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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

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

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / President Biden / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Irish Diaspora Festival Day

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Irish Diaspora Festival Day

by Anne Laurie|  March 17, 20247:34 am| 150 Comments

This post is in: President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat

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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner Matt Barrett are having breakfast with @VP and @SecondGentleman at the vice president’s residence to kick off the St Patrick’s Day celebrations ?? ???? pic.twitter.com/l8mNBqFgFT

— Irish Star US (@IrishStarUS) March 15, 2024

If you’d asked my high school-aged Bronx self when a St Patrick’s Day meeting between a Black female Vice President (with her Jewish husband) and an Indian-Irish Taoiseach (and *his* husband) might happen… I’d have guessed maybe 2075, and that’s only because I was a science-fiction-reading optimist.

'Tis the season for step. Great footwork here from Connolly School of Irish Dance students during @Stbrendandot and church #Dorchester 10k fundraiser. @BostonIrishRptr @BillForry @universalhub pic.twitter.com/jdtU2zrRHe

— WriteHandMan (@WriteHandMan) March 9, 2024

Biden needles Trump on age, mental fitness, finances at D.C. dinner – The Washington Post https://t.co/ONRRQcbNAt

— Kevin Tullock (@KevinTullock) March 17, 2024


Speaking of deft footwork at a fundraiser… here’s the paywall-free AppleNews link to the Washington Post — “Biden needles Trump on age, mental fitness, finances at D.C. dinner”:

After sitting through hours of jokes about his age at Saturday’s Gridiron Club and Foundation dinner, President Biden turned the tables on the journalists putting on the skits.

“The big news this week is, two candidates clinched their parties’ nomination for president. One candidate is too old, mentally unfit to be president,” Biden said. “And the other is me.”

The joke landed well with most of the 650 journalists and politicos who gathered for the annual white-tie event, which features skits ribbing Republicans and Democrats, stand-up sets from actual Republican and Democratic officials and a whirl of schmoozing…

“The other day, a defeated-looking man came up to me and said, ‘I’m being crushed by debt. I’m completely wiped out,’” Biden said. “I said, ‘Sorry, Donald, I can’t help you.’”

The $400-a-plate dinner, held at the Washington Grand Hyatt, also featured speeches by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D)…

“I truly can’t believe I’m here tonight — and neither can you,” Cox said during his speech. “It really is such an honor to be at the famed Gridiron dinner. See, they don’t usually let farm kids like me into rooms like this.”

He paused.

“Unless you count January 6th.”

The room roared.

“And even then, we had to really push and shove our way in,” Cox added.

Whitmer’s speech followed a set of skits poking fun at Democrats for seeing their political prospects with rose-colored glasses. “Nothing is coming up roses for deee-mocracyyy,” the Gridiron members sang, donning actual rose-colored glasses…

Our mainstream media, as has occasionally been noted here, is wired for Republicans and wants them to win.

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Previous Post: « Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Early Flowering
Next Post: They Can’t Beat Us If Everyone Knows Their Game »

Reader Interactions

150Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 7:42 am

    Biden is hilarious.

    As to the J6 jokes, I’m sure the audience would have laughed just as hard if Biden had joked about BLM protests.

  2. 2.

    Ken

    March 17, 2024 at 7:43 am

    Good morning all!

    “Taoiseach” is one of those words that I regard with great suspicion, knowing that it can’t possibly be pronounced the way it’s spelled. (My reading vocabulary is much larger than my spoken vocabulary.)

  3. 3.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 17, 2024 at 7:44 am

    In context of the rest of the event, the J6 jokes sound more like gallows humor than praise.  I’d have to have been there to be sure.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 7:46 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Don’t know Cox, but he’s a Republican, so it’s hard to trust in his humor.

  5. 5.

    Mousebumples

    March 17, 2024 at 7:47 am

    Good morning, all!

  6. 6.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 7:49 am

    @Mousebumples:

    Good morning.

  7. 7.

    satby

    March 17, 2024 at 7:50 am

    @Ken: It’s pronounced tee-sock. English spelling is a poor match for Irish phenomes.
    Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig
    oraibh
    And here’s how you say it.

  8. 8.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 17, 2024 at 7:51 am

    @Baud:

    he’s a Republican, so it’s hard to trust in his humor.

    True enough, but it sounds like an event where both sides of the aisle are heavily represented and trying to have fun together.  If the Democrats even thought the jokes were in favor of J6, they would raise a big, big stink.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 7:52 am

    Via reddit, a true patriot

    This Bar Is Closing During the RNC So It Doesn’t Have to Serve Trumpers
    The owner of Milwaukee’s The Mothership says that even though the bar is having its “Bud Light moment” with Republicans, it’s going to be fine

  10. 10.

    Spanky

    March 17, 2024 at 7:56 am

    @Ken: TEE-shuch, where the “ch” is aspirated. TAYee-shuch is also acceptable.

    I hope I’ve sufficiently confused you.

  11. 11.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 7:59 am

    I commented here the other day about wearing my rose colored glasses to keep my spirits up and I followed up with “have to clean spittle off my rose colored glasses from yelling invectives” about the SDNY.  I LOVE Big Gretch and my cousin in Michigan and I frequently crow about and celebrate her and all the Michigan Dems. And PA Dems. This is a wonderful story that has reenergized me and inspired me to talk to my cousin today about more than our Irish great grandmother, Alice Cunningham.  Thanks to all BJers and Thanks Anne Laurie!

  12. 12.

    rikyrah

    March 17, 2024 at 7:59 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊

  13. 13.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 7:59 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  14. 14.

    satby

    March 17, 2024 at 8:02 am

    @Spanky: 😂 An island the size of Illinois, and three dialects of Irish pronunciation, depending on where you are.

    Today is my younger son’s name day, and we pronounce it as “Pawrig”. He told me the guys at work call him ” Steve”. Sigh

  15. 15.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    March 17, 2024 at 8:04 am

    One of my YouTube addictions is “The Try Channel” which is Irish people sampling and reacting to things. Often unpleasant things. Their humor has me rolling on the floor, and then of course there’s the accents.

    Anyway the most recent was “Irish people try traditional Irish dishes”. I knew about and love Full Irish Breakfast though I learned they associate it with after a night of drinking. But now I’m going to have to find someone who serves “coddle”. And also “chicken fillet (pronounced “fill it”) rolls” where apparently they traditionally offer dozens of possible toppings.

  16. 16.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 17, 2024 at 8:11 am

    And Varadkar has immigrant Indian origins just like Harris.

  17. 17.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    March 17, 2024 at 8:12 am

    @Spanky: We were at a party recently where somebody tried to teach me the rules of Irish pronunciation. It didn’t reduce my confusion.

    This isn’t as weird as it sounds. I love languages but am not fluent in anything and he’s a polyglot who actually speaks them, so language is a frequent topic when we meet.

    We were in Dublin in September and at a music performance, one of the performers was introduced as a native Irish speaker who learned English as a second language. I didn’t realize there were any one those.

  18. 18.

    satby

    March 17, 2024 at 8:16 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: There are. The singer Enya was one. The region is in the far western parts of Ireland and the Aran Isles and is called the Gaeltacht.

    My ancestors were from there originally. When I was very young my great aunt showed me her Irish language readers from her childhood.

  19. 19.

    Sanjeevs

    March 17, 2024 at 8:17 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: My dad grew up in the west of Ireland. Didn’t learn English until secondary school.
    And he still writes letters using Gaelic script.

  20. 20.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    March 17, 2024 at 8:20 am

    I’m making lamb and Guinness stew and soda bread. The cherry trees here in the DC area are coming into full bloom. Lampooning TiFG for being flat broke is sure to get under his skin and though I can’t claim to have much insight into the minds of MAGAts, being broke seems like one of the things that might dampen their enthusiasm for him so it seems like a good avenue of attack.

  21. 21.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 17, 2024 at 8:21 am

    @Baud:

    Don’t know Cox, but he’s a Republican, so it’s hard to trust in his humor find him funny. 

    Fixed. :)

  22. 22.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 17, 2024 at 8:22 am

    @Ken: Me too. I finally googled it and this site says it’s something like:

    Tee-shhk

  23. 23.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 17, 2024 at 8:25 am

    @Baud: Good on the owner of The Mothership.  (Also, the Mother’s hip autoincorrect)

  24. 24.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 17, 2024 at 8:25 am

    Oh yeah, there’s all that green stuff going on today. :-)

    Fifteen years ago today, we brought a 19 month old boy out of an orphanage in Samara, Russia, and into our lives forever. When the kiddo wakes up and gets moving, we’ll take him to Dream Weaver* for brunch to celebrate.

    Excuse me, the screen’s getting kinda blurry right now.

    *Spanky, do you ever eat there? We really like it.

  25. 25.

    Chief Oshkosh

    March 17, 2024 at 8:27 am

    I plan to wear my kelly green O’Bama  t-shirt all day today, if I can find it!

  26. 26.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 17, 2024 at 8:34 am

    Chicago River fish

  27. 27.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 8:34 am

    @Chief Oshkosh: 😊

  28. 28.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 8:35 am

    @mrmoshpotato: 😆

  29. 29.

    satby

    March 17, 2024 at 8:36 am

    @lowtechcyclist: Aww, happy adoption day to your family!

  30. 30.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 8:37 am

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: it is a great line of attack.  Prosperity Gospel 😆 right in the seat of their pants!

  31. 31.

    Robmassing

    March 17, 2024 at 8:42 am

    J6 jokes are as funny as W’s “where are those WMDs?” jokes.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    March 17, 2024 at 8:42 am

    My dad’s family is from Ireland, and we have a recognizably Irish last name. But those ancestors came to this country many generations ago and lost their religion along the way, so I’ve never felt more than a notional connection to the “Old Country.”

    My mother-in-law, who is from a Northern U.S. city where ethnic group membership seems to be a much bigger deal, makes more of my Irish heritage than I do. She’ll call to wish me a Happy St. Patrick’s Day later. I find it all faintly amusing.

  33. 33.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 8:43 am

    College radio playing all Black Gospel songs right now ❤️

  34. 34.

    BellyCat

    March 17, 2024 at 8:54 am

    @lowtechcyclist: Congratulations!!!

  35. 35.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 8:55 am

    @lowtechcyclist:

    👍

  36. 36.

    Freemark

    March 17, 2024 at 8:55 am

    @Ken: There are many a time I’ve gone to use a word vocally then realizing that I have never heard it spoken.

  37. 37.

    Princess

    March 17, 2024 at 8:59 am

    Whatever you think of VP Harris, you can’t deny she’s pretty much a perfect VP. She’s in lock-step with Biden in public, amplifying his achievements. She can do the difficult things like visiting universities and clinics that do abortions. He can send her flying around the world (which, frankly, I prefer for him to avoid).  And she’s fine with all this ceremonial stuff.

  38. 38.

    Layer8Problem

    March 17, 2024 at 9:00 am

    My local public house is serving Full Irish Breakfast (vegetarian option available, somehow), Shepherd’s Pie, Bacon and Cabbage, Bangers and Mash, Fish and Chips, with all the Chef or HP sauce and malt vinegar you can swig.  Which, actually, is almost the normal brunch menu.  It will be flooded with the Irish-for-a-Day crowd, the We’re-of-Irish-Extraction-We-Gotta-Do-This-Today crowd, and the I’m-Told-There’s-Excessive-Drinking-Today crowd, along with the responsible upstanding citizen regulars like myself.  Music all day, Irish trad and otherwise.  The staff, Irish and American, will have their thousand yard stares firmly in place by late this evening.

  39. 39.

    Uncle Cosmo

    March 17, 2024 at 9:01 am

    A recovering-alcoholic friend told me many years ago there were two days of the year his drinking crowd would “go to ground” – i.e., never venture out: New Years Eve and St. Paddy’s Day. We were drunks, he said, and we knew we were drunks, and comported ourselves accordingly – but those people are amateurs! The fact that social drinkers in great numbers would use ancestry and/or the calendar as justification to get blind roaring drunk, and then climb into a couple tons of metal capable of traveling at high velocity and attempt to navigate it amongst others similarly impaired, terrified them.

    If yinz can’t go to ground, be safe out there today!

  40. 40.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 17, 2024 at 9:05 am

    @satby:

    @BellyCat:

    @Baud:

    Thanks!

    We celebrate it with him every year, kinda like a second birthday. :-)

  41. 41.

    evodevo

    March 17, 2024 at 9:09 am

    @Ken: ​
      Yes..I could never figure out WHY the spelling is so bizarre…Celtic was originally transliterated by monks, using a Latin alphabet. Why all the unvoiced vowels? Why isn’t Sean spelled Shawn? etc. etc. Evidently Irish Celtic had a lot of unique vocalizations they couldn’t indicate with the extant Latin letters, but seriously…

  42. 42.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 17, 2024 at 9:11 am

    @Robmassing:

    J6 jokes are as funny as W’s “where are those WMDs?” jokes.

    I concur.​ ETA: About as funny as jokes about a lynching, which is what it basically was for some of the Capitol police.

  43. 43.

    zhena gogolia

    March 17, 2024 at 9:12 am

    @Robmassing: Exactly.

  44. 44.

    prostratedragon

    March 17, 2024 at 9:15 am

    Scad the Beggars partying down in Ulster Scot style.

  45. 45.

    EarthWindFire

    March 17, 2024 at 9:18 am

    @satby: Many years ago, my spouse and BILs’ music were featured on an all-Gaelic radio show on the Dingle peninsula. The host has since died and the show with it.

    Gaelic is a dying language, so it makes me happy to see the PM still referred to by his Irish title.

  46. 46.

    satby

    March 17, 2024 at 9:21 am

    @evodevo: here’s why, if you’re really curious. It’s a much older language than English and the alphabet really doesn’t match.

    You could use the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) and get more accuracy, but that would be a nightmare.

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 9:25 am

    Lately on a jag of airing lesser, marginal and/or, frankly, crapola cinematic output mostly unfamiliar to me whose titles have popped up while idly perusing streaming services. But there’s some paths upon which even yours truly won’t tread.

    Which is why I’ll seek out clips or trailers online first.   :)

  48. 48.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 9:26 am

    English isn’t that phonetic either.

  49. 49.

    satby

    March 17, 2024 at 9:31 am

    @EarthWindFire: Well, you might enjoy this video from young Irish people. And for those who don’t know this, Ireland is not a land of rosy cheeked redheads.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 9:31 am

    @Baud

    Ghoti.
    :)

  51. 51.

    EarthWindFire

    March 17, 2024 at 9:31 am

    @Layer8Problem: Sounds like my local public house, except I’ll be the taxi for spouse’s gig as one of the musicians. He’ll have the same thousand yard stare as the staff when I pick him up tonight.

  52. 52.

    Jeffro

    March 17, 2024 at 9:33 am

    @Ken:

    @satby:

    @Spanky:

    good lord

    these foreigners, with all their UN-AMERICAN names!!!  ;)

    (I don’t even want to tell y’all how I was mispronouncing T-guy’s name)

  53. 53.

    H.E.Wolf

    March 17, 2024 at 9:33 am

    @Baud: English isn’t that phonetic either.​

     “Though the tough cough and hiccough, plough him through.”

  54. 54.

    EarthWindFire

    March 17, 2024 at 9:34 am

    @satby: That’s a great video – the kids are alright. Thank you!

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    March 17, 2024 at 9:35 am

    @Layer8Problem: seeing “HP sauce” caused me to go look and see who in my area carries it.

    Wegmans, oddly enough, does not.

    Kroger does though!

  56. 56.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 17, 2024 at 9:36 am

    @Freemark: IMHO, we should respect people who mispronounce an unusual word because it means they learned it from reading.

  57. 57.

    MomSense

    March 17, 2024 at 9:37 am

    I’m stuck on the Taoiseach and the Second Gentleman being doppelgängers. Is it just me or do they look alike?

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 9:37 am

    World record riverdancing.

  59. 59.

    satby

    March 17, 2024 at 9:40 am

    @H.E.Wolf: and imagine how hard it is to explain as an ESL teacher!

    @Baud: oy, how true.

  60. 60.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 17, 2024 at 9:41 am

    @evodevo: On Friday, we went a great concert by an Irish duo (Switchback). They introduced a song about whiskey (of which they said there were many) by saying that the Irish word for whiskey is uisce beatha. “Uisce” means water. The English apparently couldn’t pronounce it and wrote it as “whiskey.”

  61. 61.

    MomSense

    March 17, 2024 at 9:41 am

    Assuming this move goes well and I end up with a little extra cash I’m thinking I would like to go to the Aran Islands for a week and just wander, knit and be.

  62. 62.

    Eunicecycle

    March 17, 2024 at 9:43 am

    @MomSense: yes! They really do! I saw lots about that yesterday on Xitter. It’s quite remarkable.

  63. 63.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 17, 2024 at 9:48 am

    @NotMax:

    World record riverdancing.

    If the rivers around here start dancing, I’m running for high ground!

  64. 64.

    Eyeroller

    March 17, 2024 at 9:52 am

    @Baud: English has undergone some major pronunciation shifts, but the spelling still reflects to some degree the older pronunciations. “Gh” stood for a sound represented as “ch” in modern German. (“Through” and “durch” are cognates.) The pronunciation of vowels changed drastically in the late 1400s. Plus all the borrowings–the “ti” as “sh” generally occurs in words of Old French origin.

  65. 65.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 9:52 am

    @Jeffro: I pronounce it “ball gargling thunder twat” because I’m a little bit Irish.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 9:54 am

    I just call him Mr. T.

  67. 67.

    AnonPhenom

    March 17, 2024 at 9:54 am

    @Ken:

    Pro tip #1: don’t do a Liz Truss.
    #2: names are fun

  68. 68.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 9:55 am

    @Baud: 😆 “I’ll bust you up!”

  69. 69.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 9:57 am

    I know she’s Scottish but I’m thinking of Janey Godley today for some reason.  She’s such a hoot, and put the C-word on a big sign for Rump’s arrival. Her voiceovers are hilarious.

  70. 70.

    SteveinPHX

    March 17, 2024 at 9:57 am

    @Princess: And she can represent the US at International conferences/meetings where a sophisticated understanding of our positions is called for. Doing a great job!

     

     

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 9:58 am

    @lowtechcyclist

    Accompanied by the brooks babbling?
    ;)

  72. 72.

    sdhays

    March 17, 2024 at 9:59 am

    The Irish should have used Hangul for their writing script.

  73. 73.

    Jackie

    March 17, 2024 at 10:05 am

    The other day, a defeated-looking man came up to me and said, ‘I’m being crushed by debt. I’m completely wiped out,’” Biden said. “I said, ‘Sorry, Donald, I can’t help you.’”

    I spewed coffee!

    Happy St Patrick’s Day! ☘️ ☘️ ☘️ ☘️ ☘️ ☘️

  74. 74.

    Miss Bianca

    March 17, 2024 at 10:07 am

    The local Republican Party contacted me recently about using our theater for an “election comedy event” in October. It was my duty, as well as my privilege, to inform him that we would only host a bipartisan political event.

    I did *not* offer to round up local Democrats, of whom I am one of the few, the proud, etc, to provide a “bipartisan election comedy night.” Mostly because I shudder to imagine what the local MAGAts would consider “comedy”.

  75. 75.

    Jager

    March 17, 2024 at 10:14 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    A pal of mine in Boston and I took his Irish grandfather’s “baby brother” (he was in his 60s) out for a night on the town after a week or two of good behavior while visiting his American family. We were sitting at a bar in Cambridge. After the old boyo knocked back two mugs of Guinness and three shots of Bushmills, he turned to my pal and said, “Tommy you’d better chain me to the fookin radiator because you’re about to see another side of me!”

  76. 76.

    Steeplejack

    March 17, 2024 at 10:15 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Time for my periodic discussion with fellow precocious child reader zhena gogolia about misled (“my-sulled”) and martyred (“marty-red”).

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 10:16 am

    @TBone

    Some WoW players may remember the temporary inclusion of the Mohawk Grenade.

    Another contemporaneous spot: “Has that occurred to you, Mister Condescending Director?”
    :)

  78. 78.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 17, 2024 at 10:16 am

    @Steeplejack: Respect to you both!

  79. 79.

    Eyeroller

    March 17, 2024 at 10:17 am

    In rereading that bit about the Gridiron Dinner, I couldn’t help but notice the “hours of jokes about his age.”  How long was this dinner?  Also if it’s the journalists putting on those “skits,” do they have any inkling how stale those jokes sound?  (Probably not.)

    I hope we see more pictures of Trump released like the one in a previous thread.  People need to get it through their heads that they aren’t far apart in age and Trump appears to be in much worse condition.

    I’ve seen several pictures of Trump without orange hair so I assume he uses water-soluble (“shampoo out”) hair coloring for public appearances.  Biden looks no older than his age, whereas in that photo Trump looked easily 10 years older than his.

  80. 80.

    John S.

    March 17, 2024 at 10:18 am

    @EarthWindFire:

    The Dingle peninsula is lovely. I spent a lot of time in County Kerry over the years for work. It’s a beautiful place.

  81. 81.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 10:20 am

    @Miss Bianca:

    There was that video recently of Republicans beating up an effigy of Biden.  I bet that thought that was funny.

  82. 82.

    Jager

    March 17, 2024 at 10:20 am

    @Steeplejack:

    When I was a comic book kid, I thought Yosemite Sam’s name was pronounced YOS MIGHT

  83. 83.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 10:22 am

    @TBone: here’s some Janey 💙 voice on a beaver

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4nk6mCYVNw0

    Plus: Stevie and the Rat 😆

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=85H29rgEE5A

    Bears!

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5hA_WigcTk

  84. 84.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 10:23 am

    @Eyeroller

    Has long dyed his mop. Look at pictures of him from, say, the 1970s or 80s. Unquestionably brunette.

  85. 85.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 10:23 am

    @NotMax: L.O.L. !!  Hahahaha! 🤣

  86. 86.

    Miss Bianca

    March 17, 2024 at 10:23 am

    @Baud: Yeah, that was kind of what I was afraid of.

    Also, what might happen if *we* started telling jokes that were,.you know, actually funny. About them.

  87. 87.

    Steeplejack

    March 17, 2024 at 10:23 am

    @Jager:

    Same.

  88. 88.

    Baud

    March 17, 2024 at 10:24 am

    @Miss Bianca:

    Just tell them guns aren’t allowed inside. They’ll find someplace else.

  89. 89.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 17, 2024 at 10:27 am

    @NotMax:

    Accompanied by the brooks babbling?

    As long as they stay in their place, they can babble all they damn well please!

  90. 90.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    March 17, 2024 at 10:31 am

    Some martial arts for today’s holiday.

  91. 91.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 17, 2024 at 10:32 am

    The other day, a defeated-looking man came up to me and said, ‘I’m being crushed by debt. I’m completely wiped out,’” Biden said. “I said, ‘Sorry, Donald, I can’t help you.’”

    Very good, Mr. President, but a ‘Sir’ in there, and maybe some tears, would have been the cherry on top.

    As in:

    “The other day, a defeated-looking man came up to me with tears in his eyes and said, ‘Sir, I’m being crushed by debt. I’m completely wiped out,’” Biden said. “I said, ‘Sorry, Donald, I can’t help you.’”

  92. 92.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 10:32 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: 🤔 an upgrade is in order for me.  My baseball bat home security system is too nationalist.  😉

  93. 93.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 10:33 am

    @lowtechcyclist: delicious 😋

  94. 94.

    Spanky

    March 17, 2024 at 10:33 am

    @John S.: When my wife and I were young and were in Ireland, we were so taken by County Clare that we decided that, should we have a daughter (we didn’t), we’d name her Clare.

    We loved Dingle even more, but had no such inclination about the name.

  95. 95.

    Miss Bianca

    March 17, 2024 at 10:37 am

    @Baud: Heh. As the late, great Bert Lahr is reputed to have said: “You laugh – but that was FUNNY!”

  96. 96.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 10:37 am

    The day Janey Godley protested Rump.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fAulPWvWkus

  97. 97.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 10:38 am

    Be afraid, Sure and begorrah, be very afraid.
    :)

  98. 98.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 17, 2024 at 10:38 am

    A restaurant near us had roasties for sale last night (a take out tradition they started during “lockdown”) so we ended up eating our corned beef and potatoes last night instead of today.  To go with it, we started watching Rebellion on Netflix.  It’s pretty good but I was surprised that it doesn’t really paint the IRA in the kind of positive light that I was expecting.

  99. 99.

    Juju

    March 17, 2024 at 10:38 am

    @Jager: It’s not pronounced Yosemight?

  100. 100.

    Kayla Rudbek

    March 17, 2024 at 10:40 am

    @evodevo: to cause confusion to the English?

  101. 101.

    Layer8Problem

    March 17, 2024 at 10:41 am

    @EarthWindFire:

    The image I have at the end of this evening is our beleaguered but stalwart manager, a native of Meath, picking her way through the unconscious and the barely sentient, as the camera pulls back showing her amid the inert mass of the closing crowd, and finally showing a tattered Irish flag waving bravely over all.

  102. 102.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 10:43 am

    A hoary Irish jest.

    “Any damage from the earthquake?”

    “Blarney rubble.”

  103. 103.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 10:44 am

    @NotMax: I prefer spinach and garlic cream cheese to green it up.  Mmmmmm Gaelic garlic…

  104. 104.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 10:45 am

    @NotMax: hee

  105. 105.

    Jeffro

    March 17, 2024 at 10:46 am

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Very good, Mr. President, but a ‘Sir’ in there, and maybe some tears, would have been the cherry on top.

    As in:

    “The other day, a defeated-looking man came up to me with tears in his eyes and said, ‘Sir, I’m being crushed by debt. I’m completely wiped out,’” Biden said. “I said, ‘Sorry, Donald, I can’t help you.’”

    Ha!

    Bonus points for some serious inside baseball there.   ;)

  106. 106.

    rikyrah

    March 17, 2024 at 10:48 am

    Why are all the press outside Buckingham Palace?

  107. 107.

    Jager

    March 17, 2024 at 10:49 am

    @Juju:

    When we went to the park when I was a kid, I asked a ranger the proper pronunciation, (I didn’t trust my 3rd-grade teacher Elsie Hehr) The ranger laughed and said I was the 5th person to ask him that question, 2 kids and 3 adults,

  108. 108.

    Miss Bianca

    March 17, 2024 at 10:51 am

    @rikyrah: A Kate sighting? Or rumor of one? That would be my guess, anyway.

  109. 109.

    Kayla Rudbek

    March 17, 2024 at 10:52 am

    @MomSense: I would highly recommend that. There’s a yarn and clothing store on the island and I mailed yarn back home when Mr. Rudbek and I did our Ireland bike tour. We went through https://greenmarblecycletours.com/ doing a self-guided tour with our big suitcase being stored, and it was great! We probably could have spent a whole week in the Aran Islands alone.

  110. 110.

    Another Scott

    March 17, 2024 at 10:52 am

    @Freemark: Language is weird.  We are hard-wired in our brains to use different parts for speaking/hearing and reading/writing.

    I remember as a kid in suburban Atlanta thinking (for a while) that “nekked” and “naked” were two different things.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  111. 111.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 17, 2024 at 10:55 am

    @rikyrah:

    Apparently the Palace has said there will be “a major announcement” in the next couple of hours.

    https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/royal-family-hints-at-major-announcement-at-any-moment-amid-kate-middleton-health-crisis-101710675864253-amp.html

     

    STAY TUNED!!

  112. 112.

    JML

    March 17, 2024 at 10:56 am

    @NotMax: “Maybe Mr. T hacked the game! Maybe Mr. T is pretty handy with a computer!”

    Never not funny.

  113. 113.

    rikyrah

    March 17, 2024 at 10:57 am

    I have been on Medical School MatchTok for a few days. Got me crying for people I don’t even know. I sort of feel ashamed that until MatchTok, I had no idea of the insanity around Match Day for Doctors. The thought that you could go through four years of Medical School and STILL not become a doctor is crazy to me. But, it did make the overwhelming relief and joy in those videos make all the more sense.

  114. 114.

    Kayla Rudbek

    March 17, 2024 at 10:57 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I like this although it would probably get me into a lot of trouble (I wonder if I could manage it with a tactical umbrella)

  115. 115.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 17, 2024 at 10:58 am

    Since its St. Patrick’s Day, I give a study in green.

    Lemur Leaf Frogs from Kerby Rosanes, Fragile World. All done in pencil. Its still a WIP but its almost done.

  116. 116.

    MomSense

    March 17, 2024 at 10:58 am

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    I think I will need a suitcase just for the yarn I will want to bring home. I just want to go by myself and explore without much of a plan except for getting to the pub in time for dinner with my knitting project.  There are so many beautiful hikes and this sounds weird but I want to visit the cemeteries.  There are cable designs inspired by carvings on headstones.

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 11:01 am

    @TBone

    Costco here has begun selling reasonably sized tubs of Toom, a commercial brand of toum, an originally Lebanese garlic dip/spread/sauce (a home recipe).

    Snatched it from the fridge to read the ingredients list: Canola oil, fresh garlic, lemon juice, sea salt, maltodextrin, citric acid.

  118. 118.

    Another Scott

    March 17, 2024 at 11:05 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I was surprised once that there’s a difference between “whiskey” and “whisky” among those who worry about such things.

    There are lots of ways to be tripped up by language, even in the “same” language!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  119. 119.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 11:10 am

    @NotMax: yum!  I’d add some steamed spinach and mix it up for today’s festivities mmmmm…but my favorite breakfast is brown bread toast triangles, topped with slices of cold smoked salmon, with capers, diced egg, onion & tomato garnish.  And a dab of cucumber sour cream sauce (drools).

    Just put the smoked ham hock into a big stock pot to boil, then simmer.  Later, fresh cabbage and small, new potatoes will join it.  Healthy-ish enough!

    Oh and thank you for the easy peasy recipe! 💙

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

    March 17, 2024 at 11:11 am

    @MomSense:

    For some reason, I have found myself of KnitTok. I find watching videos of people knitting and crocheting to be soothing.

     

    How hard is it to learn how to knit?

  121. 121.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 11:14 am

    @schrodingers_cat: gorgeous! 😍

  122. 122.

    MomSense

    March 17, 2024 at 11:15 am

    @rikyrah:

    It’s not hard!!  I just taught my youngest.  Knittinghelp.com has really good videos.  I think continental styke is easier but you can try both English and Continental and see which one you like.  And if you ever want to zoom and knit together I’m in!

    Lots of LYS (local yarn shops) teach classes and will help you find the right yarn and needles for a good beginner project.

  123. 123.

    satby

    March 17, 2024 at 11:18 am

    @Steeplejack: I see you misled and raise you sword (pronounced with all the letters at age 7). I was teased for years about that.

  124. 124.

    schrodingers_cat

    March 17, 2024 at 11:21 am

    @TBone: Thanks so much!

  125. 125.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 17, 2024 at 11:26 am

    @Miss Bianca:

    If it’s true that the activity is around Buckingham Palace rather than Kensington Palace, my guess is that the announcement would be about King Charles III, not the Princess of Wales. Perhaps they’re looking at a semi-official Regency role for William while the King continues to battle cancer.

    Of course, it could all be bollocks and rubbish, just rumours.

  126. 126.

    StringOnAStick

    March 17, 2024 at 11:31 am

    @Steeplejack: Epitome, which I was sure was epi tome.

  127. 127.

    prostratedragon

    March 17, 2024 at 11:31 am

    I was wondering what bonbon TFG would toss at JB Pritzker on account of the Gridiron dinner being at the DC Grand Hyatt. Aaron Rupar has the answer.

  128. 128.

    CaseyL

    March 17, 2024 at 11:31 am

    @rikyrah: ​

    I work for a medical school, but not with residents. I’ve managed the Match for our Fellowship, but never knew there was one for residents! (Fellows are people who have completed their residency but want more training in a medical specialty. Fellowships are 1 or 2 year positions.)

    I know the Match anxiety from the other side: Will the candidates we want most also want us?

  129. 129.

    prostratedragon

    March 17, 2024 at 11:34 am

    @Steeplejack:  Didn’t we once discover that a great many of us on the blog were my-sulled at one time? Apparently it’s like losing your front teeth at the age of 6.

  130. 130.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 11:36 am

    @SiubhanDuinne

    After much discussion and consultation, His Majesty is pleased to announce the palace will be holding a Giant Hat Sale in time for Easter. All items guaranteed to come from the late queen’s wardrobe.
    //

  131. 131.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 11:42 am

    @prostratedragon: 😆🤣 Meal Team 6 finds that offensive and I’m still laughing!

  132. 132.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    March 17, 2024 at 11:53 am

    @satby: it wasn’t until being a married guy reading out loud to my wife that I learned the first syllable in “fiery” was pronounced “fire” and not “fear”.

    Also when imitating the comic book falling-off-a-cliff scream AIEEEEEE she was greatly amused I would say “aye-ee”. I still don’t know what sound that’s supposed to represent, actually.

  133. 133.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 12:15 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Aye aye, captain. Aye-ee is spot on. Emphasis on the ee.

    Know someone who was a psychology major who persists in pronouncing dysfunctional as “dye-functional.”

  134. 134.

    Eyeroller

    March 17, 2024 at 12:16 pm

    @MomSense: I accidentally re-invented something like lever knitting, possibly because I learned to crochet first.  Lever knitting is a variant of English style that is much faster, often faster than Continental.  You keep one needle fixed and move only the one in your dominant hand, with very minimal motion to wrap the yarn.  When I saw people knitting “English” style, I was always puzzled at the exaggerated hand motions and excessive looping of the yarn.  Lever knitting is what was used by production knitters in the days before large-scale commercial knitting machines.  They usually wore some kind of belt to keep one needle fixed.

  135. 135.

    CaseyL

    March 17, 2024 at 12:30 pm

    The list of words I have mispronounced because I had read them but never heard them is long and at times legendary (“EPI-scopal” instead of “ePIscopal” is still a story my family likes to tell). And that’s just words in my native tongue! FSM knows what I’ve done with words from other languages.

    (The few times I’ve tried speaking Spanish to Spanish-speakers, I’ve heard that my accent is Cuban, or Castilian, and that would be because: a) I lived in Miami, where Cuban Spanish was the vernacular; and b) my earliest Spanish classes were given by a teacher who insisted on teaching Castilian pronunciation. I still mix the two up, e.g., pronouncing “v” as “b” and “d” as “th”.)

  136. 136.

    Miss Bianca

    March 17, 2024 at 12:32 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Oh, right. I forgot Charles is going through some stuff.

    I.must say, I am still chortling over a Xit I saw quoted here the other day, something to the effect of, “The Princess of Wales is missing, the second son is in exile, and the King is treating his cancer with herbs. If this were 1300 and I were France, I’d be thinking about invading.”

  137. 137.

    Sister Golden Bear

    March 17, 2024 at 12:33 pm

    Saint Patrick’s Day pro tip: Be sure to clean your toilet this morning, you may be face down in it later.

  138. 138.

    NotMax

    March 17, 2024 at 12:40 pm

    @Miss Bianca

    From a British production, spoken by a senior army general.

    “War is hideous. Anyone who has ever been in one never wants to go to war again. It’s like France.”
    ;)

  139. 139.

    Sister Golden Bear

    March 17, 2024 at 12:40 pm

    @Miss Bianca: I know exactly where Kate Middleton is.

    She’s in a small village falling in love with an artisanal bakery owner who has no idea she’s a princess, and he’s going to help her rediscover the meaning of Christmas. /s

  140. 140.

    brantl

    March 17, 2024 at 12:49 pm

    BBTB, Biden Brings The Burn.

  141. 141.

    Steeplejack

    March 17, 2024 at 12:54 pm

    @prostratedragon:

    Yes, but zhena gogolia won the thread with her horror story of reading aloud in class or Sunday school about the marty-red John F. Kennedy.

  142. 142.

    Wolvesvalley

    March 17, 2024 at 1:13 pm

    Here’s another $50 for the current angel match for Worker Power.

  143. 143.

    EarthWindFire

    March 17, 2024 at 1:17 pm

    @John S.: The Dingle peninsula is one of my favorite places on earth. Especially in September when the sun stills stays out but the August holiday crowd is gone.

  144. 144.

    MomSense

    March 17, 2024 at 1:22 pm

    @Eyeroller:

    Do you wear a belt?  That’s the way I’ve seen the Scottish knitters do it.
    There is also Portuguese knitting which is really cool.  My friend switched to it after having both thumbs operated on.

  145. 145.

    Peke Daddy

    March 17, 2024 at 1:49 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Here’s a recipe for a coddle.

    https://youtu.be/51Wcy67CP00?si=eAisCuEDalnwsKHD

  146. 146.

    Kathleen

    March 17, 2024 at 2:15 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Le Mis.

  147. 147.

    wjca

    March 17, 2024 at 2:40 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I finally googled it and this site says it’s something like:

    Tee-shhk

    Gesundheit!

  148. 148.

    TBone

    March 17, 2024 at 2:49 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear: 😆

  149. 149.

    pieceofpeace

    March 17, 2024 at 3:33 pm

    @lowtechcyclist:  I’m green with envy…..have a wonderful birthday celebration for you and your family!

  150. 150.

    Miss Bianca

    March 17, 2024 at 7:41 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear: Way late back to a dead thread but LOL!

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