fair warning: my out-of-state son found Hemingway's Underground on-line somehow without me even mentioning it--I may bring him down for a late night drink when he arrives next Friday.
Unfortunately, I HATE Cynar - I can certainly use it and create a damn good cocktail with it, but I hate it. I actually think it's too sweet. When there was a big marketing push for it, I was in a very mild hell for a few months.
To me it's really strange - it's certainly got a bitter base, but the overlay is really sweet. Kinda like a syrupy, less bitter and interesting Malort.
I'm really sorry for your friends at LBM and for the community. "Why are utilities owned by corporations?" is a question for another place and time. Jimothy sounds like a big improvement on a Long Island Iced Tea. Are there raccoon swizzle sticks that one can spear through the burnt offering on the top of the glass?
I'm travelling through Ohio, and might get the chance to check out your craft tomorrow or Sunday. Probably less than 50% chance, but I really hope I can make it work! Do you have special hours this weekend?
Since you seem to experiment a lot, I am wondering if you have to make a lot of drinks and throw them away? How does that work? Or do you just drink them and try something else the next time?
It's rare for me to finish a cocktail I'm experimenting with. I didn't finish this one. If I'm planning to add a drink to the menu, I'll taste it a few times to learn how the finish builds and how it changes as it dilutes and warms up.
Oh, this sounds a little tastier than a Long Island Iced Tea, which I drank once and enjoyed! I was having such a nice time talking to everyone at the bar until I got up to use the restroom and oh! The floor is like a funhouse! I did void the contents of my stomach in the doorway of an important military client.
LIITs are notorious like that. I split a pitcher with some family members waiting for a restaurant table. Felt fine, no effects. Got up from my bar stool and my legs just disappeared under me.
A while back, NewLinda and I would go out with another couple on Fridays. The guys were in search of the best fish-fry, the ladies were after the perfect LIIT.
We were all successful on occasion, but not often.
I've been counseled (though not officially) that if I give my keys to someone else, then in NJ they can't prove intent to drive, and I can prove intent to NOT drive. Uber is ALWAYS cheaper than defending yourself through that process, however.
Not in Wisconsin, although it gets a bit sticky if you've got the keys in the ignition to keep the car warm in winter. Then is comes down to whether the cop and/or you decide to be an asshole, or so I'm told.
One of your shorter treatises on cocktails and the liquors involved - but it was still interesting. I've always doubted that I would pursue any of the liquors you recommend, but I did run across, and bought, some Lukasusowa potato vodka recently, solely because I recognized the name from one of your earlier posts. It's probably not a "good thing" for me ( to like an alcoholic beverage so much ), but I appreciate that I learned something from your posts.
I spent a few minutes at Safeway today just looking at labels trying to recognize something. It's a very limited cabinet (even the rot gut is behind lock and key), so I'll make my way to the gin section next time hoping for Hendricks. Not holding my breath...
When I think about what I pay in taxes--I'm well off, but I should not be in the top tax bracket--and insurance, which has a lot of scam in it (Blue Cross, after it went for-profit, has become really sleazy) it makes me shudder. The party-formerly-known-as-Repubs has corrupted our economic system to benefit only corporations and the rich. As some point this will fail miserably and guess which group will bear the pain.
House leadership argued the 119th Congress has been the “most productive” in decades, although public sentiment tells a different story.
Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain argued Tuesday that the current Congress has been the most successful since 1949, according to Punchbowl News. Congress has the highest disapproval rating in history and passed the fewest number of bills in over a decade.
So productive that it took me a full SIX MONTHS to get a copyright registration processed because the GOP shut down the government and Trump decimated LOC staff. Before the current Congress and Trump, a copyright registration would take, at most, a week or two.
Fuck you, Johnson and the whole Trump taint-licking lot of your goddamned party.
The inconvenient self-revelations in a grotesque oligarch toad's lawsuit to block the Congressional probe into his Epstein links. Discovery is a bitch, pedo...
Mine has an automatic feeder for dry food. It's the wet food that I have to feed. What am I kidding, he starts demanding the dry food about 15 minutes before the feeder goes off.
My friend and I take care of each other's cats when we are away and she had a cat that needed that. I would always turn the tap in the bathroom on for her when I got to the house and would turn it off when I left. That way she had at least a 1/2 hour of drippy tap.
Sometimes we use analogy or metaphor to help illustrate a point. But right now I find myself avoiding the old "how to boil a frog" literary device when describing the normalization of evil we see going on.
The analogy keeps understating the problem. The GOP ain't using a pot of water and a stove anymore. They are using a microwave on us.
2005—Barbara Bush says Hurricane Katrina was “working very well” for thousands of homeless refugees.
2002—Portsmouth loses Jay Smith, creator of the Press Room, Patron Saint of The Music Hall, &c. RIP.
1991—The D.C. home of Sen. Jesse Helms [R-N.C.] is covered by a giant condom, courtesy of ACT UP.
1990—Los Angeles Police Chief Darryl Gates tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that “casual drug users should be taken out and shot.”
1934—N.C. Gov. John Ehringhaus [Dem.] calls out the National Guard to break a textile strike. Other states follow with pro-plutocracy actions.
1931—Con-Ed worker George Metesky, injured on the job, is denied worker’s comp. “The Mad Bomber” plants 32 bombs over the next 16 years.
1930—Carl Panzram to Leavenworth’s hangman: “Hurry it up you Hoosier bastard. I could hang a dozen men while you’re screwing around.”
1925—Colonel Billy Mitchell blames the recent crash of the Shenandoah on the “almost treasonable negligence” of the Navy & War Dept.’s top brass.
1917—The Justice [Hah!] Department raids Socialist Party and IWW offices nationwide and shuts down the newspaper American Socialist.
1813—USS Enterprise captures HMS Boxer off Pemaquid. Captains William Burrows and Samuel Blyth are both killed in the battle; their graves, in Portland, lie side by side.
I saw Dweezil Zappa at the Music Hall a few months ago. In 2014, I saw Jeff Tweedy there and met him briefly in the back alley there. He signed my pick guard.
Someone needs to tell Rula Jebreal what an "unconditional apology" actually is. Because no, I don't think you are at all sorry for calling Jefferies an "AIPAC Monkey" when you preface your "unconditional apology" with the fact that he disgusts and horrifies you. I think you're sorry you said it on camera and people got mad.
AIPAC isn't defending Judaism, it is defending Netanyahu and the State of Israel's policies against Palestinians. If you speak out against the current government or Bibi you are immediately labeled an "anti-semite". It is what they are calling Dr. El-Sayed because of his stance against Israel's apartheid policies.
The Anti-Defamation League, another Jewish group, has also decided to embrace this philosophy, which does not serve Jews at all. The October 7, 2023 attack against innocent Israelis that were out and about living their lives was horrendous but to attack men, women, and children just because they are Palestinians and Muslims isn't going to bring those people back and it sure isn't capturing their killers. The only thing this kind of thinking does is that it puts Jews all over the world at risk from the people who are still not satisfied that Hitler didn't finish the job.
You are correct in saying no one should call anyone an "AIPAC monkey", especially a black human being. Instead, perhaps call that person an "AIPAC apologist", which still lets other people know that this individual has accepted political contributions from that organization. Unfortunately, there are many Democrats who are taking AIPAC money or letting AIPAC run ads to benefit them--like Haley Stevens did during the primary--and looking the other way at each atrocity that Bibi and his ultra-orthodox supporters keep committing. That doesn't help Jewish people at all.
Again, you won't see me defending AIPAC. But it does bother me that there are people who have been labeled as receiving AIPAC money who did not. It bothers me that there are certain people out there who are using AIPAC when they really mean Jew.
I'm with you that AIPAC is not a good organization, and that what Israel is doing is horrible and needs to stop. But I have seen too many people who can't or won't find ways to call that out without slipping into anti-Semitism.
Edit: to be clear, I'm not accusing you. I am pointing out why I don't immediately trust someone when they start talking about AIPAC, and why I think Tza bothered to comment about this incident in the first place.
I have no idea who this person is. I do have a real problem with the way too many people have turned AIPAC into a slur, and this has all too clearly illustrated that.
I used to LOVE dancing to that song! My roomie at the time and I also admitted that we were weirdly attracted to Pete Burns and I even bought myself a sparkly eyepatch fer fun!
Busy questions here.
fair warning: my out-of-state son found Hemingway's Underground on-line somehow without me even mentioning it--I may bring him down for a late night drink when he arrives next Friday.
How wrong is it to have your last (stout) Vodka/soda/lime cocktail of the evening out of your favorite Waterford Scotch glass?
I love being wrong.
I need to find a nice crystal glass again! Mine got smashed in my last move. Before I could use it to...wait for it...get smashed.
Unfortunately, I HATE Cynar - I can certainly use it and create a damn good cocktail with it, but I hate it. I actually think it's too sweet. When there was a big marketing push for it, I was in a very mild hell for a few months.
I found out years ago that it's made from artichokes. Ever since then I have had an image of peasants stomping out the artichoke juice.
That would explain its taste! The feet part - I already knew about the artichoke.
I'm glad to know that. I saw a bottle today and knowing Hoop's frequent use I was tempted.
I just don't care for sweet.
To me it's really strange - it's certainly got a bitter base, but the overlay is really sweet. Kinda like a syrupy, less bitter and interesting Malort.
Thanks for the earworm, Hooper.
No, seriously, I fucking love that song (and now I'm gonna hear Jimothy every time I listen to it, hehe!)
I'm really sorry for your friends at LBM and for the community. "Why are utilities owned by corporations?" is a question for another place and time. Jimothy sounds like a big improvement on a Long Island Iced Tea. Are there raccoon swizzle sticks that one can spear through the burnt offering on the top of the glass?
That sounds like a job for a 3D printer.
I'm travelling through Ohio, and might get the chance to check out your craft tomorrow or Sunday. Probably less than 50% chance, but I really hope I can make it work! Do you have special hours this weekend?
No special hours, but we’re closed Sunday.
Oof, that was probably the most likely day... But we will endeavour!
Since you seem to experiment a lot, I am wondering if you have to make a lot of drinks and throw them away? How does that work? Or do you just drink them and try something else the next time?
It's rare for me to finish a cocktail I'm experimenting with. I didn't finish this one. If I'm planning to add a drink to the menu, I'll taste it a few times to learn how the finish builds and how it changes as it dilutes and warms up.
He pours the bad ones into a bucket ans ships them to gallbladder.
That's what I would do, anyway.
Should put them out for the racoons to finish. Racoons have a sweet tooth.
So that's why the koi pond smells like that!
Oh, this sounds a little tastier than a Long Island Iced Tea, which I drank once and enjoyed! I was having such a nice time talking to everyone at the bar until I got up to use the restroom and oh! The floor is like a funhouse! I did void the contents of my stomach in the doorway of an important military client.
LIITs are notorious like that. I split a pitcher with some family members waiting for a restaurant table. Felt fine, no effects. Got up from my bar stool and my legs just disappeared under me.
That's the way the Secretary of WAR does it. There may be an opening in the ranks if... you know...
Let's call a shovel a shovel. Secretary of Terror.
I got wasted on every single LIT…it was my drink, cuz guaranteed
Official cocktail of drunk college women everywhere!
I speaketh from experience.
A while back, NewLinda and I would go out with another couple on Fridays. The guys were in search of the best fish-fry, the ladies were after the perfect LIIT.
We were all successful on occasion, but not often.
Can you get a DUI for sleeping it off in the backseat?
Depends on several factors: whose car, how fast it was going, blotto blotto blotto.
And on who was driving. If you were driving drunk from the backseat, you fully deserve a DUI.
Yes.
This hinges upon whether you are in “actual physical control “ of the vehicle with a “ready ability to operate.” But to be safe I wouldn’t
I've been counseled (though not officially) that if I give my keys to someone else, then in NJ they can't prove intent to drive, and I can prove intent to NOT drive. Uber is ALWAYS cheaper than defending yourself through that process, however.
in Massachusetts yes
That didn't used to be the case here in Washington state, but now I'm feeling a bit paranoid and will have to research current statutes.
...and indeed you may still be cited for actual physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated as opposed to a DUI.
If you do that in California, you’ll get a DUI.
Not in Wisconsin, although it gets a bit sticky if you've got the keys in the ignition to keep the car warm in winter. Then is comes down to whether the cop and/or you decide to be an asshole, or so I'm told.
One of your shorter treatises on cocktails and the liquors involved - but it was still interesting. I've always doubted that I would pursue any of the liquors you recommend, but I did run across, and bought, some Lukasusowa potato vodka recently, solely because I recognized the name from one of your earlier posts. It's probably not a "good thing" for me ( to like an alcoholic beverage so much ), but I appreciate that I learned something from your posts.
I spent a few minutes at Safeway today just looking at labels trying to recognize something. It's a very limited cabinet (even the rot gut is behind lock and key), so I'll make my way to the gin section next time hoping for Hendricks. Not holding my breath...
I've seen every Hendricks gin on the shelf except the one that's only available in duty free shops.
I like alcoholic beverages but they don’t always like me back
Gives tequila side eye
You always get me with your bitters, Hooper. Cynar is such an interesting one.
Cynar sounds like an action movie
Some vague Silicon Valley startup company, whose investors hope will be bought out by someone big.
Or a space station.
That's no moon
I live in Mexico. I have tequila and mezcal and Cointreau. I doubt they will sub for any of the ingredients.
Hope you're settling in well.
You can’t order them? Import?
Probably, but imported booze is very expensive. I don't want to pay Dom Perignon prices for Freixnet.
Why Chicago?
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/31/chicago-malort-world-record
The Cursed Malort Instagram guy was a guest of honor at that event. (His latest concoction: Werther's Toffee-infused Malort. Result: Bad.)
I know a guy in St. Louis who will voluntarily drink that stuff, no bets required.
You know a Wonker in Minneapolis who will do that also and too!
'cause we crazy
I will accept that!
Jimothy "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT" Spoke In Class Todav! - FTFY
The Algorithm sent me this just now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH2SRZZacSs
Irish People Try America's Strongest Alcohol: Everclear (190 PROOF/95%)
When I think about what I pay in taxes--I'm well off, but I should not be in the top tax bracket--and insurance, which has a lot of scam in it (Blue Cross, after it went for-profit, has become really sleazy) it makes me shudder. The party-formerly-known-as-Repubs has corrupted our economic system to benefit only corporations and the rich. As some point this will fail miserably and guess which group will bear the pain.
House leadership argued the 119th Congress has been the “most productive” in decades, although public sentiment tells a different story.
Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain argued Tuesday that the current Congress has been the most successful since 1949, according to Punchbowl News. Congress has the highest disapproval rating in history and passed the fewest number of bills in over a decade.
https://dailycaller.com/2026/09/03/house-leadership-congress-was-most-productive/
It's not just not true, it is the opposite of the truth.
"House leadership argued"
Uh huh 😏🙄
Yeah, "most productive".
So productive that it took me a full SIX MONTHS to get a copyright registration processed because the GOP shut down the government and Trump decimated LOC staff. Before the current Congress and Trump, a copyright registration would take, at most, a week or two.
Fuck you, Johnson and the whole Trump taint-licking lot of your goddamned party.
The inconvenient self-revelations in a grotesque oligarch toad's lawsuit to block the Congressional probe into his Epstein links. Discovery is a bitch, pedo...
𝗘𝗽𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗲
https://www.rawstory.com/leon-black-2677820272/
Is this that Leon Black dude?.
Yuuup.
Lock them up.
Lose the keys! AOT,K!!
Can we do to them what they are doing to immigrants in detention also too?
Howard Lutnick Made Over $250 Million Last Year
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/howard-lutnick-commerce-secretary-income-2d49acf3
why, that's almost $250 million more than I made last year!
Me too!
Tis a wonderment
Good morning. I wish the alarm cat would learn the concept of sleeping in.
Ours do. After they've had their breakfast right on time.
My cats eat at midnight and noon.
8AM, 6PM. Sharp!
Mine has an automatic feeder for dry food. It's the wet food that I have to feed. What am I kidding, he starts demanding the dry food about 15 minutes before the feeder goes off.
😆 (problem is, I can never go back to sleep if I just get up, give food and go back to bed)
"Don't ask why, just do it."
https://bsky.app/profile/democratcats.bsky.social/post/3mun4l375rk22
It's very meditative. Part of any cat's Zen practice.
My friend and I take care of each other's cats when we are away and she had a cat that needed that. I would always turn the tap in the bathroom on for her when I got to the house and would turn it off when I left. That way she had at least a 1/2 hour of drippy tap.
Sometimes we use analogy or metaphor to help illustrate a point. But right now I find myself avoiding the old "how to boil a frog" literary device when describing the normalization of evil we see going on.
The analogy keeps understating the problem. The GOP ain't using a pot of water and a stove anymore. They are using a microwave on us.
With a blow torch handy for that crispy finish.
Smash and grab operations are like that.
That's a better description anyway because we can't get out.
I certainly feel microwaved
👀
Feel better soon, get rest asap, pal.
thank you. trying.
😴
Here's how to get that precious first class upgrade on your flight:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/04/us/disruptive-passenger-duct-tape
"Following Mejia’s advice, Olenick said they made sure not to put tape over the man’s mouth so he wouldn’t have issues breathing."
Lucky for him, I guess, he's white.
I'm sticking with my original plan;
https://substack.com/@craignixon/note/c-329946112
Yet another reason I am glad I am not flying anywhere until next spring.
https://bsky.app/profile/davidrvetter.bsky.social/post/3muqsb3nopc25
Reform UK conference attendees teach the damn kids these days with their woke and their suffrage that they won't accept that kind of lip.
(Content warning- it is a video of elderly, male Reform supporters beating a young woman for protesting them, while Farage looks on and laughs.)
More proof that rightists and conservatives deserve the boot that they pretend is on their neck.
Not gonna click on that. THANKS!
Thanks for the warning. Fucking pogroms, fucking thugs.
Morning Kitten! (And horse's ass)
https://bsky.app/profile/democratcats.bsky.social/post/3mup2utwvqc2i
Reaping Grim.
Grim: "thanks for scratching that itch!"
Mutualism!
“Grim” LOL
This date in history…
2005—Barbara Bush says Hurricane Katrina was “working very well” for thousands of homeless refugees.
2002—Portsmouth loses Jay Smith, creator of the Press Room, Patron Saint of The Music Hall, &c. RIP.
1991—The D.C. home of Sen. Jesse Helms [R-N.C.] is covered by a giant condom, courtesy of ACT UP.
1990—Los Angeles Police Chief Darryl Gates tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that “casual drug users should be taken out and shot.”
1934—N.C. Gov. John Ehringhaus [Dem.] calls out the National Guard to break a textile strike. Other states follow with pro-plutocracy actions.
1931—Con-Ed worker George Metesky, injured on the job, is denied worker’s comp. “The Mad Bomber” plants 32 bombs over the next 16 years.
1930—Carl Panzram to Leavenworth’s hangman: “Hurry it up you Hoosier bastard. I could hang a dozen men while you’re screwing around.”
1925—Colonel Billy Mitchell blames the recent crash of the Shenandoah on the “almost treasonable negligence” of the Navy & War Dept.’s top brass.
1917—The Justice [Hah!] Department raids Socialist Party and IWW offices nationwide and shuts down the newspaper American Socialist.
1813—USS Enterprise captures HMS Boxer off Pemaquid. Captains William Burrows and Samuel Blyth are both killed in the battle; their graves, in Portland, lie side by side.
https://www.nhgazette.com/2026/09/05/sat-sept-5-2/
Love The Press Room. The marquee at the Music Hall is grand and beautiful.
I saw Dweezil Zappa at the Music Hall a few months ago. In 2014, I saw Jeff Tweedy there and met him briefly in the back alley there. He signed my pick guard.
Nice!!! Such an intimate theatre. When I was a kid it barely did anything, so nice to see this new life in the place!
2005—Barbara Bush means Hurricane Katrina was “working very well” for Republicans.
https://bsky.app/profile/hopenothate.org.uk/post/3murhwpzti22i
Prannocks on the streets from London
Prannocks on the streets from Birmingham
I wonder to myself- could life ever be sane again?
I would think Britain would've had quite enough of dealing with Nazis.
from the comments:
'Gee, I hope this doesn't drive the Reform Party's donation scandal off the front page'
This shit is horrifying.
I know it's always been around and will continue to be, but Trump drove these people out from under their rocks.
That and the various sewers promoting this far right bullshit to suit their own nefarious ends.
He made racism and xenophia fashionable.
"fascionable"
Someone needs to tell Rula Jebreal what an "unconditional apology" actually is. Because no, I don't think you are at all sorry for calling Jefferies an "AIPAC Monkey" when you preface your "unconditional apology" with the fact that he disgusts and horrifies you. I think you're sorry you said it on camera and people got mad.
Not sure. “Trained monkey” has been a common expression my whole life. I doubt she was even thinking about the color of his skin when she said it.
AIPAC isn't defending Judaism, it is defending Netanyahu and the State of Israel's policies against Palestinians. If you speak out against the current government or Bibi you are immediately labeled an "anti-semite". It is what they are calling Dr. El-Sayed because of his stance against Israel's apartheid policies.
The Anti-Defamation League, another Jewish group, has also decided to embrace this philosophy, which does not serve Jews at all. The October 7, 2023 attack against innocent Israelis that were out and about living their lives was horrendous but to attack men, women, and children just because they are Palestinians and Muslims isn't going to bring those people back and it sure isn't capturing their killers. The only thing this kind of thinking does is that it puts Jews all over the world at risk from the people who are still not satisfied that Hitler didn't finish the job.
AIPAC isn't a good organization. But calling anyone, particularly a Black man, an "AIPAC monkey" isn't something we should be accepting, either.
And too many people are just calling anything they disagree with AIPAC.
You are correct in saying no one should call anyone an "AIPAC monkey", especially a black human being. Instead, perhaps call that person an "AIPAC apologist", which still lets other people know that this individual has accepted political contributions from that organization. Unfortunately, there are many Democrats who are taking AIPAC money or letting AIPAC run ads to benefit them--like Haley Stevens did during the primary--and looking the other way at each atrocity that Bibi and his ultra-orthodox supporters keep committing. That doesn't help Jewish people at all.
Again, you won't see me defending AIPAC. But it does bother me that there are people who have been labeled as receiving AIPAC money who did not. It bothers me that there are certain people out there who are using AIPAC when they really mean Jew.
I'm with you that AIPAC is not a good organization, and that what Israel is doing is horrible and needs to stop. But I have seen too many people who can't or won't find ways to call that out without slipping into anti-Semitism.
Edit: to be clear, I'm not accusing you. I am pointing out why I don't immediately trust someone when they start talking about AIPAC, and why I think Tza bothered to comment about this incident in the first place.
I have no idea who this person is. I do have a real problem with the way too many people have turned AIPAC into a slur, and this has all too clearly illustrated that.
She's someone Wahajat Ali had on his podcast. He's also taking heat for not doing anything about her saying it until he realized people were upset.
I'm sorry, but calling the top black Dem in the House, the likely future speaker, a "monkey" should be disqualifying. ALWAYS.
This popped up on Mr S’ YouTube yesterday at the gym and cracked him the hell up… https://youtu.be/PGNiXGX2nLU?si=-CH1bLW_Ns8yD5ow
I used to LOVE dancing to that song! My roomie at the time and I also admitted that we were weirdly attracted to Pete Burns and I even bought myself a sparkly eyepatch fer fun!
It’s sooooooooo 80s!
Well, so was I, lol!