So yer not fucking up Adam’s post. Talk about whatever here.
Archives for 2024
War for Ukraine Day 718: President Zelenskyy Continues To Reshape His Senior Military Staff
As I write this, the US Senate – the world’s greatest deliberative country club and geriatric center – is reliving the 17 seconds in the video below over and over and over and over and over again.
https://twitter.com/Ayei_Eloheichem/status/1396767634620780547
Because, you know, it’s NOT LIKE THERE’S A WAR GOING ON OR ANYTHING!!!!!!
https://twitter.com/HannaNotte/status/1756322646781009994
A global war with the collective West? Would that be a world war? Eez a puzzlement!
President Clinton is absolutely correct in his assessment:
https://twitter.com/StasOlenchenko/status/1756636656893923497
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.
Medium Cool – Mysteries in Film & TV
Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered. We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.
With a new (surprise) season of True Detective airing, I thought it might be a fun time to talk about MYSTERIES – specifically mysteries in films and TV shows.
So tonight let’s talk about mysteries – old, new, and classics. Mysteries you love, or hate, or left you feeling indifferent. Who are your favorite protagonists? Do you have a preference for style? Mild, creepy, spooky, plodding? Would you rather see a 2-hour film mystery, one and done? Or a 6 or 10-part mystery? If you enjoy British mystery series, which ones, and why?
I have to watch really suspenseful mysteries with someone else. Take Luther, for instance, I have to watch that with a friend. Same with True Detective.
It’s up to you guys, of course, but I get a lot of feedback saying that these threads are more interesting and useful when you share at least a little bit about the story, and tell us why you feel the way you do.
Speaking of (sort of) mystery series, holy cow, I saw the last 30-seconds of Murder She Wrote the other day at the beginning of some show I had recorded. When that show was airing I definitely thought of Jessica Fletcher as an older lady, but she was really young, relatively speaking. I was totally shocked!
Sunday Night/Super Bowl Open Thread
Joelle and I had no intention of watching and then my mom mentioned it so we decided fuck it, we’ll watch. Obviously we are rooting for the Chiefs because of Taylor and her boyfriend. In all seriousness, I am terrified Travis Kelce is going to go milkshake duck, but I have caught a couple of the podcasts with him and his brother and I have seen the way he acts and carries himself and the way he looks at Taylor, and my general opinion of him is that he just seems like a nice himbo. He knows he’s not the brightest guy in the room, but also knows he’s the luckiest guy in country, and seems like a pretty decent kid.
At any rate, I have no idea if I am doing it right, but I marinated the lamb leg in salt, pepper, fresh rosemary and a touch of thyme, garlic, and olive oil for 72 hours, took it out, put a quick sear on it, then stuff some cloves of garlic in the fatty slits. Took it out of the dutch oven, and since I don’t have a little grate that would fit and lamb is oily is fuck, I deglazed it with some white wine and then I made a protective layer of apples and celery and a bed of mint and rosemary stems. I then put the roast and veg on top, and put it in the oven. The veg is just a couple potatoes, carrots, and onions, quartered, given a quick rub with olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. As an extra side, I have a nice tabbouleh.
No idea if my technique is correct, but that is what we are doing.
***
Joelle has a rock garden in front, so the only real maintenance concern other than the husks from the palm trees is the pernicious weeds that grow regardless what you do, and an invasive weed called stinknet. Let’s pause for a moment. I just want to let all of you know that if you work in government or work on government websites or things like them, I want you to know that at least ONE person is out there who uses your resources. I know it can feel lonely and like no one uses them or that it is just regulations and make work putting it up. It’s not. There are people like me out there and a lot more of them than you realize. The Tempe government website is just so fucking useful. End Pause.
At any rate, you all know how I feel about roundup like, so I have been spraying it with a concoction of epsom salts, cider vinegar, dawn dish soap, and water- all things you don’t really want in your water table, but better than fucking roundup by a wide margin.
I’m pretty sure we’ve talked about the concoction before, but it works great in the few places I use it back at WV house (sidewalk cracks, etc.), but I was not sure how it would work out here. I did a couple test applications on some spots and it worked, so the last couple of days I have really been hitting it hard and the results are clear. I’m glad about that.
The point of this story is that for whatever reason, I find great peace in just walking around the yards in shorts and a t-shirt spending and hour individually spraying weeds and even occasionally taunting them. It’s basically me at peak happy. In the sun but not hot, not being fucked with, doing something mindless, and just being able to zone out and think.
***
Speaking of happiness, the other day I was driving down University Ave to pick up Joelle, and I saw two young women with ASU garb on, holding hands, and skipping down the sidewalk giggling. As I watched this and drove on by, it occurred to me that I have never been that happy about anything in my entire my life. And I am not saying I have never been in a situation where I should be that happy, just I don’t think I am constitutionally capable of being that happy. It just runs counter to centuries of German and Nordic ancestry and genetics. I mean there’s a reason the whole fucking country of Germany used to be on St. John’s Wort or probably still should be.
Sometimes when I walk by Joelle sitting on the couch reading, all curled up with blankets and pillows everywhere, and I have a similar thought- “I will never ever be that comfortable doing anything other than floating in a pool again.” Well, maybe on ketamine I might. But I’ll just never be that comfortable. It doesn’t matter how “comfortable” the furniture is, something in side me or on me is gonna hurt. And that’s ok, that’s just how it fucking is. And I will have a pool one day.
***
Trump’s NATO remarks were abhorrent, of course. He’s such a wretched, crass, transactional piece of shit. I mean Europeans already know when they deal with American businesses there is not going to be a long term relationship and that they will fight you took and nail for every fucking cent and screw you anyway they can, but at least with the American government they could have faith in longstanding relationships and assurances. All those fucking hours freezing my ass off in Germany during the end of the Cold War to watch so many of the fuckers I served with become Putin stooges. It’s fucking nuts.
I don’t want to think about it anymore. Off to watch the Super Bowl.
Superb Owl Sunday
I hear there’s a game on TV shortly. Stephen Colbert famously rechristened the big game “Superb Owl” a few years back to dodge NFL trademark issues, so let’s run with it.
I’m rooting for KC for two dumb reasons: 1) the MAGA dope freak-out over Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, and 2) a former colleague who was a huge Niners fan and extremely obnoxious about it.
On the other hand, San Fran QB Brock Purdy probably deserves a win because of viral meme about his resemblance to Lee Harvey Oswald. Also, I hate KC fans’ “war chant” thing, which is offensive and also reminds me of my college’s despised rival FSU.
Got any game time goodies planned? Special cocktails? Random rooting interests?
Open thread!
Israel/Biden Update
There’s been a lot of discussion of Biden’s position on the Israel/Gaza conflict in the comments. This Post check-in on the current state of Biden and team’s thinking (gift link) is worth a read:
For now, the White House has rejected calls to withhold military aid to Israel or impose conditions on it, saying that would only embolden Israel’s enemies. But some of Biden’s aides argue that criticizing Netanyahu would allow him to distance himself from an unpopular leader and his scorched-earth policies while reiterating his long-standing support for Israel itself.
Biden’s private frustration with Netanyahu — which has been building for months — was on display Thursday when he said Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has been “over the top,” his sharpest rebuke yet.
The president also spoke in far more detail about Palestinian suffering, as well as the time and energy he has expended trying to get the Israelis and Egyptians to allow more aid into the 25-mile enclave. “A lot of innocent people are starving,” Biden said. “A lot of innocent people are in trouble and they’re dying. And it’s got to stop.”
A particular flash point is Israel’s plan to launch a military campaign in Rafah, the southern most city in Gaza that borders Egypt and has swollen to more than four times its original size. “They’re already living in tents and not getting enough food and water and you’re saying go somewhere else,” said one outside adviser to the White House. “Where? How are they supposed to get there?”
One of the key points of the piece is that Biden’s 40-year relationship with Bibi is a big reason that Biden has been holding back.
In related news, here’s the AP piece on Thursday’s meetings between Arab-American community leaders in Michigan and a White House delegation led by Samantha Powers.
“I relayed the emotions and the concerns of our community, and we gave them tangible steps,” said [State Rep. Abraham] Aiyash, who is also the state’s highest-ranking Arab or Muslim leader. “We want to see a permanent cease-fire. We want to be able to see restrictions and conditions on any military aid that is sent to Israel. And we want to see the United States take a serious commitment towards rebuilding Gaza.”
Aiyash added that “there will not be engagement beyond this if we do not see any tangible changes after this discussion.”
There’s a movement to vote “uncommitted” in the Feb 27 primary to send a message about the community’s dissatisfaction with Biden’s position on Israel. Another community member clearly stated that they have no interest in meeting with Trump who “has done nothing for the community and will continue to do nothing.”
The numbers in Michigan speak for themselves: Clinton lost Michigan by 11K votes in 2016, and Biden won by 154K in 2020. The state has 310K residents of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry, and about half of Dearborn’s 110K residents are Arab or Muslims:
… Wayne County and its large Muslim communities helped Biden retake the state for the Democrats in 2020 by a roughly 154,000-vote margin. Biden enjoyed a roughly 3-to-1 advantage in Dearborn and 5-1 advantage in Hamtramck, and he won Wayne County by more than 330,000 votes.
Trump Vows to Throw NATO to the Wolves
Donald Trump made insane remarks at a rally last night about an extortion racket he claims he ran as POTUS against NATO allies, with Putin providing the muscle. Here’s video from Threads courtesy of Biden-Harris HQ, the campaign’s official account:
Post by @bidenharrishqView on Threads
According to the NYT (gift link), Trump made this claim before to “highlight his negotiation skills.” I don’t recall it but can easily believe that. Trump says so many bizarre things and makes outlandish claims so frequently that it’s hard for any one thing to register for long.
I wondered if mainstream media outlets would find Trump’s promise to work in concert with a genocidal dictator to restart an international extortion racket targeting U.S. allies as interesting as they found DOJ-embedded Trump operative Robert Hur’s political hatchet job “report.” Encouragingly, Trump’s promise to throw NATO to the wolves is getting widespread media coverage.
I hate Trump with the white hot heat of ten thousand suns, and the only news I want to hear about him is that he choked on his second lunchtime Filet-O-Fish and is taking a dirt nap while family members step on one another’s heads in a tawdry scramble to grab the remaining assets.
But the Biden campaign wants to make the upcoming election a referendum on Trump, so the more the media covers the crazy shit he says, the better. The good news is there will be an inexhaustible supply of eruptions of stupidity and evil from Trump between now and November.
Open thread.