The gratitude attitude.

Well, happy Thanksgiving to all. The holiday seems to expand every year, doesn’t it? I’ve read about young people, mainly women, referring to their “birthday month,” and expecting regular tributes throughout. That seems to be happening to this one, although who can complain, really? If you’re at work, you won’t be getting anything important done, unless you’re a police officer or an unlucky cashier at a grocery store. The white-collar world is phoning it in, or else shopping the Black Friday sales online, as I spent a chunk of yesterday doing. Like the holiday itself, they’ve expanded to the whole week. I can dig it.

So what are you thankful for? I’ll start with the trivial: I’m thankful for all the excellent shopping columns that have popped up in recent years, which help a person who doesn’t want to spend all day on the internet find the best deals. And yeah, I know they’re affiliate arrangements, but I don’t care. I’ve found several handy items I never would have even known about thanks to the Strategist, to name but one.

Also: Twitter, simultaneously a reason to get up in the morning and the bane of my existence (so hard to put down), a 24/7/365 cocktail party that, for all its infamous awfulness, also reassures me daily that I am not the only person who thinks X, not by a long shot. Kinda like this commentariat, actually.

What else? I have a new job, which is good news. It’s half-time, which is less-good news, but it’s a start. I’ll tell you more in a few days. This means I have to restart freelancing, a task that fills me with Ugh, but once it gets rolling, it’ll be easier.

No one is sick. Kate is investigating a study-abroad opportunity, and we have the money to pay for it. Our mortgage balance is down to a figure that doesn’t freak me out – thank you, 15-year loans. There’s a lot wrong with the world, but there’s still a lot that’s right. You can go online and, with a few clicks, and find dozens of videos showing turkeys attacking people. Turkeys were reintroduced to Michigan some years back, and they have thrived, not just here, but everywhere. Alan had to wait for a flock of about 25 to cross the road, the last time he went fishing up north.

So, on to the bloggage before I take a few days off, because Saturday is my birthday, and I won’t be back until Sunday/Monday. My first post-college job gave you a birthday personal day, and I try to keep that flame alive when I can.

There’s a Pulitzer Prize waiting to be mined from stories about how powerful forces are harnessing the internet for malign purposes. Here, the New York state AG explains:

In May 2017, researchers and reporters discovered that the FCC’s public comment process was being corrupted by the submission of enormous numbers of fake comments concerning the possible repeal of net neutrality rules. In doing so, the perpetrator or perpetrators attacked what is supposed to be an open public process by attempting to drown out and negate the views of the real people, businesses, and others who honestly commented on this important issue. Worse, while some of these fake comments used made up names and addresses, many misused the real names and addresses of actual people as part of the effort to undermine the integrity of the comment process. That’s akin to identity theft, and it happened on a massive scale.

I have some thoughts about the John Conyers story, most of which I’ll keep to myself for now. But this one I won’t: How BuzzFeed colluded with a notorious right-wing troll to bring you the story. Mike Cernovich’s role wasn’t revealed until paragraph 18, and his name mentioned only twice, within that paragraph. I have a problem with that.

So, then, happy holiday and long weekend to all. Go Lions. Go turkeys. Go have a nice meal.

Posted at 10:25 am in Current events, Same ol' same ol' |
 

87 responses to “The gratitude attitude.”

  1. Bitter Scribe said on November 22, 2017 at 10:32 am

    From what I understand, Nadia Comaneci was subjected to what amounted to a rape on a regular basis by the shitheel son of Romania’s last Communist dictator, Nicolae Ceaucescu. Not slagging you, Nancy, but anyone who had to go through that deserves whatever happiness and respect she can get IMO.

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    • nancy said on November 22, 2017 at 10:40 am

      Thanks. So now I have to edit that out.

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  2. coozledad said on November 22, 2017 at 10:33 am

    I’m thankful I got a decent public education before the Republicans blew it all up.
    https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/933176530951376896

    This “research” should prove conclusively that the hole created by the rocket is
    in direct proportion to the hole flying it.

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  3. LAMary said on November 22, 2017 at 10:43 am

    We’re doing Thanksgiving on Friday since the ex decided to demand the sons eat at his house with all the his girlfriend’s offspring on Thursday. I haven’t bought a turkey yet, but we’ve decided to have lasagna and Tuscan kale salad. It’s unseasonably warm here so we’re eating on the deck. I’m looking forward to it.

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  4. Sherri said on November 22, 2017 at 10:47 am

    As in the Atlantic article by Adam Serwer I posted in the last thread, just as Americans prefer to regard racism as a interpersonal failing rather than a structural failing, so too do we treat misogyny. So we’re shocked when our heroes, for whichever version of heroes you pick, turn out to be just as susceptible to institutional racism and misogyny as everybody else.

    All of us, even the most enlightened among us, have grown up in a world in which women are not regarded as fully human. Let that sink in for a minute, and think about the subtle ways that impacts your life. Now, add a dose of power and privilege, and remember that women learn to not piss men off when they do these things, and maybe you can convince yourself that it was no big deal, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

    I’m less interested in ostracizing every man who made gross, unwanted sexual advances (though I don’t want to vote for any of them) than I am in changing the culture. The best way I can see to do that is to put more women in charge.

    So, yes, I will be voting with my vagina.

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  5. Jeff Borden said on November 22, 2017 at 11:20 am

    I’m thankful for Robert Mueller for keeping the heat on the most corrupt and mendacious presidential administration in our nation’s history and the handful of courts at the state and federal level that have blocked some of the more egregiously unConstitutional efforts of the Orange King. It’s probably too much to hope that the next time we carve the bird the abomination in the Oval Office will be exiled to his garish penthouse in Manhattan, consulting with his team of lawyers, but it’s a pleasant enough dream.

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  6. Sherri said on November 22, 2017 at 11:21 am

    John Lasseter is a god in the computer animation world: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/john-lasseters-pattern-alleged-misconduct-detailed-by-disney-pixar-insiders-1059594

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  7. Suzanne said on November 22, 2017 at 11:25 am

    At this point, I was thinking of starting a blog that each day highlighted a man who is not now, and never has been, accused of sexual misconduct. But then, I rethought it for fear I would run out of material in a few weeks.

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  8. Sherri said on November 22, 2017 at 11:48 am

    I can feel the backlash coming.

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  9. Scout said on November 22, 2017 at 12:09 pm

    We’re spending tomorrow hiking in beautiful red rock Sedona and then feasting on a gourmet vegan meal at The ChocolaTree, our favorite restaurant up there. No fuss, no muss. My whole family is coming over for a brunch on Sunday. Some fuss and muss, but not unmanageable. I love Thanksgiving; always a four day weekend, lots of food and the calm before the holiday storm. No Black Friday shopping.

    This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think Franken was set up. He may have been grabby and that’s not OK, but the whole timing of this revelation seems to be the welcome muddying of the water needed to slide Pedo Roy into the Senate. I’ll be truly thankful if tRump and everyone associated with this abominable admin is gone by this time next year.

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  10. FDChief said on November 22, 2017 at 12:57 pm

    I have this mental image of Orange Foolius confronted with the usual pair of Thanksgiving turkeys for pardon, only the staff has goofed and one is the usual wild turkey color – that is, mostly black – and the other one of those white turkeys that you see in commercial farms.

    And to the horror of the assembled crowd Crock-o-bile Dumm-ee proceeds to pardon the white bird and directs his Secret Service to seize the black one and drag it off for roasting as the Tangerine Toddler bounces and chortles with glee at his joke.

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  11. LAMary said on November 22, 2017 at 1:06 pm

    The Strategist is great. Pricey sometimes and silly sometimes, but perfect enough times that I always check it.

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  12. Brandon said on November 22, 2017 at 1:18 pm

    Detroit Free Press: Editorial: John Conyers Must Resign.

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  13. ROGirl said on November 22, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    I bought a fab leather jacket that was featured on the strategist earlier this year. It’s a perfect fit.

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  14. Bitter Scribe said on November 22, 2017 at 1:52 pm

    OT, but related in a weird (and awful) way to my comment at #1:

    That scumpit of a doctor who molested up to 125—that’s one hundred twenty-five–gymnasts, almost all of them underage, while he worked for USA Gymnastics, pleaded guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct. “I have no animosity toward anyone,” he said in a statement to the court.

    Gee, doc, that’s swell of you.

    I’d like to throttle the bastard, except I’d have to get at the end of a very long line.

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  15. alex said on November 22, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    The wild turkeys in my neighborhood are shaped rather more like bowling pins than those ginormous gobblers in the linked videos and photos.

    Are Hoosier wild turkeys a different breed? Or have those other birds become fat and aggressive because of people feeding them junk food?

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  16. coozledad said on November 22, 2017 at 2:45 pm

    I don’t want to discourage women from documenting the shit they have to put up with, but nakey Joe Barton is the pre Thanksgiving emetic only the Republicans deserve.

    https://www.texastribune.org/2017/11/22/us-rep-joe-barton-deciding-how-respond-after-graphic-photo-circulates-/amp/

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  17. Suzanne said on November 22, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    Yet another pro-family, chaste living, good values guy bites the dust. Speaking as a woman, there is no way I’d want to see the Not-so-honorable Rep Barton nekkid. Ick.

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  18. Bitter Scribe said on November 22, 2017 at 3:21 pm

    OK, I have no use for Barton, but there’s no indication, at least from the account Coozledad linked to, that he sent a naked picture of himself to an unwilling recipient. In fact, that article raised the question of whether it was in fact “revenge porn.”

    You can say a man of his age and standing should know better than to let anyone take his picture with his clothes off, but I don’t yet see how this rises to the level of what Roy Moore, or even Al Franken, did.

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  19. coozledad said on November 22, 2017 at 4:12 pm

    It wouldn’t matter if it was anything other than prurient, if he was a Democrat. There’d be calls for him to step down.

    It’s more that when a dullard like Barton gets caught waving his dick like some common heathen, it negates the inevitable Republican reply when they’re called out for being a shit for brains, i.e. “But I’m righteous an my jeebus lubb me good.”

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  20. Jeff Borden said on November 22, 2017 at 4:36 pm

    FDChief,

    Someone much more clever than me noted the Orange King only pardoned the white meat of the turkeys.

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  21. coozledad said on November 22, 2017 at 4:41 pm

    What kills me about this piece of trash is that he had such power that women had damn good reason to fear him. Power in Alabama is a different animal. He could quite easily have had them killed, and a conspiracy of silence would have swallowed this story.
    https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/11/22/john-rogers-roy-moore-communications-director-spokesman-resigns/

    I still wonder if there might be shallow graves. These petit authoritarians get off on murder like they do autoerotic asphyxiation.

    I think once we accepted a rapist of a thirteen year old as president, we opened the door to our first thrill killer in the White House. The motivations are the same, and God knows his base would not only be open to it, they’d admire it.

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  22. Dexter said on November 22, 2017 at 4:47 pm

    I get a kick out of seeing turkeys in the ditches around here, there’s a-plenty of them.
    Since one daughter’s scrambling to get the Toledo house ready for market and the other two are in Hawaii, it’s just us here, and I just finished the shopping, everything from turkey breast & drumsticks and cranberries to all the sides’ prep stuff and pies an’ ever-thang. I only eat dinner rolls on holidays and they look really good for some reason. I also bought a gallon of fresh cider; I love that stuff.

    Somebody ruined my mood when they posted the Trump quotes about how since he owned the pageant, he had full rights to supervise it by walking around watching 15 year old girls changing costumes. A creep indeed. Oh, and since Good ol’ boy Roy denies everything, it’s OK to vote for him, says the President of the US. For fuck’s sake!

    Happy Thanksgiving, Go Lions—GO BLUE beat the worthless nuts to a pulp!

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  23. Deborah said on November 22, 2017 at 5:02 pm

    Not one to pass up a bargain I looked up the Strategist site when I had enough cell service to do so. There was a clothing company on there called The Acne Studio. Seemed like an odd name, at first I thought I misread or it was a typo so I clicked on the link and sure enough it’s Acne.

    And Sherri, I too can feel the backlash coming. I won’t be surprised when some powerful white men figure out a way to stop this unprecedented moment in history and women will have no recourse once again to stop the harassment.

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  24. coozledad said on November 22, 2017 at 5:16 pm

    If he stays in the US, he’ll die a violent death in a prison. If he flees to his adopted country they’ll kill him there, too. Too much upkeep.

    Happy Thanksgiving, scumbelly.

    https://twitter.com/DonaldJFunk/status/932727177367265280

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  25. Sherri said on November 22, 2017 at 5:33 pm

    Mamma Lynch isn’t having any of it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/11/20/the-president-attacked-her-son-so-marshawn-lynchs-mother-fired-back/

    Off-topic, I just have to share: I just blasted through a limit that had been driving me nuts in the gym. Deadlifts of 235 lbs for 3 reps twice, when I hadn’t been able to consistently do 1 rep of 225. I’m so happy!

    https://instagram.com/p/BbzxFGohcrJ/

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  26. Heather said on November 22, 2017 at 6:31 pm

    To latch on to an aside, the idea of a birthday month is ridiculous. I’ll give you a week if it’s a major milestone birthday.

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  27. Heather said on November 22, 2017 at 6:33 pm

    Can’t edit that last comment for some reason. Anyway, have you all see the creepy video of the turkeys circling around a dead cat? (Warning: If you are a cat lover, maybe don’t watch. It’s not gruesome, just sad.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-LWlMCIgPA

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  28. David C. said on November 22, 2017 at 6:40 pm

    Whenever any statue or piece of public art goes up, they need to have thirteen year old boys look at it to see if they giggle. If they do, someone needs to take a second look.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/catholic-school-covers-suggestive-statue-saint-boy-article-1.3650568

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  29. adrianne said on November 22, 2017 at 7:01 pm

    I love Mrs. Lynch! Best rejoinder to Trump, by far.

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  30. adrianne said on November 23, 2017 at 8:08 am

    And…for Donald, apparently Thanksgiving is the time for the airing of grievances.

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  31. Suzanne said on November 23, 2017 at 8:19 am

    Poor Donald. He has Thanksgiving confused with Festivus.

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  32. alex said on November 23, 2017 at 9:33 am

    We’re celebrating this year with my side of the family so we won’t have to listen to right-wing politics.

    And we’ll be putting the Instant Pot to the test. I was originally going to use it for only the mashed potatoes and put the turkey on the grill. Well, it turns out my mom bought legs and a breast separately so that she could make gravy from the legs in advance. The breast will fit in the Instant Pot and can be done in 35 minutes! And it will be moist! However it will need to go under the broiler for a few minutes to get the skin nice and crispy.

    It’s hard to get the timing right with a turkey, and I’ve tried both wet and dry brining and it still seems to come out too dry, so here’s hoping this new method is as good as what’s been promised: http://www.crunchycreamysweet.com/2017/11/04/instant-pot-turkey-breast-recipe/

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  33. David C. said on November 23, 2017 at 9:54 am

    The only way to do a turkey without drying out the white meat is to quarter the bird and treat the white and dark meat as separate things, which they are. I don’t think anybody carves at the table anymore, so there’s no point in worrying about the presentation. I remember nearly dying from some of my grandma’s dried out white meat just so grandpa could waste a half hour by carving it in front of us.

    The farmer we buy our lamb from, and we buy a lot of lamb, gave us a full rack of lamb, so that’s what we’re having. I’m going to do the crown roast thing with rice stuffing. I’ve never done it that way before, so I’m looking forward to it.

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  34. susan said on November 23, 2017 at 10:01 am

    I think this might be the way to cook turkey. Imma gonna haveta try this sometime. I like the idea of not stinking up the house for five hours! (I never cook turkey because of that. Ugh.)

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  35. alex said on November 23, 2017 at 10:09 am

    Susan, you might want to recheck your link.

    Agreed about stinking up the house. Nothing worse than burning turkey fat.

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  36. Jolene said on November 23, 2017 at 10:24 am

    Here’s a list of 100 notable books published this year, according to the NYT. If you tire of food and football, you can download one of them to your Kindle—or just peruse the list and make ambitious plans.

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  37. basset said on November 23, 2017 at 10:32 am

    Just the two of us here, a small turkey and various sides, mostly from NY Times recipes. We have really gotten into the Times’ “what to cook this week” emails and recipe box, going with the sage and orange turkey this time, dunno if this is behind a paywall:

    https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019011-roast-turkey-with-orange-and-sage?action=click&module=Collection%20Band%20Recipe%20Card&region=Our%20Best%20Thanksgiving%20Turkey%20Recipes&pgType=supercollection&rank=3

    Saw Joey Molland, the last surviving member of Badfinger from their peak period, last night with a young band, all billed as Badfinger… they did the entire “Straight Up” album in order, good show. We see these old guys, I’m thinking mainly of Molland and Denny Laine, playing in bars and wonder if they really need to, if they love to play, or some combination of both… Badfinger took a legendary screwing from their manager back in the day and there’s no telling what the fallout was from that.

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  38. coozledad said on November 23, 2017 at 10:44 am

    This could only have happened in a country of abject, willing assholes, desperately wanting to join the club, and failing ultimately to understand that DC has been gradually transformed into another hick backwater by the overrepresentation of Republicans and their doggy ass kissing template of interactions.
    https://www.buzzfeed.com/evefairbanks/mark-halperin-poisoned-our-politics?utm_term=.iq93w8OA3#.hwJV1A7RV

    Getting rid of Halperin was one weak step toward wiping the shit off the DC press’s nose, but the damage these self-important crackers have done is irreversible.

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  39. susan said on November 23, 2017 at 10:54 am

    Hmmm, wonder what happened to the link in #34? Try it again:
    45 minute turkey.

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  40. Sherri said on November 23, 2017 at 11:23 am

    Happy Thanksgiving, all! We’re celebrating turkey day in our traditional manner with our families of choice, none related to us. We’ve all been celebrating Thanksgiving together since our kids were little, and my daughter is the youngest at almost 23. We used to be in California, and then within a year, all but one family moved up here, so they fly up and join us each year now.

    We’re having smoked turkey, grilled tri-tip, and baked salmon this year, and we’re even supposed to get a break from the rain today!

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  41. Deborah said on November 23, 2017 at 11:47 am

    We’re having chili cooked on the woodburning stove in the cabin. Only problem is it’s supposed to get up to 65 here in Abiquiu today, so maybe we’ll use the camp stove in the summer kitchen. LB is going to a friendgiving back in Santa Fe, she prefers that since she spends plenty of time with us otherwise. She has developed a group of close friends and that’s great.

    We’re going to Ojo for a hot soak later today, wish the temps were cooler, that makes the soaking sublime.

    Plenty of wild turkeys to be seen around these parts, they can be aggressive so I stay clear.

    Happy TG!

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  42. Deborah said on November 23, 2017 at 12:06 pm

    This looks really good, a new series on Netflix, Godless. Filmed in Lamy, NM about 20 miles from Santa Fe. Jeff Bridges plays the main character, in a western set in 1884, what more could you want? Here’s a review by Nancy’s friend Hank, in the WP https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/entertainment/tv/netflixs-gory-but-glorious-godless-is-the-western-weve-all-been-waiting-for/2017/11/22/10fbb616-cee2-11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html

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  43. coozledad said on November 23, 2017 at 12:26 pm

    Now we know what a Joko presidency would look like:
    https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/933743292495421440

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  44. beb said on November 23, 2017 at 1:49 pm

    Sherri @8 worries that there will be a backlash following all these accusations of sexual misconduct/ harassment / rape. Well, yes. It may already be here. I know I’m tired of hearing all these accusations. So is my wife, who moans that all her heroes have been tarnished. I’m glad women finally feel empowered to speak out. II just wish more men weren’t such pigs.

    I’m with Scout @9 who thinks Al Franken was set up. The first woman, Tweeden, has a good case and Franken apologized. Though even here there is some questions…
    https://democracyguardian.com/al-franken-the-obvious-setup-and-liberals-took-the-bait-5f3515d379a0
    The article points out Tweeden’s association with media conservatives, and at least one prominent conservative seemed to know that the accusation was coming out.

    The second accuser was also linked to conservative operatives though I can’t find a link to an article discussing that point.

    The Detroit Free Press has a column by Brian Dickerson (The only reason to read the rag) that suggests we should not watch football today because 110 out of 111 donated brains from former football players showed extensive damage from concussions. Are we, by watching football, supporting the destruction to the lives of promising young men.

    alex @15: natural turkeys are slim, pheasant-like birds. They were breed to be ever larger, especially in the breast. The birds actually became so extreme that they couldn’t thrive and had to be bred back to a more viable size and shape.

    There’s no good way to cook Turkey to leave the breast moist. It is an inherently dry and flavorless meat. The best we ever got was to cook that bird without stuffing it. The bird cooks quicker and doesn’t dry out as much.

    We’re in Indiana visiting my Dad and cooking him a Thanksgiving dinner. Despite the TV warning about traveling nightmares, the trip down was swift and easy.

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  45. coozledad said on November 23, 2017 at 2:07 pm

    Traitor son of a bitch.

    “Trump betrayed us,” said a senior Israeli military official bluntly, his voice stern with reproach. “And if we can’t trust him, then we’re going to have to do what is necessary on our own if our back is up against the wall with Iran.” Yet while appalled governments are now forced to rethink their tactics in future dealings with a wayward president, there is also the dismaying possibility that a more tangible, and more lethal, consequence has already occurred. “The Russians will undoubtedly try to figure out the source or the method of this information to make sure that it is not also collecting on their activities in Syria—and in trying to do that they could well disrupt the source,” said Michael Morell.

    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/trump-intel-slip?mbid=social_twitter

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  46. Snarkworth said on November 23, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    cooz @38, do you mean doggy-ass kissing, or doggy ass-kissing? Inquiring minds want to know.

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  47. coozledad said on November 23, 2017 at 2:40 pm

    Either one will do. In both cases there’s something canine about that aggressive
    rush to the front of the ass sniffing line. By the time his career was over, Halperin’s face resembled nothing so much as a piece of warm plasticene freshly extracted from Trump’s crack.

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  48. Carter Cleland said on November 23, 2017 at 2:59 pm

    Deborah @ 42. Jeff Daniels, not Bridges, in Godless.

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  49. Julie Robinson said on November 23, 2017 at 5:39 pm

    Happy Thanksgiving, all! We’re back from the family meal and I’m planning to vegetate for the rest of the evening.

    Jolene, I went through the NYT book list last night and wrote down a dozen I want to read. Surprisingly, I had already read three or four on the list–usually I wait to get them from the library so it can be awhile. I just started one about the life-long friendship of Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart.

    We stumbled on a great way to do turkey this year. We had to do two, plus dressing, and knew we couldn’t get it all done this morning. So we roasted one ahead, carved it and plonked it in the crock pot with broth, and popped it in the frig. This morning we put the crock pot on warm, and the turkey was delicious and very moist. It’s true no one cares about carving at the table. They just want it ready to eat.

    Anyone going shopping? You couldn’t pay me enough to get me out there.

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  50. Deborah said on November 23, 2017 at 6:20 pm

    Carter, thanks for that correction, wishful thinking on my part, I wanted it to be Bridges. Still sounds good though.

    We are back from our Thanksgiving soak at the natural hot springs place. I feel like a wet noodle, sipping some bourbon in the cabin. It’s all good.

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  51. Deborah said on November 23, 2017 at 6:24 pm

    In case you’re wondering, nn.c is a lot easier to access than FB and other sites so I’m still fairly detached from the news of the day out here in the boonies, which I’m very thankful for. I can’t access many links herewith either so I’m missing most of the inflammatory stuff.

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  52. BigHank53 said on November 23, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    It’s not even hard to have both the dark meat and white meat tender and juicy—you just need to cook the white meat 45 minutes less. Cut the damn bird in half.

    I’ve been smoking the Thanksgiving bird in a regular Weber grill for decades now. It takes the same time as a conventional oven, but no cleanup, of course. This year it was a 24 pound monster…for four people. (The smaller birds had all been taken at the farm by the time my spouse got out there to pick up our pre-ordered turkey.) I had to do it in two batches, smoking the wings and backbone while we feasted on the breast and legs. Well, a bit of one breast and a good chunk of one thigh.

    I have a hell of a lot of leftovers.

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  53. alex said on November 24, 2017 at 9:30 am

    Mark Bittman says if you spatchcock a turkey you can cook it through evenly in 45 minutes. You just have to know how to remove the backbone.

    The Instant Pot experiment was a success, I’m happy to report. The turkey breast was tender and juicy. The skin came out soggy, so I put the turkey under the broiler and it got crisped fairly well on top, the sides not so much. If I’d been more patient and willing to tip the bird over I could have browned the sides too.

    The Instant Pot mashed potatoes required minimal mashing and were perfect in terms of texture and flavor. I had pressure cooked the cubed potatoes with chicken broth, garlic and rosemary, then mashed them with butter and cream.

    We also had Harvard beets, cranberry salad and dressing with sweet red pepper, all courtesy of my mom. An outstanding meal all around with minimal fuss for the main course.

    Sneaking cigarettes around family was no problem. I just excused myself to go outside to fart, and killed two birds with one stone.

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  54. basset said on November 24, 2017 at 11:45 am

    Standard two-hour roast here, small turkey, herb butter with sage and orange zest under the skin, pour some white wine & orange juice over it, baste often.

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  55. alex said on November 24, 2017 at 7:51 pm

    Instant Pot does it again: http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/10/how-to-make-pressure-cooker-split-pea-soup.html

    I’ve never had green pea soup this creamy. My old stovetop recipe doesn’t even compare. The only things I did differently than the recipe were to use a pound of precooked hickory-smoked ham versus just 6 ounces, sautéed with primo garlic-infused olive oil instead of butter, and added a dash of smoked paprika.

    I don’t use my microwave as much as I use this gadget. (I might if I ever had any leftovers, but that’s not happening with tonight’s meal.)

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  56. Dexter said on November 24, 2017 at 9:39 pm

    day two: warmed up turkey legs & stuffing, apple pie for dessert…and the news led off with Black Friday, then, oh yeah…252 killed by a car bomb then 4-corners rifle barrage in an Egyptian mosque.

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  57. Sherri said on November 25, 2017 at 1:14 am

    Looking back at the Anita Hill testimony: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/anita-hill-and-her-1991-congressional-defenders-to-joe-biden-you-were-part-of-the-problem/2017/11/21/2303ba8a-ce69-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6de3d_story.html

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  58. Adrianne said on November 25, 2017 at 8:45 am

    Let me be the first to wish Nance a very happy birthday!

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  59. coozledad said on November 25, 2017 at 9:35 am

    https://twitter.com/AmandaMarcotte/status/934403131244507136

    Of course. it will represent the ultimate triumph of the stupid. If they’re still alive, they’l start digging out their Jim Bakker and Pat Robertson end times meals and cook them up in cholera water as their skin sloughs off in big necrosing strips. Those that didn’t lay anything by will visit their neighbors with a shotgun and spray their hair on the walls for a package of ramen noodles. It will be the justification of every Republican lie they’ve swallowed for the past seventy years.

    I wish there were some way to dump them into that timeline and leave us be. Because they deserve the hell out of it.

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  60. basset said on November 25, 2017 at 9:36 am

    And let me be the second!

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  61. coozledad said on November 25, 2017 at 9:42 am

    Steve Inskeep is a garbage fire, and NPR should be shuttered.
    https://twitter.com/Nicole_Cliffe/status/934422845198802946

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  62. Deborah said on November 25, 2017 at 9:59 am

    Happy birthday Nancy!

    Leaving Abiquiu later today. My husband goes back to Chicago tomorrow, stays there for about 10 days until his semester is over then he comes back to NM. I come back to Abiquiu with LB for a few days, then in Santa Fe for a few more.

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  63. susan said on November 25, 2017 at 10:26 am

    cooz @61 – I stopped giving hard-earned cash to NPR years ago (Kooki Roberts David Brooks) and stopped listening completely when they fired Bob Edwards and replaced him with Inskeep. Just fuck them.

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  64. Julie Robinson said on November 25, 2017 at 10:34 am

    Happy Birthday, Nancy! Hope you are celebrating big!

    I’m turning the news off for the rest of the weekend so I can work on my gratitude attitude.

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  65. jcburns said on November 25, 2017 at 10:51 am

    Let me be the 14th to wish Nancy the happiest of birthdays. So glad you give us the gift of your words on the internet.

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  66. Jerry said on November 25, 2017 at 11:28 am

    I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.

    And best wishes to Nancy for her birthday. I’ve had a good one: had lunch with one son, Skyped with another (and our grandson), spoken to the third and our sorta-daughter on the phone. And we’ll finish the day with an Indan takeaway. Aaaaaaargh,the pleasures of advancing years.

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  67. Sherri said on November 25, 2017 at 11:49 am

    Happy birthday, Nancy!

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  68. Connie said on November 25, 2017 at 11:56 am

    Sarah Silverman: ‘There are jokes I made 15 years ago I would absolutely not make today’

    https://amp.theguardian.com/global/2017/nov/19/sarah-silverman-interview-jokes-i-made-15-years-ago-i-wouldnt-make-today

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  69. Sherri said on November 25, 2017 at 12:56 pm

    One of the big challenges on the left coast is affordable housing, or even housing at any level of affordability. The Seattle area has done better than most at building to keep,up with the job growth, but it’s still not enough: housing prices have been rising here faster than anywhere in the country. We have an urban growth boundary, set in the 90s to prevent sprawl, so density is the only solution.

    And here’s where we hit the problem: people who think of themselves as liberal and environmentalists don’t like density when it happens near the single family house they own. I hear the most amazing arguments against upzoning, about pollution and traffic and driving up rents, but I never hear what they suggest instead. We have all these jobs: where should we house the people?

    I did hear a former mayor of Redmond say we’d be better off if Microsoft left. She did what she could when she was here to try to make that happen.

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/groups-say-theyll-challenge-seattles-new-neighborhood-growth-plan/

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  70. coozledad said on November 25, 2017 at 1:01 pm

    The biggest organized crime mob in the country, subsidized by your tax dollars.
    https://twitter.com/rmc031/status/933701605374951424

    They blocked off this neighborhood to remove evidence.

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  71. LAMary said on November 25, 2017 at 1:56 pm

    Happy Birthday, Nancy. Thank you so much for giving this interesting place to visit.

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  72. Diane said on November 25, 2017 at 2:09 pm

    Let me continue the Happy Birthday wishes to our Proprietress! Thank you for your gift to us of this wonderful space all year long.

    Cooz@70 I knew before clicking that it would be Baltimore. I haven’t lived there for almost 2 decades but it is my hometown that I love. Baltimore is a long festering microcosm of the legacy of the civil war that is now coming to the fore in the rest of the country. It is the bastard stepchild of both the North and the South; the southern city below the Mason-Dixon Line and the Northern City in the Union by force. Its legacy is the worst of both. You want to see the destruction that happens when nobody wants to heal racism, look at Baltimore.

    Sherri@69. I live in a small mountain county that is regularly ranked as having the highest costs of housing in the county. People with regular jobs but jobs important to the health of a community (teachers, police officers, librarians, etc.) simply can’t afford a home here. I wish I knew what the solve is. How can a local economy be considered functioning when people in those type jobs have to live in government subsidized housing?

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  73. Minnie said on November 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    Happy birthday, Nancy.

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  74. beb said on November 25, 2017 at 3:20 pm

    diane, if people essential to the functioning of a town or village don’t have enough money to live in the town then raise their salary until they can afford to live there. Put down to the cost of doing business there. It’s as simple as that.

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  75. beb said on November 25, 2017 at 3:21 pm

    Except nothing is that simple.

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  76. MarkH said on November 25, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    Happy Birthday, Nancy and many more. Glad to hear you’re working again, in whatever writing capacity. It’ll get better.

    Diane, I suspected from past posts I knew in which state you lived, and now your familiar housing description indicates we may actually be neighbors. Maybe we can have lunch at Dornan’s or the ‘coach sometime.

    beb – not here. The cost of housing is already too high and rising too fast.

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  77. Diane said on November 25, 2017 at 5:47 pm

    MarkH-
    Close and a very similar community but I’m in a neighboring state south and a little east. And, yes, the cost of housing is already too high and rising too fast.

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  78. MarkH said on November 25, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    Unlimited demand and almost no supply, getting worse. But the seeming unlimited dollars always find their way.

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  79. brian stouder said on November 25, 2017 at 9:43 pm

    Let me make a late addition to all the warm wishes to Nancy for a happy birthday, and continued health and good cheer; and heart-felt thanks for the exceedingly refreshing NN.c dessert, in the internet desert

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  80. coozledad said on November 26, 2017 at 8:13 am

    Just burn it the fuck down, all of it. Modo, Friedman, Brooks, Doubthat. It’s a fucking white nationalist paper, and has been for a couple of decades.
    https://twitter.com/rmc031/status/933701605374951424

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  81. coozledad said on November 26, 2017 at 8:43 am

    Another look up the arse of people who scarcely deserve to be alive. The media has a love affair with white trash, and its consummation looks like the Oklahoma City bombing.

    At this point, it’s obvious they’re lapping up those sweet fascist dollars from the Kochs and the Mercers. Pure Nazi propaganda.

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  82. coozledad said on November 26, 2017 at 8:43 am

    https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/934517981761167360

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  83. coozledad said on November 26, 2017 at 9:14 am

    Your president is a Nazi whore.
    https://twitter.com/SimonMaloy/status/934578015950041089

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  84. coozledad said on November 26, 2017 at 10:21 am

    THREAD.
    https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/934520192738226176

    This is the culmination of all that “But what we gonna do about the immigrationings?” and “What about me? Me! A white man?” infantile shit. You were easy pickings, and you got swept up in fascism. Because your whole thought process is governed by the fear someone’s going to strip your privilege.

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  85. Heather said on November 26, 2017 at 11:21 am

    Belated birthday greetings to Nancy!

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  86. coozledad said on November 26, 2017 at 1:22 pm

    From the upcoming NYT special holiday front pager “Mr. H: A Christmas remembrance of a pretty nice guy.”

    A veteran who suffered chlorine inhalation in the last war, Mr. H. is fond of apples, and pursues a drug-free lifestyle.

    “Well, I wouldn’t call it entirely drug free. Sometimes the nightmare of Jewish domination forces me to mix a little methamphetamine with my pain medications. But I’ve given up beer. LOOK OUT!!!” He screams, pointing at the ceiling “SPIDERS! ALLIED WARPLANES”
    “Anyway”, he continues “My friend other Mr.H. is coming straight over after the Wansee conference, and he’s really fond of sausages. So I told Eva, “Eva: why don’t you hop down to the Alexanderplatz and pick up some sausages for the other Mr. H” and she says “because we can’t go “down “ anywhere in Berlin anymore, you junkie, you. We’re in the sub basement. Here’s a shovel. If you dig down another five feet, we’ll have a spa.”

    “That Eva. She’s a wit. Also a bit on the naïve side. I wouldn’t be taking these energy pills and cocaine if I weren’t still trying to bone her.”
    Hitler surveys his small apartment and says “My lease is about up. We moved from a MUCH, MUCH larger space because the Jew landlords decided they were going to do a major renovation. Eva’s still a little sore about that.”
    Eva cries into one of Mr. H.’s bloodstained handkerchiefs and says “You said you’d be happy with the Sudetenland! You Pervetin-dicked coke slut! Where the fuck am I going to find sausages in this town?
    Tell the other Mr. H. he can have some borscht if he doesn’t land in a crater first!”

    Mr. H leans back and pulls a revolver from his mouth “She’s got at least six million more like that. It almost gets me hard again.”

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