• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

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

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

“But what about the lurkers?”

He really is that stupid.

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

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

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

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

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

In after Baud. Damn.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Not all heroes wear capes.

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

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / In the midst of life we are in death, etc.

In the midst of life we are in death, etc.

by @heymistermix.com|  February 5, 202110:39 am| 210 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

Betty posted yesterday about Josh Marshall’s de-trumping project, and it’s striking how some of the most recent letters are from survivors of abusive homes (here’s an example if you’re a TPM subscriber). One of the themes of living with an abuser is that they feed off of fear and pain.

The rawest example of fear and pain that I’ve watched recently is Rashida Tlaib’s speech last night, where she related that she had a serious death threat on the day she was sworn in to Congress, and that they haven’t stopped since. You had better have a strong stomach if you want to watch it.

Her story, and the stories of AOC, Ilhan Omar and others who have been affected by the insurrection as well as the constant stream of hate and bile that have been directed their way, are being minimized or denied in right wing media. Some of these minimizers/deniers have enough moral sense and humanity left to deny something they understand is ugly and inhuman, or perhaps they’re just cynics. But, behind that minimization, for some of them, is delight, satisfaction and a twisted form of pleasure. They are abusers. Trump let them know that abuse in service of their cause is OK, and they miss the guy. He was a kindred spirit. The Q-embracing reps like Green and Boebert are their next best hope to normalize abuse and pain of people with with the wrong religion or wrong color of skin.

It’s been pretty commonly remarked that the Fox-led dehumanization of liberals as some kind of other has led to normalization of calls of violence, and maybe many of those who think the best Democrat is a dead Democrat might well not be abusers, but just misled. I don’t have enough faith in humanity to think that all (or even most) of them have been misled. A big portion of them enjoy the power that comes from inflicting pain on others. They enjoy watching Rashida Tlaib and AOC and others show their pain. They are immune to Steny Hoyer’s eloquent expression of righteous anger that should make any Greene supporter hang their head in shame. There are probably only a few of them serving in the House today, but there are many more in the House who are courting their votes, as last night’s vote showed.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Metal shifts under an all-spreads subsidy regime
Next Post: Christopher Plummer, RIP »

Reader Interactions

210Comments

  1. 1.

    Jerzy Russian

    February 5, 2021 at 10:46 am

    It has been going on for a while now.  I remember seeing “Liberal hunting license” bumperstickers  20(?) years ago.    I don’t think there are too many extreme nuts in my immediate neighborhood, but go 20 miles to the east and you get into the heart of the district that sent Duncan Fucking Hunter Jr. to Congress (if his middle name is not actually “Fucking” it surely ought to be).

  2. 2.

    the pollyanna from hell

    February 5, 2021 at 10:47 am

    The PTSD of the bystander witness is something we can all claim as well.

  3. 3.

    gene108

    February 5, 2021 at 10:57 am

    Reading some tweets, going back to 2016, about how Trump reminded folks of their abuser and how he used the language of abusers to put the blame on the abused, i.e. if you’d only done ‘x’, I’d not have had to do ‘y’, made me realize that the entire Republican Party’s relationship to the American people is that of an abuser.

    If you impeach Trump again, we’re going to get medieval on your ass the next time we control Congress, is probably the most recent example of this behavior. Republicans entire negotiating tactic has become that if Democrats do something they do not like, they will retaliate the next time they get the chance.

    The only way to fix this is to win so convincingly all the the time against them they have no choice, but to change.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    February 5, 2021 at 11:01 am

    @gene108:

    And too many savvy people in the media just take the Republicans’ right to retaliate as face value, and end up cautionimg Dems not to rock the boat and invite such repercussions.

    As much as some people hate our policies, they are scared to death about us claiming equal rights to enforce laws and standards against them.

  5. 5.

    BlueGuitarist

    February 5, 2021 at 11:04 am

    @Baud:

    Truth

  6. 6.

    MattF

    February 5, 2021 at 11:06 am

    If someone denies, e.g., that Trump ever mocked that disabled reporter, it’s all you have to know. And… there are lots of ‘someone’s.

  7. 7.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    February 5, 2021 at 11:07 am

    It’s probably also worth keeping in mind that disgusting video of those three Q-nutters screaming at Lindsey Graham in that airport. Those people are unspeakably viel even with each other.

  8. 8.

    MattF

    February 5, 2021 at 11:07 am

    @Baud: So that the actual policies are never alluded to.

  9. 9.

    Barbara

    February 5, 2021 at 11:15 am

    Maybe it’s unsurprising, but it really is very easy to fall into the trap of enabling abusers by trying to adapt to abuse instead of ending it. How many people justified Trump’s outrageous behavior by blaming other people for “not giving him a chance” (like that never happened to Obama) or criticizing him or not handling him properly? I read the first chapter of John Bolton’s abominable book at the request of my husband, and this is exactly how John Bolton justified going to work for Trump after it was clear that Trump was impulsive, at best, and who knows what else at worst — that his first set of advisers were basically trying to contain his worst impulses so Trump stopped trusting them. And that wasn’t Trump’s fault!
    This is how abusers get away with harming others, especially abusers with power who can dole out favors and lend their power to others like Bolton who are eager to run with it.​

  10. 10.

    Kent

    February 5, 2021 at 11:18 am

    @Baud: And can you or anyone else think of ONE SINGLE INSTANCE in which there was even a discussion in the media or within the GOP about how they should dial-back X policy for fear of future retribution by Democrats?

    Honestly I can’t.  I don’t think the media is even capable of thinking like that.  Perhaps they are right.

    An example where it  might have happened was during the Trump Tax Cuts when they deliberately screwed blue states with the state and local tax deduction caps.  No one was warning the GOP…”watch out…they will come for you in a few years.”

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 11:18 am

    Is there a link to video of the hour-long event planned for last night for people to talk about their experience on Jan 6?  I had planned to watch and then forgot all about it.  I don’t even know what the event was called in order to search for it.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 11:20 am

    @MattF

    And… there are lots of someone’s.

    “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”
     – Albert Einstein
    .

  13. 13.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    February 5, 2021 at 11:21 am

    I assume my Google ads are driven by what’s in the BJ posts I’m reading. Currently on this screen are ads for: something called a “M1 rail wallet”, a fancy schmancy watch, and a studded Q-tip looking thing that calls itself “the world’s best ear massager”.

    What have you people been talking about?

  14. 14.

    MattF

    February 5, 2021 at 11:23 am

    @Barbara: I guess Bolton had his agenda and thought he might advance it. Somehow, he didn’t see that Trump’s agenda (‘hurting people’) would always take priority.

  15. 15.

    cope

    February 5, 2021 at 11:23 am

    @Baud: Bing and go.  Just like the abused’s friend saying  “Just try not to break the egg yolks when you flip them and he’ll be happy”.

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    February 5, 2021 at 11:26 am

    @Kent:

    And can you or anyone else think of ONE SINGLE INSTANCE in which there was even a discussion in the media or within the GOP about how they should dial-back X policy for fear of future retribution by Democrats?

    Well, in fairness to the media, the Dem playbook has not seemed to include the “make those mofos pay for what they did” game plan. [“Look forward, not back,” for example.] I think that’s changing.

    I still want a Truth and Retribution Commission to investigate all the evil/vile things the Rethugs (at all levels) have inflicted on this country, especially when they inflicted it on Blue states (such as withholding COVID assistance, from Spring, 2020, forward). Make examples of enough of those traitorous fucks, their attitudes might begin to change. [Of course, their likely response would be full-on fascism.]

  17. 17.

    WereBear

    February 5, 2021 at 11:27 am

    @gene108:

    The only way to fix this is to win so convincingly all the the time against them they have no choice, but to change.

     
    Except, they won’t change. But I’ll settle for making them go back into their pits again.

  18. 18.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 11:27 am

    On a related note, does anyone have a good recipe for black bean soup in an Instant Pot?

  19. 19.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 5, 2021 at 11:28 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    and a studded Q-tip looking thing that calls itself “the world’s best ear massager”.

    What have you people been talking about?

    Someone’s never had a good ear massage. :)

  20. 20.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 5, 2021 at 11:28 am

    @SFAW: [Of course, their likely response would be full-on fascism.]

    How, exactly, would one tell the difference?

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 5, 2021 at 11:29 am

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
      No.

  22. 22.

    SFAW

    February 5, 2021 at 11:30 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Disclaimer: never used an Instant Pot, so I may (yet again) be talking out of my ass.

    That said: isn’t soup the kind of thing better-suited to a Crockpot/slow cooker? [Of course, you’ll probably tell me that Instant Pots have a “slow cooker” setting.]

  23. 23.

    Baud

    February 5, 2021 at 11:31 am

    For M4

    The so-called SAFE TECH Act was introduced Friday by Sens. Mark Warner, Mazie Hirono and Amy Klobuchar. Under the bill, online platforms would not be able to claim Section 230 immunity for alleged violations of federal or state civil rights laws, antitrust laws, cyberstalking laws, human rights laws or civil actions regarding a wrongful death. The law would strip companies of immunity for any speech they were paid to carry, such as ads or marketplace listings, and it would make clear that Section 230 does not shield companies from complying with court orders.

    I’m not quite sure what that first sentence means.

  24. 24.

    Halteclere

    February 5, 2021 at 11:31 am

    Earlier this week I was at an ACE Hardware store in a small town in Texas. While looking for a few things, I overheard what appeared to be a local coach talking to a couple other people. Not catching the full conversation, this person went from talking about how sports had been disrupted last year because of Covid, to loudly and intently stating “Pelosi and Schumer need to be hung!”.

    Yea, this person has wholely ingested the narrative that violence is the answer to political disputes.

  25. 25.

    JCJ

    February 5, 2021 at 11:31 am

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Ferengi oo-mox video

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZqgU3OIerE

  26. 26.

    MattF

    February 5, 2021 at 11:33 am

    @gene108: I think the marginal voter has to be the target demo. The Trumpite core is only sensitive to their adjacent surroundings.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    February 5, 2021 at 11:34 am

    @Halteclere:

    Shumer to hardware store guy: “I am hung.”

    Nancy would probably just shame him.

  28. 28.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 11:34 am

    @Halteclere: I assume you were upset because he said “hung” when he should have said “hanged”?  Texas is the worst!

  29. 29.

    the pollyanna from hell

    February 5, 2021 at 11:34 am

    One common defense for the bystander’s pain of empathy is to empathize instead with the abuser, identify with the abuser. This forced choice is often part of the abuser’s deliberate calculation; I often call it criminal charisma.

  30. 30.

    Capri

    February 5, 2021 at 11:35 am

     

    Official GOP slogan: “Look what you made us do”

  31. 31.

    rp

    February 5, 2021 at 11:35 am

    @Steve in the ATL: “They said you was hung!” “And they was right!”

  32. 32.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 5, 2021 at 11:36 am

    @JCJ: Haha

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    February 5, 2021 at 11:36 am

    @rp:

    “It’s twue!”

  34. 34.

    Nicole

    February 5, 2021 at 11:38 am

    My spouse and I watched episode 8 of the CBS remake of The Stand and they laid the Trump analogy on really thick this episode.  But (spoilers if you haven’t watched) – they implied that some of his most devout could be turned in only one talked to them with the right words.  And I call bullshit.  Those people like being jerks; I think it’s the only thing that gives them pleasure.  It’s like being stuck on an airplane with a 3-year-old kicking the back of your seat because the kid is bored (except the 3-year-old gets a pass from me because they’re 3).

    I knew a few, one of whom I was friends with once on FB and I occasionally check out his public posts (he unfriended me at some point, I guess) and it’s amusing in a “look at that sad sack” kind of way, how he tried to stir up people.  He got married to a woman he considers very attractive and repeatedly posts a photo of her leaning forward with a “this belongs to me” and recently escalated it with a post where he called her “it” and added #myproperty.  And it was clearly just to get a rise out of people, and he got his wish in the comments.  But it’s still bullying his wife, even if he thinks he’s pointing out that he thinks she’s pretty at the same time.

    The post was up for a few days but I just checked and it’s gone now, so I suspect she had words with him about it.  She may be just as much of a Trumpy as he is, but I sure hope she has a Go bag packed somewhere he doesn’t know about.

    I can’t imagine going through life every day looking for someone I can kick to make me feel better.  Ugh.

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 5, 2021 at 11:38 am

    @Kent:

    And can you or anyone else think of ONE SINGLE INSTANCE in which there was even a discussion in the media or within the GOP about how they should dial-back X policy for fear of future retribution by Democrats?

    Honestly I can’t.  I don’t think the media is even capable of thinking like that.  Perhaps they are right.

    people in the media are saying it now, that doubling down on trump and QAnon will only increase R losses in the suburbs. People are noticing the shifting demographics as illustrated by Georgia and the future damage that will do to a trump-centric party. But there are large roadblocks to that. First and foremost (in my mind) the big gerrymander of the late 19th century (two Dakotas, one California, etc). Also, the far right has spent fifty years registering voters, making them angry, making local issues national. The corresponding angry on the left are a much smaller in number, vote much less regularly, but do have in common with the far right that they focus their anger on Democrats.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    February 5, 2021 at 11:39 am

    @Capri:

    https://youtu.be/3tmd-ClpJxA

  37. 37.

    jonas

    February 5, 2021 at 11:39 am

    The Trump-as-abuser reflections reminded me of an interview (forget whether it was on Conan, Fallon or Kimmel) with Seth MacFarlane back ca. 2015/16. The conversation turned to politics and he was asked why so many actors in Hollywood hate Trump despite the fact that he had been a big reality star, etc.  I think McFarlane’s answer was insightful. I don’t know whether he mentioned #metoo specifically, but he basically said that Trump is the archetype of every sleazy, privileged, sexually-harassing, abusive studio executive people — particularly women — in that business have had to deal with since forever. “We all know a Trump — have had to deal with a Trump,” he said (I’m paraphrasing here), “and we hate that guy.”

  38. 38.

    Fleeting Expletive

    February 5, 2021 at 11:40 am

    Many of the rioters were operating from misogyny as much as racism, exactly as the former president was.  It took the women caught in the terror to name it for the world. Men’s animus, White Male Rage, is a horror that I have no idea how we are going to defeat.

    Another hideous fear that I saw yesterday: You know how DJT now refers to himself as the forty-fifth president, using ordinary numbers? Think about how that number looks in digital displays–it’s damn near a swastika. That’s his bat-signal now. Straight up appeal to Nazis.

    Ever since he came on the scene I’ve been feeling like maybe I’m the paranoid because his existence felt like a threat from the beginning, an evil that amplifies all that rage and toxic racism relentlessly. Few, very few, in media caught that whiff of inchoate autocracy emanating from him and named it.  they all demonstrate that they are capable of being abusers and are dangerous.

  39. 39.

    H.E.Wolf

    February 5, 2021 at 11:41 am

    This is always dangerous : “normalization of calls [for] violence”. Sooner or later, someone answers the call.
    When I read comments on BJ that call for – and/or fantasize about – violence against others, it creeps me out. Imitating what we abhor is to become what we abhor.​

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 11:42 am

    @Steve in the ATL

    Haven’t tried this one but other recipes from here have worked out dandy. Literally.

  41. 41.

    sab

    February 5, 2021 at 11:43 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: My ads are for kitty pajamas ( actually, for the kitty) and for cookware. So maybe it’s you.  ;)

  42. 42.

    Danielx

    February 5, 2021 at 11:43 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    You don’t want to know.

  43. 43.

    RandomMonster

    February 5, 2021 at 11:46 am

    @SFAW: [Of course, you’ll probably tell me that Instant Pots have a “slow cooker” setting.]

    Instant Pots have a “slow cooker” setting.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 11:46 am

    @Steve in the ATL: If you don’t get a good response rate in this thread, maybe try an evening thread?  Unless, of course, you are planning to make this for lunch or dinner today!

  45. 45.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 11:47 am

    @NotMax: thank you, figuratively!

     

    @Omnes Omnibus: like I’d want one with cheese curds in it….

     

    @SFAW: pressure cookers do slow cooker-type stuff in a much shorter time

  46. 46.

    rp

    February 5, 2021 at 11:48 am

    @jonas: Ironically, McFarlane got a lot of heat for using the character of brian, a liberal and intellectual, as a quasi-mouthpiece. In response, he essentially caved to his critics and had another character lecture brian for several minutes about the fact that he’s a terrible person, a hypocrite, shallow, smug, etc.

  47. 47.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 11:49 am

    @WaterGirl: lunch is grilled salmon (caught in the Atlantic on Monday!) and a medium-bodied cab, but I will check again with the second shift.  Thanks!

  48. 48.

    satby

    February 5, 2021 at 11:50 am

    @NotMax: I knew you’d have one! I’m going to make a chili with chorizo instead of ground beef… but now I’m thinking “soup…yum!”

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    February 5, 2021 at 11:51 am

    Reading some tweets, going back to 2016, about how Trump reminded folks of their abuser and how he used the language of abusers to put the blame on the abused

    The comparisons with abuse are powerful metaphors, but this is metaphorical language and in some ways insufficient. Trump was never my father or spouse, and most citizens never bought into his bullshit.

    But in America, disregard disrespect and attacks on women, particularly young women of color has had a long, ugly history. And this disregard, disrespect and sometimes violence is based on the premise that men, especially white men, can do whatever they want to a woman, and the woman has no rights, no recourse and no agency to resist or refuse.

    Some of this dynamic also reminds me of the conflicts between Serbians and Croatians. At a crucial, terrible point in many communities, leaders said, “Even though we have lived together for centuries, these Croats (or Serbs) are not your neighbors, not your tribe, not your people. You may disregard them and do whatever you want with them.  The result was, typically, horrendous, and much of the outrage was directed at women.

    Trump continually pushed the idea that no one need see Muslims, Hispanics, Democrats, anyone who opposed him as non-persons. He especially had a deep sexist and often racist disregard for women, who he branded as “nasty.”

    He gave his rotten base free rein to indulge their resentment and hatred. And, unsurprisingly, many eagerly accepted the offer.

  50. 50.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 11:52 am

    @jonas: @rp: I went to college with the guy who voices Cleveland, Herbert the Pervert, and a couple others.  Is it ironic that the main black character is voiced by a white guy who went to an all-white private college named after Robert E. Lee?

  51. 51.

    RandomMonster

    February 5, 2021 at 11:53 am

    It’s been pretty commonly remarked that the Fox-led dehumanization of liberals as some kind of other has led to normalization of calls of violence

    Limbaugh and other right-wing radio foul mouths have made decades-long careers of dehumanizing liberals and promoting violent political solutions.

  52. 52.

    laura

    February 5, 2021 at 11:54 am

    I never imagined that Steny Hoyer would say or do anything like his righteous call out of the Misogyny on the right. It was a rhetorical beatdown and those words hopefully landed and cause at least one person to search their soul and pull back from the abyss. It wont be Greene, but maybe someone with even an ounce of decency somewhere inside.

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 11:54 am

    @Steve in the ATL: Unless you are eating out, the menu at your place is much more upscale than the menu here.

  54. 54.

    AnonPhenom

    February 5, 2021 at 11:54 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

     
    Bittman NYTimes bean pot recipe

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 11:54 am

    @satby

    Made a delightful – almost celestial – Brazilian black bean stew (feijoada) in the IP last week.

  56. 56.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 5, 2021 at 11:54 am

    The Obama bros are certain that the next time the Rs are in a position to do so, they’ll remove one of the squad from committees. And given gerrymandering, that will probably happen soon. Minority rule sucks especially when the minority are gleeful when they’re able to be cruel

  57. 57.

    raven

    February 5, 2021 at 11:56 am

    @SFAW: No, the slow cooker function on the instant pot is really goofy

    “It is not as straightforward as you would think to use your Instant Pot as a Slow Cooker. This guide walks you through the modifications you need to know when using your pressure cooker as a slow cooker so that you can have Instant Pot success”.

     

    I do all kinds of beans, black-eyed peas, red beans and rice, and black beans.  Here’s a good recipe with video!

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 12:00 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah, that was a discouraging Pod Save America last night.  But they also think we did the right thing, both in standing up against the violence and threats that are unacceptable, and politically.

  59. 59.

    satby

    February 5, 2021 at 12:00 pm

    @NotMax: recipe or it didn’t happen ?

  60. 60.

    cleek

    February 5, 2021 at 12:02 pm

    deTrumping?

    TPM was a leader in getting us Trumped in the first place.

    http://www.ok-cleek.com/images/tpmtrump.jpg

  61. 61.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 12:04 pm

    @AnonPhenom: @raven: grazie

    @WaterGirl: wife knows a guy on the coast who runs a seafood business.  Every couple of weeks he sends us freshly caught salmon (for me), shrimp (for her), and scallops (for people who drop by and have bad taste is seafood).  It’s so good and so fresh that I never get salmon at restaurants anymore unless we’re on the coast.

  62. 62.

    trollhattan

    February 5, 2021 at 12:05 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    My ears have never felt this relaxed.

    My dog loves having his ears massaged. Me? Pass.

  63. 63.

    satby

    February 5, 2021 at 12:05 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: that’s hardly a revelation to anyone who’s paid attention since Nixon. Clinton’s impeachment was payback for Nixon, who resigned before he was impeached. Republicans don’t just get revenge, they do it at an exponential scale. And it still shouldn’t make anyone deviate from doing what needs to be done.

  64. 64.

    Baud

    February 5, 2021 at 12:08 pm

    @satby: Agreed.

  65. 65.

    trollhattan

    February 5, 2021 at 12:08 pm

    @RandomMonster:

    And porridge. Who doesn’t want their kitchen appliances to have a porridge setting?

  66. 66.

    CaseyL

    February 5, 2021 at 12:08 pm

    There’s a larger context here: it’s long been a truism that a prosperous, stable society is a more generous one.  That goes beyond the obvious reason that people with more economic security are more willing to lift up others.  The cycle of cruelty and abuse drains people’s energy and narrows their focus.

    I’ve felt it over the last few years, and more acutely this year.   The classic “keep your head down and just get through the day” – and, mind you, I don’t watch TV news, and thus avoided a lot of the abusive stimulus.

    Obvious disclaimer:  Activists, particularly in the marginalized communities, are heroic and noteworthy precisely because they still have the fortitude, the sheer strength, to keep fighting despite being in the middle of the shitstorm.

    But for a lot of people, just trying to function normally in a culture of depraved indifference and outright cruelty is soul-draining.  They stop caring about what’s happening beyond their immediate circle because they just can’t deal with that on top of everything else.

  67. 67.

    Josie

    February 5, 2021 at 12:09 pm

    @satby: ​
     
    True. Their desire for revenge goes all the way back to the rejection of John Tower. I agree that we should not let such hatred keep us from doing what we should.

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 5, 2021 at 12:10 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I think it’s way too early to make predictions about 2022. Mitch McConnell is scared of the nutter from Georgia. He’s not thinking of decency, honesty, sanity or patriotism. He’s thinking of 2022 and his own power.

  69. 69.

    nclurker

    February 5, 2021 at 12:12 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    grilled salmon needs a burgundy,i.e. a pinot noir.or even

    a cru beaujolais.cab will overwhelm the salmon.

    a votre’ sante

  70. 70.

    artem1s

    February 5, 2021 at 12:15 pm

    @Barbara:

    This is how abusers get away with harming others, especially abusers with power who can dole out favors and lend their power to others like Bolton who are eager to run with it.​

    Dems might now finally have an opening to shout these people down.  All they have to do is show them pictures of Jan 6 and ask them where they were that day. Ask them how looking the other way for four years worked out for those who died that day.  It’s horrible that we had to come to this but they had plenty of other chances to see it and change course. Oklahoma City, Charlottesville, too many to name…

  71. 71.

    VeniceRiley

    February 5, 2021 at 12:15 pm

    On the upside, Fox’s evening ratings are tanking.

  72. 72.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 5, 2021 at 12:17 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    a medium-bodied cab

    Boy, do you remember when the NYC fleet was all Checkers? Now *that* was a cab.

  73. 73.

    PJ

    February 5, 2021 at 12:19 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
      what’s wrong with scallops? Sauteed in butter and garlic, they are delicious

  74. 74.

    Brachiator

    February 5, 2021 at 12:20 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    The Obama bros are certain that the next time the Rs are in a position to do so, they’ll remove one of the squad from committees.

    Not surprising. And I guess a big deal, but also no big deal.

    The media and even some pundits and regular people refuse to distinguish between political opinion and insanity. I would not want someone who believed that the moon was made of green cheese on a NASA committee.

  75. 75.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 12:20 pm

    @nclurker: merci, but trust me when I say that I have beaucoup experience choosing the right red to go with my salmon!

    And, to your point, a Frank Family Vineyards pinot is part of the rotation.

  76. 76.

    RandomMonster

    February 5, 2021 at 12:22 pm

    @trollhattan: That’s right next to the “gruel” setting, right?

  77. 77.

    Another Scott

    February 5, 2021 at 12:23 pm

    @WaterGirl: I know the feeling.

    I did some quick searching around, but nothing obvious popped up.  Sorry.

    There was a story a few years ago about a guy who had Google Glass or something similar and documented/recorded every single thing about his life for years on end.  It would be handy to have that ability for situations like this!!

    But the indexing/searching capability would have to be excellent or we’d be back in the same spot.  :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  78. 78.

    randy khan

    February 5, 2021 at 12:23 pm

    @Barbara:

    Maybe it’s unsurprising, but it really is very easy to fall into the trap of enabling abusers by trying to adapt to abuse instead of ending it.

    It is.  And it’s partly because we all, on a regular basis, adapt our behavior to avoid upsetting or offending other people, and generally it’s just a matter of being reasonable or considerate.  (For instance, my wife knows there are certain foods I don’t like, and I know there are foods she doesn’t like, so we both avoid cooking those foods for each other.)  It can be difficult to discern at first when the behavior is or becomes abusive – when “I like that outfit on you” morphs into controlling the clothes you wear, or when dressing to please your partner becomes dressing a certain way to avoid making your partner angry.  And so people end up catering to abusers all the time, even when they wouldn’t do it if the abusive behavior presented itself in full-blown form from the start.

  79. 79.

    trnc

    February 5, 2021 at 12:24 pm

    @gene108: ​
     

    The only way to fix this is to win so convincingly all the the time against them they have no choice, but to change.

    If you mean with decisive wins at the ballot box, would love that but I’m somewhat discouraged by the number of legislatures working to make voting harder. If you mean by using our bare majorities to put our priorities in place and making it clear that, no, the parties are not the same, I’m all in.

    Sadly, all famous assholes named Susan Sarandon are claiming without evidence that democrats really campaigned on $2600 stimulus payments, and judging by her twitter feed, a lot of people are falling for it. Hopefully it won’t matter much if we do get the economy rolling again by the next election.

  80. 80.

    West of the Rockies

    February 5, 2021 at 12:24 pm

    I think not punishing the Oregon cattle criminals (the Bundy crew) was a mistake because a bunch of wingnuts saw it as a sign that their grievances were righteous.  The Capitol seditionists and Trump must be crushed.

  81. 81.

    PJ

    February 5, 2021 at 12:27 pm

    Because they’ll never, never, never, never, never, never do it again,
    Not until the next time

    I am relieved that Biden and most Democratic Congress members seem to know in their bones that very few Republicans will ever operate in good faith (and those that will, effectively make no difference), and are brushing off the perennial call of the press for Democrats to be “bipartisan” (Democrats bow to Republican demands, but Republicans can ignore any and all Democratic demands) while pointing out that their policies are, in fact, bipartisan, because they have the support of a significant majority of the entire country.

  82. 82.

    kindness

    February 5, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    I thought Nixon was bad, then we got Ronnie.  I thought Ronnie was bad, then we got Dubya.  I thought Dubya was bad, then we got Trump.

    It didn’t start with Newt Gingrich.  But Gingrich did ramp Lee Atwater up to 11 by saying Republicans should never discuss a Democrat without also calling them treasonous, criminal, and any number of things that aren’t true, just so the media would repeat the claim and help set the framing.  Republicans have followed Newt’s advice and then Fox, and it’s new sibling OAR & Newsmax turned that up to 11.

    And the rest of the MSM sat on their asses.  They never pointed out the hyperbole of Republicans.  They still don’t.  The MSM loves them some Republican Daddies and sets the framing to exactly how they like it to appear.  I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to overcome that.  If we are to keep this Republic, we are going to have to.  I would not place that bet at this point in time.

  83. 83.

    Peale

    February 5, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    @Kent: Nope. Its always 1968 with the press. Always 1968, and liberal overreach leads to Conservative backlash, to the point where anything liberals want to do is considered overreach. I think they see it as their job to make sure there is never a liberal backlash. And if anything was an overreach and that deserves a liberal backlash, its Trump.

  84. 84.

    Just One More Canuck

    February 5, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: fresh caught salmon is the closest thing to heaven on earth

  85. 85.

    Kent

    February 5, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    @raven: I do all manner of soups (including bean soups and chiles) with my Instapot.

    The key is whether or not you are using canned beans or dry beans.  If you are opening up cans of pre-cooked black beans and dropping them in then it is trivially easy to make soup with either the slow cook or pressure cook settings.  I always use the pressure cook settings to get done faster.  And I only use canned beans because I’m lazy.

    If on the other hand, you are cooking dried black beans from scratch the soup making process becomes more complicated because the time and effort to cook the beans is about 10x more than all the other vegetable ingredients and I would tend to cook up the beans first and then mix in the soft vegetables to finish.

    Use canned beans if you want some quicker and easier soup. Use dried beans if you want to do some weekend-long authentic chili-making sort of adventure.

  86. 86.

    jackmac

    February 5, 2021 at 12:29 pm

    There’s no easy way to stop this. Civility and understanding of the “other side” does not work.

    Instead,  throwing the book at any and all of the Capitol insurrectionists and serious prosecutions when right wing idiots threaten elected officials and their families with injury or death is a good start. The prospect of serious jail time might make these a**holes think twice.

  87. 87.

    japa21

    February 5, 2021 at 12:29 pm

    @satby: ​
      Did your friends’ father get his shot yesterday at Tinley? I was a little concerned due to the weather.

  88. 88.

    randy khan

    February 5, 2021 at 12:29 pm

    In the current age, it’s really easy to threaten people, and while my guess is that only a very small percentage of the people who threaten the likes of AOC, Tlaib, and Omar would even consider acting on it, both the people doing it to sound tough and the people who really mean it can reach them.  And the threats from the people who’d never actually do it look just as real as the ones from the much smaller number of people who are a real danger.

    Odds are that the guy who @Halteclere overheard talking about hanging Pelosi and Schumer never would do anything about it, but people feel much more free to say those things and, more importantly, to say them directly to their targets, than they did in the past.  It’s a real problem.

  89. 89.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 12:32 pm

    @trollhattan: “I never acquired a taste for peasant food”–King Louis XVI, at least according to the writers of “Outlander”

  90. 90.

    Chief Oshkosh

    February 5, 2021 at 12:32 pm

    @RandomMonster: Newt Gingrich damned near made it the central policy of one of our two major political parties.

  91. 91.

    Kent

    February 5, 2021 at 12:33 pm

    @West of the Rockies:I think not punishing the Oregon cattle criminals (the Bundy crew) was a mistake because a bunch of wingnuts saw it as a sign that their grievances were righteous.  The Capitol seditionists and Trump must be crushed.

    Most of them were tried.  But the US Attorney in Oregon fucked up the cases so royally that some were dismissed and others were basically jury nullification.  I don’t recall all the details but it was heavily covered out here and locals were royally pissed at how fucked up the prosecutions were.

    A bunch of the lesser folks took plea deals and then tried to wiggle out of them after they saw how fucked up the prosecution of the Bundy’s was.  But they weren’t allowed off the hook.

  92. 92.

    Mo Salad

    February 5, 2021 at 12:34 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: Nope. The use of the superlative middle name Fucking  is a positive one. See Ron Fucking Swanson and Amanda Fucking  Palmer.

  93. 93.

    Another Scott

    February 5, 2021 at 12:34 pm

    @cleek: Not to pick on TPM in particular, but the management of the press really, really needs to understand that amplification of toxic people and toxic ideas – even to criticize them – is toxic.  And dangerous.

    Chasing “engagement” and clicks will destroy the planet unless we straighten up.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 12:35 pm

    @satby

    Began with this as a template.

    4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
    1 medium onion, diced
    2 Linguisa (chorizo) sausage links, sliced
    5-6 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
    1 lb dry Black beans
    5 tsp chicken bouillon
    5 cups water
    1 tablespoon kosher salt
    1/2 teaspoon black pepper
    1 tsp cumin
    1/2 tsp coriander
    1/2 tsp turmeric
    1/2 tsp white pepper
    1/4 tsp cayenne
    1 tsp oregano
    .
    1. Preheat the Instant Pot by turning on the sauté mode. Place beans in a fine mesh strainer, pick out any with impurities, and rinse.
    2. Add the bacon, onion, sausage and garlic and stir for 2-3 minutes.
    3. Add the beans, bouillon and water, and spices. Stir to combine and secure lid. Cook on high pressure for 40 minutes, and then release steam from pot. If desired, lightly smash some beans on the side of the pot (this will thicken them), season with additional salt and pepper if desired, and let cool for a few minutes before serving.

    Altered it by using canned black beans (1 can complete with liquid, the rest drained). That meant didn’t need so much water, so guesstimated about 1 cup instead. (I have the small 3 qt. IP.)
    Used beef bouillon rather than chicken. Reduced amount to be commensurate with the reduced amount of water.
    First browned maybe a pound of beef cubes (like for a beef stew) in IP, then set those aside
    Separately sauteed (in the IP) the onion until just beginning to brown (then put aside), then did the bacon (and put aside), then last the sausage plus garlic and spices. Added water/bouillon to allow for deglazing/scraping up the browned bits on bottom of pot.
    Used a chub of Portuguese sausage. Ground, not encased. Stirred in all the spices with the sausage as it cooked.
    Then put all ingredients in the pot with the sausage/spice mixture, added beans (3 cans total), stirred well. Scaled back cook time to 35 minutes, let it sit for natural release for a few minutes before using quick release. Mashed some of the beans to thicken it up to desired consistency.

  95. 95.

    SFAW

    February 5, 2021 at 12:36 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    like I’d want one with cheese curds in it….

    Or head cheese cheese heads

  96. 96.

    West of the Rockies

    February 5, 2021 at 12:38 pm

    @jackmac:

    3+ decades of rightwing rage radio can’t be undone easily.  Applying 30 years of Kumbaya radio won’t do it.  There must he clear and justly harsh punishments for the organizers and most destructive perpetrators of 1/6.

  97. 97.

    Geminid

    February 5, 2021 at 12:40 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:  The ads here can be amusing. I recently checked out a post expressing skepticism about winning over white working class voters, titled “Teaching Pigs to Sing.” The header ad featured a metal livestock building, with a headshot of a healthy, happy looking hog.

  98. 98.

    Kent

    February 5, 2021 at 12:40 pm

    @NotMax: I make lots of similar soups with the instapot.  But I never bother trying to saute within the instapot.  I just use a saute pan on the stove and then dump the contents into the instapot for cooking.  Why use the anemic electric saute function in the instapot when you have a gas stove with good saute pans?  So much easier.

    But if one doesn’t have a good gas stove and cookware then it would make sense to use the instapot for everything.  Most recipes are written that way where you use the instapot for every step like you are cooking in a dorm room or something.  When what they are really good for is the pressure cook or slow cook features.

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 12:41 pm

    @SFAW

    Small, but dedicated, following of the band The Grateful Cheese.

    ;)

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    February 5, 2021 at 12:42 pm

    @randy khan:

    In the current age, it’s really easy to threaten people, and while my guess is that only a very small percentage of the people who threaten the likes of AOC, Tlaib, and Omar would even consider acting on it,

    This is still a large number of people, especially when they can take advantage of the anonymity of the mob.

    Also compounding this is when cowards encourage others to do horrible deeds.

  101. 101.

    L85NJGT

    February 5, 2021 at 12:43 pm

    FOX News is trying, and failing, to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. What’s left of AM radio ad dollars are online sports book and gold buggery.

    All of the current GOP endeavor is predicated on creating a time distortion back to 2004.

  102. 102.

    Kent

    February 5, 2021 at 12:44 pm

    @West of the Rockies:I think not punishing the Oregon cattle criminals (the Bundy crew) was a mistake because a bunch of wingnuts saw it as a sign that their grievances were righteous.  The Capitol seditionists and Trump must be crushed.

    Well, the Bundy crew aren’t from Oregon. They are from backwoods southern Utah.  They were tried and punished for the Malheur occupation which happened in Oregon.  In a botched trial.  But they are still basically getting away with illegal grazing in southern Utah, which Biden should bring to a fucking end.

    It is sort of tied into the larger Bears Ears national monument fight in southern Utah.  Which I hope Biden’s new Interior Secretary will reverse and re-instate.  The Bundy’s were part of that crew which pressured Trump to roll back the national monument in 2017.

  103. 103.

    Tenar Arha

    February 5, 2021 at 12:44 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’ve started to get a lot of bellroy ads even with ad blockers on bc I love their stuff & look it up, even though I haven’t bought much but a wallet bc I’m trying to buy fewer bags (& wallets) which I don’t need. LOL

    ETA that’s a ? at myself and my bag & wallet collection that I have a hard time not adding to, let alone the lackluster culling I don’t do

  104. 104.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 12:46 pm

    @Kent

    For me it means one less pan to wash. And no spatter on stovetop. (Also no gas stove.)

    ;)

  105. 105.

    Ken

    February 5, 2021 at 12:48 pm

    @VeniceRiley: On the upside, Fox’s evening ratings are tanking.

    Their over-70 demographic dying off?  Viewers going to OANN because Fox is too liberal?  Viewers saying “after Jan 6, I can’t be part of this any more”?

    ¿Por qué no los tres?

  106. 106.

    L85NJGT

    February 5, 2021 at 12:49 pm

    @Brachiator:

    The structural under pinning is similar to the idea behind rape culture. All that it takes is a handful of perpetrators to instill the behaviors and norms on the broader culture.

  107. 107.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 5, 2021 at 12:51 pm

    President Biden is hanging tough.

    "I'm not cutting the size of the checks. They're going to be $1,400. Period,” Biden tells reporters, referring to coronavirus stimulus.“I know some in Congress think we've already done enough to deal with the crisis…That's not what I see. I see enormous pain in this country.”— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) February 5, 2021

  108. 108.

    VeniceRiley

    February 5, 2021 at 12:51 pm

    @Ken: CNN is #! and MSNBC #2, with Maddow #1 in her time slot

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/fox-news-ratings-trump-newsmax-b1798081.html

  109. 109.

    Ken

    February 5, 2021 at 12:57 pm

    @kindness:I  thought Nixon was bad, then we got Ronnie.  I thought Ronnie was bad, then we got Dubya.  I thought Dubya was bad, then we got Trump.

    I’ve used this before, but:  Trump is like a bizarro version of Captain Marvel.  Instead of wisdom of Solomon, strength of Hercules, etc., we end up with the paranoia of Nixon, ignorance of Dubya, superficiality of Reagan, corruption of Harding, …

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 12:57 pm

    @NotMax

    Left out one alteration. Used turkey bacon (cuts down on amount of fat, there’s sufficient in the sausage) in place of regular bacon.

  111. 111.

    Ken

    February 5, 2021 at 12:59 pm

    @VeniceRiley: It vaguely disturbs me how many analyses of US media come from the Independent or the Guardian.  Are there no introspective pieces by US media itself?

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 1:01 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: As always, it pays to know a guy.  Lucky you guys!

  113. 113.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    February 5, 2021 at 1:03 pm

    @SFAW: Beans need to be boiled, especially kidney beans, as they are high in a toxin that is destroyed at boiling temps. Crock pots generally don’t bring things up to a full boil. Pressure cookers are great for making bean soups – 1) they get things boiled, 2) they eliminate the need for pre-soaking the beans, and 3) they cook beans amazingly quickly. Pressure cooking does in minutes what crock pots do in hours…I made spare ribs with sauerkraut in my Instant Pot and they were fall off the bone tender in I can’t remember how long but it was definitely less than an hour.

  114. 114.

    Tenar Arha

    February 5, 2021 at 1:05 pm

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, I found this video compilation from the New Yorker in the aftermath https://www.newyorker.com/news/video-dept/a-reporters-footage-from-inside-the-capitol-siege

    but you’re clearly referring to something that was streaming or being broadcast last night, & I can’t find anything either. Sorry.

  115. 115.

    raven

    February 5, 2021 at 1:06 pm

    @Kent: I use dried beans, especially  Camellia, and often with smoked turkey necks.

  116. 116.

    raven

    February 5, 2021 at 1:07 pm

    @SFAW: Look at the link I added about the slow cook function in an instant pot.

  117. 117.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 1:08 pm

    @Tenar Arha: Thanks for checking.  Yeah, I have had the file you found open in a tab for a couple of weeks, thinking I will get around to watching it at some point.  I’m thinking with the impeachment trial coming up, I’ll definitely watch what they put together.

  118. 118.

    karen marie

    February 5, 2021 at 1:08 pm

    @NotMax: I’d like this as a rotating tag

     

    I’ve nominated it.

  119. 119.

    Kent

    February 5, 2021 at 1:09 pm

    @NotMax:

    @Kent

    For me it means one less pan to wash. And no spatter on stovetop. (Also no gas stove.)

    ;)

    Oh, I get it. I have just not had good luck doing a good vegetable or meat saute in an instapot which is fairly small on the bottom.  Compared to just tossing a big saute pan on the stove and doing it the regular way.

    But then most of my soup recipes, which are largely self-created, start with me pressure cooking chicken breasts or thighs in the instapot while I saute up the vegetable contents.  And then I shred the chicken, assemble everything back into the instapot, and bring it all back up to pressure for a minute or two.  I do this with chicken tortilla soup, chicken noodle soup, chicken and rice soup and so forth.  If I’m making a vegan soup based on lentils or split peas or something then I just skip the saute step and dump everything into the pot and cook.

    I’m making soups at least 2-3 times a week.  I find all manner of recipes on the internet and in cookbooks, but I usually adopt them to my own quirks of cooking process based on my on internal knowledge of how long each type of ingredient takes to cook.

  120. 120.

    Kent

    February 5, 2021 at 1:12 pm

    @raven:@Kent: I use dried beans, especially  Camellia, and often with smoked turkey necks.

    See, you are much more purist than me.  But then I often start a soup at 6 pm on a weeknight with the notion of having it on the table at 6:30 pm.  Something you can’t contemplate doing if you are cooking dried beans from scratch.

    If I’m going to get all purist and do some sort of chili from scratch with dried beans it’s going to be something like a weekend superbowl party chili with hours of prep time.

  121. 121.

    hitchhiker

    February 5, 2021 at 1:16 pm

    @randy khan:

    we all, on a regular basis, adapt our behavior to avoid upsetting or offending other people, and generally it’s just a matter of being reasonable or considerate.

    this is the trap that families of addicts routinely fall into.

    you adapt and adapt and adapt some more, until suddenly the addiction is in charge of your life, too.

  122. 122.

    VeniceRiley

    February 5, 2021 at 1:17 pm

    @Ken: Eric Bohlert email today for

    https://pressrun.media/

  123. 123.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 1:17 pm

    I’m sorry to read this at the Washington Monthly.  I barely read Martin Longman anymore, but I do like Nancy LeTourneau.

    So, we’re not surprised that two terrific journalists who have been part of the Monthly family for many years are packing up the covered wagon and joining this modern-day gold rush. Many of you know the writings of Martin Longman and Nancy LeTourneau.

    Each has brought wisdom, precise thinking, and a passion for social justice to their work, all informed by living outside the Beltway in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, respectively.

    Soon, you’ll be able to find their sharp analysis at Progress Pond, a progressive platform that Longman built and that promises to grow with LeTourneau and others contributing there.

    But the Progress Pond site always feels overwhelming to me, so I guess I won’t be reading her anymore.  The article goes on to say that they may post occasionally at the Washington Monthly, but I’m not sure it will be worth checking regularly without Nancy L.

  124. 124.

    J R in WV

    February 5, 2021 at 1:21 pm

    @PJ: 

    scallops? Sauteed in butter and garlic, they are delicious

    I agree. I often sear minced scallops with garlic and pasta. Ummm, good! Serve with champagne, or a smooth Tuscan chianti…

  125. 125.

    Princess

    February 5, 2021 at 1:21 pm

    I always say, scratch a Q believer and you will find a victim and/or perpetrator of abuse, using Qanin as a way or processing the abuse they cannot face in their own histories.

  126. 126.

    mali muso

    February 5, 2021 at 1:21 pm

    @WaterGirl: Aww, that’s a shame.  I really like Nancy’s writing, although I have to admit that I haven’t followed her as much as I used to when she had her own blog.  And the Progress Pond (formerly…what was it?) was a place I used to visit daily but stopped when it devolved into a leftier-than-thou swamp.

  127. 127.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 1:23 pm

    @Kent

    You’re probably already aware of a little thing that makes a big difference when using sauté in the IP.

    Wait until the message switches from On to Hot and only then put in the oil or butter.

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 5, 2021 at 1:23 pm

    @WaterGirl: I quit reading when they folded the Political Animal blog into the main page, it was just a mess, and they published a lot cranks among the sounder people. Did Booman go off the rails? I genuinely forget

  129. 129.

    Kent

    February 5, 2021 at 1:29 pm

    @NotMax:

    @Kent

    You’re probably already aware of a little thing that makes a big difference when using sauté in the IP.

    Wait until the message switches from On to Hot and only then put in the oil or butter.

    Yes, I know how they work.  I just find it takes longer and is more tedious to try to cook and assemble a multi-step meal using just one pot when I have a whole well-equipped kitchen and 6-burner gas stove at my disposal as well.

    But if I was living in some small confined space with limited tools I would definitely do it your way.

  130. 130.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 1:29 pm

    @J R in WV

    Gotta stay alert with scallops or they will turn rubbery (snaps fingers) like that.

    Like to poach scallops in butter and vermouth, then a fast browning under the broiler.

  131. 131.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 1:31 pm

    @mali muso: I read daily when it was the Booman Tribune.  First BooMan started to veer off into negativity, then he moved the site to Progress Pond, and I haven’t been back since.

  132. 132.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 1:31 pm

    @PJ: there is nothing wrong with scallops, other than that my wife and I care for neither the texture nor the flavor.  Your cooking recommendation is solid advice for almost everything, however: saute in butter and garlic.  All you’re missing is “sprinkle liberally with creole seasoning”!

  133. 133.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 1:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think BooMan sort of did go off the rails, for me at least.

  134. 134.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 1:32 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Nothing at all wrong with scallops, unless you have to eat them!  :-)

  135. 135.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 1:34 pm

    @SFAW: ​
     I must be part of the 1%, because I have both a crock pot and instant pot!

    I shouldn’t brag, but I also have an air fryer….

  136. 136.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 1:34 pm

    @WaterGirl: bingo!

  137. 137.

    Punchy

    February 5, 2021 at 1:35 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Came to say exactly this.  Pedantry is my jam.

  138. 138.

    different-church-lady

    February 5, 2021 at 1:36 pm

    If you’ve ever been in an intimate relationship with an emotional manipulator, you recognized Trump’s M.O. immediately.

  139. 139.

    J R in WV

    February 5, 2021 at 1:38 pm

    Scallops can get rubbery, you do need to cook them for just a minute.

    Don’t know about creole spice on top, they have a pretty delicate flavor.

    Of course if you don’t like them, nothing will help with that. A squeeze of lemon is the best addition to the garlic, butter and white wine. Grind of fresh  black pepper on the pasta after it’s plated.

    And it all depends upon the scallops being fresh and untreated.

  140. 140.

    Josie

    February 5, 2021 at 1:41 pm

    @raven: ​
     
    I used smoked turkey necks for the first time ever in some black-eyed peas for New Year’s Day, and they were so good. I will be using them again soon in a bean soup of some kind.

  141. 141.

    different-church-lady

    February 5, 2021 at 1:41 pm

    @Josie: ​
     

    Their desire for revenge goes all the way back to the rejection of John Tower slavery.

  142. 142.

    Barbara

    February 5, 2021 at 1:42 pm

    @VeniceRiley:  If Maria Bartiromo is their proposed answer I can see why. I saw her on Celebrity Jeopardy once. OMG.

  143. 143.

    Ken

    February 5, 2021 at 1:44 pm

    @Barbara: I saw her on Celebrity Jeopardy once.

    I can only imagine.  Alex would of course have been tactful; “Remember, your answer must be in the form of a question, and not a twenty-minute tirade on the evils of Democrats.”

  144. 144.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 1:44 pm

    @J R in WV: the salmon I sprinkle with creole, add a pat of butter, then grill for 13 minutes at 350 degrees. Add lemon juice after cooking.

    Shrimp is prepared in many ways, all of which involve sauteing in butter and covering in creole. Garlic, onions, and peppers may or may not be involved, depending on how much time I have. We do a lot of shrimp ettouffee and similar dishes as well.

  145. 145.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 5, 2021 at 1:45 pm

    RIP Christopher Plummer. Damn. Have been half-expecting and dreading this news. But 91 is not a bad run. Still. Damn.

  146. 146.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 1:46 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Fuck.

  147. 147.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 5, 2021 at 1:48 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Yeah.

  148. 148.

    Old Man Shadow

    February 5, 2021 at 1:50 pm

    They live in an authoritarian social system. Power in their worldview is to be grasped and wielded and it is best wielded if you make your underlings squirm and remind them who is the boss. That’s what your masters do and that’s how you intend to use your power.

    Women, Blacks, Latinos, LGBTQ, anyone really, but especially those groups are resented and hated because they refuse to accept their “place” in the authoritarian, racial, social, and gender hierarchy that the fanatics are convinced is God-ordained, therefore, they provoke the worst impulses of petty, religious confessors and inquisitors who would happily murder millions of his fellow man to create his own sick, twisted Heaven on Earth

    Warped, twisted, unable to enjoy a thing for itself, they can only see how something can be used in their neverending quest for domination.

  149. 149.

    VeniceRiley

    February 5, 2021 at 1:50 pm

    Horseshoe types, conspiracy theorists, and attention whores:
    https://www.register-herald.com/cnhi_network/radical-anti-vaccine-faction-that-shut-down-dodger-stadium-says-it-is-not-finished/article_f0970ece-6750-11eb-9707-2fe3e8f74222.html

  150. 150.

    smith

    February 5, 2021 at 1:53 pm

    Things keep looking up — Fetterman has filed for Toomey’s Senate seat https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pa-lt-gov-fetterman-files-to-run-for-toomey-seat-in-2022

  151. 151.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 1:54 pm

    If anyone likes Lawfare or listens to the Lawfare podcasts, they have a “Lawfare live” for any hour every Friday at noon.  Today’s topic was “Post-Trump Truth Commissions?”.  They talk for a bit at the top and then take questions.  Really interesting today.

    In order to participate you have to be set up with their Patreon for $10 a month, but I am finding that it’s worth it.

    They are going to experiment with something for the Impeachment trial, with a 30-minute session in the evenings to summarize from that day and a 30-minute session in the morning about what’s coming up for that day.  And take questions and each session.

    Just in case anyone is interested.

  152. 152.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 1:56 pm

    @WaterGirl: paying lawyers?  Ugh.

  153. 153.

    Josie

    February 5, 2021 at 1:56 pm

    @different-church-lady: ​
     
    Excellent correction.

  154. 154.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 1:57 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: How much for you to tell us what you think?  :-)

  155. 155.

    Cameron

    February 5, 2021 at 1:58 pm

    @VeniceRiley: Goddam, those people are unhinged.

  156. 156.

    frosty

    February 5, 2021 at 1:59 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Yes, Ms F has acquired them all as well. Although the slow cookers have been retired to shelves in the basement and we only use the Instapot.

    We have the small versions for the trailer. I am an Instapot convert for red beans, chili, and stews.

  157. 157.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 5, 2021 at 2:08 pm

    @NotMax:

    2 Linguisa (chorizo) sausage links, sliced

    Living, as I do, in the westernmost province of the Azores, I want to make sure the casual reader is aware that linguiça and chouriço are not the same thing.

  158. 158.

    ellie

    February 5, 2021 at 2:24 pm

    Thanks for the earworm.

  159. 159.

    CatServant

    February 5, 2021 at 2:25 pm

    @WaterGirl: She still has her blog!

    https://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/

  160. 160.

    sab

    February 5, 2021 at 2:30 pm

    @different-church-lady: Very much “yep.”

  161. 161.

    sab

    February 5, 2021 at 2:32 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: I bet you still have a foreman grill.

  162. 162.

    raven

    February 5, 2021 at 2:33 pm

    @Josie: Yay! As far browning anything in the IP I’m with Kent. I do it on the stovetop and add it. Other tips are to get a stainless pot and silicon top for the IP. The stainless is a much thicker bottom and that helps for all kinds of cooking.

  163. 163.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    February 5, 2021 at 2:34 pm

    @J R in WV: I learned this a while ago.  If you don’t like the basic essence of a food, you won’t like it no matter how it is cooked. I love broccoli, but do not like Brussel sprouts.  There was a rage for BS a while ago and I had them in a restaurant and nope, still tasted like Brussel sprouts.  My mother loved scallops.  I don’t. Now crab, on the other hand, is wonderful, in just about any form.  I’m about to make my traditional annual Hot Crab Dip for Super Bowl, even though we aren’t having anyone over this year, obviously.

  164. 164.

    raven

    February 5, 2021 at 2:34 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I thought you were in Narraganset!

  165. 165.

    raven

    February 5, 2021 at 2:36 pm

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I roast them with root vegetables every Sunday. I like em ok but my bride loves them. In the last couple of weeks I’ve roasted the spuds and squash for about 30 minutes and then add the BS and cauliflower for about 15 more.

  166. 166.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    February 5, 2021 at 2:37 pm

    @smith: I got an email from him a week or so ago asking for money (testing the waters, I guess).  I send him some bucks, since I have learned about him from this site, and I guess enough folks did so he’s taken the next step. He (and his wife!!) are very cool.

  167. 167.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 5, 2021 at 2:37 pm

    @sab: ha!  Never did, though.

  168. 168.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2021 at 2:39 pm

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    Somewhere have a recipe for a crab and asparagus lasagna (white, not red, sauce). Good stuff.

  169. 169.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 5, 2021 at 2:39 pm

    @raven: It’s a bit of a joke about the Azorean/Portuguese population around here.

  170. 170.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    February 5, 2021 at 2:40 pm

    @NotMax: That sounds promising!

  171. 171.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 5, 2021 at 2:41 pm

    @the pollyanna from hell: My mother was a school-system psychologist and when dealing with kids, “identification with the aggressor” was one of her go-to concepts. I think about it a lot.

  172. 172.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    February 5, 2021 at 2:41 pm

    @smith: Fetterman has filed for Toomey’s Senate seat

    Oh man. To be proud of my Senator again.

  173. 173.

    Uncle Cosmo

    February 5, 2021 at 2:42 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Now *that* was a cab.

    No, here was a Cab. High-D; high-D; hoe.

    Ласкаво просимо, boychik.​​

  174. 174.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    February 5, 2021 at 2:43 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
    And I’m guessing since those appear to be Portuguese spellings, that neither is anything like what the spanish-speaking world called chorizo either (which is different among different spanish-speaking countries anyway).

    Side note: As soon as I lived near a mercado where I could buy real chorizo, I started buying it regularly and treating it like regular sausage, i.e. frying whole. But I’ve never seen any Mexican do anything with it but cook the meat outside of the casing, generally mixed with other things.

  175. 175.

    raven

    February 5, 2021 at 2:46 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I really enjoyed the exhibit of Portuguese Whalers at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford.This pic of a woman in a traditional Azores hood was cool.

     

    My outfit was probably 90% Italiano and the rest Portuguese!

  176. 176.

    sab

    February 5, 2021 at 2:47 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I wish Kay was still around. She wrote some interesting comments about how succesful anti-bullying training was when the school board final took it seriously enough to implement some training.

  177. 177.

    raven

    February 5, 2021 at 2:48 pm

    The Azorean Hood (in Portuguese, ‘Capote e Capelo’) is a traditional local garment worn up until the 1930s. The large cape covers a woman’s figure, allowing only a glimpse of her face.

  178. 178.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 5, 2021 at 2:53 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Since NotMax started this with a recipe for feijoada, I had to go in that direction.

  179. 179.

    Just Chuck

    February 5, 2021 at 2:54 pm

    @Mo Salad: Then you get to the level of an exalted few, namely Samuel L. Muthafucking Jackson

  180. 180.

    Mike in NC

    February 5, 2021 at 2:58 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:  I used to shop at a few places in Fall River and New Bedford and got hooked on the stuff.

  181. 181.

    OGLiberal

    February 5, 2021 at 3:29 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: I think he, Mike Henry, recently announced that he would no longer be voicing Cleveland because he felt it was wrong for a white dude to be playing the role.  When The Cleveland Show was still on Lester Krinklesac, the redneck racist neighbor, was played by Kevin Michael Richardson, who also plays Cleveland Jr., Jerome on Family Guy and Principal Lewis on American Dad.

  182. 182.

    Zelma

    February 5, 2021 at 3:29 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Do you think Fetterman has a chance?  I mean, I’ve loved him since he was mayor of Braddock.  (My son did Americorps in Braddock).  But I have to wonder if he is just too outre for a Senatorial run.  It would be great to see him looming over all those puny Rethugs though!

  183. 183.

    Starboard Tack

    February 5, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I had a cousin who had a Checker in the 50’s and I drove cab in one in college. Checker built the body but the drive train was all Chevrolet. Those things were tanks. A buddy was boxed in once by robbers and drove up the curb and down a sidewalk that was having the concrete redone. Smashed a lot of forms and gravel piles but he got away clean.

  184. 184.

    frosty

    February 5, 2021 at 3:33 pm

    @Zelma: I think he would have beaten Toomey. Katie McGinty was the wrong candidate for a year with a populist slant. He’a authentic and that makes a difference.

  185. 185.

    pluky

    February 5, 2021 at 3:34 pm

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Odd. People tend to like Brassica species in general, or detest them all. How do you with others: Turnips (greens and/or roots), cauliflower, other cabbages, etc.?

  186. 186.

    Starboard Tack

    February 5, 2021 at 3:34 pm

    @RandomMonster:

    It’s on the other side of mucilage.

  187. 187.

    karen marie

    February 5, 2021 at 3:42 pm

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:  I am so glad you mentioned this.  I thought, oh, pshaw, that can’t be true, but it is!  And it explains the unpleasant reaction I had after eating Peruvian beans I had bought dry and then cooked (without soaking and without ensuring they were at 212 degrees for 10 minutes).  I cooked them in a crockpot.  I’m not seeing any info that directly says this particular bean contains a high level of phytohemagglutinin but they clearly do.

    I’ve never had a reaction to any other bean, including kidney beans, but this was my first foray into cooking dried beans.  I have always used canned.

    I still have two cups of the dried Peruvian beans but once burnt, twice shy, so I’ve been reluctant to cook them and have a repeat, but now that I know about the temperature thing I’ll give it another shot.

  188. 188.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 3:48 pm

    @CatServant: I did not know she had a blog!  I just added her to my RSS feed.  Thank you!

  189. 189.

    karen marie

    February 5, 2021 at 3:48 pm

    @NotMax:   Do tell!

  190. 190.

    Mike in Pasadena

    February 5, 2021 at 3:49 pm

    “Wrong religion or wrong skin color”

    Or wrong genitals.

  191. 191.

    Starboard Tack

    February 5, 2021 at 3:50 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Thanks. I read Lawfare but haven’t listened to the podcasts.  Sounds interesting.

  192. 192.

    karen marie

    February 5, 2021 at 3:56 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:  The Portuguese put it in literally everything.  Name something, it’s got chorizo in it.  I lived in Fall River for eight years, and I regret leaving.  Portuguese food is fantastic.

  193. 193.

    Central Planning

    February 5, 2021 at 4:06 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Your cooking recommendation is solid advice for almost everything, however: saute in butter and garlic. All you’re missing is “sprinkle liberally with creole seasoning”!

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I must be part of the 1%, because I have both a crock pot and instant pot!

    I shouldn’t brag, but I also have an air fryer….

    I didn’t think my wife posted here.

  194. 194.

    BruceFromOhio

    February 5, 2021 at 4:06 pm

    One of the themes of living with an abuser is that they feed off of fear and pain.

    Lived it growing up, and I can attest to exactly that. Three things came out of it for me (and now we are all living it, I’m sorry to say):

    The only way to survive and grow is get the fuck away, and never let the abuser have ANY say or sway over anything meaningful, for me personally or any other living thing.

    Gotta recognize the scars, the adaptations and accommodations that resulted from being abused, acknowledge them, and then live with them in order to change them and break the cycle forever.

    The only way to deal with an the abuser that the abuser recognizes is getting his face slammed hard into the cement in front of a crowd. (For the less-inclined, this can be figurative as well as literal.) Once I fought back, that soulless piece of shit never fucked me with again. To this day, he is exactly the same, and lives alone stewing in a bitter brew of anger and hatred. He will die that way. As much as touchy-feely oh-let’s-help-him is so well intended, for him and people like him, it doesn’t matter. He. Will. Not. Change.

    The only way to deal with the GQP is to slam it’s face into the cement as hard as we possibly can. The new administration appears to understand that.

  195. 195.

    catclub

    February 5, 2021 at 4:17 pm

    @satby: Republicans don’t just get revenge, they do it at an exponential scale.

     

    They claim that Merrick Garland was Borked. Except Bork got hearings and an uperdown vote. And GOP senators voting against.

  196. 196.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    February 5, 2021 at 4:20 pm

    @pluky: I know!  I like cauliflower too, and cabbage is OK.  I originally got into broccoli as an acceptable platform for mayonnaise (see also artichokes), but eventually learned to like it by itself.  I also like its looks (little trees).  Of course, cauliflower was originally a vehicle for cheese sauce.  I think I was a cat at a dairy farm in my last life. ;-).  I put turnips into stews as an addition to potatoes and like them a lot.  It’s just Brussel sprouts I don’t like

    I also don’t like peppers (green peppers, red peppers, black pepper) but that is another discussion. While dislikes can be formed in childhood from having to eat miscooked or overcooked foods, especially vegetables, I also think some of this is genetic.  I have always simply loathed green and red peppers, for example. It’s unfortunate since their colors make them such nice additions to many recipes.  Sometimes I’ll cook something and my husband will add peppers to his portion :-).

  197. 197.

    sab

    February 5, 2021 at 4:24 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: My first marriage was psycholigcally but not physically abusive. Some of my sisters and sisters-in-law have been in physically abusive relationships (which are also always psychologically abusive.)

    Good advice. Get away. Deal with it because they are breaking the law and that is why we have laws. Figure out how to be ( sceptically) kind for the rest of your life because you want to be you not another them.

  198. 198.

    Soprano2

    February 5, 2021 at 4:31 pm

    I just saw some hopeful COVID news in our department’s weekly newsletter – the sampling of COVID at our large wastewater treatment plant shows that our community numbers are dropping, and are at the lowest level they’ve seen for three months. Also, they’re planning to pay us some incentive to get vaccinated, so I might get money for doing something I was already going to do.

  199. 199.

    rikyrah

    February 5, 2021 at 4:36 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I don’t, but it sounds delicious ?

  200. 200.

    Geminid

    February 5, 2021 at 4:37 pm

    @Zelma: Fetterman probably has a good chance. Pennsylvania elects it’s governor and leiutenant governor in tandem, and he and Tom Wolfe won in in 2018 by 800,000 votes out of 5 million cast. That same year Senator Casey won reelection by 650,000 votes. Generally speaking, Democrats are unified and fired up, while Republicans seem to have a certain amount of intraparty turbulence. And Fetterman can have a simple campaign theme: “I want to help President Biden help Pennsylvania, and my opponent just wants to obstruct him.”

  201. 201.

    Jay

    February 5, 2021 at 4:39 pm

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):

    a key trick to any brassic’s, is to cook them in a non-reactive pot.

    it minimizes or erases the release of sulphur compounds.

    We use 316 stainless to cook all members of the cabbage family.

    Dave uses a teflon pan to braise brussels in a mix of already cooked bacon and onions, with balsamic added to finish.

  202. 202.

    BruceFromOhio

    February 5, 2021 at 4:56 pm

    Wow, sorry to drop a downer comment on the whole recipe discussion – you folks are making me hungry and giving me some ideas.

  203. 203.

    Low Key Swagger

    February 5, 2021 at 5:08 pm

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I wonder if this is true of pintos. I have in the past made them in a slow cooker, and they were fine. But I do prefer to stovetop them for hours and hours and hours and hours.

  204. 204.

    Uncle Cosmo

    February 5, 2021 at 5:34 pm

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): ​ You probably need to read up on the Brussels Sprouts Gene. I love ’em myself, but your genetic-marker mileage may well & truly vary.

  205. 205.

    No name

    February 5, 2021 at 6:20 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: sorry you had to deal with this.  So did I.  If you are able, you need to fight back, often in a physical way.  And then get out.

    and as far as a food recommendation…braise your Brussel sprouts…or anything similar…in cream.

  206. 206.

    WaterGirl

    February 5, 2021 at 6:32 pm

    @Starboard Tack: In case it wasn’t clear, the Lawfare podcasts are free.  But to get the Lawfare LIVE thing every Friday, you have to be a Patreon.

  207. 207.

    Richard

    February 5, 2021 at 7:36 pm

    @karen marie: This happened to me once as well. I cooked a batch of dry kidney beans in a thrift store crock pot with onion garlic and a couple dried chilis, a little salt . I was pretty sick for a few hours. I blamed the chilis.

    It wasn’t until years later that i learned it must have been the beans.

  208. 208.

    Richard

    February 5, 2021 at 7:53 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: I’m sorry. I left as soon as i could, and so did my brother. Our other brother also left, later. It’s really hard when they are family because you have also seen their good side and want them to be happy. His father treated him the same way he tried to do us so he learned it. Not the way he was born.

  209. 209.

    DMcK

    February 5, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    @Princess:

    I always say, scratch a Q believer and you will find a victim and/or perpetrator of abuse, using Qanin as a way or processing the abuse they cannot face in their own histories.

    This seems likely. Additionally, I’d venture to opine that, in practice, a lot of the so-called “traditional values” prized by many communities are abusive (psychologically, for the most part). Such communities become acculturated to this cycle of abuse to the degree where it is accepted as life-as-normal, completely unaware and/or fearful of (if not outwardly hostile to) any alternatives. Seems to fit the profile of many a Republican-base voter as well as the plethora of creepy weirdos representing them in government.

  210. 210.

    The Lodger

    February 5, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    @Zelma: He and Jon Tester would make a great team if they didn’t beat the shinola out of each other first.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Mike in Oly - Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area
Image by Mike in Oly (5/24/25)

Recent Comments

  • schrodingers_cat on Saturday Afternoon Open Thread (May 24, 2025 @ 7:44pm)
  • Another Scott on Saturday Afternoon Open Thread (May 24, 2025 @ 7:43pm)
  • NeenerNeener on Saturday Afternoon Open Thread (May 24, 2025 @ 7:40pm)
  • lowtechcyclist on Open Thread: Concerning Senator Fetterman (May 24, 2025 @ 7:40pm)
  • sab on Saturday Afternoon Open Thread (May 24, 2025 @ 7:36pm)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!