4 Tips For Creating A Memorable Thanksgiving Tablescape! Tabs, Tues., Nov. 7, 2023

Come and get your Tabs!

Tabs gif from your bestie Martini Glambassador!

Yusef Saleem of the Exonerated Five has words to share about Donald Trump. They even have more than four letters. Saleem’s a better man than I am. (The Root)

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski dared suggest that the parents of seven-year-old Jaslyn Adams and 13-year-old Adam Toledo “failed those kids” prior to their senseless killings. He’s yet to apologize but he should. (Chicago Sun-Times)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an order allowing residential hotel rooms to be used to temporarily shelter homeless people. Some folks are peeved because that the hotel rooms were intended as permanent housing for some of the city’s poorest residents. I haven’t checked the 1040s but I think homeless people would qualify. (ProPublica)

“Bidenomics” is reportedly “a term that mystifies Americans and confounds even its namesake,” who recently declared, “I don’t even know what the hell that is!” Sir, you lived through the Reagan era when “Reaganomics” was a thing. (NBC News)

---

---

Rep. Mark Pocan from Wisconsin is gay and has serious concerns about Christian fascist Speaker Mike Johnson. (The Advocate)

Pocan referred to a recent hearing Johnson led, titled “The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Children.” During this July hearing, testimonies were heard from a range of individuals, including a former college athlete uneasy with a transgender teammate’s participation, an anti-LGBTQ+ advocate from a conservative interest group, a Federalist Society member, and a person who had detransitioned after accessing gender-affirming care, now opposing such care for youth. The lineup ignited ire among Democrats, who denounced the hearing as a sham amidst their growing frustration with Republican endeavors to axe funding from bills aiding the LGBTQ+ community.

Speaker Johnson and Charles M. Blow are both from the same part of Louisiana, where “even would-be oppressors can be affable. It’s not just good manners, it’s the Christian way, the proper Southern way. And it is the ultimate deception.” Blow is one of the few must reads at The New York Times.

Let’s reject the comforting fiction that the latest horror “can’t happen here.” (Boston Globe)

COVID-19 sick days were 20 percent lower in schools with air-cleaning HEPA filter machines. So why aren’t they everywhere now? (New Scientist)

It’s great that this Indiana grocery store is making a point to hire formerly incarcerated people. Discrimination against people who check that “convicted of a felony” box prevents them from truly starting over, even after serving their time. (HuffPost)

Female snakes have clitorises, but male scientists could never find them. It took some women scientists to finish the job. (Mother Jones)

If Republicans win big in today’s Virginia elections, I don’t think the state will become like Florida, at least not immediately. It takes time for the alligators to change address. (The Nation)

Our very cultured Robyn Pennacchia is seeing the gender-swapped Company this week with the wonderful Britney Coleman. (New City Stage)

This looks like a good recipe if you somehow wound up with chicken breasts instead of thighs. (Bon Appetit)

Missy Elliott is the first woman rapper inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Please let me enjoy this news with a minimum of snark. (Essence)

Never too late to start with the festive gourd decorations for Thanksgiving. I still think it’s a meal not a full-fledged holiday. No one’s delivered at least one swinging Thanksgiving tune. (Ebony)

Maybe I can start listening to holiday songs that don’t directly reference Christmas or Santa or the carpenter. The Squirrel Nut Zippers dropped this gem in October 1998.

Follow Stephen Robinson on Bluesky and Threads.

Subscribe to his YouTube channel for more fun content.

Catch SER on his podcast, The Play Typer Guy.