A weekend away, a pitch for a better Congress.

Friends, I’m headed out for a couple-three days. High school-reunion thing, visit-family thing, go-to-someplace-even-hotter-than-Detroit thing. What a week. What a bunch of weeks. Our bathroom project(s) are almost done, and I’m leaving Alan with the final days, but travel is important for the soul, even if you’re only going to Ohio.

But I’m talking today to you Hoosiers, and former Hoosiers, and anyone else who might be interested.

A friend of mine is running for Congress in my old district in Indiana. As an independent. Yep, following the Evan McMullin strategy. The odds are against him, and pretty steep ones at that, but this is America and he gets to try. So, meet Nathan Gotsch, who is trying. If you’re so inclined, there’s a fundraising link, and today is an important fundraising deadline. But if you want to give after, that’s fine too.

I’ve known Nathan for a few years. He’s a nice kid (although no longer a kid). And he’s running against one of the biggest embarrassments in Congress, someone who makes Mark Souder (who held the seat when I lived there) look like Winston Churchill. Read his pitch – Why should I care about your friend running for Congress? ha ha – consider a donation.

And have a great weekend.

Posted at 7:58 pm in Current events |
 

58 responses to “A weekend away, a pitch for a better Congress.”

  1. Deborah said on June 30, 2022 at 10:36 pm

    Interesting pitch, maybe going the Evan McMullen route will work? Better than the alternative. I’m maxed out on donations though, sorry. My priority now is for the senate. Of course the house is important too but I can only do so much, so I had to choose carefully.

    We went to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch today after returning from Abiquiu. I saw a full blown Karen in action a few tables away, being about as rude to the staff as can be. It was disgusting.

    LB is due back in NM in a few days, she’s had quite a trip in LA but anxious to sleep in her own bed again.

    Here’s some crazy weather for you, during the last 2 weeks in June, Santa Fe got 3.85″ of rain, while last year over the whole summer SF only got 2.5″, and last year the whole month of June SF only got .5″. Of course last summer was much drier than normal but holy cow it’s weird right now. The wettest month in the summer is usually august with an average of about 1.75″. It’s supposed to continue to rain this weekend, and hopefully it keeps up over the rest of the monsoon season. We’re nervous that this has been just a climate chaos anomaly and will go back to drought conditions. One town near Gallup got 7″ in those same 2 weeks in June this year and Los Alamos got 5″.

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  2. dev said on June 30, 2022 at 11:35 pm

    Since Nathan is running against one of the worst, and you asked, I chipped in $100.

    If not now when, etc.

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  3. Dorothy said on July 1, 2022 at 8:49 am

    We were supposed to have company this weekend – my sister and her hubby who live in Poughkeepsie. We talked on Monday to discuss meals, arrival times, etc. Then yesterday she texted me that they decided not to come. Combination of her not feeling well (she tires easily – has sarcoidosis and other ailments), and her husband had lunch with a friend on Tuesday; said friend tested positive for Covid yesterday. They’re all vaxxed but she said the combination of the two meant they made the tough decision. I’m really bummed. This nice new house and it needs laughter and meals and visitors to really break it in! I did get to see her last summer in San Diego, and we’ll see each other in September when their daughter gets married in Troy NY. Still – it’s cast a pall over the weekend and now I have to find a way out of a funk. I AM piecing a new quilt and the border is nearly finished so that is a good thing. Anytime I need a lift I head down to my son’s house and snuggle the baby. He’s THISCLOSE to laughing – the smiles get bigger every day. He was 15 weeks old yesterday.

    Guessing you’re headed to Columbus. Have fun and try to stay away from the Red, White and Boom tonight. Crowds that big would be pretty scary these days what with open carry and nuts on every corner.

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  4. Julie Robinson said on July 1, 2022 at 11:16 am

    Have a great trip, Nance. Must be your 45th? Maybe delayed a year or so by the pandemic. Would love to hear more about the bathroom reno, as we’ve got two here that need work.

    Dorothy, I’m sorry about your visitors but you don’t need them to bring you Covid.

    We have a gathering here that more or less runs all afternoon and evening, but it will be pretty small. Our little lake of 50 families does fireworks set off from a pier in the middle, along with a regatta and pie competition at one family’s home.

    If you think this sounds grand, it’s just paddleboats and canoes/kayaks, since there aren’t any motors allowed. In the past people would decorate them in patriotic colors, but I don’t want to see any red white and blue. We’re even disputing about whether or not to buy a flag and put it up.

    Maybe upside down?

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  5. Heather said on July 1, 2022 at 11:57 am

    Julie, that sounds nice. An ex had a family cottage in NW Wisconsin we would go to for the 4th–it was idyllic. Still miss that place. I haven’t heard of much going on among my friends so I guess we will just grill at home. Always lots of fireworks in Chicago neighborhoods, so no need to go far.

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  6. David C said on July 1, 2022 at 12:04 pm

    When Mary and I talk about where we would like to live in retirement, We always says our ideal would be to live on a small non-motorized lake. We enjoy paddling but the Fox River and Lake Winnebago are nuts with motor boats and we don’t want to die that way.

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  7. LAMary said on July 1, 2022 at 12:06 pm

    We’ll probably sit on the deck and watch the Dodger Stadium fireworks. Older son and his GF are coming by. I’m glad we didn’t have the nightly world war III fireworks this year like we did in 2020. Aside from the noise the fear of everything catching fire was nerve wracking.

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  8. Icarus said on July 1, 2022 at 1:19 pm

    I’m still debating whether or not to fly Old Glory, let alone go see fireworks this year.

    We should for our kids’ sake, but I’m over fireworks myself having seen them for 50+ years. Unless it is a really good display, with synchronized orchestra, there’s only so much “oohh” and “ahhh” one can take.

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  9. Dorothy said on July 1, 2022 at 1:24 pm

    Yes for sure, Julie, about Covid! No taking chances with a baby in the family.

    Our neighborhood is doing lots of gatherings on Monday – not sure why someone is setting up a breakfast but I’ll be happy to just join for the pot luck around 5 PM. We will watch the fireworks from our back porch later in the evening, and that way we’re with Nestle (who will be in the house). The neighborhood is also doing a bike parade around 3, and a few other things I didn’t really pay attention to since it’s for little kids. I will like meeting more neighbors.

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  10. Scout said on July 1, 2022 at 1:38 pm

    Since my gender has been relegated to rights equivalent to livestock, I will not be celebrating the 4th in any way, just enjoying a nice long weekend, with a pool party on Sunday at the house of friends who are also non-celebratory livestock.

    Ya know, it’s not a huge shock that the religious zealots on the ECOTUS (Extreme Court of the US) would overturn Roe, but gutting the EPA? That’s just evil for the sake of it. What, they’re so rarified they don’t need clean air and water? We have got to beef up our majority, expand the court to 13 and reverse their unholy messes.

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  11. Deborah said on July 1, 2022 at 2:19 pm

    Fireworks in New Mexico scare me to death. What with the tremendous fires we had here this year it’s amazing that anyone gets away with selling them. Yes we’ve had lots of rain here lately but it doesn’t in any way clear up the drought conditions, there is so much undergrowth, the ground is not saturated etc.

    No Fourth of July celebrating for us, but then we rarely do.

    LB comes back this weekend, her friend is driving through Albuquerque on her move so she’s riding back with her and we will picking LB up in Albuquerque.

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  12. JodiP said on July 1, 2022 at 4:29 pm

    Welp, as many of you know, that EPA ruling has far-reaching consequences.

    We were far from doing enough to stave off the worst of climate change and even that slim hope is lost, I fear. But all sorts of other government functions to make our society run kinda OK are going to be challenged. Thanks to Sherri, I listen to Amicus and have been kept up to date on all the awful rulings. Mark Joseph Stern was on FIRE on the last ep about the praying coach.

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  13. Sherri said on July 1, 2022 at 7:23 pm

    When I read that Biden had struck a deal with McConnell to nominate an anti-abortion conservative judge to the Federal bench, I was not happy, but I wanted to know what he got in exchange. Now, we know that in exchange for this lifetime appointment, Biden got two US Attorneys that McConnell had been blocking.

    What a horrible deal. The US Attorneys could be the best prosecutors in the world, and they’ll accomplish little compared to the damage a judge can do in a lifetime, especially if the Dems don’t hold onto the White House and the Republicans decide to replace them, which they will, with McConnell’s choices.

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  14. Sherri said on July 1, 2022 at 7:27 pm

    Electing sheriffs is such a bad idea, even though it’s the norm. Pierce County, which is where Tacoma is, elected this racist, lying piece of shit.

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/judge-orders-pierce-county-sheriff-ed-troyer-to-post-100000-bail-finds-him-a-substantial-danger-after-anti-harassment-order/

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  15. Suzanne said on July 1, 2022 at 9:23 pm

    Pro-lifers will be very surprised at how this will actually play out. Most that I know are hopelessly naive. They cannot imagine their daughters or granddaughters will ever suffer a miscarriage and be investigated for murder. They cannot fathom that their daughters or granddaughters will have a baby die in the womb and won’t be able to get a D&C because that’s considered to be an abortion and that their loved one will become septic or bleed to death. They will have never considered that their daughters or granddaughters might get a cancer diagnosis while pregnant and will have to stop cancer treatment because it will harm the baby. They cannot imagine their own daughter or granddaughter might ever be raped and forced to carry a rapist’s baby to term. They can’t grasp that their daughters and granddaughters will no longer be able to access IVF if they can’t conceive.
    They live in dreamland where these bad things never happen to them and all those prolife politicians & preachers only want to save innocent babies and none of this will ever touch them personally. Until it does.

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  16. Deborah said on July 1, 2022 at 9:53 pm

    I read today that 1 in 50 pregnancies are ectopic. Imagine if it was your daughter who couldn’t get a procedure for that. I also read that a Dr in one of the states that had a trigger law to ban abortion after 6 weeks immediately had a patient, a 10 year old girl who came to his office today 6 weeks and 3 days pregnant. A 10 year old girl. Who knows if this is true, I actually hope it is not true, because if it is, it’s outrageous and extremely sad. More and more of this will be showing up. I think it will be like prohibition, it’s not going to work and will be a failure, thank god.

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  17. LAMary said on July 2, 2022 at 1:11 am

    I have a friend who is a nurse practitioner specializing in women’s health and she nearly died giving birth and the baby only lived two weeks. Another neighbor had eclampsia and it was touch and go for her. I know at least three women who had miscarriages.

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  18. Dorothy said on July 2, 2022 at 8:40 am

    It’s not just abortions that are being outlawed – this impacts the IVF and IUI procedures, both of which were the way my two grandchildren were conceived and born. My son had a powerful social media post about it the other day about how angry he and his wife are, and the ripple effect it’s going to have on parents who desperately want a baby and want to try to have one this way, using their own egg and sperm. It’s a couple’s right to do so and yes of course we all know about adoption, etc. But if they have the means to use IVF they should be permitted to do it that way. But now this threatens those procedures. They still have a few frozen embryos that likely they will not use. Daughter-in-law will be 40 next year. They might decide two children are enough. Will they be prosecuted if they don’t pay to keep them frozen in perpetuity?

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  19. Suzanne said on July 2, 2022 at 9:28 am

    The story about the 10 year old pregnant from rape victim is true.

    https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2022/07/01/ohio-girl-10-among-patients-going-indiana-abortion/7788415001/

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  20. Icarus said on July 2, 2022 at 9:50 am

    Dorothy at 18: it happened in Poland. If you are single, you cannot use your eggs, but you still have to pay for their upkeep.

    https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/when-the-government-seizes-your-embryos

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  21. alex said on July 2, 2022 at 10:15 am

    And in First World Problem news, I blew an entire day of my 4-day weekend vacay trying to make my HP printer/scanner connect wirelessly to my newish Apple devices only to find out that there’s only a small handful of printers compatible with Apple’s Monterey operating system and mine ain’t one of ’em.

    Going to a lake cookout later. Had to make my famous potato salad sans bell pepper because the host has some silly aversion. Substituted dill pickle instead and the result is quite wonderful actually. But hey anything full of bacon and mayonnaise is wonderful no matter what it is.

    While others celebrate “freedumb” this weekend, we’re keeping things low key.

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  22. Julie Robinson said on July 2, 2022 at 11:04 am

    Host gets to choose ingredients? That’s a new one on me.

    Dorothy, I have read that some IVF centers will insert the embryos very late in your cycle, so they are washed out in your period. The crazy people will probably track that down too. And doesn’t everyone know the devout family who have nonetheless arranged for their daughter’s abortions?

    If you haven’t looked at Nathan Gotsch’s campaign site, please go read it. I agree with him completely, and I hope the running as an Independent scheme will work.

    I also noticed that he went to the same high school as our kids, though not at the same time. The place changed so much that it must have been a strange homecoming for him when he went back to teach. It was a place where free speech was supported, teachers could be of any faith, and regular middle class families could send their kids.

    Today you have to have gone to a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod college to teach there and only rich families can afford the tuition. The administration is hard line and some nasty things have happened. My kids are now ashamed of being alumni.

    In other words, it’s been MAGAtized.

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  23. Deborah said on July 2, 2022 at 1:42 pm

    Yeah Julie, LB went to a Lutheran high school for 2 years. I managed to talk her father (we had joint custody) into letting her go to a different high school, best thing I ever did. There were some really mean kids at the Lutheran HS.

    Alex, I never thought of putting bacon in potato salad, I’m definitely doing that. Also, I’ve never had green pepper in it, that doesn’t sound good to me though, I have to admit. I read a funny series of tweets by some black people who were horrified that some white people put raisons in potato salad. Which sounds gross to me too.

    edit: This link https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/we-are-an-anti-abortion-couple-and-dont-worry-we-will-adopt-your-baby It’s funny.

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  24. Dorothy said on July 2, 2022 at 1:53 pm

    I made potato salad yesterday using both white taters and yams. It’s the best version now, IMO. I was looking on white ones a few years ago so I used yams to boost the quantity. Delish.

    Green peppers taste foul to me – so sorry Alex, I’m with that host!

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  25. Sherri said on July 2, 2022 at 2:21 pm

    I don’t mean to shit on your friend, Nancy, and I’m sure he’s a great guy, but I read his platform and think, but what do you want to do as a Congressman and how do you think you’ll accomplish it?

    He’s not alone. I’ll talk to and read about many candidates, at all levels. I read and hear a lot about process – failure of the two party system, lack of bipartisanship, people aren’t listened to – but you’re asking to become a part of a huge system, and you can’t walk in the door and change the system, because you will have little power or influence at first.

    So don’t talk to me about process. Tell me about what matters to you that this position allows you to make a difference in. It’s that second part that candidates don’t always pay attention to either: this position. I see too many candidates who think “I should run for something” and don’t consider whether that something is relevant to what they want to do.

    So back to Nancy’s friend: sure, the incumbent is terrible. Yes, the Dem has no chance. Would this guy be better? Maybe, but I can’t tell, because I can’t tell what he cares about other than the two party system is bad, and he doesn’t explain how or why electing an independent has any impact on changing that. We already have independents in Congress, have had for years, but to get anything done, they have to choose which side to caucus with. What is he going to do?

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  26. Icarus said on July 2, 2022 at 2:34 pm

    Alex said Bell Peppers which could include green peppers but might also be red or yellow. As for the host choosing the ingredients, well who knows their guests better? Maybe someone has an allergy.

    My wife is feeling remorse for moving us into the shittiest state of the country. Our relations down here all vote for the people who made the craptastic SCOTUS decisions possible. and they will do it again, against their own best interests.

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  27. LAMary said on July 2, 2022 at 2:49 pm

    I watched a video of Jacques Pepin and Julia Child making potato salad the other day. Julia’s had potatoes, onions, celery, bacon, mayonaisse and chopped pickle.

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  28. Julie Robinson said on July 2, 2022 at 3:01 pm

    Green peppers repeat on me for days. All the others I love.

    Concordia was a great school at one time, until the administration starting taking it to the right. The overlords in St. Louis probably had a lot to do with that. Now the teachers publish racism in the name of the church, etc.

    We got our hands on some local peaches and Matt’s intended is just finishing a couple of pies. Yes, we have ice cream too, the good stuff.

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  29. Dorothy said on July 2, 2022 at 4:40 pm

    I’m throwing a question out to anyone who went to high school in Fort Wayne, or perhaps college at Perdue in the late 70’s. Any of you maybe ever heard of basketball player Walter Jordan? I’ll explain why if anyone knows his name. Otherwise it’s probably a dumb anecdote to share and I’ll not do so unless someone’s curious.

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  30. Jeff Borden said on July 2, 2022 at 5:11 pm

    Fascinating story today (either NYT or WP) about the HUGE increase in men seeking vasectomy and women seeking tubal ligations. As usual, those with resources will find a way to cope with the new Handmaiden rules. As usual, the poor will be screwed.

    This fucking country…

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  31. Dorothy said on July 2, 2022 at 5:42 pm

    So there’s TWO 10 year olds pregnant and seeking an abortion this week?!

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/02/brazil-child-rape-abortion/

    Also Jeff B that story about the rise in vasectomies raised my eyebrows, too, when it was published two days ago. I’d never even thought about that aspect of this new ruling!

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  32. Dave said on July 2, 2022 at 6:00 pm

    Walter Jordan was a high school basketball star of some renown in Fort Wayne in the 70’s, was he not? Isn’t there a tournament or something he comes back for every year, it seems like his name would show up in the newspaper sports pages on a fairly regular basis. Without looking, didn’t he play in the NBA for a short period of time?

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  33. Suzanne said on July 2, 2022 at 6:13 pm

    Dorothy, I totally remember Walter Jordan!
    Also Concordia High was a fine school back in the day and very affordable for middle class people. No more, though. We have a couple of nieces who graduated from there in the last 10 years and both are very bitchy and nasty. Both have done well career wise, so far, but neither one attends any church as far as I can tell, and are pretty liberal politically so I guess they saw through the right wing indoctrination. One of the pastors associated with the school got in some trouble a few years ago for some very tone deaf video devotion he put up.

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  34. Sherri said on July 2, 2022 at 6:52 pm

    I’m a product of Tennessee public schools. Everything about this is deeply depressing: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/revealed/revealed-teachers-come-from-dumbest-parts-of-dumbest-colleges-tenn-governors-education-advisor-tells-him

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  35. LAMary said on July 2, 2022 at 8:03 pm

    Sheila Lukins who was half of the Silver Palate team from the seventies and eighties included a sweet potato/white potato salad recipe in her cookbook. I remember meaning to try it but never actually getting around to it. I always have my usual potato salad ingredients on hand, celery, potatoes, scallions, parsley, mayonaisse, a little cider vinegar, a little mustard on hand.

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  36. Deborah said on July 2, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    I saw a photo of Kavanaugh’s family when his younger daughter was 10, I don’t know how current it is. I wonder if he even ever thinks about what he’s done to children being forced to carry a child to term, and pregnant from incest rape.

    My niece who I’m now communicating with went to a Lutheran high school in Minnesota and has complained to me that the only history she learned there was biblical and after she got away from that she realized there was a lot she didn’t know and had to learn it as an adult and she resents that. I can relate.

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  37. David C said on July 2, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    Kavanaugh doesn’t give a flying fuck. He knows anyone in his family can afford to go wherever they need to for an abortion. He doesn’t actually care about it at all. It’s just something to keep the rubes happy while he takes an axe to voting rights, environmental regulations, etc.

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  38. Dorothy said on July 2, 2022 at 8:37 pm

    The other day I bought a new backgammon set. My brother Jim taught me how to play. I sent him a picture of the set saying “Wish you were here.” And he replied back that he hadn’t played in a long, long time. Then he said “I still have the set Walter Jordan gave me.” I asked who that was. And he sent this story:

    He graduated from college in 1982. He had done a semester in Spain during his junior year because he was a Spanish major. He currently teaches at a prep school in Philly. He went back to that city in Spain trying to get a job teaching English in Fall 1982. He had a job for awhile but I think that fell through or something. He ended up couch surfing at friends’ places for awhile and was debating coming back to the US. In February 1983 he was at a bar and in walks Walter Jordan. He had seen him playing in a basketball game the day before. Jim walked up to him and introduced himself. Walter said “I haven’t spoken English to anyone since Christmas!” They hit it off, talking and getting to be friends. He ended up asking Jim if he could help be his interpreter when he’d do interviews or other stuff. Jim said he’d love to. Jim moved into his third bedroom in a swanky condo. One bedroom was for Walter and the other was for Walter’s clothes! (That cracked me up).

    Jim said he lived there rent free for about two months and then Walter had to move on. But in the meantime, Jim got to stay at a pretty nice place and eventually returned home. He got his masters degree at Millersville in eastern PA. That’s where he met his wife who was also a Spanish teacher and was going for her masters, too.

    Jim said he and Walter made ‘quite the pair’ as they walked around Valladolid. Walter is black and 6’7” and Jim is an inch shorter, blue eyed and blond. Or used to be blond. He’s pretty bald these days.

    Isn’t that a great story?!

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  39. Deborah said on July 2, 2022 at 10:21 pm

    That is a good story, Dorothy.

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  40. Dexter Friend said on July 3, 2022 at 3:53 am

    In 1967 I was a high school senior, and so, looking forward to going to what was then known as Butler Fieldhouse for the IHSAA basketball tournament for boys. A week earlier I came down with a sickness that lingered and I missed going to see Willie Long and his FW SS Archers play; they lost on a crooked referee’s call, Evansville North won the title. It always worked on my mind how I had missed that tourney, and so in 1974 I, my wife, and a friend went to Bloomington to see Walter Jordan’s Northrop HS team go for the title. They won in the afternoon and then beat Wayne Walls and his Jeffersonville team for the trophy. I remember how Fort Wayne as a city basically ignored the title, totally unlike when the Archers won in 1958.
    Walter Jordan went on to star at Purdue. Last I heard there was a Walter Jordan book release last year. It looks like it has promise to be a good read: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YaskX9QidI

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  41. Icarus said on July 3, 2022 at 3:06 pm

    well since things are quiet here this holiday weekend, maybe some of you would be interested in reading how I met my wife 13 years ago today.

    https://www.chicagonow.com/mysteries-of-life/2013/11/how-i-met-my-wife/

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  42. Julie Robinson said on July 3, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    Lovely, Icarus! Both D and I had given up when we became friends. I had been in a three year relationship that wasn’t healthy and had finally ended it for good a few months prior. He was the rebound date for too many stupid women; stupid because they didn’t see what a good man he was. And is.

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  43. FDChief said on July 3, 2022 at 9:18 pm

    Well, hope every American will have the time, money and effort to hire their own meat and poultry inspectors. Hi, Mister Salmonella!

    Ceterum censeo GOP esse delendam.

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  44. Joe K said on July 3, 2022 at 10:26 pm

    Dexter,
    I’ll be at the Bryan Airport for breakfast tomorrow around 8-8:15
    Red over white piper Cherokee N43094, stop by for a pancake. The rest of you are invited also if your in the area.
    Pilot Joe

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  45. LAMary said on July 3, 2022 at 10:27 pm

    Remember how proud we all were when Rush Limbaugh got the Presidential Medal of Freedom? No? Well this year’s list is more inspiring. Simone Biles, Meghan Rapinoe are two of the seventeen on the list.

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  46. Colleen said on July 3, 2022 at 11:16 pm

    Chiming in on potato salad. Our family recipe is super simple. Potatoes, onion (usually Vidalia), S&P, dill, parsley and Hellman’s mayo. I usually add some lemon juice to the mayo to thin it a bit. I have recently discovered canned potatoes at Aldi, so I have been cheating and using those instead of cooking them myself.

    In July 4 news….my neighborhood sounds like a war zone. We may sit on the lanai tomorrow night and watch what the neighbors set off. They love blowing stuff up.

    We are new pet parents to a kitten we adopted Saturday. Johnny. Orange tabby, completely adorable and sweet tempered. He joins Peanut, Hazel, and Ike, who appear to be afraid of him. Which is amusing, because he is tiny.

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  47. Jeff Gill said on July 4, 2022 at 7:37 am

    Team Red Onion here for potato salad, and I’m a Duke’s Mayo convert.

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  48. Deborah said on July 4, 2022 at 9:43 am

    I bought a jar of Duke’s for the first time, haven’t opened it yet, but will tonight when we make BLTs.

    I use red onion in my potato salad too. LB puts chopped parsley in when she makes it.

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  49. Suzanne said on July 4, 2022 at 11:05 am

    I like to make the French Potato Salad from The Joy of Cooking. No mayo at all but a vinaigrette of wine vinegar or actual wine, herbs, mustard, and olive oil. It’s quite good!

    Also, when did July 4th go from Independence Day to Annoy Your Neighbor with Loud Fireworks Day? A nearby elementary school sustained damage on Friday when fireworks landed on the roof and burned it. I had trouble sleeping Friday night because of the loud booms in the area from somewhere. The cat was even upset. Freedumb, I guess.

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  50. LAMary said on July 4, 2022 at 12:36 pm

    Red onions are good, but I like scallions and even better are Mexican green onions which are like scallions but the bulb is bigger. I like those roasted on the grill when I do chicken too. The other grill dish that is beyond great is corn with miso butter and scallions. I think it’s an NYT recipe but it might be Mark Bittman. In any case, boil some corn on the cob, mix some white miso with butter. Grill the cooked corn just long enough for some good grill marks, brush it with the miso butter and sprinkle chopped scallions on it.

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  51. Little Bird said on July 4, 2022 at 12:51 pm

    While I make potato salad and people seem to like mine, I do not eat potato salad. I don’t like it. But the next time I do make it I think I want to use pickled red onions and maybe also add some dill.
    I’m the same way with scrambled eggs, won’t eat ‘em but both Deborah and her husband like it when I make them.

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  52. alex said on July 4, 2022 at 1:53 pm

    And it wouldn’t be a Fourth of July without paying homage to the Second Amendment. Thank you to all the dear souls in Highland Park who sacrificed their lives for the cause this morning.

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  53. Suzanne said on July 4, 2022 at 1:56 pm

    Yet another mass shooting. Highland Park, IL which, if you don’t know, is a wealthy far north Chicago suburb. All during a 4th of July parade. 5 verified dead, 26 hospitalized.
    Shooter must have been part of a well regulated militia.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/highland-park-july-4-parade-mass-shooting/

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  54. ROGirl said on July 4, 2022 at 2:01 pm

    Happy 4th of July, folks. Another day, another mass shooting. Thoughts and prayers.

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  55. David C said on July 4, 2022 at 2:33 pm

    It looks like tonight will be rain like hell and keep the fireworks at bay for one night. That’ll probably spread them out over the next couple of weekends, worse news. I talked to my sister today and she said one of her neighbors said they had $4000 worth of the fireworks to set off tonight. She also said he’s always bitching about the price of gas. Priorities people, priorities.

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  56. Heather said on July 4, 2022 at 2:43 pm

    Highland Park is my hometown. I went to that parade many times in my childhood. I checked in with friends and family who live there and all are OK, but six people are dead and more are injured.

    Seeing a lot of people on social media lump HP in with Chicago. It’s a very wealthy area that is closer to Wisconsin than the city. The point is not that “it doesn’t happen here” but that it happens everywhere.

    Reports are the shooter was a white male (shocker) about 19 years old, who is still at large. HP has a large Jewish population and some fear this was an anti-Semitic attack, but there is no indication of that so far.

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  57. Deborah said on July 4, 2022 at 3:28 pm

    We have friends in Highland Park, I’ve emailed them but so far have not heard back. Isn’t Ravinia in Highland Park, I’ve only been there a couple of times, took the train? It’s a lovely community.

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  58. Deborah said on July 4, 2022 at 4:08 pm

    OK, heard back from our friends in Highland Park, they’re OK and so are their friends, but of course devastated by what has happened. So many police with guns around before and during the parade and yet they were unable to stop the massacre. So much for good guys with guns once again.

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