(Pickles via GoComics.com)
President Biden makes a new friend during a visit to Children’s National Hospital. pic.twitter.com/37gC6Qpmbg
— The Recount (@therecount) December 20, 2024
Stopping by to share an inside look at one of the Capitol's beloved holiday traditions. pic.twitter.com/WuJM1BE9b0
— Katherine Clark (@WhipKClark) December 23, 2024
(Clay Bennett via GoComics.com)
On The Road – Winter Wren – Winter Holidays at the Newport Mansions
twbrandt
In a couple of hours, I’ll be starting on the cheesecake I’m bringing to Christmas dinner at my sister’s tomorrow.
cmorenc
All that Trump and MAGA Senators and Congresspeople care about isn’t the narrow margin by which they won control of the White Hous and Congress, but THAT they control it, and feel empowered to do whatever they want to do. That they hold office is all the mandate they think they need to enact whatever agenda they want
That is, if Elon approves. If not, he finances their primary opponents. Finest congress and presidency he could ever hope to buy, since he’s ineligible to be POTUS himself.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all!
@twbrandt:
Usually when I start on a cheesecake, there’s none left for anyone else.
Suzanne
Love that first cartoon. Other than the kids, who need stuff, I am mostly over Christmas gifts. I got one small item each for Mr. Suzanne and SuzMom, and am making baked goods for the neighbors/friends. My general rule for adult gift-giving is handmade, consumable, or a book. Added this year one more option: a charitable donation in your name. SuzMom and I did a donation to World Central Kitchen yesterday for our side of the family.
Unrelated: I saw a tweet/xheet (WTF) on Xhitter this morning and something clicked for me. (And now I can’t find it again, of course.) About how lots of dumbass men deluded themselves into thinking that Harris would send them into a war, because she thought of herself as some kind of “girlboss”. And wars that women leaders would fight would be examples of oppression of men. But if Trump sent those same men into a war, that would be masculine or “based”. That’s a specific manifestation of sexism that hadn’t occurred to me, but that strikes me as logical.
One reason Democrats voting for the AUMF was such a betrayal for me was that I always wanted to think of the Dems as the much-smarter-about-wars party. And it has really, really annoyed me to see TFG cast himself as the anti-war person. It makes me crazy.
Suzanne
@twbrandt: What kind of cheesecake? I love making cheesecake.
Raoul Paste
This is my quiet coffee drinking time before the mad rush of the day. Best wishes to all of you
AM in NC
@Suzanne: Never underestimate (and I know you don’t) the power of “girl cooties” to make men do things that harm themselves in trying to avoid “girl cooties”.
Patriarchy/misogyny is a helluva drug.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Obama was good with little kids too.
Nukular Biskits
@Suzanne:
Same here … and this frustrates Ms. Biskits to no end. Not in terms for me giving her gifts but when she asks me what I’d like for Christmas. My perennial answer of “Nothin'” does not calculate for her … LOL!
I’m at the point in my life similar to what author Patrick F. McManus described for his: I get gifts for one person (her) and she worries about getting the gifts for everyone else.
AM in NC
And now for a more cheery Christmas Eve comment: Sending love and thanks to the whole Jackaltariat community. I love y’all, even though I haven’t met y’all.
Today I’m making blueberry and apple pies for tomorrow and playing X-mas music while I wrap presents. Yay!
Nukular Biskits
@Raoul Paste:
Mine started about 3 1/2 hours ago.
Trying to keep my usual sked, although I’m teleworking a 1/2 day.
Rusty
What is this weird obsession with whether Trumps win is a mandate? You win, you get the power associated with the position. You can use it as you will, knowing that misuse will make reelection tough. Having a “mandate” is meaningless, it’s just PR. Our press focuses on the most useless things.
catclub
@Suzanne:
There is a chocolate cheesecake in Maida Heatter’s Book of chocolate desserts. Yummy.
However, it has been along time since we have indulged.
twbrandt
@Suzanne: A variation on a New York style cheesecake I got from YouTube chef Brian Lagerstrom. It uses a Graham cracker crust, 32 oz of cream cheese, 8 oz of goat cheese, plus eggs, vanilla, etc. I’ve made it a few times and it’s always been a real hit.
Rachel Bakes
Baking so far today: 2 loaves cheese bread about to come out of oven, double recipe choc chip cookie dough chilling, mashed potatoes done for cinnamon roll base.
Travels with Charley
Good morning, all! I wanted to share a few things that I have enjoyed in 2024 and look forward to in 2025, because I know there are many readers on this site.
For the last 18 months or so, I’ve been a member of Dr. Luzzi’s “Virtual Book Club,” which reads both classic and contemporary fiction. It meets monthly, and we have covered lots of great books! You can learn more at https://josephluzzi.com/virtual-book-club/.
Also, I just discovered Simon Haisell’s “Footnotes & Tangents” on Substack, and he is offering slow reads for both “War & Peace” and Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” trilogy in 2025. A slow reads sounds like the perfect way to start the day! Happy holidays to all!
Chief Oshkosh
@Rusty: Some people, including those in the press, use the concept of a mandate to absolve themselves of responsibilities that accrue if the winner abuses the power of office. Shitgibbon curb stomps a puppy? Oh well, he has a mandate; the American voters gave him permission to do that, so who are we to question?
zhena gogolia
No kid would do that with Trump.
Husband: “Can’t we have four more years of THEM?”
narya
I’m making beans (for pasta e fagioli), and am about to start baking: almond cloud cookies (gluten-free, double batch) and a chocolate almond cake (also gluten free) that I’ll top with the strawberries in mom’s freezer that need to be used up. That’s going to result in a half-dozen egg yolks with which I need to do something. Probably just throw them into bread. I’m going to have to brave the grocery store, too, because we need to pick up the crown pork roast mom ordered for dinner tomorrow. Gonna be a quiet dinner–me, Friend, her, and next-door neighbor; I’m glad we can be here to keep mom company for the first holiday season w/o dad.
zhena gogolia
@Chief Oshkosh: Well, there is some truth to that. The American people had clear evidence of who he is, and they elected him anyway.
Josie
Getting ready to make the cinnamon rolls for the family Christmas breakfast tomorrow. I will pay for my sins next month after all the wonderful sweets are finished.
Rachel Bakes
@narya: crème brûlée is my go to when I have leftover egg yolks
twbrandt
What do y’all do with leftover egg whites?
Josie
@narya: Can you freeze egg yolks?
Nukular Biskits
Question for all youse folks baking and cooking:
Who has room after eating all the Christmas cookies, candy, etc?
narya
@Rachel Bakes: Since I want to make rolls to have w/ dinner tomorrow, I think I’m going to go with brioche, but yes, creme brûlée or pastry cream are my go-to as well!
Suzanne
@twbrandt: That sounds amazing. I’ve never done one with goat cheese, but I love it. I will have to give that a try.
I have made the New York Cheesecake from Joy of Cooking quite a few times, and it is a lot of effort, but always fantastic. Apparently ex-Mr. Suzanne talks about it enough that Spawn the Elder made it for him for his birthday, LOL. I also have a “cannoli cheesecake” recipe that I tried and really enjoyed. Basically a ricotta cheesecake with chocolate chips, and you can crunch up cannoli shells or waffle cones on top to make it more cannoli-esque if you want. I tried a peppermint cheesecake recipe for Christmas about five years ago, and I was meh on it.
narya
@twbrandt: macarons, pavlova, or the aforementioned almond cloud cookies (King Arthur website) or cake (there are several almond cakes that use only whites on the King Arthur website).
narya
@Josie: I don’t think so; I will just refrigerate them for a bit if needed. They’ll last at least a week in the fridge. (More than that, in my fridge, because I regard “use by” dates as vague suggestions.)
tobie
@Suzanne: I’ve been trying to grasp the idea popularized by Trump, Rogan, Gabbard, et al that Biden was a war monger who sent US troops around the globe, when he didn’t. We don’t have US soldiers in Ukraine, or Gaza for that matter. Trump may lead the US to fighting on the ground with his crazy talk about Panama and Greenland. MAGA doesn’t care. This was never about policy on any issue. It was the seething resentment of the white working class that they’re not in charge. Anyone who promised them vengeance and a pound of flesh was going to excite them.
Josie
@narya:
Lol. A woman after my own heart.
Geminid
@Suzanne: Three of my friend Debbie’s siblings voted Democratic this year like, she and they always do. One sister and her husband voted for Trump though, because their son is in Army Special Forces and they think Trump will keep him out of danger.
The irony is that their son is like a danger junkie. He’s reenlisted twice because he thrives in the hazardous special forces world. Sean has rotated through Syria before and he’s probably there right now. His parents don’t see it the same way he does.
twbrandt
@Suzanne: the cannoli cheesecake sounds fabulous! I haven’t made the Joy of Cooking cake, but have made the Craig Claiborne recipe from the NYT. Lagerstrom’s is basically a riff on that. And yes, it’s a bit of work!
Professor Bigfoot
Mrs. B so wanted an electric bike; but she wanted me to get one too, so we could ride together.
Then came the election, and an intense re-evaluation of short and longer-term and we weren’t going to do anything for each other.
Then I went to her Amazon wishlist and bought TWO electric bikes— because I hadda get one for me, too, right?
They got delivered on Sunday (say what?!!); so I dragged the boxes (we’re talking 30 kilos each) into the house.
By the way, did I mention that her birthday is also Christmas Day?
”Happy Birthday!” <thud> “And Merry Christmas!” <thud>
I assembled the first one yesterday and will be taking it out for a test spin today before I start on the second one, but I have to admit that despite being ‘cheap Chinese crap’ (which is racist bullshit I know from having worked for a Chinese company for a few years) it appears to be pretty high quality.
(worked through college in a bike shop, and so far I’m kinda impressed with this thing).
Someone asked about it many many days ago— it’s the “5th WHEEL Electric Bicycle” from Amazon, and I’ll report back how well it works later today for those who are interested in such.
Oh, and Joy of the Holiday to you all! 😁
Soprano2
It’s how they decide whether or not what the president does is justified. It seems that Democrats rarely have a “mandate” in their eyes even when they win elections big, while Republicans seem to almost always have a “mandate”.
I listened to a Fresh Air podcast yesterday where Susan Glasser was interviewed about an article she wrote for “The New Yorker” about why billionaires went back to TCFG. Never once was it mentioned by either person that the TCFG tax cuts are expiring in 2025, so that might be the reason they decided to hold their noses and promote TCFG. NOT ONCE WAS THAT MENTIONED. I was pretty disgusted with the interview by the end of it.
Nukular Biskits
@Professor Bigfoot:
LOL! Awesome! And to all a good night!
Professor Bigfoot
@tobie: WHITE working class.
The rest of us know better, despite the fact that major media doesn’t seem to think anyone other than white men actually WORK.
Suzanne
@Nukular Biskits: So, here’s a general gift-giving suggestion, for you or anyone else. Knowledge is Beautiful by David McCandless. Just a book of fantastic, lovely infographics, about all kinds of random things. A fun book just to pick up, flip to any random page, and get lost. I have given it to a few people, recommended it as a gift idea to others, and everyone has been pleased.
tobie
@Professor Bigfoot: You are right and I corrected my post. Thanks for the necessary reminder.
Soprano2
They do realize that events that no one anticipated can happen, right? Who in August of 2001 knew that we would be sending troops to Afghanistan in October 2001? I have no idea how they can think TCFG will keep him out of danger any better than any other president. He might be invading Panama in February to keep TCFG from having to pay them taxes, who knows? People like to delude themselves like that
ETA – as for holiday festivities, we had our Christmas with Mr. Soprano’s family on Sunday, so I don’t know what we’ll be doing tomorrow. Tonight I’ll probably reheat some of the calzone I got at the bar last night (it was the size of half a 14″ pizza, way bigger than I thought it would be!) for supper, and then we’ll watch Christmas movies and snack on things that are bad for you. I made seven layer bars for Sunday because I’m lazy that way; I brought the leftovers to work for the guys to eat so I wouldn’t eat the whole pan. Hubby likes to watch “March of the Wooden Soldiers” at Christmas even though it isn’t a Christmas movie because it has Santa in it. LOL Tomorrow we’ll probably sleep late and try to find somewhere to have breakfast/lunch. Then who knows, maybe more sleep.
Suzanne
@twbrandt: Here is the cannoli cheesecake recipe I tried. I also tried the ATK Ricotta Cheesecake once, and I actually preferred the cannoli version. You could probably just omit the eggs and make the filling and use it as cannoli dip.
Nukular Biskits
@Suzanne:
Thanks for the suggestion!
Fair Economist
I am delighted that I will apparently get no Christmas gifts this year. Woohoo! (I have too much stuff and need for nothing.)
Professor Bigfoot
@tobie: No worries— but its the “default” nature of whiteness that makes white supremacy so pernicious.
For example, only white people rage against “identity politics,” because to them, *white* isn’t an ethnicity or an identity, “white is just NORMAL.”
All the regular, normal people are white so they don’t have to even mention whiteness; permitting white people to both hide THEIR “identity politics” while highlighting and denigrating everyone ELSE’s identity.
It’s genuinely insidious.
tobie
@Geminid: Do these parents remember that Trump used special forces in Iraq, Syria, and Mali just to name three examples? In terms of boots on the ground, he was no more, or less, cautious than Biden. What he didn’t achieve was weakening the US’s biggest geopolitical foes without committing US troops. Russian and Iran are weaker today because of the fighting other nations did with our support. And China’s economy was suffering until Trump and Musk came along and decided to strengthen it for a fistful of dollars. I know I’m preaching to the choir. The stupidity just burns.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Fair Economist
@tobie: The point of the RW propaganda is that they all know it’s fake and laugh to each other about the lies, but a large proportion of America pays little attention to politics and gets suckered in by the endless repetition.
Nukular Biskits
@Fair Economist:
WhY dO yOu HaTe MuRkA?!?!?!?
Scout211
Merry Christmas Eve to all jackals who celebrate. I am enjoying reading everyone’s comments about baking and prepping for Christmas. It brings back so many good memories. Our Christmas will be quiet this year and very relaxing with just the two of us. We will enjoy the phone calls and pics we get from our family tomorrow but I am happy to let go of all the prepping at this stage of my life.
In political news, it’s fun to read about the Republican dysfunction that the political
gossipsites are featuring this week. Like Politico.Democrats with “barely contained glee?” “Messy leadership fight?” Oh my, how the
newsgossip has shifted (for now).Nukular Biskits
@rikyrah:
Mornin!
AM in NC
@twbrandt: I have this same issue. I don’t like merengue, so what else is there?
Professor Bigfoot
We often speak of Trumpers as being profoundly stupid people; but I begin to suspect that we’re simply not grappling with what THEY consider their own ‘best interests’ are.
If we’re going to go the route of accepting that the electorate chose what it really wanted and weren’t all just ‘bamboozled,’ then we have to think about what REALLY motivates those voters.
I personally believe the entire “conservative movement” is simply a reaction to the Civil Rights movement; that Trumpism is the white reaction to “too much political power in the hands of too many uppity Negroes.”
Their endgame is a return to Jim Crow, and I believe most white people will go along with it in the name of “unity” and “national reconciliation.”
Suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot:
This is a thing that blows my mind, every time. In the course of my job, I develop these years-long working relationships with clients. A ton of them are nurses, and still, most nurses are women. And probably two-thirds of the support staff — janitorial, dietary, patient transport, med and pharmacy techs, etc. — also women. They face the physical strain of their jobs, which is considerable, but they also face a ton of risk of violence. Being attacked by patients is not uncommon, but there have also been a lot of incidents of romantic partners threatening them at work. (Not just limited to nurses, either….. there was a case in Chicago a few years ago in which an ER doc, a black woman, was murdered when her ex-fiancé came to the hospital and shot her).
In some states, nursing is literally the most violent job. But when we idealize “work” in the popular imagination, why do we only idealize men’s work?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Happy Christian Revision of a Roman Holiday Celebrating the Winter Solstice Eve!
Next time some rwnj gets all “War on Xmas-ey with you” remind them of back when they were doing the same thing:
And if you haven’t read “Julian” by Gore Vidal, add it to your list. Not only is it a fascinating take on the historical figure, the writing is superlative, even by Vidal’s standards.
narya
@Josie: It’s a running joke with my mom, who doesn’t keep ANYTHING around. She was going to throw out buttermilk, FFS–I talked her out of that, at least, but don’t have any immediate uses for it, so she’ll probably throw it out when I leave. I’m trying to take things out of the fridge and freezer and transform them, to put them back in the freezer for her to eat after I’ve left.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
narya
@AM in NC: These cookies (make your own almond paste, too, if you have lots of whites). They’re quite good–I bake them a little longer, and have added some orange peel or lemon peel as well.
tobie
@Professor Bigfoot: I get your point. It is entirely valid.
Until four years ago, I always lived in cities. For complicated reasons, I’m now living in rural Maryland in one of the reddest counties in the state. Hearing the endless grievances of my white, small business neighbors has been an eye opener. They really believe they are the most ignored, aggrieved, and abused people on the planet. I don’t get it.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Professor Bigfoot:
Joy-Ann Reid from back in 2017:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/seeds-trump-s-victory-were-sown-moment-obama-won-ncna811891
twbrandt
@Suzanne: thanks! I’m definitely giving that a try.
AM in NC
@Professor Bigfoot: I agree with this, but would also add in the enforced patriarchy as well. The Evangelical, Mormon, and Catholic Churches are HUGE organizers on the right, and their animating feature is misogyny.
Whites and men wanting to keep their privileges and keep everyone else under their control is why we are where we are. And the predatory rich use this to entrench their power and strip mine us even further.
AM in NC
@narya: Thank you!!!!!!!!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@tobie:
You’re in Western MD? Or Southern MD? Or the Eastern Shore? I know the first rather well.
Heh heh, welcome to Misery. Ozark and I lived what you’re now experiencing for decades. After my first couple of years in it and getting a feel for the culture and attitudes, I always said that “Appalachia Is A State Of Mind” given the commonalities that ran thru much of where we were and my experiences in places like Western MD/Central PA/WV/VA.
Professor Bigfoot
@Suzanne: Because conservatism is ENTIRELY about white male Christian domination of all aspects of American society and culture.
That’s it, that’s the entire raison d’ětre, n’cest pas?
Scamp Dog
@Josie: What’s your cinnamon roll recipe? I’ve been on a quest to re-create my grandmother’s recipe based on 40-year old memories. It’s getting close, but it’s not quite there, so I’d love to find out how you make them.
Geminid
@Soprano2: I’m not saying Debbie’s sister and brother-in-law made a rational choice. Debbie’d be the first to tell you that neither one is very bright. So, they believed Trump’s Isolationist patter and voted their fears.
Debbie really respects her nephew though. and appreciates how he bought his parents a house near Fort Moore, his base in Columbus, Georgia. But he’ll disappear for a few months at time; sometimes when he gets back he’ll tell his folks where he was, and sometimes he can’t. So they worry a lot.
tobie
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Eastern Shore. Ceciltucky. I believe khead lives here too. I’m on the shore side, near Kent County. Yes, Appalachia is a State of Mind…even here in flatlands.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@narya:
Please come over and we can compare recipes and execution. I have a go-to that varies in “dampness”, sometimes I make it dryer than what you typically see but then I had plenty like that in Italy over the years.
The best pasta e fagioli I ever had was in a place in Padua, that I can’t find despite several efforts since.
Had probably the next best at a place in Verona this past fall. They used a dark bean, it was to die for.
Suzanne
@AM in NC: Yes.
Men’s work is seen as noble and family-supporting — which means women-controlling in those spheres. The ideal family for those people is one in which men are employed by other men, and then provide for wives and children. Financial dependency keeps women from leaving. The right’s hostility to college is, in this generation, largely around the fact that women are kicking ass at it and thus not getting married to lots of mediocre men.
Again, I recommend Joan Williams’ book White Working Class. She has a whole chapter about how white working class men consider “pink-collar” jobs beneath masculine dignity.
Soprano2
@Professor Bigfoot: Yeah, I laugh when conservatives say they don’t practice “identity politics”, because of course they do – they practice white identity politics! I point this out to people sometimes, that many of us think of “white” as the “normal, default” condition and feel we don’t even have to mention it because it’s not an “identity”, it’s seen as “normal”. Just like the press sees the white man as the “normal, regular” voter who everyone else should be measured by and compared to.
Scout211
@Scamp Dog: I’ve always made the Betty Crocker version of cinnamon rolls with the pecan caramel topping that my mother made every year for Christmas. Some call them sticky rolls or sticky buns. (But they are also the base recipe for cinnamon rolls with glaze).
This is the recipe from the 1950s Betty Crocker recipe book, but I have changed the recipe to double the pecan/caramel topping and increase the cinnamon/sugar filling inside the rolls. Plus, I tend to be super generous with (unsalted) butter in the recipe.
MartyIL
@AM in NC: Egg whites freeze satisfactorily. An angel food cake will take about 10 or use them for low fat omelets.
Soprano2
It’s because they believe they should be at the front of the line for everything, and any time they’re not at the front they have a grievance.
SuzieC
@narya: What do you do with leftover buttermilk?
While it’s sweet and heartwarming to see the President and First Lady with those children, I personally want him to get busy signing the Social Security Fairness Act. I’m one of the public employee retirees who will benefit.
Professor Bigfoot
@AM in NC: Yep.
The “male” in “white male supremacy” is often silent, but IT IS ALWAYS THERE.
ALWAYS.
Professor Bigfoot
@tobie: “The South is a place, the Confederacy is a worldview and a mindset.”
Geminid
@Professor Bigfoot: I think part of the problem here is s fixation on White working class voters. When I see people talking on and about that demographic I wonder, what about all the White middle-and upper-middle class voters who vote Republican? What about the college educated people, professionals and business owners? These groups have always swung more weight in the Republican Party than working class people, and that has not changed.
Something similar happens with respect to Hispanic Republican voters. They’re not all working class either, but sometimes people talk about them like they are.
Kay
Ha! Gaetz probably didn’t disclose his (habitual) illegal drug use on his application to carry.
That’s the Special Hunter Biden Crime Republicans and media demanded be prosecuted.
Nukular Biskits
Since it’s an open thread and y’all keep talking about food (making me hungry), change of subject: Kwimma Twees.
Have post on my Bluesky feed about someone who bought a tree at a Lowes in Madison (not if Madison, MS, or Madison, WI, or some other Madison) and had some kind of aphids hatch out on the tree after bringing it on the house.
I can’t vouch for the authenticity of that post as I see something like that every year. I can, however, vouch for the following (shamelessly plagiarizing from and adding to my Bluesky reply):
For years, we cut our own tree at a kwimma twee farm.
One very cold Dec weekend 30 years ago, brought one home. While I was securing the base in the stand, my then-sig-other was holding the top. Just as I got the base secure, suddenly she yelled and snatched her hand out of the tree, saying it felt like something had bit her. I looked but couldn’t see anything so we just assumed a tree needle had poked her just right. However, there was some swelling on her hand so, just to be sure, I put some work gloves on and grabbed the tree trunk about where she had been holding it.
No sooner than I did that, a huge red wasp slowly walked out onto my gloved hand. I immediately smashed it with my other gloved hand and hauled the tree back outside, laying it on its side. Upon closer inspection, there was a medium sized wasp nest near the center of the tree that couldn’t be seen while standing due to the thickness of the foliage.
ETA: Forgot to add – had the temp not been so cold, the wasps would have been far more angry about their forced relocation.
Nukular Biskits
@Professor Bigfoot:
And, sadly, for many, the “Lost Cause” is still a way of life.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Pushing Mary Out:
https://flic.kr/p/QshDbg
Another Scott
One for Albatrossity… Owl I want for Christmas is … (0:24).
Best wishes,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@AM in NC: Coconut macaroons are an easy and delicious way to use egg whites — if you’re fond of coconut. Ina Garten’s recipe is my favorite.
TBone
Mr. Magoo from 1962
https://archive.org/details/Mr.MagoosChristmasCarol1962
Eunicecycle
@Suzanne: when my daughter graduated from nursing school, there were 96 in her class, with only 4 men. I think the ratio has gone up quite a bit since then, through the various recessions and the pandemic. Lots of nurses died or retired throughout the pandemic.
Soprano2
@Eunicecycle: From what I observed the three times hubby was in the hospital this year it’s not just more men, it’s a lot more people from other countries than I’ve seen before.
UncleEbeneezer
Depicting Biden as war-monger/genocidal maniac (ignoring the fact that he actually ended the longest war in US history) is a product of Progressive messaging more than anyone else.
Eunicecycle
@Professor Bigfoot: I always laugh when I see Confederate flags in Ohio. Do they not know which side Ohio was on?
Suzanne
@Geminid:
It has changed, and pretty significantly. White college-educated voters went for Dems by a huge margin. I think white women with a college degree vs white women without degrees went for Harris by roughly 20 points. White college-educated men went for Harris.
There are, of course, still plenty of professionals who vote GOP, but the shift has been really significant.
Betty Cracker
I was hospitalized three times this year in two different facilities in two separate communities, and 100% of the nurses who took care of me were women. Each was awesome.
Suzanne
@Eunicecycle: Last statistic I saw was that roughly 10% of nurses were men. I’m sure its growing slowly.
UncleEbeneezer
@Professor Bigfoot: I think everything you wrote can be (and is) true and they can still be profoundly stupid people. That’s the diabolical genius of White Supremacy, Patriarchy etc. The rubes don’t need to be able to write an academic treatise on them, but they know damn well that those things are in their interest and they know damn well which party/politicians (Republicans) are hell-bent on keeping those systems strong and which party/politicians (Dems) want to dismantle them.
Betty Cracker
@Eunicecycle: There’s a couple from Ohio who moved to my swamp several years ago. They seemed pleasant enough at first, but now they are flying a Confederate flag and a Trump 2024 “Fuck Your Feelings” banner. They should eat a bag of Cajun-spiced dicks!
Miss Bianca
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: lo, Saturnalia! I will request the book Julian from my library system forthwith.
And then I’m going to kick a donation to my local Friends of the Library, whose funds keep new acquisitions and interlibrary loan flowing through our tiny rural library.
LO, SATURNALIA!
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne: Yeah, and the growing education gap helps fuel the “Dems are elitists” bullshit. I don’t know how we fix that problem.
Elizabelle
@narya: Egg yolks? Zabaglione! One of my favorite desserts ever, although not many people make it well. Egg yolks, sugar, marsala wine. Maybe topped with some fresh berries.
You would love it, if you like marsala.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: The education gap is huge — but only among white voters. It’s an interesting thing to observe. I have a theory that white people have been going to college in sufficient number and for enough generations now that we’ve kind of broken into two “tribes”….. living in different places, socializing with and marrying one another, etc. PoC are going to college in greater percentages, but haven’t been doing that long enough to bifurcate the way white people have.
Elizabelle
Merry Christmas Eve, jackals.
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker:
The Alitos?
Nukular Biskits
@Elizabelle:
You as well!
TBone
One year, she got a single shoe.
Juju
@twbrandt: I freeze them and when I have enough for a recipe I make an Angel food cake. You can only store and freeze egg whites in glass. I use jelly jars.
Geminid
@Suzanne: According to number released by NBC News 7 days ago, based on exit polling in 10 “key states,” the white college educated were 33% of the electorate and voted 53% Democratic and 47% Republican. I would not call that margin “huge.”
White college educated women accounted for 17% of voters and voted 58% Democratic, 41% Republican. Now, that is a huge margin for sure. But White college educated men (16% of voters) voted 48% Democratic and 50% Republican.
I can’t speak for Pennsylvania, but the Republican Party here in Virginia is dominated by White businesmen and college educated professionals. The Republicans may get plenty of White working class votes (although this group doesn’t vote as reliably as their more affluent peers), but those folks don’t call the shots in the Republican Party, the businessmen and professionals do.
One exception here might be on the abortion issue, but that exception tends to prove the more general rule, that White college educated people swing the most weight in the Republican Party.
Ed. One other interesting exit poll finding: when asked their ideology, 35% of voters said they were Conservative, 42% said they were Moderate, and 23% said they were Liberal.
Juju
@narya: I have a nice New York style crumb cake recipe if you want to use some of that buttermilk. I have used months past expiration date buttermilk for baking, and haven’t noticed a difference.
Eunicecycle
@Betty Cracker: that would not be unusual in Ohio. I mean, flying those particular flags! And yes they should eat many Cajun flavored dicks.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: I’m waiting for the Catalyst and Pew numbers before drawing conclusions. Exit polls are hot garbage, mostly.
Suzanne
@Geminid:
I saw a somewhat bigger gap, but that was including more states. Which would make sense….. the bluer states have a higher percentage of college grads than the red states (part of that sorting effect I think is at play). To Betty’s point, the Pew data will tell us a lot. This is something I’m looking at specifically, though.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Yes, exit polling has only limited value, especially nowadays with all the mail-in ballots.
It will be good to see the numbers from Pew and Catalyst. They’re pretty good, although I don’t consider them nearly as accurate as my own anecdotal, biased and impressionistic observations..
Geminid
@Suzanne: Regardless of how the voting behavior of White college graduates breaks down, my main point at comment #77 was that it is a mistake to fixate on the voting behavior of White working class people when people from so many other demographic cohorts provide more Republican votes in aggregate. I think that ignores large parts of the problem.
Gretchen
@Suzanne: Yet we have men telling us we’re lucky to have men protecting us because we wouldn’t have houses without them.
Suzanne
@Geminid: That’s fair. But I think we are all deeply focused on shifts from past or expected behavior right now, even if they aren’t large in absolute number. And the Democrats have a self-concept of being “the party of the working class”, and we think it’s self-defeating for working-class people to vote Republican, so we talk about it.
Like, I keep pointing out that young people (18-29) were, by percentage, the bluest-voting demographic of all of the age cohorts this time. And yet there’s plenty of commenters here who focus on the fact that that cohort shifted rightward, even though they just got somewhat less blue than last time. The tone of the comments has been that they failed us, either by not turning out or by voting the wrong way. But…. they arguably did the best!
prostratedragon
@Soprano2:
Heh, just ignoring the elephant in the room.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Geminid:
Precisely. We have people who cling to whatever hot take or policy prescription they always peddle and facts be damned if they counter that narrative, goalpost moving is the inevitable response.
Hunter over at DK had a piece up yesterday where he somewhat buried *a* lead in the comments:
If that turns out to be *a* cause, then it will be a big strategic error on the part of the campaign and might help explain the drop off from 2020.
They should have talked to, of all people, Claire McCaskill, about the pitfalls of not asking actual (or high potential) Dem voters for their votes in the form of better (and broader) campaigning.
I wrote a piece on what she learned way back in 2006:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2006/8/18/237967/-
that, in part, still applies (and people like Fetterman did in PA during his Senate run).
SuzieC
@Juju: I would like that recipe too.
Tom Fitz
@Professor Bigfoot: I’m a retiree working parttime in a bike shop; I’ll be very interested to read your review. I commute on a Giant Fastroad ebike.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
Some men think of themselves as the strong and absolute top of humanity, and there is no talking them down from this. I always ask them if they would like to give birth, IOW how would they feel about squeezing out an 8 pound human? Anyone you’d ask this question of has no actual idea about this, and often answers with a blank look, because they’ve never considered it. Ever. I call it external thinking. They never or extremely rarely ever think about anyone else but themselves.
But then I’d bet you know this, and likely very well…