Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

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

75% of people clapping liked the show!

We still have time to mess this up!

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

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

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Republicans do not pay their debts.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

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

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

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Thanksgiving

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Thanksgiving

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And a little holiday uplift, for those of us who grew up believing it wasn’t a real celebration till the shouting started…


Cuccinelli really has worked hard to deracinate himself — the Italian-American families *I* grew up with would’ve disowned a member who walked away from a fight with one mouthy mick. And probably cemented the disinheritance with a beating about the head & shoulders from the alpha nonna present.

… The two political polar opposites crossed paths Wednesday night at the Dubliner, a Capitol Hill Irish pub popular on Thanksgiving Eve with Gonzaga High School graduates. Both men attended the school, graduating five years apart in the 1980s…

Cuccinelli did not immediately respond to a requests for comment. O’Malley declined a request for a phone interview, but gave his version of events via text. He disputed Arnold’s account on one point: He said he wasn’t shouting, but raised his voice “just to be heard” in the pub.

O’Malley, a former Baltimore mayor who was Maryland governor from 2006 to 2014 and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, said he was at the Dubliner with members of his Gonzaga class…

“We all let him know how we felt about him putting refugee immigrant kids in cages – certainly not what we were taught by the Jesuits at Gonzaga,” O’Malley texted.

In another text, he called Cuccinelli “the son of immigrant grandparents who cages children for a fascist president.”

“We all let him know how we felt about him putting refugee immigrant kids in cages – certainly not what we were taught by the Jesuits at Gonzaga,” O’Malley texted…

(Suspect the Gonzaga Jesuits wouldn’t have approved, either. Backing away from an argument is *not* a Jesuit practice.)

Reader Interactions

191Comments

  2. 2.

    satby

    Always proud of any of my brothers in ethnicity that speak their minds to an offender of decency. It’s a foine Irish tradition to have words in a pub when confronted with an ass. Good on O’Malley.

  5. 5.

    p.a.

    Happy TGiving everyone!

    After hand whipping 2 pts of cream into soft peaks I no longer feel the need to rush to the gym today (closes noon) to make up for the food event that is to come.  A nice brisk walk will suffice.

  6. 6.

    Bruce K

    Have a happy one, all. Those of you who choose to spend it with your families, cherish it, and spare a thought for those who are separated from their families for whatever reason.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:  Nobody is driving all the way out here for beans and weenies.

    Actually my step daughter is doing Tday dinner this year. SD always does Tday dinner here one year and at the inlaws in Bloomington IL the next. This might be the last year for awhile as her MiL is succumbing to Alzheimers and is getting to the stage where leaving home is uncomfortable for her. It’s OK with us, we always ignore the whole damn thing in the off years anyway, maybe go camping.

  9. 9.

    satby

    @p.a.: @Bruce K: Happy Thanksgiving to you both and all the rest of the jackals!

    @OzarkHillbilly: honestly, I prefer a quiet day puttering around at home too, though I’m delighted to see my son and his girlfriend, of course. And because it’s been probably 10 years since I made a Thanksgiving dinner, I of course forgot some stuff and will be making the traditional early morning run to whatever store I find open for the last minute things.

  12. 12.

    Zinsky

    So gratifying to see the King of Chill and his beautiful wife and daughters.  True natural beauty without the need for the Botox and surgical alterations like Melania!  Wasn’t it great to have an intelligent, gracious President that you could admire instead of cringing every time they opened their mouth?

     

    Also, good on Martin O’Malley for calling out that racist pig!  He should have bloodied his nose!

    Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

  13. 13.

    Baud

    @Zinsky:

     

    Wasn’t it great to have an intelligent, gracious President that you could admire instead of cringing every time they opened their mouth?

    I heard he sold us out.

  15. 15.

    geg6

    Good on O’Malley.  None these fuckers should be able to show their faces in public.  They should be publicly and incessantly shamed every time they venture out of their homes.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:   Family is always worth celebrating and sharing time with them whenever possible is the only thing that matters. (I have a long standing rule that any invite from any of our children/grandchildren is to be accepted, even if the event at the center of it is something I could care less about) When it comes to Tday and Xmas we figure it is far easier on our children if we just allow them to spend those days with the people for whom those days are actually important.

    In this day and age of split families where a grandchild can have 4 sets of grandparents, the knowledge that one set can be ignored that day/week/month has to be rather freeing.

  19. 19.

    Steeplejack

    Good morning and happy Thanksgiving to all!

    (And setting my nym in Chrome, which exhibits the same bug as the Samsung browser: “Recent Comments” not getting updated in the previous post.)

  20. 20.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly:  very much agree! Probably why I haven’t cooked a Thanksgiving dinner in so long, I also do the alternate holiday thing with my kids. Both of my sons have mates that also are the children of divorce and so have to juggle multiple invites from hostile competitive parties most holidays. For years the boys and I have just celebrated on a different day, less hassle and stress for them.

  21. 21.

    satby

    @Steeplejack: yeah, the cache lags here for some reason. It’s teaching me patience, I wait to refresh and it’s usually fine. I wonder how much my frantic repeated refreshes contributed to the problem ?. It’s funny when you think about how accustomed we’ve all become to instant gratification. Most of us started on computers when you turned the thing on and then went for coffee just to kill the long minutes of boot up time.

  22. 22.

    Raven

    Happy Turkey Day ya’ll. I overdid it by being at the beach from dawn til dusk. I’m telling myself I’ll take a break or maybe just fish for a few hours. Busting out through the surf to throw a 6oz weight all day does a job on your feet and shoulders. Wah wah wah! The weather is as good as we’ve seen it for this time of year so I’m sure that will play into it as the morning wears on.

     

    Here’s the sunrise yesterday.

  25. 25.

    Nicole

    True natural beauty without the need for the Botox and surgical alterations like Melania!

    There’s plenty to criticize about Melania’s actions and statements (I think she’s a terrible human being, myself), but criticizing a woman for getting cosmetic surgery is straight up sexism.

  27. 27.

    satby

    @Nicole: I disagree. It’s sexism that Melanie has succumbed to in getting all that alteration in the first place. She had agency and could have made different choices.

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    Well, my long and happy streak of only spending holidays with the like-minded and congenial has come to a screeching halt. Last minute invite of someone’s ex to the gathering, with a child that I know is the motivation for my friend but yeeesh. Which means I can’t be rude to the jerk in front of his kid.

     

    I do have an inheritance: my mother’s Basilisk Stare of Death. If Ex trips it, I will consider it well deserved.

  29. 29.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @satby:
    It’s not just cache lag. At some point on older threads “Recent Comments” stops being updated at all. I have not seen it on a thread as recent as the immediately preceding one until now.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    My son and DIL invited us to their place for the trimming of the tree this past Sunday, and it made me think of Astral Glass for some reason or other.

    And so I broke 2 of my oldest rules:

    1) Always ignore Xmas.
    2) Never buy gifts.

    Oh well. I may be bound for hell now but at least I got to spend time with my granddaughters.

  35. 35.

    PAM Dirac

    … The two political polar opposites crossed paths Wednesday night at the Dubliner, a Capitol Hill Irish pub popular on Thanksgiving Eve with Gonzaga High School graduates. Both men attended the school, graduating five years apart in the 1980s…

     

    My mother wasn’t a big fan of the Smoker. It is always the night before Thanksgiving and she would end up with a bunch of hung over sons for Thanksgiving. I’m not sure what happened to Cuccinelli. Most Jesuit educated people show it. It must be because Fr. McKenna died right before Cuccinelli started at Gonzaga. If Cuccinelli was this vile when he was at Gonzaga he wouldn’t have made it past Fr. McKenna.

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Caroline Orr‏ @RVAwonk

    NEW: Three women say they faced sexual misconduct by Gordon Sondland before he became the U.S. ambassador to the E.U. They also say he retaliated against them professionally after they rejected his advances.

    Birds of a feather…

  37. 37.

    Lapassionara

    Happy thanksgiving. We are going to have both fried turkey and pulled pork, and not a pumpkin pie in sight. So change is possible, if slow.

  38. 38.

    Jager

    Raining in SoCal…

    Our stay at Extended Stay America this summer while waiting for our new house to close had one positive, we met a great guy and his two kids. Steve’s wife died of cancer when his kids were small, of course, he got his ass handed to him financially, lost his house and everything else. He got back on his feet. 3 years ago he was diagnosed with cancer, he recovered but went through all the bad things all over again.  He’s getting back on his feet again. He and his now teenaged kids are coming over for Thanksgiving.

  39. 39.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @satby:

    Yes, she had the agency.  It is a woman’s right to want to be beautiful as she defines it and for any reason she feels like.  That especially includes the styles and reasons we don’t like, or else that right is a lie.  Same thing for men, but it becomes a topic vastly less often.

  40. 40.

    Patricia Kayden

    Happy Turkey Day, y’all!

    Today, we give thanks for our blessings, give back to those around us, and enjoy some time — and turkey, and maybe a little football — with the ones we love. From the Obama family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving. pic.twitter.com/GEZSGaNSGe— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 28, 2019

  41. 41.

    pinacacci

    @satby: We do this too! We’ve time-shifted Christmas and birthdays just so everybody can do it at a less stressful time…or spend it with people with whom you couldn’t do the holiday on the day of…Christmas in June is fun!  Ya put on your party hats and drink your eggnog…

  42. 42.

    Sab

    We cooked all of the side dishes yesterday. It was exhausting. But today we can put the turkey in the oven and then relax until it is time to put the side dishes in the microwave. I might actually enjoy Turkey day for the first time ever. Normally I was in the kitchen while everyone else was in the living room having a good time.

  44. 44.

    Nicole

    @satby:

    I disagree. It’s sexism that Melanie has succumbed to in getting all that alteration in the first place. She had agency and could have made different choices.

     

    Well, then you must think Michelle Obama is sexist, too, because here’s what she had to say on the subject of Botox, in 2014:

    “Women should have the freedom to do whatever they need to do to feel good about themselves,” she said. “Right now, I don’t imagine that I would go that route, but I’ve also learned to never say never.”

    https://www.today.com/health/never-say-never-michelle-obama-botox-turning-50-grandkids-2D11929575

     

    Women spend their lives hearing their appearance denigrated. When Obama made her Botox comment, there was a big hullabaloo, including insults that “she needs it,” which, ironically, is what the original comment was saying. but about Melania, indicating that it has less to do with the actual bone structure and skin texture a woman was born with and more about attacking her in an extremely gendered way.  Physical appearance and how they are aging are two topics that are MUCH more directed at women than men.

    Myself, I am a choice feminist, which means I fully support a woman’s decision to get any sort of cosmetic surgery or enhancements, every bit as much as I support dismantling the system that makes her feel she needs them in the first place.

    And part of that includes calling out attacks on women’s physical appearance, even when made by fellow liberals, and  even when they are about women I despise.

  47. 47.

    ola azul

    @pinacacci:

     

    Time-shifting with a twist. Hadda girlfriend some years back who, just prior to my departch from Traverse City to Sitka to go chase salmons, in April this was, asked me to be at her sister’s place at a certain time on a certain day. So goofy oblivious me shows at the appointed hour and turns out it’sa surprise birthday party. For me.

     

    My birthday is in July.

  48. 48.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Sab:

    celebrates Thanksgiving six weeks earlier.

    Don’t let retailers here hear about that, they’ll try to change the date here.  Six more weeks of Christmas sales and Christmas music.

     

    (Runs away screaming…)

  49. 49.

    Cermet

    Good morning and hope most have a good to great thanks giving! I’m happy since my daughter returned from Europe a few months back and will be staying a bit longer here with me!

    Trigger warning – mean words about to be written:

    As for Cuccinelli not arguing back – duh! He knows fully well he is a piece of crap for working with that insane orange fart cloud and there is no defense for indefensable actions that he has undertaken to lick the diarrhea leakaged from the fart cloud’s ass. Also, he knows the fart cloud is losing ground and after the ass orange ass wipe loses the election and is conicted, the thug welfare ciruit will disavove all knowledge of this fake thug and those that licked its ass.

  50. 50.

    Sab

    @WereBear: I have been following your advice on cats. Our Shadow ( formerly known as Meankitty) and I have had a difficult relationship for eight years. So after you explained that ignoring a kitty ( from my point of view) is perceived as rejection by said kitty.   My stepson moved out a few years ago. He had cat charisma. He always fed them cat treats whenhe came home from work, and played with her with various string toys. After he moved out all of that stopped.  She was a sad and lonely kitty.

    I finally realized that. So now I feed  her cat treats whenever I come home, and play with her string toys a couple of times a day. For the past two weeks she sits in my lap, and watches television. She never used to let me even scratch her head.

    Moral is: cats are not dogs but they do have feelings.

    Also: her life hasn’t been that bleak. She always used to sit on my husband’s lap. He just doesn’t do cat toy games.

  53. 53.

    Nicole

    (Also, can we all appreciate how incredibly perfect and graceful Michelle Obama’s reply was to the question about getting Botox?  Talk about someone who always knows exactly the right thing to say, and the right way to say it.  I am in awe.)

  56. 56.

    satby

    @Jager: sounds like a happy shared feast time for all, enjoy!

    @Nicole: Oh, whatev. She can put her tits on her back for all I care. We all earn our faces. See also my response to Frankensteinbeck.

  58. 58.

    dmsilev

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I was in Canada a couple of weeks ago, and one thing that came up in conversation with my hosts was that Black Friday has infected Canada as well. After our Thanksgiving, not after theirs.

    Also, talking at work last week with a couple of colleagues from Germany and Israel, I’m told that both of those countries have succumbed as well. Yay cultural imperialism!

  59. 59.

    ola azul

    @Raven:

     

    Just read thread, see you been out chucking lead in the surf and exciting a need for ibuprofin. Any notables you been yarding outta the chop?

     

    Am in no. Mich. now for T’giving (am fortunate to a been invited to three different feeds, so gonna have to pace myself some), but am eventually heading Fla. way myself.

     

    Where you is? How long you staying? (Been jonesing for warmth and walking the beaches in my barefeets; the occasional spiny urchin in my foot is, to me, a small price to pay for the sheer delight of breathable patties.)

     

    My buddy in Fla. has recently discovered a mystery lake that’s ’bout 2 miles inland off the intra-coastal that’s plugged with snook and even a few tarpon. That shit absolutely fascinates me. There must be some swiss-cheese limestone-tunnel(s) water-veins that permit ingress and egress of saltwater species into what appears to be a landlocked lake.

     

    Looking forward to plopping in the water mule and poking around a bit.

  64. 64.

    ola azul

    @Sab:

     

    Usedtawas hadda hunnerd-year old two-story Victorian in Tragic City, but work was in the far-off Alaskan land of contradictions. Born in Flint. Lived there till mother died, moved to no. Mich. with the Old Man as a pubescent fuck-up.

     

    Far’s the Mich. or Alaskan question, guess it depends (like so much!) on a body’s frame of reference.

     

    Am a Michigander if criteria is where you’s born/grew up.

     

    Am Alaskan if the crux is where you presently earn a living.

     

    Am (like Einstein, ‘cept w/o the smarts) a citizen of the world if St. Exupery-essential-unseen is how one wishes to engage humanity.

  72. 72.

    WereBear

    @Sab: Cure for that is MOAR LOVE.

     

    Dealing with that right now with Tristan. He and I sneak off so he can pretend the new kittens don’t exist and I can tell him he is STILL my bestest boy.

  74. 74.

    Just One More Canuck

    @dmsilev:

    Actually, it seems that Black Friday sales started just after our Thanksgiving and are still going

    “gonna catch the grey men when they dive from the fourteenth floor”

  76. 76.

    JMG

    My son and his girlfriend are here. He’s already cooking. My daughter in France will be here for Christmas, while my son visits his girlfriend’s family in Hawaii. Hope has in the past had a Thanksgiving dinner with other expats, but not this year, as it’s just another Thursday in Bordeaux. Neither she nor I understand why France, a country obsessed with food, has not adopted a holiday devoted solely to food. They do however, have Vendredi Noir (Black Friday) tomorrow

    PS: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here. Hope whatever you do provides maximum contentment.

  79. 79.

    ola azul

    @satby:

    Understandable. It’sa exquisite, soul-vivifying piece a music. Just a delight in every way. Like beauty incarnate.

     

    A somewhat lesser-known composer I likes is Thomas Tallis, bout a 100 years prior to Pachelbel. Must confess, I ain’t religious in the slightest, but that impulse-inspiration surely has been the fount of some of the greatest music ever conceived. In *all* categories of music.

     

    And surely a much better use of one’s time and creative talents than its opposite, i.e. pinched, snappish god-bothering.

  81. 81.

    JMG

    Turkey need not be dry. Insert butter under skin. Baste every 20 minutes with stock and drippings. Remember to tent the breast with aluminum foil halfway through. Works out fine.

  82. 82.

    Jager

    I’m Thank(sgiving)ful for Bluetooth headsets. I’m making the sides in the kitchen while listening to the Faces BBC performance, Rod and Ron Wood kick ass on “Stay With Me” Yes, I have it on 11.

  85. 85.

    Immanentize

    Slept in today.  Just me and the Immp which is how he wanted it.  Given his eating cycles, he really isn’t a sit down to an hour long feast sorta fellow right now.  He will graze all evening.

    I am making Peking Duck.  Actually, two because I am testing various duck differences.  And we both love Duck with moo shu pancakes etc.  Also duck soup! Started prepping a couple of days ago and will be roasting them this afternoon. So stop over for a repeat tomorrow if you like.

    I am making myself hungry.  Make yourselves as happy as you can this thanksgiving, friends.

  88. 88.

    Sab

    @JMG: We put a parchment paper tent over at the beginning, don’t baste at all, and take the tent off for the last half hour. That also works.

    You have to get the bird thawed in time, then cook it slowly for long enough. If you do that, it’s hard to screw it up however you cook it.

  91. 91.

    debbie

    @JMG:

     

    I tried that basting every 20 minutes thing once and it took far longer to cook the turkey. With butter under the skin and starting off by roasting breast-side down, I can baste once every hour or so.

  95. 95.

    ola azul

    Anyone happen to know if StringOnAStick’s been around?

     

    She kindly asked a question of me awhile back that I din’t discover till after the thread had long since breathed its last, and I been traveling and away from the blog for a piece in the interim, so a lil outta touch with the general flow of things.

  97. 97.

    PAM Dirac

    @ola azul:

     

    A somewhat lesser-known composer I likes is Thomas Tallis, bout a 100 years prior to Pachelbel. Must confess, I ain’t religious in the slightest, but that impulse-inspiration surely has been the fount of some of the greatest music ever conceived. In *all* categories of music.

    Enthusiastically seconded. The old Bach Guild records with the Deller Consort singing the Tallis “Lamentations of Jeremiah” and Byrd’s “Mass for Five Voices” are in my top 10 recordings of all time.

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    The happiest of Thanksgiving wishes to all jackals who celebrate (however you define “celebrate”), regardless of where, how, and with whom you do it.

    I’m in Hampton, VA, staying with my ex-sister-in-law. My brother* just arrived for a day of parade- and football-watching, with the traditional dinner around 5:00 pm.

    *(Roz was already a dear family friend when she and Rick married. She still is, and although they are divorced and are very unlikely to remarry, they’re good friends who spend a lot of time together. It’s not a commonplace arrangement, but neither is it unheard of. I’m the beneficiary this year.)

  104. 104.

    debbie

    @Jager:

    My local NPR station has started off the morning with 50th anniversary programs on the Band’s The Band and the Beatles’s Abbey Road. I’ll skip the hour that follows celebrating the 50th anniversary of whichever Led Zepplin album, but it’s a nice way to start the day.

  108. 108.

    Immanentize

    @debbie: Thanksgiving is the perfect day to support Unions by listening to King Harvest.  When I was a kid, I lived in rural upstate NY and yes we had dinners at the Grange Hall.

  117. 117.

    CaseyL

    Happy Turkey Day, everyone!

     

    I am up too early because I have cats who expect their breakfast-and-outside at this time, thankyew, not at some other, later, time.  Jeannie will start licking my eyelids if I ignore gentler hints.

     

    My latest fused glass piece is cooking in the kiln.  Trying to do a Great Barrier Reef scene: coral-studded background , with sea turtle in foreground.  So far so good! – and boyoboy, making individual corals out of teeny tiny bits of glass is a LOT of work.

  120. 120.

    tobie

    @ola azul: Music to my ears! Thomas Tallis’ Lamentations of Jeremiah may be the most beautiful composition I’ve ever heard. Not every piece of polyphonic music does this to me. I find the perfect harmonies in Palestrina’s music boring. But Tallis’ Lamentations are just magical.

  122. 122.

    Jager

    @debbie:

     

    I listened to the Stones after the Faces BBC show finished, “Brown Sugar” always brings back memories of my old GF LInda who loved it, she always said, it’s a celebration of our strength. Damn, the woman could dance.

  123. 123.

    PAM Dirac

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    George Winston is the author of my favorite version of Pachelbel’s Canon.

     

    A lot of my old favorites being brought up this morning. Time to put a playlist together and commence the pumpkin pie making.

  124. 124.

    BC in Illinois

    3 1/2 hours until 3/4 of family (12 out of 18 — one daughter and family has gone out of town, another daughter and SIL are in North Carolina and we will see her in January, when we will have 18 out of 18 together) will gather at our daughters place. I have already done my part of chopping vegetables and cranberries.

     

    My son and I talked yesterday about the happy lack of holiday/family fireworks. (If I want to get a rise out of the group, I can say the phrase “Now, you millennials . . .)

    Mrs. BC and I are the most committed (and predictable) Elizabeth Warren / “Moms Demand Action” Democrats, followed by daughter, DIL, son, and then the rest.  The seven grandchildren will be making noise on other topics. As it turns out, my wife and the one daughter-in-law are the most likely to insert themselves into controversy and keep at it. The rest of us are peace-loving folk. The conversations I expect are about music, education, school stuff, church stuff, and movies. (At the last b’day party, I got two more positive reviews of this last summer’s “Yesterday” movie. We saw it in the theater, they are now seeing it on Redbox or something. Everybody loves it.)

     

    After the meal, son and I will talk about walking, running, and losing weight. There is a “from now to January 1st” challenge going on.

     

    Good times

  125. 125.

    Aleta

    There are families where the assumed ugly child is assumed to be the bad one and the conventionally good-looking one has extra powers to be forgiven.  I think these are vestiges of christian prejudice, automatic labeling of godliy-satanic-clean-dirty. Like other bad experiences, the internal harm (to either child) can affect someone’s character or decisions or belief in what will fix things.  (Irish grandmother and gr grandfather, I’m looking at you.)

     

    I absolutely make knee-jerk judgements on women’s ultra-altered faces, and at the same time I’m incredibly angry at the sexism and social/economic forces behind it.   (Seeing actresses whose creative tools—facial expressiveness,  mouth flexibility — have been restricted by “tightening” enrages me.  They’re not stupid;  sure they could choose not to do it;  but their choice is instead to keep their work opportunities wider for a few more years.  Their understanding of that world is more accurate than my judgement.)

     

    What Nicole says about judgements we make (44., 53., 25.) about surgery made me think differently about judging the internal part of a person.   Not that I don’t appreciate the old sayings about faces representing character and our choices as we age , but when I think about it, those sayings have also been used against people whose faces have been altered by pain or abuse or whatever else has happened to them.  Anyway, what Nicole points out is helpful to me.  Thanks.

  126. 126.

    CaseyL

    It’s so strange how indifferent I am to music: happy to hear it if it happens to be playing, but not moved to turn on the stereo otherwise.  There are certain pieces I adore – songs, arrangements, symphonies – but, again, only once in a while do I get the bug to actually listen to them.

     

    On the bright side, it means I can listen to just about anything.  There are few genres I absolutely won’t listen to at all.  This makes me a very agreeable car driver/passenger:  put on anything you like, as long as it isn’t rap or atonal, and I’m good.

  127. 127.

    Steeplejack

    I’m in the calm before the storm of T-Day action. I picked up my last-minute things at the grocery about 8:00 and will leave for Sighthound Hall in about an hour. I wussed out on the grocery run yesterday. The parking lot was packed even in midafternoon, and the Google said the store would be open this morning, so I skipped it and went on for the burger and beer at my local pub.

    The store was pleasantly uncrowded this morning. The only thing I couldn’t find was crème fraîche. I don’t know if they were out of it. (Relatively new—to me—grocery that I’m still getting used to after my old one closed two months ago.) I couldn’t even find the place where I thought it would be, near the sour cream, which is what I ended up getting. I’ll be using it to make horseradish sauce with real horseradish, chives and lemon juice. Maybe a dash of paprika.

    The roast is on a tight schedule, so it looks like we’ll be eating around 2:30.

    I’m feeling tired and a bit out of it. The housecat had me up at 2:30 a.m., and I had a hard time going back to sleep. Glad it’s going to be a low-key day.

  128. 128.

    Schmendrick

    @NotMax:   We were not in Baltimore when Avalon was filmed, but our older daughter appeared in Homicide:LotS a few years later, and the whole family appeared as extras in Liberty Heights.  Hard to believe how long ago that was.  As a former resident of the Greater Ballamer Metropolitan area, I felt a little civic pride when I read about the school children there standing up to one of the local bullies.

  130. 130.

    Patricia Kayden

    Trump booed by sports fans, Don Jr. booed by his dad’s fans, Melania booed by kids, Ken Cuccinelli publicly shamed by Martin O’Malley. Keep it up. None of them should be able to go anywhere without being called out on their evil bullshit.— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) November 28, 2019

  132. 132.

    NeenerNeener

    The annual “Turkey Trot” race that runs past my house has just started, so no last minute grocery shopping for me until that last racer passes by, about 2 hours from now.

  133. 133.

    MoCA Ace

    Happy thanksgiving to all from a mostly lurker.  Wife is working all day so she can have off on another Holiday and the kids can spend time with the other parental units without feeling guilty.  Yesterday I made a small turkey and pumpkin pie for her to take to work and feed the coworkers who are missing turkey day with her.

     

    I’m chilling today and maybe (We’ll see how it goes) swinging by the daughters in-laws place for some thanksgiving dinner.

     

    First comment on the new site… we’ll see how it goes.

  135. 135.

    Aleta

    @Immanentize: It was a long while ago, places change, but my film party friends used to procure moo shu from Mei Ling’s when I visited.  Their sauce and their light touch and something extra in the flavor — hooked me forever.

  136. 136.

    Immanentize

    After watching ALL of the Irishman in one sitting last night, I just had to put on the soundtrack from Big Night on the little spin disc machine with two separate outputs.

  137. 137.

    MomSense

    @Jager:

     

    We’re going to be listening to a similar playlist as soon as the kid wakes up.

     

    You mentioned Ron Wood above, I think he just came out with a recording.  Might be a Chuck Berry tribute.  I’ll have to look for it.  He’s an interesting person.  Youngest of three boys who were all artists and musicians so he just went with the brotherly flow.  We watched the documentary the Stones did on their recent tour of Latin America and there is a very sweet scene of Ron going to paint with an artist friend.

  138. 138.

    Elizabelle

    Happy Turkey Day, jackals.  Hope you are having a lovely day of thanksgiving.

     

    Roasting some kabocha squash at the moment for making this recipe, which I am told is delicious, and looks kind of easy.

     

    The Busy Baker:  German Style Pumpkin Soup

     

    Kabocha squash is also called Japanese Pumpkin; German style soup … hmmm.  Find something Italian to garnish it with and I will have Axis holiday soup.  And also going to make Joy of Cooking’s Corn Pudding Cockaigne, which is just a fancied up corn casserole with pepper and pimiento and whipped egg whites, but I like it …

     

    May we all be blissfully more happy and relieved by this time next Thanksgiving.  We are due.

  143. 143.

    Kathleen

    @Raven: Gorgeous picture. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Your Bride.

    Re your question yesterday about working for census – I was crew leader for 2010 census and it so happened I got my own neighborhood. I had a great boss and great team and had a blast. I don’t know how it will be this time since Trump’s minions are in charge.

  146. 146.

    Jager

    @MomSense:

    Have you read Keith Richard’s book, “Life”? It’s very good, “Keef” tells a story about going on a UK tour with James Brown when the Stones were a young band. Brown paid no attention to them, then one night in Scotland JB invited to his party after the show. The players in Brown’s band were doing errands for JB, going out to get food, ironing his pants, etc. Keef said. “I was appalled. Mick was enthralled.”

  148. 148.

    Kay

    ok jackals give me your best pie crust- no discussion- 1st entry wins- I have nothing done and this thing is supposed to be at 3

    No one answers I’m using the one on the crisco tin

  153. 153.

    MomSense

    @Kay:

     

    Go to Chrissy Teigen’s website cravings.  Her directions are the best – completely user friendly and all well tested.

  155. 155.

    Sab

    @Kay: That’s what I use, but I am so old that mine came from the Spry tin. 2 cups flour, 3/4 cups shortening, cut together, then 2 to 4 tablespoons icewater.

     

    Over the years I have modified it a bit to 3 cups flour, then a big dollop of extra shortening ( about 2 serving spoonfuls) so that I don’t run out of dough for the crust. But this year that was enough for top and bottom of 8 inch apple pie and bottom crust only of pumpkin pie.

     

    I roll it in between wax paper.

  158. 158.

    Jager

    @MomSense:

     

    I loved Keef’s son Marlon moving from bedroom to bedroom in the Great Gatsby house on Long Island so his mother Anita von Pallenberg couldn’t find him

  160. 160.

    HeleninEire

    Happy Thanksgiving Balloon Juicers. Very happy they parade was able to go forward. The wind was howling so loud last night that around 3am it actually woke me up. Still pretty windy out there.

  161. 161.

    MomSense

    @Jager:

     

    I think Keef is a big, sensitive sweetheart beneath all that rock n roll mystique.  She lived in one of his houses until she died.

  162. 162.

    Elizabelle

    @Kayla Rudbek:   What a sneak by ABC.  Does that eventually become the France story?

    Because I see two skinny American white women in tight dresses  enthusing about BLACK FRIDAY DOORBUSTERS!  We are told that historically these are the lowest prices …  It’s like a game show from hell.

     

    I say ban Black Friday too.  People have gotten killed, and sprayed with pepper spray.  It’s like a parody of capitalism gone amok.

     

    Give the store employees Thanksgiving off and not such a big deal on Friday.

     

    It’s GMA,

  164. 164.

    Sab

    Does a food processor work for piedough? I would think that it would heat it up and thus make it unmanageably sticky. I use an old-fashioned wire pastry cutter. Two forks also work. Easier to clean afterwards, also.

  165. 165.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Elizabelle: hmm.  I was just reading the article below the video, and didn’t watch the video itself.   (Fair warning to y’all; I hate watching videos online. Give me text or give me something cute or educational IMAO. Too many years of watching captioned TV with my spouse.)

  166. 166.

    TomatoQueen

    @Kay:  Any recipe you choose will come out nicely if a)your flour is fresh, b)all ingredients are kept cold, c) you roll the pastry in one direction and keep it turning (no back and forth). The Crisco tin one has the right proportions, and you can switch out some of the shortening for butter for extra flavor and color. All will be well and delicious.

  167. 167.

    tokyokie

    @WereBear: Make use of your household’s strengths! Hide bits of catnip and small, dried fish all around the house and let the kitties go crazy trying to find it all. And if the unwelcome guest complains, shrug and say you don’t know what’s gotten into them.

  168. 168.

    TomatoQueen

    @Sab: The food processor in fantasy land is ideal for pie pastry but on a holiday when everything is keyed up and the kitchen is too hot isn’t the best time to try it out. The other night on America’s Test Kitchen one of the elves did a crust with frozen butter grated on a box grater (nice if you’ve got the shoulders for it) that mixed in quickly and rolled out beautifully, at least on tv. Make it easy on yourself.

  169. 169.

    Elizabelle

    @Kayla Rudbek:   It was kind of perfect to have that consumerist porn atop a story about France being smarter about the Black Friday issue.

     

    I like the idea of Green Friday, and good luck to the young protesters with Block Friday.

     

    Consumer culture is a cancer in this country.  I really think it is.  All the plastic crap and cheap clothing from China and wherever it’s cheapest to produce.  All the packaging.  Can just imagine it all in a landfill, because that is where it is eventually bound, and not too far from now.

  170. 170.

    Miss Bianca

    @Immanentize: Oh, what’s your recipe for Peking Duck? May be getting a dressed duck or two in the spring (shh, don’t tell TaMara!), and that’s a recipe I’d like to try!

     

    Happy Thanksgiving to you and the Immp!

  172. 172.

    Brachiator

    Happy Thanksgiving from a wet and soggy Southern California.

     

    A bit of fun from NPR.  From the show planet money, a recipe for peacock from the 1600s, when spices were worth as much as gold.

  173. 173.

    Elizabelle

    @Brachiator:   Peeps:  don’t click on that NPR link unless you want to see a baked peacock head sticking out of a pie.

    You may decide you do not, noisy creatures that they are.

     

    That recipe, with all the spices, might be delicious on a turkey or chicken or quail.  Without its little head sticking out of the pie.  Would make vegetarians out of all of us.

  174. 174.

    Rand Careaga

    @ola azul:

    Must confess, I ain’t religious in the slightest, but that impulse-inspiration surely has been the fount of some of the greatest music ever conceived.

    Just so. Vivaldi’s Gloria is my go-to music at this time of year. This track’s just about the cheeriest two minutes of music I’ve ever heard.

  175. 175.

    Sab

    @TomatoQueen: I tried that food grater thing once. It worked beautifully, but what a greasy  mess. My poor grater. I am not enough of a piecrust perfectionist to try that again.

  178. 178.

    mrmoshpotato

    @CaseyL: We vote.  We vote in all 50 states.  None of this “S/he’s going to win.  I don’t have to go punch a ticket for the Democratic nominee.” crap.

  180. 180.

    WaterGirl

    Baud, I have no idea what you did to end up in moderation twice (!) but I released your comments and there’s nothing in them, so you must have edited at some point?

  181. 181.

    J R in WV

    Nothing wrong with the recipe on the Crisco can, but use butter instead. Nothing artificial, tastes better, same caloric content.

     

    The idea of rolling the crust between wax paper is great!

     

    ETA:  I sift the flour several times, makes it lighter. Never heard about rolling one direction, I can see where that could make a difference, will try it out, along with the paper to roll in.

     

    Cold bowl, cold roller, cold flour, wife gave me a marble roller years ago, put that in the freezer, seriously can roll a pie crust on a hot humid day with the frozen marble roller.

     

    Happy Thanksgiving all!!

  183. 183.

    Gretchen

    @WereBear: I’m so jealous.  My mother had a terrifying Look of Death but I’ve never been able to duplicate it.  I would take lessons if I could.

  184. 184.

    Gretchen

    @Nicole: I disagree.  I find it incredibly disturbing that all the women in Trump’s family feel like they have to alter their appearances until they are unrecognizable from their natural selves in order to his warped view of what women should look like.  It’s not like someone getting a face lift or a nose job.  Melanie and Ivanka have had massive changes in every part of their appearance to please him. Ick.

  185. 185.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @ola azul: Tallis was a recusant Catholic whose religious proclivities Liz I chose to ignore because he was good at his job.*

    *h/t Lucy Worsley.

  187. 187.

    Yutsano

    Happy Turkey Day Jackals! Or Tofurky Day if that’s what you’re into.

     

    One of the desk workers at my PT clinic is a vegetarian and she has never had Tofurky. I told her it’s an interesting experience that tastes nothing like just tofu. Which she doesn’t like for some reason.

  189. 189.

    Sab

    @J R in WV: I want a marble rolling pin.

    I used to use the wooden ones, but the handles kept falling off, so I have been using the same old wine bottle for about 20 years. I fill it with ice water in the summer and put the cork in.

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