Month: February 2018

Athenae, Food and Drink2 Comments

Tuesday Foodblogging: Kitchen Design Edition

Allison Hantschel

While Mr. A and I were looking for houses, we saw lots of places with completely open kitchens. Like, somebody had taken a perfectly normal house and blown open the entire first floor so that you were basically cooking in your living room. It drove me wild, because then what happens? You make fish and you smell it for hours while watching TV. You can’t shut the door on the mess and just sit and talk without being judged by the dishes and pots and pans on the stove and crumbs on the counter. I was pleased to read there’s … Continue reading Tuesday Foodblogging: Kitchen Design Edition

Uncategorized

Choose Your Own Adventure

Allison Hantschel

I used to stick my fingers in all the pages, trying to game the system, find the path that would get me home free. I used to read Choose Your Own Adventure books, too:  Yet you never quite escape completely. The lasting influence of Choose Your Own Adventure might be how it made us subtly reflect on traditional story-telling. It may be hyperbole to claim that books for kids planted a seed of doubt about our credulity in later life. And yet there is something of the alienation effect to a form of literature that continually suggested other paths, other possibilities. The … Continue reading Choose Your Own Adventure

Athenae, Geek Cred9 Comments

The Name of the Place? Babylon 5.

Allison Hantschel

Apologies to everybody who came hither through Galactica or Game of Thrones. This show was my first true love:  Over the course of the first season, the show focused on crisis-of-the-week storylines, such as the station dockers going on strike after Earth refuses to pay for more advanced and safer equipment after a horrendous accident kills several workers, and also on a series of longer-running mysteries. Sinclair’s missing memories (which gradually start to return) is the most prominent of these, but there are also the military provocations by the resurgent and belligerent Narn Regime against their former conquerors, the Centauri, … Continue reading The Name of the Place? Babylon 5.

Free Republic, Q, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold, Tommy T4 Comments

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – bytes and pieces edition

Tommy T

Good morning, everybody. They’re coming fast and frumious lately, so today – a little of everything.

Let’s start with – WHAT special election???

Kentucky Special Election – this is what complacency looks like
https://twitter.com/gelliottmorris/status/966329920338190338 ^ | Feb 21, 2018 | G. Elliott Morris

Posted on 2/21/2018, 9:56:45 AM by mooncoin

Turnout numbers from last night’s special election in KY #HD49, which swung 86%pt toward Democrats and flipped a district from red to blue:

Total turnout: 25% of 2016 ballots cast Dem.: 74% of 2016 Rep.: 11% of 2016

***************

The only reason why dems won was that only 11% of 2016 GOP voters showed up yesterday while 74% of Dem voters showed up
1 posted on 2/21/2018, 9:56:45 AM by mooncoin
Sucks to be you.
 .
Freeper get-out-the-vote team – assemble!
To: mooncoin
I live in KY. What special election? 

2 posted on 2/21/2018, 9:57:40 AM by robroys woman (So you’re not confused, I’m male.)

One Freeper dares to say it:

To: SMGFan

 

A year of “draining the swamp”, by the 4d chess playing grandmaster of politics, has yielded, in over a year … a memo. This is not surprising. Trump is getting his political butt handed to him, his supporters are too starry-eyed to hold his feet to the fire, and an almost unbelievably miraculous opportunity is being squandered. Oh, in addition to a 4-page memo, we have also gotten a number of snarky, albeit incoherent, tweets. And, possibly, Q, although that remains to be seen.

Oh yeah – we’ll get to “Q” a little later in this Obsession….

We are going to lose. Badly. And the fault lies squarely on the shoulders of Trump, and those who act as cheerleaders, and not true supporters (true supporters know that sometimes you have to speak up when the “leader” is making grievous mistakes — as Trump has done, in not seriously following through on his promise to drain the swamp).

38 posted on 2/20/2018, 7:10:31 PM by jjsheridan5

Otherwise, OK?
.
“ilgipper” (he needs to change his handle to “deadgipper”) finds a graveyard to whistle past :
To: jjsheridan5

 

We’ve lost zero House seats in these special elections. We’ve retained every one. These state level seats are not garnering any interest on our side. That’s not relevant to national politics. We have an even game on generic congressional polling which leads to minimal changes. It’s an off year election so we face normal cycles of opposition during a presidency but nothing shows it as a big swing.

48 posted on 2/20/2018, 7:25:43 PM by ilgipper

Pay no attention to those voters behind the curtain!
To: ilgipper 

We won over 1000 of them the previous 8 years in all the states. We are giving them all back. How dump are the Republicans? I have to laugh at the thread where every excuse is given in the book. I guess Conservatives just don’t give a care.

Almost FIFY.

Very evident that is true. Every week we are losing and losing and all we get are excuses.

66 posted on 2/20/2018, 7:55:43 PM by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016)

But they’re the BEST excuses!
.
Follow below the fold for some more short takes….
.

Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – bytes and pieces edition”

Athenae, Current Affairs1 Comment

Equivalents

Allison Hantschel

During CPAC a lot of people asked where the Left’s CPAC was, and people offered up options, like maybe Netroots Nation had been at one point something like that, and lots of wingnuts think college campuses are basically CPAC every day. And people are asking, now, what the equivalent of the NRA is for the Left, like what is the lobby that’s bought most of our congressmen and is presumed so powerful that nobody can cross it. Planned Parenthood? But there are anti-abortion Democrats as well as those who favor SOME abortion restriction, and so far as I know there … Continue reading Equivalents

Athenae, Guns

Trying to Beat Them

Allison Hantschel

Pretty much: We’re not trying to convert NRA supporters. We’re trying to beat them. https://t.co/6BaIetknbK — Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) February 24, 2018 If the past decade and a half has taught us anything it’s the futility of trying to find common ground with disingenuous peddlers of right-wing conspiracies who make money on not being convinced of anyone’s viewpoint but their employers’. Why on earth would we want to convert them? What would we get out of it? Oh, I supposed we’d get the fickle loyalty of a group of voters whose hold on reality is so tenuous that they continually … Continue reading Trying to Beat Them

Adrastos, Carnival, Film, Fog Of History, Guns, Law/Justice, Music, New Orleans, Odds & Sods, Political Crack, R.I.P., Supreme Court, Television, Twitter

Saturday Odds & Sods: Papa Was A Rolling Stone

Peter Adrastos Athas
Hesitation Waltz by Rene Magritte.

It’s been a frustrating week at Adrastos World HQ. Every time I think my pernicious and persistent cold is getting better, I backslide. I would have preferred to be really sick for a few days and then better. Make up your mind, cold.

In local news, the lame duck New Orleans City Council has been up to all sorts of mischief: voting to approve a new power plant for Entergy that won’t solve our blackout  problems and allowing taller buildings to be constructed alongside the Mother of Rivers.  I suspect that the presence of Mayor-elect Cantrell on the Council is one reason they feel free to take such votes. It does not bode well for those who hoped the incoming Mayor would be more neighborhood/citizen friendly. Score another win for real estate developers who are the worst people in the world. Exhibit A for this argument currently lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This week’s theme song is a tribute to Temptations singer Dennis Edwards who died earlier this month at the age of 74. Papa Was A Rolling Stone was written by Norman Whitfield and Barret Strong and was a monster hit in 1972. Here are two versions for your enjoyment: the Temps and David Lindley.

Now that I’ve dissed real estate developers and my stupid cold, it’s time to roll over to the break. I’m too enfeebled to jump.

Continue reading “Saturday Odds & Sods: Papa Was A Rolling Stone”

Big Damn Heroes, Current Affairs, Diary, Doc, Education, Sports, Uncategorized2 Comments

Good night, Jack Hamilton

docphd

(Posting a bit early because of a sad bit of news. Hope it’s acceptable. – Doc.) Of all the baubles and trinkets I’ve collected over the years that adorn my office, one of my favorite ones is a baseball signed by Jack Hamilton, who died earlier today. The reason I got it was that I taught one of his grandchildren during one of my many stops in journalism education. I still remember her approaching me during our introductory reporting course to ask for special dispensation when it came to her profile. “I know you said that we can’t do this … Continue reading Good night, Jack Hamilton

Athenae, Food and Drink

Tuesday Foodblogging

Allison Hantschel

Everything doesn’t suck. So in 2004, some Eagle Corn seeds were sent to Nebraska. “The Pawnee had grown this corn here for 600 years, and they’d been trying to save it since they were forced to Oklahoma in the 1870s. Now we were trying one last time to see if it would grow here again,” O’Brien says. The first crop didn’t take, but the next year, the last 25 seeds were sent in a desperate effort to keep the Eagle Corn from extinction. That time, O’Brien watched in astonishment. “It was just amazing—I’ve never seen plants just burst from the … Continue reading Tuesday Foodblogging

Uncategorized2 Comments

‘a reprieve’

Allison Hantschel

What the fuck is wrong with you?  But a gun massacre at a Florida high school last Wednesday, which left 17 dead, seemed to shift the media glare away from the Trump scandals and gave embattled aides an opportunity to refocus on handling a rare crisis not of their own making. While the White House mourned the loss of life in Parkland, Fla., some aides privately acknowledged that the tragedy offered a breather from the political storm. A breather. A breather. A fucking breather. What kind of solipsistic asshole … you know, this is paragraph two of this story and … Continue reading ‘a reprieve’

Adrastos, Art, Law/Justice, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks, The Darnold, Twitter, Your President Speaks

Your President* Speaks: Dumbbell Caveman Edition

Peter Adrastos Athas

It’s President’s Day. The Current Occupant is currently at his Florida pad and there’s a tweet storm brewing. Who am I kidding? He’s been watching Fox News, hanging out with his idiot sons, and whining about the cards life dealt him … Continue reading Your President* Speaks: Dumbbell Caveman Edition

Free Republic, Tommy T, Uncategorized3 Comments

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – two steps forward, one step back edition

Tommy T

Greetings, all – still recovering from the herniated disc thing, and every time I think it’s gone away, it comes back. In the immortal words of Joan Hackett in “Support your local Sheriff” :

“I’m sick and tired of all these stupid things that keep happening to me, and somebody’d better do something about it soon!“

So  – a short “Obsession” today.

I won’t even go near the latest mowing down of schoolchildren, because the Freeperati response is exactly the same as the last 20 times it happened.

It did generate one interesting thread, though –  good for the Russian mafia!

Are you allowed guns in Russia?
16 Feb 18 | hapnHal

Posted on 2/17/2018, 10:52:12 PM by hapnHal

Are you allowed guns in Russia? Found this information.

Individuals are not allowed to carry guns acquired for self-defense; a license only serves as a carrying permit for hunting and sport firearms when these guns need to be transported. Russian citizens may not own guns that shoot in bursts or have magazines with more than a ten-cartridge capacity.

1 posted on 2/17/2018, 10:52:12 PM by hapnHal
I see a Cognitive Dissonance alert coming, as their new BFF Russia dare not be criticized!
To: billakay
As I understand it, the law was amended a couple of years ago to allow anyone who had a permit to own a weapon to carry it for self defense. 

Got to wonder how much the growth of the Russian mafia contributed to that.

Regardless, good for them!

7 posted on 2/17/2018, 11:09:20 PM by doorgunner69 (Give me the liberty to take care of my own security……….)

TrumpCogDis

To: hapnHal

 

Just as I thought, the Democrats are trying as hard as insanely possible to turn America into Russia.

13 posted on 2/17/2018, 11:52:06 PM by American in Israel (A wise man’s heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)

So – Russia = bad?
To: American in Israel

 

“Just as I thought, the Democrats are trying as hard as insanely possible to turn America into Russia.”

Not in all ways. Russia today protects their kids against gay recruitment.

14 posted on 2/17/2018, 11:57:58 PM by BobL (I shop at Walmart and eat at McDonald’s…I just don’t tell anyone)

So – Russia = good?
To: hapnHal

 

Tell the liberals that, now that they hate Russia! Remember how they loved Russia when she was full commie?

15 posted on 2/18/2018, 12:09:25 AM by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)

I’ll tell you what I remember:
McCarthyList
One Freeper dares to go there:
To: billakay

 

What are your thoughts on….

“Russian citizens may not own guns that shoot in bursts or have magazines with more than a ten-cartridge capacity.”

Maybe the Russians are on the right track. Do we need these type of guns and if so, for WHAT PURPOSE ?

12 posted on 2/17/2018, 11:49:58 PM by hapnHal (B)

And is promptly reminded of how a fat fuck with an AR15 is going to hold off a drone strike:
To: hapnHal
Do we need these type of guns and if so, for WHAT PURPOSE ? 

To fight back against government forces that will be sent to take them away the next time we get an Obama or a Hillary.

18 posted on 2/18/2018, 12:11:41 AM by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
MilitiaDefense
.
One more bit of stupid after the moron labe –
.

Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – two steps forward, one step back edition”

Athenae, Guns

Marry Me, Steve

Allison Hantschel

This is a glorious evisceration of Chicago’s worst newspaper columnist, who’s typical of so many old middle-class scolds in that Kass thinks it’s just fine if people in “those neighborhoods” die so long as it doesn’t happen near him: “Chicago police commanders aren’t supposed to be shot to death, not there, not at the heart of city business and politics.” As with so many John Kass columns in this stage of his career, I can only wonder: Where to start? 1. Ignore the stats. Go by feel – perhaps the feel you get from Fox News. 2. People’s sense of safety is shaken by … Continue reading Marry Me, Steve

Athenae, Guns, Kids Today

Your Sons and Your Daughters Are Beyond Your Command

Allison Hantschel

I spent Saturday night in a crowded hot room above a coffee shop, writing notes to Paul Ryan and Donald Trump. I know, right? But listen to this girl, Emma Gonzalez: I watched an interview this morning and noticed that one of the questions was, do you think your children will have to go through other school shooter drills? And our response is that our neighbors will not have to go through other school shooter drills. When we’ve had our say with the government — and maybe the adults have gotten used to saying ‘it is what it is,’ but … Continue reading Your Sons and Your Daughters Are Beyond Your Command