This is a thread to share excitement about your recent discovery of Something Neat in the World. Could be a vegetable you tried for the first time, a type of shoe you never wore before and now love, a cooking technique you just heard of recently, an old band through whose back catalog you're currently pouring, whatever!
The inspiration for this thread comes care of black bean hummus, which I just had for the first time. I love traditional hummus, and the black bean variation knocked my socks off!
Discussion Thread: New to Me
Whooooooops Never Mind
[Content Note: Fat hatred; food policing.]
BBC: Denmark to abolish tax on high-fat foods.
The Danish government has said it intends to abolish a tax on foods which are high in saturated fats.Why is the "fat tax" being rescinded? Because not only has it failed to magically turn all fat Danes thin, but the tax has "inflated food prices and put Danish jobs at risk," at least in part because "some Danes had begun crossing the border into Germany to stock up on food there."
The measure, introduced a little over a year ago, was believed to be the world's first so-called "fat tax".
Foods containing more than 2.3% saturated fat - including dairy produce, meat and processed foods - were subject to the surcharge.
...The Danish tax ministry said it was also cancelling its plans to introduce a tax on sugar, the AFP news agency reports.
There is precious little evidence that the existence of fat people have a significant impact on a national economy, despite claims to the contrary, but there is demonstrable evidence that foolish attempts to make fat people not-fat do. I'm just saying.
Here Are Some Fun Things to Read
Politico—The GOP's Media Cocoon: "A long-simmering generational battle in the conservative movement is boiling over after last week's shellacking, with younger operatives and ideologues going public with calls that Republicans break free from a political-media cocoon that has become intellectually suffocating and self-defeating."
Washington Post—GOP's Red America Forced to Rethink What It Knows About the Country: "Here in the heart of Red America, Cox and many others spent last week grieving not only for themselves and their candidate but also for a country they now believe has gone wildly off track. The days after Barack Obama's reelection gave birth to a saying in Central Tennessee: Once was a slip, but twice is a sign."
There has been a lot of postmortem analysis of What Went Wrong, and much of it has been amusing to read, because it is all avoiding the most obvious problem: The Republican platform is garbage.
The GOP doesn't need better rhetoric behind which to hide its grotesque policies, nor more diverse candidates to be the public face of them. It just needs better policies.
And until the party and its supporters are ready to deal with that fundamental truth, this is merely the beginning of a long slide into irrelevance.
Which, y'know, is fine by me.
In The News
[Content note: Racism]
News and Opinion:
Mitt Romney did slightly worse among Mormon voters this year than George W. Bush did in 2004. Whoops!
Obama to win Florida, CNN projects, sweeping all battleground states. Whoops!
This is fun: Go to Mitt Romney's Facebook page. Note the number of likes. Refresh the page. LOLOLOL!!
San Francisco becomes first US city to offer free trans surgery. Neat!
Were you waiting for a gay James Bond for some reason? Don't hold your breath!
A key part of American civil rights law is now in danger of being nullified by the Supreme Court. Good-bye, Voting Rights Act! Also: Are you fucking kidding me?!
The day after Barack Obama won his re-election bid, the chief executive of Murray Energy, Robert E. Murray, fired 156 people. Just like Jesus would do!
I still hate sports: Seattle Sounders soccer dude Marc Burch has been suspended for three games for calling another player an anti-gay slur at a playoff game last week.
The Walking Thread
^ This fucking guy, amirite?
(Spoilers are lurching around all grody and hissing herein.)
Ugh, this show. It is either definitely a comedy that is flying way under the radar or it is so terrible that even terrible is like, "I am insufficient to describe this show." Maybe both?
Okay, so in this garbage episode of this garbage show, Grimes Gang 1.0 are still holed up at Zombie Prison, where life is a nightmare and Grimes has become AN EMOTIONAL ZOMBIE. If you are ever in need of something to hold down a giant weather balloon before your incredible space jump, use one of the metaphors from this show.
Grimes doesn't even give a squirt about his brand new
Turns out that Grimes has been WRONG ALL ALONG in thinking that as long as he wanted everything to be okay and yelled at people enough and murdered the right people and the most zombies, it would indeed be okay. Terrible hypothesis, Grimes! CASE CLOSED. Turn over operations to Glenn promptly and go jump in a zombie well.
Also: Maggie and Daryl found baby formula, diapers, and a bottle in an abandoned daycare center. Good job, you two! Also it looks like Daryl found a sexy new serape. Nice!
Meanwhile, Grimes Gang 2.0 is all Truman Show 2: Beyond Thunderdome. The seemingly nice townsfolk enjoy a fun game of zombie gladiators in which Merle and some other dude fight in the middle of chained-up zombies while everyone cheers. Because obviously EVERY SINGLE PERSON would definitely be okay with that. Except newcomer Andrea, who is all, "Whoa, Gov'nuh!" And Governor Niam Leeson is all, "Don't worry—it's fixed! We pull their teeth out!" Which is definitely the perfect response because the only concern is how someone might be zombified and not that everyone is TRADING THEIR HUMANITY FOR THEIR FEELINGS OF SAFETY PATRIOT ACT.
During zombie gladiators, Iain looked up from his phone, on which he'd been doing important Fantasy Football research (or something) during most of the episode, and said, "What the fuck? Every time I look up, this show has gotten stupider." Pretty much!
Other things that happened with Grimes Gang 2.0: Michonne bailed, because she has a brain. Governor Niam Leeson combed his zombie daughter's hair until whoooooops part of her scalp came off and he put a cheese sack over her head and put her back in her giant aquarium or wherever he keeps her. And Andrea continued to behave like a garbage monster.
So, your basic Walking Dead episode, in which virtually everyone does stupid and unlikable things, and the plot moves forward in an increment of measurement too small to be calculated without the assistance of an electron microscope.
Finally! Just because it cannot be said enough: Rick Grimes is terrible. I would pay a zombie so many Ronpaulbuxxx to eat him.
Discuss.
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Songs from Movies. ("Playing with the Boys" had better be on EVERYONE'S LIST!) Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
Petraeus Affair: The Latest
[Content Note: Harassment.]
So, CIA Director David Petraeus resigned into the Friday News Hole last week, citing an extramarital affair. Since then, we've learned that the affair was with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, who may have been given inappropriate access to classified information. But what triggered the FBI investigation that eventually led to Petraeus' resignation was reportedly that Broadwell was sending harassing emails to another woman accusing her of flirting with Petraeus. (Oh for fuck's sake.) And the FBI's investigation was, well, unusual. In the sense that when it didn't yield the results the reporting employee (a friend of the harassed woman) wanted, Rep. Eric Cantor was notified. (Whut.) Such a mess.
The new accounts of the events that led to Mr. Petraeus's sudden resignation on Friday shed light on the competing pressures facing F.B.I. agents who recognized the high stakes of any investigation involving the C.I.A. director but who were wary of exposing a private affair with no criminal or security implications. For the first time Sunday, the woman whose report of harassing e-mails led to the exposure of the affair was identified as Jill Kelley, 37, of Tampa, Fla.The investigation continued and "law enforcement officials decided there was no evidence that Mr. Petraeus had committed any crime and tentatively ruled out charges coming out of the investigation." BUT. The FBI employee who requested the investigation on Kelley's behalf, either wasn't aware of that outcome or was unhappy with it, "became frustrated," so he
...Law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the investigation, defended the F.B.I.'s handling of the case. "There are a lot of sensitivities in a case like this," said a senior law enforcement official. "There were hints of possible intelligence and security issues, but they were unproven. You constantly ask yourself, 'What are the notification requirements? What are the privacy issues?'"
... The involvement of the F.B.I., according to government officials, began when Ms. Kelley, alarmed by about half a dozen anonymous e-mails accusing her of inappropriate flirtatious behavior with Mr. Petraeus, complained to an F.B.I. agent who is also a personal friend. That agent, who has not been identified, helped get a preliminary inquiry started. Agents working with federal prosecutors in a local United States attorney’s office began trying to figure out whether the e-mails constituted criminal cyber-stalking.
Because the sender's account had been registered anonymously, investigators had to use forensic techniques — including a check of what other e-mail accounts had been accessed from the same computer address — to identify who was writing the e-mails.
Eventually they identified Ms. Broadwell as a prime suspect and obtained access to her regular e-mail account. In its in-box, they discovered intimate and sexually explicit e-mails from another account that also was not immediately identifiable. Investigators eventually ascertained that it belonged to Mr. Petraeus and studied the possibility that someone had hacked into Mr. Petraeus's account or was posing as him to send the explicit messages.
Eventually they determined that Mr. Petraeus had indeed sent the messages to Ms. Broadwell and concluded that the two had had an affair. Then they turned their scrutiny on him, examining whether he knew about or was involved in sending the harassing e-mails to Ms. Kelley.
alerted the office of Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, the House majority leader, about the inquiry in late October. Mr. Cantor passed on the agent's concerns to Mr. Mueller.Totally inappropriate.
Marcy Wheeler and Kevin Drum ask some good questions about the curious details of this story.
Two other pieces I recommend:
Megan Garber: Gmail's Location Data Led to the Discovery of the Petraeus Affair.
Spencer Ackerman: How I Was Drawn Into the Cult of David Petraeus.
Discuss.
Quote of the Day
"What can be worse than to sell your soul and find it not valuable enough to get anything for it?"—Garry Wills, in an absolutely brutal (but accurate) post-election piece on Mitt Romney for The New York Review of Books.
OUCH.
Explosion in Indy
[Content Note: Fire; death.]
So this happened: In Indianapolis yesterday, there was an explosion in a residential neighborhood that killed two people, injured seven more, and totally destroyed two homes and did damage to many others:
Splintered beams and boards on a piece of charred earth were all that remained Sunday where at least two Indianapolis homes were leveled in a blast that killed two people and rendered homes for blocks uninhabitable.My first thought was that it was an exploding meth lab, although, at least in Indiana, it's still rare to see meth labs in neighborhoods that nice and/or intimate.
A backhoe raked through the rubble in the middle-class subdivision as clusters of firefighters and rescue workers weary from a long, chaotic day that began late the night before waited for their next assignment.
The two-story, brick-faced homes on either side of those demolished by the blast were ruins. One home's roof was gone, a blackened husk left behind. On the other side of the gap, the side of a home was sheared off. Across the street, garage doors had buckled from the heat.
It wasn't yet clear what caused the blast that shook the neighborhood at 11 p.m. Saturday. Residents described hearing a loud boom that blew out windows and collapsed ceilings. Some thought a plane had crashed or that it was an earthquake.
...Deputy Code Enforcement Director Adam Collins said as many as 31 homes were damaged so badly that they may have to be demolished. The explosion damaged a total of 80 homes, he said. He estimated the damage at $3.6 million.
Everyone is, of course, extremely curious to find out what caused the blast, and the FBI has been brought in to assist in the investigation.
How terribly frightening.
The victims of the blast have been identified as second-grade teacher Jennifer Longworth and her husband, John Dion Longworth. My condolences to their family, friends, and colleagues.
And my sympathies to all who have been affected. There are a lot of displaced people; a lot of people who have lost their homes or sustained significant damage to their homes and/or other property; a lot of people, including emergency workers, who have been through a serious trauma; a lot of pets who are traumatized, some still awaiting rescue from damaged homes. There will be a lot of recovery, and I hope everyone gets the support they need.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Happy Friday
Here is a nice story about two gay penguin dads. Enjoy!
(Although note to The Star: Gay relationships are not a "bromance." FYI.)
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by rotary phones.
Recommended Reading:
Election Stuff
crunkadelic: After the Love Has Gone: Some Thoughts on Radical Community After the Election
Robert: Survival Pending...: A Post-Election Call to Action
Sikivu: 2016: The Empire Strikes Back [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of war and adherence to kyriarchal values.]
V.E.: Voices on Voting: Getting My Grandmother to Vote
Other Stuff
Jessica: First Sentence Is Factually Incorrect
Issa: A Woman's World Is Full of Shit [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of diet talk.]
Fannie: Just a Thought [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of homophobia; heterocentrism.]
Angry Asian Man: The "Make Me Asian" App Is Not Amusing [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion and imagery of racism.]
Jorge: Meet the New Gerber Baby: Mary Jane Montoya
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Movies About Friendship. Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
Actual Headline
Exclusive: Hillary Clinton would dominate 2016 Iowa caucuses, Public Policy Polling shows.
The 2016 Iowa caucuses? Are you fucking kidding me? YOU HAVE TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME. The election was November 6! It is November 9! IT IS NOVEMBER 9! It is November 9 in the year of our lord Jesus Jones two thousand and twelve! And you're already talking about the 2016 Iowa caucuses?!
[Video Description: Darth Vader yelling NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!]
Sob. *collapse*
Whimper.
