Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

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

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Clipping Right Along…

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Clipping Right Along…

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Thursday Morning Open Thread 2

(John Deering via GoComics.com)


Reader Interactions

244Comments

  3. 3.

    Baud

    The cause of, and solution to, all our nation’s problems

    Leonid Baezhnev 

    @rev_avocado

    Voters, man.

    Ain’t that the truth.

  5. 5.

    brantl

    I will feel rewarded for the IRS spending when I here some billionaires screaming like little girls, when they get nailed for tax fraud, the tangerine turd first.

  7. 7.

    germy shoemangler

    Thread:

    I feel like the media is having a hard time metabolizing the fact that this congress has been historically productive. And acknowledging the size of these accomplishments, and the degree of difficulty, – it’s just hard to do accurately without sounding a bit left leaning.

    — Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) August 16, 2022

  8. 8.

    RSA

    Dana Milbank has a funny bit about Bo Hines, a Republican running in North Carolina:

    “A lot of people have likened the situation going on right now, is, you know, they say we’re in a Banana Republic,” he told radio host John Fredericks. “I think that’s an insult to Banana Republics across the country. I mean, at least the manager of Banana Republic, unlike our president, knows where he is and why he’s there and what he’s doing.”

    Hines’s campaign retroactively labeled this “a joke.” Ha! I nearly split my pleated chinos.

  9. 9.

    Layer8Problem

    Is this an open thread?  Good.  I have been up since 2:30 or 3:30 EDT.  Phooey.  Now looking for an emoji representing a pathetic whingey sound.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    On Today show, chicken wings prices reported as being at a 4 year low.

    Everything is coming up Milhouse Brandon.

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: As someone who ate lentils from a pouch for dinner last night, I have to admit my WTF at the chicken wings outrage when I first heard about it. Chicken wings are the yuckiest part of the chicken.

  17. 17.

    Barbara

    @RSA: I have often wondered at the name Banana Republic for a clothing store. It doesn’t refer to a particular country, but still, it has a colonial vibe to it that seems more than a little retrograde — like clothes for the white functionaries in places with corrupt post-colonial governments.  Never liked it.​

  18. 18.

    Ocotillo

    Well, to be honest, the added money for the IRS was needed since resources have been sidelined with the complicated Trump tax audit for the past 8 years.

  21. 21.

    trnc

    @mrmoshpotato: Great comic at top.

    I disagree with the premise.  Sandbagging Garland was a one time opportunity that will pay dividends to republicans for decades, and it’s not as if Garland was the only Biden AG candidate who would go on to prosecute DT’s many obvious crimes. Also, Mitch would like nothing more than for the feds to take down DT and clear the way for Desantis without dirtying his own hands.

  22. 22.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Barbara: In the 1980s the name definitely was going for that vibe as a faintly naughty joke that I’m sure would have been defended as ironic.

  23. 23.

    Barbara

    @Suzanne: ​I sometimes think that being the yuckiest part of the chicken is just an excuse to slather them in the most decadent coatings imaginable. No judgment, it’s just that I’m the sous vide chicken breast type so I don’t eat wings too often.

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    Is there still a majority of Democrats who think Joe Biden is too old and ineffectual, and don’t want him to run in 2024? He’s had an outstanding presidency so far, despite the GOP and despite Senators Manchin and Sinema. It amazes me that any Democrat wouldn’t want four more years of President Biden (assuming his healrh holds up, of course).

  26. 26.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara: The original Banana Republic was pretty much exactly that before people spoke like that — ubiquitous in malls; It was jungle and pith hats, cargo pants and khaki shirts. Each store had an old Willy’s jeep mock up. There might even have been fake parrots. It was more Raiders of the Lost Arc than sophisticated casual. The Gap was a jeans store.

    ETA And there were these crazy stores in malls, often more than one! that sold vinyl records. That’s it, they sold records with names like :”Recordland.”

  28. 28.

    Suzanne

    @Barbara: I just bought some work clothes from there, black pants and neutral tops, that sort of thing. I had to sort through everything that was more appropriate for a goddamn safari. Seriously, all the product images right now have this very cosplay look to them.

    I will also note that I bought clothes because I have lost some weight and my summer work clothes were getting too baggy-looking. I ordered pants two sizes smaller and shirts in a size down, and they’re still really baggy. I don’t know what happened. They must have changed to that vanity sizing bullshit.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Florida Republicans targeted Black voters, justice department says in filing

    The justice department said it agreed with the court’s findings that Florida lawmakers enacted those provisions knowing they would harm Black voters after the 2020 election in which turnout surged. The Florida law, the department said, violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting practices.

    “The district court’s core factual findings are that, in the face of surging turnout in the 2020 election, the Florida Legislature responded by enacting provisions that impose disparate burdens on Black voters,” DoJ lawyers wrote in their brief. “Which were chosen precisely because of those burdens to secure a partisan advantage. The court’s findings of discriminatory intent are a permissible view of the record based on the entirety of the evidence.”

    Florida lawyers dispute that the law is racially discriminatory.

    “Facially neutral laws regulating drop boxes for vote-by-mail ballots, the return of voter registration forms, and activity at or near a polling place fall squarely within the state’s power to manage “[t]he time, places and manner of holding elections”, lawyers representing the Florida secretary of state and attorney general wrote in a brief to the 11th circuit.

    “In concluding otherwise, the district court focused on the distant past and disparities rooted in evidence that was “limited,” “unclear,” “not necessarily representative,” and “not statistically significant.”’

    Translation: “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.”

    ― Anatole France

  32. 32.

    Suzanne

    @Barbara: I eat wings maybe once a year, when we do a spread for the SuperbOwl. But fried stuff makes me feel gross, so I have maybe two or three at most.

    I like Frank’s Red Hot, though, but I usually just do it on chicken tenders in my little convection oven and put them on salads and that is much better.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I grew up eating chicken wings, mostly because feeding 6 kids was expensive and they were cheap. I loved them then and still do now.

  36. 36.

    gene108

    @Suzanne:

    Banana Republic sizes run larger than expected. I lost weight and needed new work clothes as well. Bought a couple of shirts. I used to be a medium. I bought size small, because their medium’s too big.

    Maybe retailers are adjusting sizing to accommodate for the obesity problems we have?

    Also, congratulations on the weight loss. It’s never easy.

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    @Suzanne:

    We Asians habitually cook and eat chicken feet. Even less meat on them than on wings, but what there is can be quite tender. I’ve noticed that this grosses some Westerners out; but I assure you that chicken feet do get cleaned in preparation.

  38. 38.

    The Dark Avenger

    @Suzanne: Not if you brown them with onions, garlic,  and ginger, then cook them in soy sauce and wine, the former with 1/4th cup/lb, the latter to taste.  Serve with rice.  I do agree that Buffalo wings are easy to screw up.

  39. 39.

    Layer8Problem

    @brantl:  Because lots of smart, decent people like chicken wings.  Much like the music of the Grateful Dead; I never got it, but lots of solid citizens like it and that’s cool too.

  40. 40.

    Barbara

    @Amir Khalid: ​A lot of people are deluded by the idea that a “fresh” new face will “shake” up the old order and get things done. Basically, whether that’s Clinton or Carter, the freshies face a long learning curve for getting anything done. Whereas, LBJ and Biden needed no tutorials in how Congress actually works.

  43. 43.

    lowtechcyclist

    Several weeks ago, I mentioned that I was thinking of replacing my gas mower (which was having some issues) with an electric mower, and y’all gave me some great advice. Anyhow, life intervened and I put it on the back burner for awhile, but I recently ordered this one, and it just arrived. So thanks, folks!

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m not a lawyer, but I suspect when the state alluded to “the distant past” in its response, that was a bat-signal to CJ Roberts, who gutted the VRA’s preclearance provision by applying that same bogus logic.

  46. 46.

    Barbara

    @Amir Khalid: ​You can get chicken feet in dim sum restaurants. I’ve had them. Not my favorite, but a lot of traditional food culture is making a virtue of necessity. Otherwise, who would think to eat snails?

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    @Amir Khalid: Chicken feet are popular in some rural areas of Virginia. The grocery store in Scottsville, a town on the James River in southern Almemarle County, still has them.

  51. 51.

    Suzanne

    @Amir Khalid: Chicken feet don’t gross me out. Wings don’t gross me out, either. It’s the deep-frying, thick breaded batter, greasiness, etc. that grosses me out. When I was a teenager, my first job was at McDonald’s, and I remember the smell (and the feel) of that fryer oil, and someone having to haul it out to its special dumpster, and I came to find it very gross and I still do.

  52. 52.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: Isnt it odd how wings used to be almost throw away cheap, and somehow we’ve made them into a pricey item. Low the leg/thigh quarter has fallen.

    Coming from a family of Eastern European butchers and meat cutters, I can report that veal used to be the cheap meat too. This was before all that gender engineering in cattle — baby boy cows were near useless so as soon as they could be, they were butchered. One of my still favorite items is “city chicken” which is made by putting alternating chunks of veal and pork on a candy apple size wood skewer. Breaded, lightly fried, then baked. No chicken involved whatsoever because chicken was — expensive!

    Meanwhile, I have a killer recipe for Japanese style wings (secret? Potato starch).

  55. 55.

    zhena gogolia

    @OzarkHillbilly: I love them but haven’t had them in a long while. Not fried — roasted in the oven on low until all the fat drips off. Or grilled. It’s the tastiest meat on the whole chicken.

  56. 56.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I am from Rochester and went to college  in Pittsburgh.  One day the dining hall served chicken wings.  I’ll never forget this girl staring at her plate and complaining, “How am I supposedly to eat these things?”

  57. 57.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown less and less enthusiastic about meat. At the moment, my ideal bit of chicken is a skinless, boneless breast. I welcome your pity and scorn.

  58. 58.

    Suzanne

    @gene108:

    Maybe retailers are adjusting sizing to accommodate for the obesity problems we have? 

    Yes, it’s called “vanity sizing”. They redefine the numerical size to correspond to larger measurements. For example, I am currently 13 pounds heavier than I was in eighth grade, but I am apparently three sizes smaller.

  59. 59.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah: The Immp is doing well (I think). Back in Houston, waiting for classes to start, still enjoying his remote internship (which carries through the fall.) I must admit I am still completely jumpy about his health, but he reports all is fine! Thanks for asking.

  62. 62.

    Keith P.

    @Suzanne: The only stuff that really grosses me out are intestines and brains….or so I thought.  I ordered chicken feet at a restaurant several years back, and they came in a bowl with nails still attached.  They looked just a little too much like small face-huggers, so I couldn’t manage to try a single one.

  63. 63.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Baud: ​
      Ah shit. I invested in chicken futures, now what am I going to do with all these eggs.

  66. 66.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

     I’ve covered extremism and violent ideologies around the world over my career. Have never come across a political force more nihilistic, dangerous & contemptible than today’s Republicans. Nothing close.

    If only someone had warned us these people were deplorable

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Suzanne: When I was a teenager, my first job was at McDonald’s, and I remember the smell (and the feel) of that fryer oil, and someone having to haul it out to its special dumpster,

    You have my sympathies.

    @Immanentize: Isnt it odd how wings used to be almost throw away cheap, and somehow we’ve made them into a pricey item.

    The power of marketing, the malediction of every capitalist society.

  70. 70.

    p.a.

    Just because chicken wings are bad for you doesn’t mean they suck.  Dog bless East Asian cookery for knowing how to cook & sauce them but still keep crackling skin.

    Otherwise, I get sauce on the side.

  74. 74.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @RSA: ​

    Ha! I nearly split my pleated chinos.

      I guess they would be called Banana Splits

  77. 77.

    mrmoshpotato

    Stop bothering those people on vacation, you creepy woman!

    (Sorry, I hate the Priceline ads.)

  78. 78.

    JML

    @Immanentize: I went electric when I bought my house, and have no regrets. mower, snowblower, and weed wacker all on the same battery system.

    Anyone have good luck with electric chainsaws? Need to take down some weed trees. (If I ever get a weekend where I’m not running up to help mom post-broken hip)

  79. 79.

    p.a.

    I’m as hopeful that the Angry Circus Peanut & sundry suffer to the full extent of the law (at least) as anyone, but I also know we here have lived through Fitzmas and Mueller.  The rubber has to hit the road.  And I’m not even counting the impeachments, which never were about removing him from office, but just publicizing the crimes and misdemeanors and chipping away some of the trash’s support.

    Fingers crossed.

  83. 83.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy shoemangler: Oh, pish posh on the MSM, they need to follow the NYT pitchbot’s example to both-sides this current Congress;

    “With the Democrats being able to boast a record historical legislative accomplishments and the Republicans being able to boast a record of historical obstructionism and voilance both parties have much to show the voters from the 117th Congress of the United States.”

  84. 84.

    Another Scott

    @Suzanne: My understanding is that chicken feet are the snack of choice in China and that US companies like Tyson would be ecstatic if someone could come up with a 4 footed chicken…

    (I assume that it’s an acquired taste and I’ll pass.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  85. 85.

    Geminid

    @JML: I’ve used older battery powered ones. I expect the newer ones work well. The chain needs to be kept nice and sharp.

  87. 87.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @JML: ​
      I have an electric pole cutter and a 10 inch electric chain saw and they cut like buzz saws. Just make sure to buy some chain oil (it wasn’t included)

  89. 89.

    p.a.

    @JML: I saw one in operation making quick work of some 6×6 beams (not supporting anything 👍🏻) and got one myself.  Works great on reasonably sized wood.

    I’m talking corded electric, I can’t speak to battery.

  90. 90.

    Carlo Graziani

    By the way: This morning I just remembered that at the time of the inauguration, one of the greatest threats thought to be facing TFG wasn’t legal at all, but rather that he was on the hook for billions in debt that was going to come due, which he didn’t really have cash or semi-liquid assets on hand to pay, and that his creditors were going to roast him on a spit and render the fat into a dumpster. The timescale for that happy scenario was about 2 years as I recall, so we should see the cars with the legbreakers heaving over the horizon with warnings soon, I would think. But with all the legal fireworks, I can’t even see those guys. Does anyone have better information than my might-as-well-be-early-onset-Alzheimer-afflicted recollection on the situation with respect to Trump’s debt repayment schedule and prospects?

  91. 91.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @trnc:

    Ditto.  I keep hearing this joke, but it’s misplaced.  McConnell considers blocking Garland the proudest accomplishment of his life.

    I’m delighted it looks like Trump is finally heading for prison, though.

    @Amir Khalid:

    I have never eaten snails because I learned… Things in parasitology class in college.  Terrible things.  The kind of things that once learned, cannot be unlearned.

    EDIT –

    @Carlo Graziani:

    Short version:  The Russians and Saudis bailed him out.  Maybe he sold them something.

  93. 93.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: OMG, I hope that’s right!!! That thing about chicken wings being “market price” is only kind of a joke. We had to raise our special night price to $1.00/wing, because the bone-in ones got so expensive!

  94. 94.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: sure, chicken wings, but what about that critical measure of inflation – burrito bowls?

    (Those who don’t follow the NYT pitchbot, the current freak out about inflation started in the press when the restaurant all the Cool Kid Reporters eat at raised their burrito bowl prices)

  95. 95.

    Argiope

    @OzarkHillbilly: Dang, I was told this was a full service blog.  Off to Google!  (Maybe these chicken foot recipes are completely oral tradition, though.  Would be fun if something still was.)

  96. 96.

    Soprano2

    @Barbara: I’m a boneless wing person, which are just smaller chicken tenders. It is the sauce that makes them, that’s for sure. My husband loves the bone-in ones, he said the taste is different. I don’t like gnawing meat off of bones, so I don’t eat those at all.

  97. 97.

    Anyway

    @Suzanne:

    As someone who ate lentils from a pouch for dinner last night, I have to admit my WTF at the chicken wings outrage when I first heard about it. Chicken wings are the yuckiest part of the chicken.

    Don’t be yucking other people’s yum. I’m looking forward to buying wings again when prices come down from the stratosphere.

    Thanks Obama, Brandon

    AF wings FTW!

  100. 100.

    narya

    @Immanentize: My (Italian) grandmother made osso bucco because she could get the veal bones for free from the butcher.

    I’ve never liked chicken wings–or chicken/turkey skin, for that matter, even when golden and crispy. It tastes like a mouthful of greasy leather to me. Also not a fan of organ meats, no matter the animal. I will, however, take all the venison and wild turkey. My friend takes the wild turkey legs and crockpots them overnight w/ some red wine added, and then shreds the meat off the bones and tendons; we always get extra sets of legs because the other hunters in his life (uncles, friend) don’t want to be bothered and would otherwise just toss the legs. It makes a great addition to posole and all manner of stews and stir-fries.

  101. 101.

    Soprano2

    @Suzanne: Ugh, I can’t buy clothes online unless I’ve tried on that brand in the store so I know what fits me. With some BR tops I wear a small, even though my normal size is medium! Once I’ve tried on and have a good idea of what size I wear, I can order online. So I feel your pain.

    ETA – I like Land’s End for basic clothes like what you bought, although if you were buying summer clothes you probably got some good deals.

  105. 105.

    Layer8Problem

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I have never eaten snails because I learned… Things in parasitology class in college. Terrible things. The kind of things that once learned, cannot be unlearned.

    Studied at Miskatonic U., huh?
    Parasites was favorite chapter in my microbiology textbook!  There was this picture, of a brain, . . .

    But I still like escargot.

  106. 106.

    Soprano2

    @Barbara: I’ve always thought it was funny that one of the few places where people consistently think someone without experience is better is in politics. I understand the idea that someone who’s been there a long time has more opportunity for corruption, but they also have the experience to spot and avoid it. If someone is doing the job, why would you want to get rid of them just because they’ve been there “x” number of years?

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Immanentize: The weird thing is, if you go to a shopping-mall Newbury Comics now, there’s a big section right in the middle of the store that sells vinyl records, and it’s bigger than the rapidly shrinking section that sells CDs.

    Basically, if you’re a young fan of some music and you want a tangible object to own, at this point you’ll buy a vinyl record. You may never even play it–the purchase comes with a digital download license, just in case you’re not already listening through some streaming subscription. They’re in the same category as bobbleheads and statues of Hatsune Miku.

  110. 110.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Soprano2:

    I’m a boneless wing person, which are just smaller chicken tenders. 

    Haha, “boneless wings.”

    Buffalo chicken chunks they be!  (At least Chili’s are.)

  111. 111.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @RSA: I was talking to my neighbor the other day, who I knew was a Red Hat because his Wifi Server is called “Oathkeeper”, mind you the dude is easily in his late 60s, so he will be on the front lines when the revolution comes.  And we got talking about aving COVID and I mentioned, well we can follow what’s going on with COVID by what happened during the 1918 pandemic and the CDC reporting on it, at the point my neighbor started with the wingnut talk, going on about how he watches some chick on You Tube who claims she was working for the CDC with Lee Harvey Oswald to develop fast acting cancer (just buy her book to get all the proof).  Just pure conspiracy theory nonsense and I am smiling and nodding thinking “Dude, how can you not see this woman is just full of shit about her claims and grifting you?”.

    I can see someone who is into conspiracy theories like my neighbor thinking that quoted joke is funny.

  114. 114.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Layer8Problem:

    Echinococcus granulosa?  My professor had a color slide he took in autopsy of a fatal brain infection.  That wasn’t even his most horrible slide.  25 years later, it’s still hard to not talk about in a ‘compelled to work out the trauma’ way.

    Also, DO NOT LOOK THIS UP, folks.  There are things you don’t want to know.

  115. 115.

    Soprano2

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Mine, too! Congratulations on selling your book, that must be a great feeling after all that work. I can’t imagine tolerating the riskiness of what you do.

  116. 116.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Carlo Graziani: I got the impression the whole reason Trump antics like coup attempts and stealing nuclear secrets has  been to fund raise off his gullible base to service his debt payments. Those endorsements of his to GOP candidates don’t come without a love donation.

  118. 118.

    Layer8Problem

    @Frankensteinbeck:  No, I will not sir, not even to refresh memories of my bright college years.  Not now, not after I’ve attained a tenuous peace of mind so painfully won.

  119. 119.

    Soprano2

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: They have been freaked out for months. I swear it’s true that Morning Edition does a story about how high inflation is every day, and has been doing that for months. It’s as if they think people might forget prices went up if they don’t constantly remind them. Strangely enough they have stopped talking about the price of gas every day, though. Gee, wonder why…..

  121. 121.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: That’s good news, I hope the prices don’t soar again. It was a big problem. We sell a lot of bone-in wings. Hubby swears we have the best ones he’s ever had, but since I’ve never eaten them I can’t tell for sure. We get meatier ones than the chains like Buffalo Wild Wings do.

  123. 123.

    Ken

    @Soprano2: @Suzanne: I used to smirk when my sisters complained that women’s clothing sizes had no consistency, but over the past couple decades men’s sizes have gotten erratic. Maybe they’re also being affected by “vanity sizing”?

  125. 125.

    Layer8Problem

    Maggie the Haberman today offers some “possibilities” to answer the question “Why Did Trump Resist Returning the Government’s Documents?” Did she think them all up herself?  I doubt it!  No, I didn’t look and don’t you either.

    But that FTFNYT Kushner book review still has my partner and partner’s friends cackling merrily on the Intertubes.

  126. 126.

    Booger

    @Amir Khalid: OMG I used to have a small flock of chickens, turkeys and Guinea fowl, and let me tell you, when the were butchered I prized the feet pretty much above all else! There is no better stock base than a bunch of chicken feet…simmered a loooong time or done in a pressure cooker (jiffy pot for you young’uns) it makes a broth you can stand a spoon in.

    I’ve even been known to pay for them from time to time, since I no longer have my flock.

  127. 127.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Amir Khalid: I had chicken feet once back when the old Imperial Garden in Boston’s Chinatown was the place to go for dim sum. We had a guy from Hong Kong acting as front man for the orders, so we could get stuff they wouldn’t necessarily serve a bunch of white people.

    They weren’t bad, basically like eating fried wings except the meat-to-labor ratio was even lower. Felt like I was mostly eating the breading.

  129. 129.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Soprano2: If writers aren’t crazy before they start, they are by the time they get to this point.

    The granddaughter of a friend enters college next year and wants to major in creative writing. I want to jump in front of her and scream “No! Go back!” At least plan on what you’re going to do for your day job.

  130. 130.

    Booger

    @Geminid: The northernmost point of the mighty James!

    God, I love Scottsville. Supposedly the grocery store there has the highest per capita sales of Bud light, on account of all the UVA students rafting on the James from there.

  132. 132.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ken:

    Maybe they’re also being affected by “vanity sizing”?

    Those cabinets always feel so boxy around my middle.

    And if they include the sink, forget it!

  135. 135.

    jonas

    @Amir Khalid: ​
      At a friend’s urging at a dim sum restaurant one time, we ordered the chicken feet. I gave it the ol’ college try and, well, that was the first and last time I ever ate chicken feet. Felt vaguely queasy for the rest of the day.

  136. 136.

    Mike E

    The modern GOP is now Emily Litella: “Leave Banana Republic aloooone!” except she’s packing an AR-15, how charming….

    When I would roast whole birds (rarely made now due to cholesterol numbers) I would always divide up and de-bone the cooked quarters and put that up in the fridge and eat *everything* else, starting with the wings, a full meal! Whatever was left of that could become stock for later. Since the chicken doesn’t come with the feet attached I never got into eating that (nor pig’s feet!) but it makes for outstanding stock by all chef’s recommendations.

    Also, whenever the cook staff at the local Chinese restaurant have their meal break more times than not they’re eating snails… I’ve never had snails either.

  137. 137.

    jonas

    @Layer8Problem: ​
      I laughed out loud this morning when I saw that headline. Good god. Shortest column ever: “Because he’s an arrogant asshole who thought the presidency was some personal vanity project and everything belonged to him.”

  139. 139.

    Frank Wilhoit

    With respect to the tweet from Andreas Schou, this is a big deep hole, because all methods of measuring public sentiment have lost a great deal of their predictive value over the past few years.  It is entirely possible that the Republicans are taking that problem more seriously then we are, and if they had developed new craft in that area, they would be expected to keep it profoundly secret.  Schou’s real point should have been that any non-trivial set of indicators diverge.

    With respect to the retweet from Lord Businessman: yes, there is such a thing as pure, genuine stupidity.  But where, as much more often, stupidity is alloyed with sadism, the sadism dominates; and even incompetent sadism causes substantial collateral damage.  (In fact, the collateral damage may be the point.)

  140. 140.

    Matt McIrvin

    Of course, we don’t really waste the nominally “gross” parts of meat in the West (at least not pre-consumer), we just turn them into various processed meat products.

  141. 141.

    Immanentize

    @Matt McIrvin: My son is a vinyl guy. He gets these beautifully remastered 800gram records. I think he likes what I liked about albums — the ritual of cleaning and playing, the fact that song order is decided, and the liner notes. I have many vinyl albums and just ordered 10 boxes to pack them away as I am moving….

    Our motto? “What attracts us to vinyl is the inconvenience and the cost.” (A New Yorker cartoon)

  142. 142.

    Quiltingfool

    @JML: My husband bought a small battery powered DeWalt chainsaw.  We have a bunch of oak trees with lots of straggly branches low to the ground in our pasture, makes brush hogging under the trees very difficult.  Chainsaw is small enough to carry on the tractor, easy to use to trim back the branches, light enough so you don’t wear yourself out using it.

  145. 145.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Frank Wilhoit:

    My rule of thumb is “Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity, and never ascribe to greed what can be explained by malice.”  But I’ve also noticed how amazingly often those three can fit together.  A true believer asshole can always find a grift to pay for their evil.

  146. 146.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @jonas: I had homemade turkey-foot soup (a local Christmas tradition) at a friend of a friend’s house in Germany once.  Perfectly delicious.  (The claws had been removed; perhaps your experience was different in that regard.)  On the other hand, turkey feet — even those of non-American turkeys — are not small.  You have not lived until a pet domestic turkey has put thirty pounds of weight on you, begging handouts at a picnic.

  148. 148.

    Immanentize

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I was a creative writing major.* And it has certainly held me in good stead as an appellate brief writer for convicted persons. 😉

    * At SUNY Binghamton when it had just amazing writers, including John Gardner and Barry Target. I even was allowed into a seminar with WD Snodgrass.

  149. 149.

    jonas

    @Immanentize: ​
      I

    snt it odd how wings used to be almost throw away cheap, and somehow we’ve made them into a pricey item

    Same with oxtails. Used to be throw-away or stock bones. Now they’re like $8-10/lb.

  151. 151.

    Suzanne

    @Anyway:

    Don’t be yucking other people’s yum. I’m looking forward to buying wings again when prices come down from the stratosphere. 

    I don’t actually find the wings themselves gross. I find the deep-fried-ness of them gross. Draining fryer oil and the smell of the grease trap being emptied will do that.

  154. 154.

    delphinium

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I have never eaten snails because I learned… Things in parasitology class in college. Terrible things. The kind of things that once learned, cannot be unlearned.

    I only had snails once-my boyfriend at the time really liked escargot and insisted I try it. Oh, the things we do for love : )

  155. 155.

    catclub

    Whatever compunction the Feds have about splashing Trump in the news in October, it appears NYS does not share

    Why the fuck should they care? Is Trump running for some election THIS fall?

  157. 157.

    Suzanne

    @Soprano2:

    And let’s not speak of Chico’s sizing……LOL 

    Chico’s sizing is ridiculous. I don’t really shop there, but part of that is because I have to size down two sizes and then things are weirdly short.

  159. 159.

    A Man for All Seasonings (formerly Geeno)

    @Amir Khalid: Well made, they’re succulent little meat puffs in garlic sauce. Frequently, they end more like rubber bands in garlic sauce. Which can still be okay if you really like garlic.

  160. 160.

    jonas

    @Matt McIrvin: ​
      One of the better episodes of “Dirty Jobs” was when Mike visited a rendering plant, somewhere in California or Colorado, iirc. Very interesting — and yep, they don’t waste a *thing*.

  161. 161.

    Ken

    @Searcher: 👍  Probably a (Demilitarized) Rapid Offensive Unit.

    (I find the “Demilitarized” as amusing as I’m sure the ships themselves do; it really means “I can totally obliterate any capital ship of a less-advanced culture just using my equivalent of communications gear, and if necessary I can get a real weapons system installed in about two hours.”)

  165. 165.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @delphinium: It’s been almost forty years since my first trip to Paris, when at sixteen I thought ordering escargots would show that I wasn’t some dumb tourist, but as I recall they are just the delivery system for butter and garlic

  167. 167.

    Anyway

    @Suzanne:

    I don’t actually find the wings themselves gross. I find the deep-fried-ness of them gross. Draining fryer oil and the smell of the grease trap being emptied will do that.

    I was not a wings fan growing up but became a convert after making them in the Air Fryer and trying different rubs/sauce combos. I almost never order them in bars/restos as they are so messy.

  171. 171.

    jonas

    @Carlo Graziani: ​  I forgot where I saw this the other day, but the Trump Org has apparently recently renegotiated a lot of their outstanding debt, or banks just wrote it down. One of those things, I guess, where if you owe the bank a million dollars, you have a problem; if you owe the bank 100 million dollars, the bank has a problem.​
     

    ETA: I think it might have been here.

  172. 172.

    germy shoemangler

    Old Henny Youngman joke:

    A guy came up to me on the street and said “Can you help me out?  I haven’t eaten in two days!”  I told him “Force yourself!”

  173. 173.

    twbrandt (formerly tom)

    @JML: I have an Ego chainsaw, which works well for limbs, branches, and small trees (though I wouldn’t fell, say, a redwood with it). So much less hassle than a gas-powered two-stroke saw.

    (Updated nym, my old one crept in for a previous comment)

  174. 174.

    Citizen Alan

    @Frankensteinbeck:  Yeah,  The 1st cartoon misses the mark, because Mitch’s position would not be improved if there was a 5-4 conservative majority with Robert as the swing vote rather than a 6-3 conservative majority with on of the Jesus Nazis as the swing vote.  To say nothing of the fact that we would have actually had a 5 to 4 liberal majority up until RBG’s death, during which time the partisan gerrymandering case would have gone the other way.

  175. 175.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @jonas: I just saw another headline about the “death of the office”, which articles I’ve pretty much stopped reading because I think it’s all just speculation, but high-rise office buidings in Manhattan and San Francisco (where the Qataris kept an empty office suite starting in 2018) make up a big part of his assets, and as was briefly discussed here last night, most of his highest profile golf courses (Doral, Ireland, Scotland) are reported money-losers. You gotta wonder how much of his political fund-raising, to say nothing of Jared’s $2B advance from the KSA, have found their way into his accounts

  176. 176.

    Suzanne

    @Anyway: There is a Chik-Fil-A adjacent to the Trader Joe’s that I shop at. I can smell the fryer smell before I even turn into the parking lot. Ehhhhhh.

  178. 178.

    lowtechcyclist

    @jonas:

    “Because he’s an arrogant asshole who thought the presidency was some personal vanity project and everything belonged to him.”

    A bit long for a rotating tag, but it would be a good one!

  179. 179.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @jonas:

    ETA: I think it might have been here.

    Wow, all those names, numbers and exchanges are head-spinning, but reading between the lines a lot of people are betting The Beast to come back.

  180. 180.

    Citizen Alan

    @Frankensteinbeck:  I hate that expression. When stupidity continually  redounds to the benefit of the person who has apparently acted stupidly, at a certain point, you’re just an idiot if you refuse to consider the possibility of intentional malice.

  181. 181.

    CaseyL

    I’ve tried chicken feet a couple of times at dim sum restaurants.  Never could so much as finish one bite: they seem to be pure gristle to me, and gristle grosses me out a lot.

    Fried chicken wings, OTOH, I adore, provided the wings are on the small side.  The meat-to-crispy-skin ratio is just right.  Those legendary Ezell fried chicken wings? – I did not like them, because they were huge!

    The wings don’t even have to be fried.  I used to oven bake them until they were very crispy, and would go through them like an army on shore leave.

  182. 182.

    Suzanne

    @Anyway:

    I was not a wings fan growing up but became a convert after making them in the Air Fryer and trying different rubs/sauce combos. I almost never order them in bars/restos as they are so messy. 

    OMG yes. You, like, need a shower afterward. Same with barbecue.

    I like the sauces. I got one of those little countertop convection ovens for Christmas and I’ve been doing different marinades and sauces on chicken tenders. I like them because you can use a damn fork and knife, and they just have sauce flavor instead of fryer oil flavor.

  184. 184.

    delphinium

    @jonas: One of my old jobs was at a Garden Store/Nursery that was near a rendering plant. When the wind hit just right, the smell was just atrocious.

    One of the better parts of the job was when one of my coworkers would bring in his bagpipes and play for us after work.

  186. 186.

    Another Scott

    @Soprano2: My MIL’s favorite part of the turkey was the neck.  It grossed her kids out the way she would joyously gnaw away at it.

    :-)

    I’m sure all that stuff is fine and good – people usually don’t eat stuff that actually tastes bad – but it can be hard to overcome the visuals.

    (Insert Gahan Wilson comic about summer camp and the leader finding a fungus in the swamp to add to the dinner soup…)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  187. 187.

    Soprano2

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That can lead to good jobs, though. I’ve got a friend who had a job writing brochures for various companies; now she works at University of Mary Washington as Director of Prospect Management and Research. She had a major in some kind of writing. She was always really good at it, but didn’t want to actually write books.

  188. 188.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Suzanne: One of my first jobs was as a busboy at Fuddruckers so I remember how gross the wing vat was!  I couldn’t eat wings for many years after because the smell of the sauce grossed me out.  But then in college I came to my senses and have loved them ever since.

    We bake our wings in the oven at 400 for an hour flipping them halfway and pouring the juice/grease out and then throw some Korean BBQ sauce on each side for another 5 minutes each and they come out amazing.  Crispy but not in the deep-fried way.

  189. 189.

    Lyrebird

    @Immanentize: The original Banana Republic was pretty much exactly that before people spoke like that — ubiquitous in malls; It was jungle and pith hats, cargo pants and khaki shirts. Each store had an old Willy’s jeep mock up.

     

    @Barbara: All of that mall bit was after the original small store and catalog business was bought out. By the Gap.  And they started out like a Army Navy surplus store, except with surplus from other countries.  Not all military uniform stuff, but yes very good for travel and archaelogy digs and so forth.

  192. 192.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @CaseyL: THIS!  I was getting Trader Joes wings (fresh, not frozen) for awhile but they 1.) aren’t separated and 2.) were too thick (especially the drums).  I absolutely hate wings where the drums are damn-near turkey leg size.  I’m also generally on #TeamFlats when it comes to the age old question of Drums or Flats?  We discovered baking wings a few years ago and now that’s how we always do it.  Some day (when we have a bigger kitchen) we’ll get an air fryer.

  194. 194.

    Kristine

    @lowtechcyclist: I’ll be interested to hear how it goes. I replaced my gas-powered mower with a similar model a few years ago, but I’m willing to move on sooner rather than later. As long as the electric mulches and can handle 1/3 acre.

  195. 195.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I’ve made this recipe a few times in the oven laying the chicken on a air fryer basket. Crispy but not greasy.

     

    • 1 pound chicken tenderloins
    • 1/4 cup butter,, melted
    • 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce
    • 1 cup panko style breadcrumbs
    • 1/3 cup all purpose flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
    • pepper to taste

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Place a raised wire rack (like a cookie cooling rack) on top of the cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray. The rack will allow your chicken fingers to cook without getting mushy, and the spray will keep them from sticking to the rack!
    • Melt butter in a bowl in the microwave, then combine with the buffalo wing sauce and mix well. Remove 2 Tablespoons of the sauce and set aside to reserve for topping the chicken fingers later.
    • Place the panko breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl. In another separate shallow bowl, stir together the flour, garlic salt, paprika, and pepper to taste.
    • Dredge the chicken tenderloins in the flour, then dip into the buffalo sauce mixture. Next dip into the panko breadcrumbs and coat well, pressing the panko into the chicken. Place each tenderloin on to the prepared wire rack.
    • Spray the tops of the chicken with oil or cooking spray, then bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Flip the chicken fingers and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes until golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven, and drizzle a small amount of the reserved buffalo sauce over the tops of each chicken finger, about 1 teaspoon each. Serve with bleu cheese dip, celery, and carrots. Enjoy!
  197. 197.

    Suzanne

    @UncleEbeneezer: So one time when I worked at McD’s, one of my coworkers was pouring oil into the fryer, and he did it too fast, and some of the already-hot oil splashed up and hit him on the face. I had to basically carry him to the back to wash off his face because he was (understandably) freaking out. He was fine, but it was very freaky. I have never deep-fried anything at home and don’t even really sauté, though.

  198. 198.

    Raven

    @Jager: In “
    The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea” the author writes about how the European explorers thought the native Americans in south Florida were giants because they were so big. They ate many an oyster and their shells were used to build hills that remain the highest points in Florida.

  199. 199.

    Another Scott

    @Soprano2: Yup.

    INFLATION IS TERRIBLE.  FOOD AND APARTMENT PRICES ARE INTERGALLACTICALLY HIGH.  PEOPLE HAVE TO BUY SMALLER PACKAGES OF FOOD AT THE GROCERY STORE AND ITS AFFECTING WALMART PROFITS.

    [tiny] Meanwhile, gasoline prices have dropped by one dollar per gallon from their highs so less is being spent on transportation. [/tiny]

    HOW ARE PEOPLE GOING TO SURVIVE THERMONUCLEAR INFLATION?  WHAT DOES IT MEAN?  LET’S GO TO OUR 19 YEAR OLD ECONOMICS REPORTER WHO HEARD ABOUT THE HORRORS OF INFLATION FROM HER GRANDFATHER….

    [/different_church_lady]

    It’s sad/infuriating the way the NPR news and economics reporters cover this stuff.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  200. 200.

    stacib

    @Immanentize: My father said he didn’t know a chicken had anything more than necks and feet until he was an adult.  As a poor kid growing up in the deep South, the rest of the chicken was reserved for the adults (mainly the preacher).

  202. 202.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    @JML:  We have 2 of the GreenWorks 40V cordless electric chainsaws, a 12” and a 16”. They work so well our gas powered saws hardly ever come out of the tool shed nowadays. I’ve cut literally hundreds of 4 to 6” diameter trees, mostly maple but some oak, hickory and sassafras, plus a few dozen larger trees. We had a corded chainsaw some years back but it died and the cordless ones can’t be beat for convenience. Keep a sharp chain and make sure the bar oil is feeding through to the bar, not just leaking out in your shoe. That happened with our first 12” saw after about 6 years of use. Something got stopped up in there and the oil went seemingly everywhere except to the bar.
    I would also put in a good word for the other GreenWorks tools that use the same battery. We have a leaf blower and trimmer and it is very convenient to have multiple tools using the same battery system.

  203. 203.

    Kristine

    @Suzanne:

    They must have changed to that vanity sizing bullshit.

    You’re right. I excavated a pair of BR trousers that I wore for work in the late 80s and according to the size on the tag they should fall down unless I wear a belt. Nope–they fit perfectly. In some brands I slip into single-digit sizes and nope that’s not possible.

    (I never wore a lab coat, so the trousers have a couple of tiny acid holes that I want to darn so I can wear them again as the higher-waisted and pleated look is back in style.)

  205. 205.

    Betty Cracker

    @Raven: One of those oyster shell mounds is on the river where I grew up. It’s a state archeological site now, but as kids, we’d run up and down it and pelt each other with shells.

  206. 206.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kristine: I’ll let you know. I’ll be charging up the battery tonight, and running the mower either tomorrow or Saturday.

    Our lot is 15,000 square feet, so ~1/3 acre, but a good deal of it is wooded, so I have to actually mow maybe half that; takes maybe an hour with the gas mower, and that’s when I have to mow all of it: much of our lawn is in heavy shade, and doesn’t grow real fast.

  210. 210.

    lowtechcyclist

    @White & Gold Purgatorian:

    I would also put in a good word for the other GreenWorks tools that use the same battery. We have a leaf blower and trimmer and it is very convenient to have multiple tools using the same battery system.

    I picked up a trimmer along with the lawn mower.  My wet/dry vac doubles as a blower, so I’m already doing electric there, just with a cord.

    Since I only need to blow the deck, the (short) driveway, and the front walk, I can handle that well with an extension cord.  The mower and trimmer, OTOH, involve way too much movement between places to do with a cord.

  212. 212.

    Carlo Graziani

    @jonas: Wow. The money just appeared when it was needed, eh?

    I wonder what the intelligence community knows about the upstream sources.

  213. 213.

    Ken

    @Jager: I once put together a list of all the foods that are poisonous if you eat the wrong part of the plant, or don’t prepare it in just the right way (cassava is probably the most impressive). It takes real bravery, or famine, to keep trying to eat something after it’s already poisoned other people.

  214. 214.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Suzanne: I grew up in Syracuse, a couple hours from Buffalo, and so I remember when “Buffalo wings” were first introduced there around the late 70s. The real thing were never fried or battered and I haven’t tasted the flavor of that sauce since leaving New York state.

    But yeah, it’s still the cheapest part of the chicken. It was marketing genius to make the wings a popular appetizer.

    Along the same lines, I was always amused at potato skins as an appetizer. “Hey, instead of throwing these out after we peel the potatoes like we’ve been doing for a hundred years, what if we tell people they’re food and charge for them?”

  215. 215.

    Soprano2

    @Frank Wilhoit: My husband had a fight with a turkey once in Vietnam. The story is hilarious!!! I told him that there are probably NCO’s still alive who tell the story about the time that crazy officer chased a turkey into their club and had a fight with it behind the bar. He lost the fight, too!

  217. 217.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Another Scott: My MIL’s favorite part of the turkey was the neck. It grossed her kids out the way she would joyously gnaw away at it.

    Hey, I do that!

    But I sneak it in the kitchen. I’m the one in charge of the bird, so I nibble on the parts that aren’t going to be served, like the neck and the tail.

  218. 218.

    Carlo Graziani

    One trick that works well for deep-frying just about anything requires an infrared thermometer ($20-$30)  and one of those stovetop deep frying pans with a basket insert that can be pulled up and hung above the oil. The idea is “double-fry”, the point being that most food (e.g french fries, chicken wings) has a lot of water in surface layers, which, when the food come into contact with the oil, gets released and immediately cools the oil to close to the boiling temperature of water, no matter how hot the fat was to begin with. This is the big frothy bubbling that you see when you first plunge the food in. At 220F or so, the food cannot possibly get crispy, so all that is happening at this stage is that water is being ejected from the food.

    That’s where the IR thermometer comes in. It gives you a convenient and accurate way to monitor the temperature of the fat, and hence the wetness of the food. Initially the temperature stays pretty constant. After a few minutes (depending on the quantity and type of food, when I make fries it’s about 7-8) you notice that the temperature is beginning to rise. This is your cue to raise the basket (carefully) out of the fat and suspend it over the oil. The first phase, dehydration, is complete.

    When the temperature of the fat has returned to the desired frying ideal (generally 330F-360F) carefully return the basket to the fryer. This time there will be much less fuss, and the food will color and crisp within a few minutes. Take it out let it drip, dump on paper towels, and do what comes natural…

  219. 219.

    Soprano2

    @Another Scott: Yep, you captured the flavor of it perfectly. There’s also quite a bit of “I got a good raise but it doesn’t make up for how expensive everything is” stuff. What people want is to get a 10% raise but have prices stay the same as they were before that raise happened. I have yet to hear a story about what people are doing with the “extra” money they have now that gas prices are dropping like a rock. I saw $3.09/gal here yesterday. It’ll probably be under $3.00/gal by next week.

  220. 220.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​ The real thing were never fried or battered and I haven’t tasted the flavor of that sauce since leaving New York state.

    FWIW, the original sauce had a strong vinegar component, I think. Part of the experience was that as you brought the wing close to your face, the fumes would hit you in the face and go straight up your nose.

    Haven’t had that experience in 40 years.

  222. 222.

    The Moar You Know

    Young person: “What’s a mall?”

    @Ken: It’s where their grandparents go for exercise, and at San Diego’s most upscale (and still insanely packed) mall, Westfield UTC, it’s where their grandparents live (there is a senior housing complex on most of what used to be the second floor of the mall, and another one being built next door).

  223. 223.

    CaseyL

    @Lyrebird:

    @Immanentize:

    Banana Republic started out as a Mom & Pop mail order catalog.  Honest!  They were a couple who liked to travel, and along the way frequented what amounted to various military surplus sales.  The items they used to have were hilarious and mind-blowing: you could get uniforms, military kit, camping gear, that not-rich nations were desperate to be rid of. (Along with more practical things like casual clothes, easy-care clothes for travel, etc.)

    The catalogs were travelogs, with funny stories, wonderful illustrations, and some valuable advice about traveling to remote regions.  I could kick myself for not hanging onto them: they’re relics of a lost era.

  224. 224.

    Ken

    @Soprano2: What people want is to get a 10% raise but have prices stay the same as they were before that raise happened.

    I used to see this with the gold bugs. “Back when we were on the gold standard, beer was only 5 cents a glass!”  They never mentioned that wages were under two dollars a day.

    I haven’t seen many gold bugs online lately, they all seem to be into crypto. I do see the commercials telling people to buy gold, but as those tend to pair with ones offering to buy their gold, it kind of cancels out.

  225. 225.

    Chris Johnson

    @Carlo Graziani: Not exactly, but… he took money from the Russians. That’s pretty clear. As such all the rest of this is pretty clear. If stealing nuclear secrets to deliver to Putin doesn’t count as doing a service to his creditors I don’t know what does.

    If steering the Republican Party into a flaming ditch so they can never be a functioning party but only a force for civil war and domestic terrorism on a massive scale doesn’t count as doing a service to Russia (or indeed taking their specific direction) I don’t know what does.

    Don’t you worry about Trump’s Russian debts. He finds alternate ways to make good on his debt, and that’s exactly why they were giving him money in the first place. Sure wasn’t because they thought he would deliver a normal return on investment.

  228. 228.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Another Scott: ​

    @Suzanne: My understanding is that chicken feet are the snack of choice in China and that US companies like Tyson would be ecstatic if someone could come up with a 4 footed chicken…

    Piker. Splice centipede genes into the chicken genome, and PROFIT!!​

  229. 229.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Amir Khalid: I’ve never tried snails, and I never will. Solely because escargots are not halal.​

    Significant-Ex came down with significant GI distress soon after returning from our France/Spain tour in ’94. After some thought we attributed it to the snails provided us gratis by a friendly restaurant in Madrid. (She was game, I passed.)

  230. 230.

    Ken

    @Uncle Cosmo: Splice centipede genes into the chicken genome, and PROFIT!!​

    “Damn. Still only two legs, but now it has a venomous bite and is covered with a chitinous shell.”

    “We’ll market it as ‘new lobster’ and PROFIT!!“

  233. 233.

    Ivan X

    @Amir Khalid: Majority? Who knows. I think there are a lot of Democrats who like Biden, but are terrified of losing 2024 (for good reason, as any modern R presidency is bound to be terrifying), and those Democrats are aware that Biden is not a a great communicator, and that will turn off the all important youth and swing votes.

    I mean, part of that is his speech challenges, and then on top of that he really does sound old, and there are all kinds of societal biases about the worth and competencies of old people, and people like, say, my father in law are worried about that.

    I don’t think anyone who readily calls themselves a Democrat has an actual problem with the guy — but those Democrats are worried about the people who don’t readily call themselves a Democrat. But they should certainly be feeling better after this August.

  234. 234.

    Paul in KY

    @delphinium: I had them once at that French restaurant in Epcot Center. They were drenched in garlic butter. Thus you only tasted the garlic butter. Voila! Were very chewy.

  236. 236.

    J R in WV

    @Immanentize:

    The Immp is doing well (I think).

    So glad for you and him.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    You got a book deal!??!!!! Congratulations. Now it’s a job, get to work!!!  I kid, just keep doing what you’ve been doing, it appears to work well. Best of luck with the deal~!~

  237. 237.

    J R in WV

    @JML: ​
     

    Anyone have good luck with electric chainsaws? Need to take down some weed trees.

    Neighbor is like you, all his tools are Ego battery powered, including a medium sized chainsaw. He mows some pretty serious grassy weeds around the edges of the place up on the ridge above our place, and it copes with that.

    You still have to keep the chain sharp and the tension set, but the engine is gone, just a motor. And Chain oil…

  239. 239.

    Another Scott

    @Carlo Graziani: Excellent explainer.

    I’m reminded of a story on the physics behind exploding turkey fryers:

    Frozen turkeys—or any kind of frozen meats, for that matter—contain a lot of ice. Raw meat can be anywhere from 56% to 73% water. If you have ever thawed a frozen piece of meat, you have probably seen all the liquid that comes out.

    For deep-frying, cooking oil is heated to around 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 C). This is much hotter than the boiling point of water, which is 212 F (100 C). So when the ice in a frozen turkey comes in contact with the hot oil, the surface ice quickly turns to steam.

    This quick transition is not a problem when it happens at the very surface of the oil. The steam escapes harmlessly into the air.

    However, when you submerge a turkey into the oil, the ice inside the turkey absorbs the heat and melts, forming liquid water. Here is where the density comes into play.

    This liquid water is more dense than the oil, so it falls the bottom of the pot. The water molecules continue to absorb heat and energy and eventually they change phases and become steam. The water molecules then rapidly spread far apart from one another and the volume expands by 1,700 times. This expansion causes the density of the water to drop to a fraction of a percent of the density of the oil, so the gas wants to quickly rise to the surface.

    Combine the fast change in density together with the expansion of volume and you get an explosion. The steam expands and rises, blowing the boiling oil out the pot. If that weren’t dangerous enough, as the displaced oil comes into contact with a burner or flame, it can catch fire. Once some droplets of oil catch on fire, the flames will quickly ignite nearby oil molecules, resulting in a fast-moving and often catastrophic fire.

    tl;dr – Never ever deep fry a frozen turkey. Fully thaw it and pat it dry before frying.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  241. 241.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Chris Johnson: The thing is, it seems pretty clear now, given DOJ’s revelaled interest in Trump, that the Russia investigation is alive and well inside DOJ. This would naturally be opaque to us, but it explains something I’ve wondered about for a while now: why the redacted sections of the Mueller Report haven’t been unredacted yet. They certainly would be if all the investigations connected with the report had been concluded.

    It’s an assumption, but grant it: then we now have a financial event possibly connected to that counterintelligence investigation. The FBI and the Treasury definitely have the ability to know where that money comes from if they should develop an interest. Under the current working hypothesis, they developed an interest…

  242. 242.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Another Scott: I once saw a YouTube video of a Fire Department official in full thermal/burn protection regalia conducting that very experimental demo. Not much left of the experimental platform when it was all over.

    Doesn’t keep idiots from trying to burn down the state of Wisconsin in a grease fire every November, though.

  243. 243.

    J R in WV

    Have gotten home after a run to town, for Wife’s PT workout. So finished this thread after briefly starting it this morning. BEST Thread in some time learned a whole lot such a wide variety of things, like Echinococcus granulosa … yummm — NOT.

    Trump and Russia, I surely hope they can nail him for accepting money from Russia to fuck with America. Or anything, really, more serious than late payment of a small tax bill.

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