Tuesday’s Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. charontwo says:

    https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1693930584710529499

    He hates journalists, journalism and media companies large and small, and is constantly searching for new ways to make it as difficult as possible to exist on this platform in a functional way. He wants journalism to be people tweeting.

    Another innovative way to ruin the platform.

    2
  2. Tony W says:

    As of this month, the average US president has been charged with two felonies.

    4
  3. Bill Jempty says:

    @Tony W:

    As of this month, the average US president has been charged with two felonies.

    You mean greatest.

  4. CSK says:

    Trump will turn himself in to Fulton County law enforcement this coming Thursday. After that, he’ll be out on bail.

  5. CSK says:

    @CSK:

    The first Republican primary debate will be the night before Trump’s arraigment in Georgia.

  6. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @CSK: Get ready for a chorus of “IT’S A WITCH HUUUUUUNT!!!!” with 2 tiny voices trying to get some attention saying, “He’s a crook, lock him up.”

    1
  7. OzarkHillbilly says:

    2 articles sure to piss one off: No OB-GYNs left in town: what came after Idaho’s assault on abortion

    eta:

    “Nobody knows if their pregnancy is going to be uncomplicated or complicated. Nobody sets out to have a complicated pregnancy. Things happen, some of which can be predicted, and some of which cannot. So you have a little bit of a component of Russian roulette,” she says. “Being pregnant is always more dangerous than not being pregnant.”

    US businessman is wannabe ‘warlord’ of secretive far-right men’s network

    I managed to read the first. Barely. The 2nd piece I barely made it thru the first paragraph and all I could think was, “Talk about a target rich environment…” So I stopped. I don’t need to spend my Tuesday totally pissed off.

    2
  8. CSK says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I think Trump is trying to ensure that there’s NO coverage of the previous night’s Great Debate on Thursday. The news will be all about him.

  9. OzarkHillbilly says:

    “It’s about knowing that no matter what happens, you never lose sight of yourself. You’re going to have good days, you’re going to have bad days, you are going to have better days. You’re going to have worse days. But you live to see tomorrow. Every day the sun doesn’t shine but that’s why I love tomorrow.”

    – Sha’Carri Richardson, after winning her first 100m world title

    2
  10. CSK says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That’s a nice personal philosophy.

    1
  11. charontwo says:

    https://twitter.com/AntiToxicPeople/status/1693691673262555263

    I know everyone is running w Trump saying “I was the apple of his eye” re: Putin, but if you watch the video he actually said “It was the apple of his eye”, re: Putin & Ukraine, a verbatim comment Trump has made previously on it. He mumbles & slurs a lot so it was hard to hear.

  12. Kathy says:

    @CSK:

    No one ever remembers the first crowded debates.

    @charontwo:

    Somehow, that only makes El Cheeto look worse.

    1
  13. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @CSK: It’s a good reminder for me.

    1
  14. CSK says:

    @Kathy:

    That’s true, but I think Trump is ensuring that not even fleeting attention is given to it.

  15. Kathy says:

    @CSK:

    I’m a bit surprised he hasn’t savagely attacked all the field, claiming that he’s the anointed one and how they dare blaspheme so openly.

    On other things, I’m pondering a beef and potato stew recipe. Not beef and potato goulash for some reason. Most recipes I’ve looked up bring the potatoes in rather late in the process. I think they should come sooner, to add more potato flavor, but then the potatoes may fall apart.

    I use bullion cubes for chicken and beef broth most times. It’s convenient and cheaper than making my own broth or stock. I thought, why not parboil the potatoes, then use some of the water to make the beef broth? Then brown the beef, add the other vegetables, broth, wine/sherry, tomato paste, etc, then place the pot in the oven for an hour to 80 minutes, add the potatoes, stir, and cook for another 20 minutes or so?

    As messy as the above paragraph looks, it’s far more orderly than my thought process.

    2
  16. CSK says:

    @Kathy:
    I’d brown the beef and saute onions and mushrooms in the pot in which I’d then make the broth. I think the raw potatoes would cook in the oven fine, and the broth would have a good beef, onion, and mushroom flavor right from the start.

    3
  17. MarkedMan says:

    Waiting at the Canadian border and perusing the news I came across this fact: there are more gun suicides than gun murders in the US (26K vs 19k).

  18. Kathy says:

    @CSK:

    Maybe. Right now, I’m at the point I think my idea is so clever, I just have to try it out.

    In any case, as the weekend is shaping up, I’ll probably go with something simpler. My very clever ideas work better when I take the time to think them through.

  19. OzarkHillbilly says:

    via my eldest, 49 seconds that tells you all you really need to know about the Scots and the Irish:

    Whiskey Is Anger Trapped In A Glass | #shorts | TOMMY TIERNAN

    2
  20. Beth says:

    I don’t think anyone hates the government more than attorneys who are forced to deal with it on a daily basis.

    Call one:

    Me: Do I need a home inspection to sell a parcel of vacant land?
    Muni official: Yes, it’s very important and the buyer needs to approve zoning.
    Me: What do they do? Go oh look its vacant! and the contract is not contingent on zoning.
    MO: Well, yes, they confirm its vacant. and we need to make sure that the Buyer can use the property.. (I stopped listening).

    That whole municipality needs to be excised from the body politic like a tumor. Whole thing, gone, broken up and installed into as many neighboring communities as possible.

    Stupid ass IL and our addiction to stupid amounts of government.

    Call two:

    Me: I have a question about bulk sales notices
    IDOR: this is business registration.
    Me: I called IDOR, can you help me with Bulk sales.
    IDOR: What’s that? This is business registration.
    Me: FML.

    It took three calls for them to realize that I needed someone in the Bulk Sales dept and what that was. Pretty sure the guy I ended up talking to was on his couch playing video games. Which is where I want to be.

    2
  21. Beth says:

    @Kathy:

    My mom used to make beef stew a lot for dinner. It was pretty good. She would roll the beef in flour before browning. One day she wasn’t paying attention (or now that I think about it, she was probably high out of her mind) and she rolled the beef in powdered sugar.

    It was one of the most vile things I’ve put in my mouth and I’ve… lets just say this is a family website.

    4
  22. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Beth: Heh… Thanx for the family memory chuckle.

    1
  23. Kathy says:

    @Beth:

    There’s little chance I’d ever do that. I honestly have no idea where we even keep the sugar.

  24. MarkedMan says:

    Here’s another gun/suicide factoid:

    Stanford University researchers tracked more than 26 million men and women in California who were 21 and older and who hadn’t owned guns before October 2004. A little under 3% of the cohort, or 676,425 people, became gun owners between then and 2016. The risk of suicide in this group was higher — around nine times so — than among non-owners. Those who died by suicide using a firearm — 6,691 people out of 17,894 total suicides — tended to be male, white, and of middle age (mean age of 41 years).

    coupled with my other statistic above, and given that a large portion (majority ? vast majority?) of gun killings are criminal in criminal, anyone who thinks a gun in the house is more likely to save them than to result in the death of a family member is kidding themselves.

    1
  25. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: I might have to look out for him showing up someplace. He’s the first standup whose act has gotten a laugh out of me since Richard Pryor. (Who was the first since either Cosby or George Carlin–can’t remember which. I’m not a big fan of standup.)

    2
  26. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: After watching that I fell down a Tiernan rabbit hole. Some held up, others not so much.

    shrug

    That’s me with comedy these days, hit and miss.

  27. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Beth: I’ve never understood the “roll the beef pieces in flour” thing. It doesn’t stay on the pieces of beef and there’s never enough flour covered beef pieces to make a decent roux over the time the beef cooks.

    1
  28. Daryl says:

    The DOJ has ruled that an officer who committed suicide after J6 died in the line of duty.
    In other words he gave his life defending the Capitol from Donald Trump and his MAGA tin soldiers.
    I’m sure the former President, who is currently out on bail, will offer some comforting words in Officer Smith’s honor.
    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-finds-officers-suicide-jan-6-was-death-line-duty-rcna100648

    2
  29. Mister Bluster says:

    “Get out of my house!”
    98-year-old co-owner of Kansas newspaper swears at police during raid.
    During a police raid the day before she died, Marion County Record co-owner Joan Meyer lashed out at officers, questioning whether their mothers love them.
    Five days later, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey found that police had “insufficient evidence” to justify the raids and the prosecutor asked a court to return all seized items.

    (She’s not in Kansas anymore…)

    1
  30. Gustopher says:

    @MarkedMan: You make it sound like it’s the ratio of suicides to homicides that is a problem.

    (When I see a gun nut, I take a little bit of solace in the fact that they pose a greater danger to themselves than me, but that’s probably because I am a bad person.)

    Anyway, if we ensure that our spree shooters have access to better weapons, we can “fix” that ratio. I guess we could also have a better mental health system, but that seems harder and more costly.

    1
  31. steve says:

    Try grating a potato into the soup/stew. It gives it potato flavor and also serves as a thickener if you want that. I’d be surprised if you get enough flavor from parboiling to notice with your other more flavored ingredients but let us know.

    Steve

    1
  32. Kathy says:

    @steve:

    Well, the actual potatoes would also go into the stew. Just later and almost done.

  33. Kathy says:

    Mr. Zuk says his unraveling social media venture Threads has launched on desktop. I can get to the link for his post, and it displays on Chrome and Edge just fine. But when I click on the Threads icon on top, presumably to get to the main website, I get the graphic with the QR code urging me to get the app.

    I don’t think Zuck’s NotTwitter eXTwitter Killer will kill the social network the God Emperor of Mars is killing, whatever that means.

    1
  34. becca says:

    It’s hot and humid here after a pretty decent spring and summer. Sure, the powerful thunderstorms and flooding rains kept things from getting boring, but the heat just sucks the life out of you. Here in the southeast we will all just mildew to death in the end, I suspect.
    I’ve been making different salads to keep as sides for dinner. A penne salad with basil pesto, Parmesan and Kalamata olives. Spicy sweet sesame noodles. Lots of chopped garlic in these two. Getting ready to make potato salad (russet) with chopped red bell pepper, red onions and egg, sweet relish, mayo, ballpark mustard and dill. Calabrese salad doesn’t keep long, but sure is delicious and goes well with anything grilled. Cucumber and onion in apple cider vinegar like my grandmother made. Black bean and corn with cilantro, lime and cumin, the list goes on…

  35. Jen says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    I’ve never understood the “roll the beef pieces in flour” thing. It doesn’t stay on the pieces of beef and there’s never enough flour covered beef pieces to make a decent roux over the time the beef cooks.

    Cooking nerd alert! The reason for coating the beef in flour and then cooking it in heated fat is twofold: one, it should form a slight crust on the beef to facilitate rapid browning/caramelization, and it should provide enough starch absorption to prevent excess juices from escaping and essentially steaming the meat. There should also be enough flour to slightly thicken the stew.

    If it isn’t doing this, there are a few potential culprits: not hot enough pan, not hot enough/not sufficient quantity of a high-smoke point oil, insufficient coating of flour, or overcrowding the pan with too much of the meat at once.

    3
  36. Kathy says:

    All signs point to Meadows flipping in the near future.

    I’d say he’s terrified of prison, and knows the judicial system won’t have any qualms tossing his arse in jail. I can’t blame him for that. Prisons are terrifying places, after all. By design and practice both.

    That said, he seems to be arguing a federal official can violate state laws with impunity. He couldn’t be more wrong.

    2
  37. Matt says:

    @MarkedMan: Well my gun sure stopped the men who were actively kicking my back door to break it open it in the middle of the night…

    Not everyone lives in your peaceful little upper middle class area…. Some of us are stuck dealing with shit people or big shit animals…

    3
  38. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Jen: Been cooking for 50+ years (started making dinner for the family in my early teens). Haven’t ever noticed the difference between floured and not floured. Then again, it’s pretty easy for me to accept that I’m neither a particularly good cook nor a connoisseur of great cooking.

    1
  39. DrDaveT says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    I’ve never understood the “roll the beef pieces in flour” thing. It doesn’t stay on the pieces of beef and there’s never enough flour covered beef pieces to make a decent roux over the time the beef cooks.

    You sound like a good candidate for the baking-soda-enhances-browning trick.