and rehearsed. What we see coming from the Trump administration is the result of real incompetence.

  71. 71.

    Quinerly

    Well, this is comforting…. Mattis apparently kept Trump from pulling out of NATO.
    Don’t hate me. Listening to MJ. Very good guests.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev, which manufactures Budweiser and is the world’s leading brewer, and Canadian pharmaceutical and cannabis company Tilray announced Wednesday they are each investing $50 million into researching non-alcoholic drinks containing cannabis elements tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) in the Canadian market. Source

  75. 75.

    Quinerly

    8th morning Trump tweet:
    “Even President Ronald Reagan tried for 8 years to build a Border Wall, or Fence, and was unable to do so. Others also have tried. We will get it done, one way or the other!”

  79. 79.

    Ken

    @Quinerly: Mr. I-know-technology seems to have missed the invention of artillery. And dynamite. And planes.

    (And ladders. Even when walls were somewhat useful in warfare, the defenders had to have people patrolling every damn foot day and night, lest the enemy climb over it.)

  80. 80.

    Quinerly

    @NotMax: read this (online) yesterday in our STL Post Dispatch. The comments were insane. The crazy olds were piping in that the world was coming to an end. And, yes, I know about never reading online newspaper comments… Looking for a diversion and a few laughs.

  84. 84.

    Schlemazel

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    My mom used to make potica, it is wonderful. An interesting cultural baking note. It is almost identical to a Polish bread made with a prune filling. You see foods change as they travel sometimes it is because of local availability. There is also a version that has a poppy seed filling but I don’t recall where that one came from.

  85. 85.

    Another Scott

    @Schlemazel: Thanks for the report. I’m glad you know some more now. Knowledge is power, and not knowing is torture. :-(

    Best of luck going forward. Keep us updated. Hang in there!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  87. 87.

    satby

    @Schlemazel: I join everyone in hoping you’re finally on the way to some relief. You’ve been through a lot of misery, so the end of all that could be in sight. And negative biopsies are always good news, so there’s that.

  88. 88.

    Balconesfault

    @Schlemazel: my dad (First generation American with Slovenian parents) always made a Thanksgiving potica (to take advantage of our neighbors pecan tree) and Christmas struedel.

    Now I get my annual potica from my Accordion teacher…

  89. 89.

    Quinerly

    @Raven: you and me both. The harping on here about NYT, NPR, and cable just gets tiresome. Actually, I blame you for my almost obsessive MJ morning habit. I find Joe repulsive looks wise. Reading your comments here starting a year ago made me tune in, though. I listen on Tune In Radio on my bedroom Echo. Yes, I have Alexa in my bedroom and I don’t give a flying fuck about that either. And I’m on FB.

  90. 90.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @JPL:
    Always remember the previous budgets completely ignored the funding demands Trump said he would veto without. He threw hissy fits, but signed. The GOP House passed a brand new symbolic bill they knew would die in the Senate. It’s the easiest vote in the world to make. Absolutely no cost.

  92. 92.

    Schlemazel

    @Raven:
    Oh I knew it was a bowl game I just don’t recognize the sponsor.

    Saw your itinerary & it sounds like you are living the life, congratulations!

  94. 94.

    Kay

    I had such a busy week, and it’s not over yet- one more day- but the timing of this Christmas is just perfect. I need a weekend before Christmas every year. This is great.

    If that can be arranged.

  95. 95.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Betty Cracker:
    I’ve been known to eat raw horseradish and enjoy it during Passover. This year we got some that was like nothing i’ve tried before. Even a sliver was inedible, chokingly strong.

  96. 96.

    Raven

    @Van Buren: Nuts isn’t it? We’re hoping Christmas Eve won’t be too bad up 77 to 81.We generally take the parkway from Roanoke to Lynchburg xmas morning and we’ll go 29 to Greensboro and back 85 (which sucks too).

  97. 97.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemazel: The article Raven linked to mentions variations on the theme from a number of Eastern European countries. There are a number of different versions just from Slovenia alone. The recipe in the article has a filling of cinnamon, walnuts, sugar, and dates. My grandma’s is of walnuts, sugar, and German chocolate.

  100. 100.

    Quinerly

    Going for a record. 10 tweets. Last two pushing for the nuclear option:
    “Mitch, use the Nuclear Option and get it done! Our Country is counting on you!”

  105. 105.

    Luthe

    @Quinerly: Have you tried multi-tasking while watching? These days I almost never watch movies or TV if I’m not crocheting at the same time.

    @OzarkHillbilly: Forgive my youth, but what is “regular gas” in this context?

  107. 107.

    JPL

    @Quinerly: I think McConnell will give him the win, because he’s afraid of the orange man.
    Trump’s base is so big, they lost 40 seats in the house so it can’t be that. Trump wants to leave DC and he’ll tweet if you don’t let him.

  110. 110.

    raven

    @RAVEN: Shit, too slow. Hey Betty if you have the time and would delete my name that would be cool. (I don’t really care)

  111. 111.

    Quinerly

    @Luthe: I guess I can read BJ and news feeds while trying to watch a movie. ? Seriously, Sun was the first time I could settle my mind enough to even try to watch a movie. The Steely Dan thing was perfect and it wasn’t even a movie…. Baby steps. That old Westworld brought back childhood memories of seeing it with my dad when I was 12 or so. Then I got a little sad.

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    Sometime between now and Christmas will be baking the whiskey cake I traditionally make around the holidays. Thinking about chopping up some brandy-soaked dried apricots taking up fridge space in place of the usual raisins. Still have some of last year’s cake in the fridge (maybe enough for 2 or 3 slices) – it last forever if tightly wrapped in foil. No longer include the nuts the original recipe calls for as older teeth don’t deal well with those anymore, but perhaps will use the food processor to reduce some honey roasted cashews also taking up space to powder and try adding that..

  121. 121.

    raven

    @Quinerly:

    The Wrecking Crew was a loose collective of session musicians based in Los Angeles whose services were employed for thousands of studio recordings in the 1960s and early 1970s, including several hundred Top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognized in their era, but were viewed prestigiously by industry insiders. They are now considered one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in music history.

    I had no idea all the stuff they did, its really amazing.

  123. 123.

    Jeffro

    Brooksie’s at it again today in That Paper…lemme save everyone a click and show you just a small sample of his BS

    Entitled, “A New Center Being Born”

    …Last week, [the] Niskanen [Center] released a comprehensive report called, “The Center Can Hold: Public Policy for an Age of Extremes,” written by Brink Lindsey, Steven Teles, Wilkinson and Hammond. The report is a manifesto for a new centrism based on what the authors call a “free-market welfare state” model.

    They want government to protect citizens against the disruptions of global capitalism: “Without strong income supports that put a floor beneath displaced workers and systems that smooth the transition to new employment, political actors and the public tend to turn against the process of creative destruction itself.”

    At the same time, they want an open, dynamic society. They want to reduce restrictive zoning and land use regulations that favor the rich and entrenched. They see immigration as crucial to America’s long-term prosperity. They want charter schools and wider choice, but within strong government structures to ensure quality. (It turns out that bad charter schools continue to attract students; the education market doesn’t work totally unregulated.)

    The Niskanen authors are making a compelling case for moderation; for understanding that politics is striking a rough but workable balance between competing goods; for understanding that the world is complex and our knowledge is limited, and so it’s best to proceed constantly, but skeptically.

    In other words, libertarian-leaning think tank has finally realized that Koch-onomics are wrecking the country, but they can’t bring themselves to join the true center-center party in America, the Democrats. HELL. NO.

    Nothing that the blessed “Niskanen Center” is just now discovering is new to Democrats (or anyone with half a brain, really). This “new center being born” is crap and everyone involved can go change their party registrations to ‘D’ (and make repealing the Trumpov tax giveaway priority 1) before I hear word one of their nonsense.

  125. 125.

    Ken

    @JR: It sounds like they’re just adding the active ingredients, not pureed hemp, so it’s possible the base solution might have almost no taste. That’s more ominous in a way, since the manufacturers will be free to use their full range of artificial flavors. “Doood Relaxation Drink! Now in Purple Grape Flavor!”

  126. 126.

    Quinerly

    @raven: This looks great. Will find it. I’m a broken record this AM but check out the making of “Aja” on Prime. I’m new to streaming stuff, so I stumbled into it. I think it was recommended because the first thing I watched on the new TV was “The Last Waltz.” (got the TV Thanksgiving weekend. ?….I’m a traditionalist) The “Aja” documentary was done before Becker died… They brought back all the session players and went through the entire process of making the album. It was brilliant. Fagan and Becker…. Brilliant!!!!

  127. 127.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @raven: I just found out that there was a famous TV documentary in 1983 called “Motown at 25”. Amazed I don’t remember it since I was a huge Motown fan and still a big TV watcher in those days.

    Anyway Amazon had a 6 DVD set which I ordered and is due to arrive tomorrow.

    Wait, are you supposed to buy presents for other people?

  131. 131.

    VOR

    @Luthe: “Regular gas” in a USA circa 1980 context means gasoline with lead as an additive to reduce engine knocking. This used to be the standard. Gas stations would have two pumps labeled “regular” (leaded) and unleaded. Cars with catalytic converters, widely introduced in 1975, need unleaded gas. Once all cars had catalytic converters for many years the unleaded gas became “regular” and leaded gas became a specialty item.

    Per Wikipedia: “Reduction in the average lead content of human blood is believed to be a major cause for falling violent crime rates around the world, including in the United States and South Africa. A statistically significant correlation has been found between the usage rate of leaded gasoline and violent crime: taking into account a 22-year time lag, the violent crime curve virtually tracks the lead exposure curve.”

  135. 135.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @VOR: When Mr DAW was in grad school at Michigan, the student Society of Automotive Engineers staged a contest whereby the various university chapters would each design and build a “clean” car and drive it from MIT to Cal Tech. Michigan’s car used unleaded gas, some of which they carried in the team bus because they couldn’t count on finding it along the route. Let’s see, what year would that have been? 1970? 1971? We are old.

  137. 137.

    Luciamia

    7 tweets so far? Mr. President, wanna know how to give us all a Chrismas present? SHUT THE F@CK UP FOR FIVE MINUTES! The Stock Market especially will thank you.

  140. 140.

    donnah

    Betty, so you know you’re not alone, I made four big pans of lasagna yesterday. The sauce, filling two big pots, contained six pounds of ground beef, four pounds of Italian sausage, a pound of diced pepperoni, four cans to atot sauce, four cans tomato paste, and a wide array of spices. The sauce cooked five hours and then I put all the layers together with mozerella, asiago, shredded Parmesan, and ricotta.

    I’ve also been baking cookies to give out. Today I should be able to wrap those up, literally. I am tired, but my son and his girlfriend are coming home tonight and I’m going to be cleaning house and prepping the guest room.

    Happy Christmas to everyone and may all your endeavors be rewarding!

  142. 142.

    satby

    @donnah: milk went down to $1.70 a gallon here so I bought some to make ricotta.
    All this lasagna talk is making me think I should make that instead of chicken enchiladas.
    Decisions, decisions.

  145. 145.

    Spanky

    Nice to see CNN is taking the calm, measured approach:

    Trump unleashed: Mattis exit paves way for global chaos

    Now there’s a headline you don’t see every day. Sigh.

  148. 148.

    Spanky

    @Spanky: Oh, and my 401k thanks you too, Mr. Jackass. Looks like I may not be retiring this winter like I intended. We’ll see.

  149. 149.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m just reading that Mattis is apparently the one who kept Trump from withdrawing from NATO. Now what? I’m starting to be really afraid of what the loon bird might do with no one able to stop him.

  150. 150.

    JPL

    @donnah: Merry Christmas to you and yours and have a wonderful time with your family.
    In honor of the holidays Merry Christmas Again.

  151. 151.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Jeffro:

    Nothing that the blessed “Niskanen Center” is just now discovering is new to Democrats

    The majority of that quote are still godawful libertarian conservative Hell policies. I’m particularly impressed with how they claim deregulating land use will even the playing field between the working class and the very rich.

  152. 152.

    donnah

    @satby:

    Kroger had hams for .87/pound last week and we bought one, a ten pounder. I went back to buy my lasagna ingredients and picked up another ham while they were still on sale. My fridge is jammed full! But with three grown sons being here over the coming week, that fridge will be hollow quickly.

  155. 155.

    Steeplejack

    @Jeffro:

    It’s maddening. Jennifer Rubin also had a piece on the Niskanen Center a few days ago. (Washington Post via Salt Lake Tribune.)

    She has been doing great work flaying Trump and the Republicans—

    The descent of the Republican Party into the nativist, know-nothing party of President Donald Trump has taken the GOP into a political cul-de-sac and moral wasteland. It can appeal only to an aging sliver of a shrinking part of America (rural), so it tries to stave off extinction by suppressing nonwhite voting. This is not a recipe for success.

    —but she absolutely cannot bring herself to use the D-word* in any positive context.

    The better question then is whether the right as it has come to be known—distinguished by its hostility to immigrants, indifference to wealth inequality, embrace of a small-government ideology (for which there is no real constituency) and a unilateralist (either as bully or victim) foreign policy—can or should survive. If not, what’s the alternative to the left-wing infatuation with super-centralized government, anti-capitalism and retrenchment?

    (Emphasis mine.) Gah!

    The suggestion I’ve put forth over the past few years envisions a coalition from center-left to center-right that favors market economics with a robust safety net; pro-work and pro-economic mobility domestic policies (e.g., expansion of the earned-income tax credit, investment in human capital); robust legal immigration and free trade with ample cushion for those displaced by creative destruction; ethics reform (including an end to cronyism); a values-based foreign policy that recognizes American leadership is necessary to our own prosperity and security; reinforcement of democratic institutions; and emphasis on civic literacy and civic virtue.

    Hmm, you mean like the D-Dem-Demo—no, I can’t bring myself to say it!

    Interesting note: Rubin has been a speaker at at least one previous Niskanen event. Dunno if that was a paying gig, but it would have been nice for her to disclose the connection.

    * Democrat/​Democratic.

  156. 156.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Quinerly:
    He hates a woman having power over him. I’d say from his responses that he sees Nancy’s Speakership as a nightmare speeding towards his face. It’s already infuriating him how little power he has.

  157. 157.

    Baud

    From a Matty Y piece in Beto’s voting record, this is interesting.

    But Sanders actually did not amass the most left-wing voting record in the 115th Senate. That distinction belongs to Elizabeth Warren. Kamala Harris was No. 2, Cory Booker was No. 3, and then Sanders and Tammy Baldwin are basically the same. Kirsten Gillibrand is closer to the middle of the pack but still more liberal than 76 percent of Senate Democrats.

    https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/21/18150359/beto-orourke-voting-record

  158. 158.

    Spanky

    @Quinerly: Fine. Between the dead man switches Mueller’s built in and the shitstorm the actual firing will bring, it could be a last straw for enough “concerned” Republican Senators.

    And I can’t believe I typed that without laughing.

  159. 159.

    MomSense

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    We have a Russian agent as president of the United States. His family advisers are basically selling state secrets out for investment in their real estate business. Then we have Republicans in Congress who were all so caught up in Russian money laundered through the NRA and use of opposition information stolen by the Russians and god knows what else that they cannot turn on trump. That the prosecutors want to allow someone who was willing to extrajudicially extradite someone to turkey to face death is a pretty big clue that the crimes he cooperated on are worse!

    It’s bad. Really bad. If the rest of the world ever trusts us again they are being ridiculously forgiving.

  160. 160.

    Quinerly

    @Spanky: I’m actually surprised he hasn’t fired Mueller. I feel that it is coming. In other news, Bloomberg has a piece up with Nikii Haley opining about whether belonging to the UN is even worth it. Must now take a break this AM from being informed.

  161. 161.

    germy

    Dropped Tucker:

    Pacific Life
    Indeed
    Bowflex
    Smile Direct Club
    Nerd Wallet
    Just For Men
    Land Rover
    Zenni Optical
    CareerBuilder
    UnitedExplorer
    ScotteVest
    Voya
    Ancestry
    Minted
    Takeda
    IHOP
    SodaStream
    Robitussin
    TDAmeritrade
    Samsung
    Mint Mobile
    Graze
    Totes/Isotoner
    HarrisTeeter
    Lexus

  162. 162.

    Elizabelle

    The WaPost website has a Countdown to Government Shutdown clock up. In red.

    14 hours. 30 minutes.

  164. 164.

    Immanentize

    @Schlemazel:
    Lekvar cake!! Buchti!

    And I am glad that your diagnosis is not dire. I looked up radical cystectomy and that seems like a lot to deal with, but the outcomes seems good. I am wishing you the best.

  165. 165.

    satby

    @MomSense: to me the betrayal and abandonment of the Kurds is the worst thing that happened in the last (only two?) days. It’s relentless, this miserable endlessly growing like of shit we’re being buried under by shit Twitler.
    And not a single patriot in the Republican Senate with the balls to say “enough”.

  167. 167.

    JPL

    @Elizabelle: Senate republicans have been called to the White House to meet with the orange clown at 10:30. He really wants them to get rid of the filibuster. Corker and Flake could refuse to go along, but will they. hmmm

  168. 168.

    germy

    If multiple women sit separately in a food court, each quietly eating a salad, do not interrupt us. We are silently communicating through salads, like whale song.
    — Elizabeth Hackett (@LizHackett) August 13, 2018

  169. 169.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense: All of this makes me wonder what’s behind the “Mueller gonna be done and issue his report!” in February.

    That said, no reason the House, now in Democrats-Sane Peoples’ hands, can’t hire him and/or Team Mueller for more investigation and testimony. Claire McCaskill has some time on her hands, and does not like to fundraise. She could probably do some excellent work for her country. A lot of excellent folks, out there without jobs because an illegitimate president who is a Russian stooge is staffing the administration. Use them. Let them help turn the ship of state around.

    It will take a long time to root out all the corruption, and it must be done. In the government-business nexus, too.

  170. 170.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby:

    And not a single patriot in the Republican Senate with the balls to say “enough”.

    No patriots in the GOP corner to be found, not even with a magnifying glass. They’ve all been bought and/or had ball-ectomies.

  173. 173.

    germy

    It's not the holidays until you spend a night slowly descending to the floor on a leaky air mattress while a collection of nutcrackers stares at you open-mouthed.
    — Elizabeth Hackett (@LizHackett) December 19, 2018

  174. 174.

    Baud

    @JPL: It would be a good time to do it for us. We have the House the next two years, so the filibuster is less important to us. And hopefully we control the entire government after 2020 with the filibuster gone.

  175. 175.

    germy

    Tucker Carlson is best known for mainstreaming white nationalism – but he's also the heir to the Swanson frozen foods fortune. Famous for 'Hungry Man' dinners, Swanson's empire, and in turn Tucker himself, grew rich off undocumented migrant labor in meat packing + in the fields. pic.twitter.com/KcGBFvW9fE— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) December 20, 2018

  176. 176.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Schlemazel:

    There is also a version that has a poppy seed filling but I don’t recall where that one came from.

    That seems to me to be an eastern-Poland/western-Ukraine/northern-Romania thing, called “makivnyk” – the root word being the proto-Slavic “mak” for “poppy.” I’ve heard stories, which may or may not be apocryphal, of immigrants or their children chowing down on big portions of that and then having to explain themselves during random drug screenings the day after.

  178. 178.

    Chris Johnson

    @Quinerly: Yeah it was <3 I've got it on DVD, that whole Classic Albums series is great. Lots of them, too.

    You see Larry Carlton play, hear all these musicians talking about what they brought to Steely Dan music… I liked Rick Marotta talking about playing drums on 'Peg'. First it's about how nobody had miked his hi-hat before, not so as to let him play subtleties and have them show up on the record. Steely Dan did. But also, there was the anecdote where he'd put so much damping stuff in the kick drum, that Fagen and Becker came over laughing and said, when you hit that drum the tom-toms ring louder than the actual drum you're hitting.

    Marotta's answer? 'Trust me'.

    I work in the music industry, and back in the day I interacted with Walter Becker. He was posting on a sound engineer forum, supposedly incognito, under the name 'studiotan'. But if you'd seen the Aja documentary, it was trivial to recognize him (in the doc, he jokes about looking so different that people would go "Are you… No. No, you're not him"). So I tipped him off, and he thanked me. Wish I'd had more to talk to him about, but I wasn't at all in his league, and he was doing fine in Hawaii at the time.

    Good people. Snarky, difficult people, but good people.

  180. 180.

    Chris Johnson

    @Baud: If we don’t there won’t BE an American government. Everything’s coming apart bigtime. I guess this is what war looks like now. War by tweet army. I’ll grant that it’s less physically violent, but it’s still the real deal with real consequences.

  182. 182.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Schlemazel: @Gin & Tonic: That sounds like the Jewish thing called Hamentashen, “Hamen’s Hats.” Cookie dough folded into a triangle, stuffed with poppy filling, prune, or sometimes apricot.

    I think the poppy one would definitely trigger a drug test.

  183. 183.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @raven: I grew up in Roanoke – my father loved railroads, so the Hotel was his favorite place for special meals, even if the Hotel food and decor wasn’t the best. It was also one of the few hotels which in the 1970’s would accept high school conferences (I guess they thought the Junior Classical League was a rowdy bunch). The Hotel closed in 1989 – it was saved by the City and Virginia Tech building a conference center and opening a Hospitality School. I’m happy to know it is now looking so fine.

  184. 184.

    rikyrah

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    He hates a woman having power over him. I’d say from his responses that he sees Nancy’s Speakership as a nightmare speeding towards his face. It’s already infuriating him how little power he has.

    And, I don’t think it’s sunk into him that the future Attorney General of the State of New York is gunning for him.
    Yes, Leticia James has already said she’s coming for him. And, as, I wrote earlier, unlike Schneiderman, a Black person who ascends to that kind of position, doesn’t have blackmailable stuff…..it would have been used to destroy them. ..cause, well, they’re Black.

    And James is in her NFTG age….she’s gunning for him….
    A Black woman with NFTG has the Trump Crime Family in her sights.

  186. 186.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Betty Cracker: Shredding raw horseradish is a real PITA, so once I had the bright idea of chopping it up in a food processor. #1, it doesn’t work like you’d think it would and #2 when I took the top off the food processor I literally fell on my ass and almost passed out. Since then I’ve figured it’s just easier to buy. N.B. for some reason, the Amish have really good prepared horseradish.

  187. 187.

    Chris Johnson

    @rikyrah: YEAH it is! More than the Wrecking Crew, the Funk Brothers didn’t get the credit they were due. Amazing.

    Anybody wanting to ask the question ‘what does it sound like if someone is a virtuoso on the tambourine, playing supportive parts rather than some kind of soloing?’ only needs to look up Jack Ashford. In Standing In The Shadows Of Motown you get to SEE him play and it’s amazing.

    Also, singers from Joan Osborne to Bootsy Collins do a great job of… fronting up, the Funk Brothers? Not ‘backing up’, because their job is to sing the songs properly and that requires being the topper on the Xmas tree and letting the Brothers support you, but their reverence is really touching :)

  190. 190.

    Kay

    Just a reminder- the “5 billion” is a number the Trump Administration pulled out of their ass, just like their previous demands for “8 billion” and then “20 billion” and then “25 billion” were also pulled out of their ass.

    The Democrats are calling this a slush fund, because it is. These round numbers they keep throwing out? They want a blank check for that amount, to spend on whatever corrupt grift they can cobble together.

    Forget the policy of The Wall. No reasonable person would hand these people 5 billion dollars and tell them to go spend it.

    The slush fund criticism is substantive- it means something.

    Make the low quality Trump hires do some work. No one else pushing a policy gets a pass on specifics, and they ARE getting a pass. Make them tell us what it is and what is costs. That’s the bare minimum oversight, and they haven’t met it.

  191. 191.

    Schlemazel

    @Gin & Tonic:
    It is my understanding that the best tasting poppy seeds come from the same plant that produces opium. I could imagine it might affect a UA

  192. 192.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    This all increases my respect for Pelosi even further. I read that she left that WH meeting with Trump and started laying plans to reopen the government in January. She assumed this was coming.

    My FBI friend tells me they’re “exempt,” ie they keep working during a shutdown. But they don’t get paid. Presumably after the govt reopens, congress votes to give them back pay but last minute Christmas shopping is a harder.

  193. 193.

    Gin & Tonic

    @rikyrah:

    A Black woman with NFTG has the Trump Crime Family in her sights.

    Which is something that makes this old white guy quite happy.

  196. 196.

    rikyrah

    @MomSense:

    We have a Russian agent as president of the United States. His family advisers are basically selling state secrets out for investment in their real estate business. Then we have Republicans in Congress who were all so caught up in Russian money laundered through the NRA and use of opposition information stolen by the Russians and god knows what else that they cannot turn on trump. That the prosecutors want to allow someone who was willing to extrajudicially extradite someone to turkey to face death is a pretty big clue that the crimes he cooperated on are worse!

    TRAITORS, ALL

  197. 197.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah: And we have to make it clear that they are traitors, and they need to be dealt with as such.

    Including their media enablers. Take away the megaphone for propaganda by those who would destroy us from within.

  199. 199.

    Kay

    The President and his bottom of the barrel hires are calling this a “down payment” because they think that language works with their idiot base, and it does. The rest of the country, the vast majority, know you don’t put a “down payment” on something without knowing the total cost.

    They want you to buy something without telling you 1. what you’re buying, or 2. what it costs

    Because this moronic flim-flamming worked for Trump for 50 years in NY real estate circles does not mean the rest of us have to get robbed. It’s OUTRAGEOUS what they’re demanding. No one in their right mind would accept this deal. THAT’S how stupid they think you are.

  202. 202.

    Barbara

    @MomSense:

    That the prosecutors want to allow someone who was willing to extrajudicially extradite someone to turkey to face death is a pretty big clue that the crimes he cooperated on are worse!

    You know, I doubt if this is necessarily true. First, Donald Trump doesn’t give an FF about anyone else’s fate. His callousness has been on display every day of the last two plus years. He doesn’t care if Kurds are slaughtered, if Khashoggi was tortured. The only reason torture or death registers on Trump’s sympathy meter is if he can use it to advance himself or his agenda. See, e.g., Otto Warmbier and Molly Tibbetts.

    So what that means is that even if whatever intelligence the Russians or the Turks or the Sauds have on Trump is merely embarrassing and not criminal, or criminal only in the greedy grasping financial sense that I think most of us assume, that’s enough to sell out anyone at whatever the asking price is, however horrible their fate.

    If Trump went to the ER for a hangnail he would expect to be treated before people who had gunshot wounds. The only way I am calming myself down right now is the feeling that some of the havoc we are seeing is his blind panic over the impending Democratic control of the House.

  204. 204.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Amy Chozick
    ‏Verified account
    @amychozick
    Dec 6
    More
    As one Warren confidant said to me at the time — “When Fox News is defending the Cherokee Nation, something has gone terribly wrong.” Another smart piece by @AsteadWesley

    Prepare yourself for 6 solid months of the Pocahontas controversy. I really like Elizabeth Warren but they’ve already decided they’re taking her down.

    Hillary Clinton wasn’t a one-off. The NYTImes did the exact same thing to Al Gore. The amazing part is it’s now generational- like a cherished tradition that is handed down. Some of these people are too young to have been part of the original “demonize Hillary” or “get Al Gore” crew. It’s now entrenched and institutional. They can make careers on it.

  205. 205.

    Jeffro

    @Steeplejack:

    Hmm, you mean like the D-Dem-Demo—no, I can’t bring myself to say it!

    I know, right? They literally just cannot do it. Michael Gerson’s quite on point today about how the whole criminal enterprise needs to go, Trumpov needs to be impeached, yadda yadda. Well then, Michael, I guess you and your #NeverTrumper buddies better sack up and GET LOUD and embrace the Dems, ’cause a) you have absolutely no voice on your own and b) I don’t see a “Niskanen Party” rising from the ashes of the GOP to suddenly lead this country to center-right glory land. More likely, your 5% also pulls 5% away from the Dems and we’re left with a near-stalemate for another 4 years minimum.

    It is a time of choosing, and there are only two choices, GOP. George Conway’s going nuts on Twitter noting that the toddler-in-chief is burning it all down now, and history will only remember those who helped put out the fire. Bless his harridan-married-self, he’s absolutely right.

  206. 206.

    Jeffro

    @Jeffro: also, and I really cannot stress this enough: the entire country needs to be reminded that there are solutions and parties and policies that are MUCH farther left than today’s Democratic party. Much. That’s why I call the Dems the ‘center-center’ party…it’s true! Don’t like Obamacare? Ok, just remember the state could take over the entire health care system and make all of its workers government employees. “Never happen!” saith the RWNJs. Well, yeah…but you can’t deny it’s a much further left option than Obamacare. And so on.

    We *are* the center in this country – that’s why poll after poll shows that large majorities of voters prefer Dem positions. It’s why the GOP only runs on racist BS, fantasy economics, and out-and-out lies. Their far-right BS is only popular with the crazifcation-factor base.

  207. 207.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Betty Cracker: HAH! Why would you cook it? Just grate, add vinegar, maybe salt.

    While I was in college, we rented half a house. Our landlord next door grew horseradish (lots). Every fall, he would have a day grating and preparing it. Both sides of the house would be nasal clearing for several days after.

  209. 209.

    Spanky

    Can an entire economic sector be bipolar? The markets are up this AM by about 1.5%. For the DOW that’s 358 points as of 10:20.

    Thrashing is never a good sign, but I guess it beats a straight drop?

  211. 211.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    No one in their right mind would accept this deal. THAT’S how stupid they think you are.

    No, that’s how stupid they think the GOP and their voters are. And they just might be. The House already gave it to them.

  213. 213.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    The Democrats are calling this a slush fund, because it is. These round numbers they keep throwing out? They want a blank check for that amount, to spend on whatever corrupt grift they can cobble together.

    Forget the policy of The Wall. No reasonable person would hand these people 5 billion dollars and tell them to go spend it.

    The slush fund criticism is substantive- it means something

    Absolutely nothing but a slush fund.

    period.

  217. 217.

    schrodingers_cat

    Barring permanent residents from reentering the country on a whim was A OK by Gen Mattis, building tent cities to house refugee children and letting some die there was fine too by the great patriot, but now he has reached his limit. Spare me the hagiography. Mattis was never that wonderful, although he may have been the best among the crew of racist bigots, grifters and other low-lifes that surround the President.

  220. 220.

    bemused

    Anyone using an instant pot to prepare holiday meals. I wasn’t shopping for an instant pot but saw a great deal a few weeks ago so I grabbed it. Unfortunately I haven’t yet had time to play with it yet with holiday preps and traveling for Christmas.

  221. 221.

    schrodingers_cat

    Why had I never heard of this? That great general who we must all be indebted to was fired by Obama as the head CENTCOM because of his unrelenting hawkishness against Iran.

  222. 222.

    J R in WV

    @Spanky:

    Can an entire economic sector be bipolar? The markets are up this AM by about 1.5%. For the DOW that’s 358 points as of 10:20.

    Thrashing is never a good sign, but I guess it beats a straight drop?

    I think this is more bouncing off rock ledges on the way to the bottom behavior. LONG Holiday weekend coming up right NOW, too!

  223. 223.

    MoxieM

    @Betty Cracker: Coming from the German side of things, we always made Springerle (rock-like cookies flavored with anise–you make them on Thanksgiving and let them mellow for a month–then you don’t break a tooth. They have little stamped pictures on them). I buy the Lebkuchen & Pfeffernüssen, but always make the Stollen. My Germany-living daughter says her German friends find it hilarious that we make it. They just buy the stuff, but I think the commercial is too sweet.

    Christmas eve meal should be a goose, Rotkraut (alternately known as Rotkohl) sweet/sour red cabbage with apples, potatoes (d’oh!). We always had a Russischer Salat (herring, apple, veal, pickle, mayo, etc.).

    And then we did American Christmas on Christmas Day. Whoop! Roast beast & Yorkshire pudding, mashed spuds & green beans. Pie (apple, mince).

    Then we all lie down and die. No really? go for long walks. and wash dishes like mad.

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