Ta, ziggywiggy. We're just back from a night spent at a private campground in Newton, NJ. It was lovely sleeping in our big tent with the air mattress covered by cotton bedding and our sleeping bag. We got to park right at our spot, and attended a concert yesterday. We had access to water (which we used for our morning coffee) and power, which we didn't use at all. There was probably WiFi available, but we didn't bother to investigate. We have a tale to tell about a fascinating event at the campground, but not here, not now.
Whatever today's Open Thread turns out to be, please visit to see my story of what happened at the campground last night. You'll see why, and won't be disappointed.
“This was not political at all; nothing about Trump, Democrats or Republicans,” Jennifer Pippin said. The Moms for Liberty Chair said the gatherings were a community approach for people to come out and support Charlie Kirk and his family.
Karen Osborne, a member of the Indian River County Republican Party, came up with the idea to formulate a gathering to honor Charlie Kirk. Within 48 hours, groups like Mom’s for Liberty [sic] garnered the attention of community members and event was shared across social media platforms.
[ed: I have done a LOT of one on one battle with Jen Pippin, quoted above. She proved to be low information, low intelligence, and a completely classless, crass individual. Who's surprised?]
ETA: This comment was a mistake. Oops. I had confused Indian River Co. with Pinellas County.
I just realized...my personal nemesis was the Moms For Liberty chair in Indian River County, Angela Dubach. Funny that Pippin got quoted...maybe Angela got the axe, which would be no surprise. She is the MOST obnoxious person ever.
Yeah, Moms4Liberty* Not political? Ha! We fight those beeches at all our School Board meetings. They just read out of their nationwide notebooks. You could transport them anywhere and get the same robotic effect; they just fill in the appropriate target issue and blather on with the same generic Reich-wing arguments for it, often winding up with a pleas for "Protecting Our Daughters from Transexual Predators in the Bathroom/Library/Locker Room." They are horrible people.
*We wear "Red4Ed" attire (I own only one red thing for this purpose) and outnumber them in their little Talbots-'n'-pearls outfits by the scores at these meetings. And yet, they get their crap pushed through because too many voters don't think School Board elections are important.
A local government official in Iowa has said he would refuse to comply with orders from the Republican state governor to fly flags at half-staff in honor of rightwing political activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot on Wednesday.
Jon Green, the chair of the Johnson county board of supervisors in Iowa, announced on Thursday on social media that he would not follow governor Kim Reynolds’s directive to fly flags at half-staff for Kirk through Sunday evening.
“I condemn Kirk’s killing, regardless of who pulled the trigger or why,” Green, who is a Democrat, wrote. “But I will not grant Johnson county honors to a man who made it his life’s mission to denigrate so many of the constituents I have sworn an oath to protect – and who did so much to harm not only the marginalized – but also to degrade the fabric of our body politic.”
Anybody remember THIS guy? MAGA - bringing you political violence since FOREVER! We should start a petition to get the flags lowered to half mast for Alan Berg:
The American talk radio host Alan Berg was killed in 1984. He was a Denver-based host with outspoken liberal and atheistic views and was assassinated by members of the white supremacist group The Order on June 18, 1984, due to his Jewish heritage and liberal politics.
I was eating breakfast (eggs and gyros) at Pete's Kitchen on Colfax in Denver the day after he was gunned down and read about it in the Rocky Mountain News (now defunct). The radio was on behind the counter and wait and kitchen staff kept lingering next to the radio as the talk radio talked about nothing else. I think I drank three cups of coffee that day instead of the normal two. I weighed 187 lbs. The weather outside was beautiful with a chance of late afternoon showers.
Yes. I do remember that guy and that day. And I cheered when they caught the rat-nazi bastards who killed him and their rat-nazi leader died in a flaming house shootout.
It's driving me insane that Kirk is being remembered as a thoughtful debater, just out to peacefully get dialogue started with people he disagreed with. What a load of horse shit. His last words on earth were spent denigrating trans people and minorities.
I'm going to have to make sure I don't bake Mexican Wedding Cookies too regularly, those things are ridiculously moreish.
45 minutes ago there was a plate with 22 of them in front of Mr Cakes, Cakes Jr and I... there are now only 9 remaining, and they have been hidden away in a tin, ready to go into work with Mr Cakes tomorrow.
It was me. Mr Cakes decided to save his to eat at work tomorrow, I don't think he could bear the thought of having to watch his colleagues eating them while he didn't have one.
' Nigerian chef attempts to make world's largest pot of jollof rice '
Her gigantic jollof rice recipe included 4,000kg (8,800 lb) of rice, 500 cartons of tomato paste and 600kg of onions - all poured into a custom-made pot of almost 23,000 litres.
The dish took several hours to cook and now must be validated by the Guinness World Record with photo and video evidence of the achievement.
Manufacturing the giant steel vessel to hold her dish took a culinary team of 300 people two months to make.
Jollof rice is a staple of Nigerian cuisine, featuring rice simmered in a tomato based sauce, often paired with meat or seafood.
Hilda Baci won a competition for her version of jollof rice in 2021, and then became a national sensation in 2023 when she claimed the cooking marathon record.
I did a minor good deed this morning, which made me miss my subway train, so I took an expensive cab instead. I briefly (sarcastically) thought: "I will never help anyone ever again." And then I realized that's the full sincere thought process of like 50% of newspaper op-ed columnists.
I will never forgive him for promoting Sarah Palin to John McCain. She made for great SNL skits, but I swear, she pulled the rug off all the Reich-Wing feathers that had been swept under it for decades and look where we are now.
Apologizing for saying what's on his mind does not change the fact that he was thinking it and still is thinking it. (For a rather stretched interpretation of "thinking.")
I don't trust any of the Bulwark people at all. They're just waiting until being a right-wing extremist isn't so embarrassing and tacky, and then they'll be right back at it, probably itching to go to war in the Middle East again.
Okay, here's the thing about Charlie Kirk; he did nothing but advocate for political violence. He just hid the implications of what rightist and conservative views would necessarily entail. Because he was a mendacious sophist, and that's when he wasn't just a fucking fool.
I think I need to peace out for the day. The sainting of Kirk is driving me round the bend and I want to hold onto the joy of going dancing last night for a bit longer. I decree that everyone should get off the internet and go outside for at minimum, one hour today. Laters.
Sorry, yes, NY. The one by me is Somerville, NJ, which is a really lovely day. The main street is closed, there is a nice bandstand by the courthouse; lots of food and drink, lovely dogs being walked around, and nice people. This will be our first year at the one in Inwood, and we're looking forward to it.
Someone please explain to me what it is that US media expects a Nazi or any other fascist to be like.
They are constantly taken aback by the idea that anyone who functions in public, who is nice to people on a one-to-one basis, who isn't explicitly bigoted in every single statement they ever make, who dresses nicely, who has a reasonable vocabulary might still hold reprehensible views. What are they expecting? What is their picture of a fascist, and why?
Ta, ziggywiggy. We're just back from a night spent at a private campground in Newton, NJ. It was lovely sleeping in our big tent with the air mattress covered by cotton bedding and our sleeping bag. We got to park right at our spot, and attended a concert yesterday. We had access to water (which we used for our morning coffee) and power, which we didn't use at all. There was probably WiFi available, but we didn't bother to investigate. We have a tale to tell about a fascinating event at the campground, but not here, not now.
Ok, that’s more than enough news about Charlie Kirk for today (forever 🤞?).
I’m going put on a Josh Johnson standup video and clean my kitchen.
YES, more than enough already. Forever.
Yup. I'm done with CK for the day as well.
I've been on a news blackout, mostly, even here. Way too much time and bandwidth wasted on that guy.
He was an intellectual giant who liked civil discourse and open exchange of ideas!
PROVE ME WRONGZ DEBATE ME!!!1111!!!!1!!!!
It's on- the battle of the two most boring national anthems in the world!
(Not including Liechtenstein)
The US one is a godawful dirge as well.
Whatever today's Open Thread turns out to be, please visit to see my story of what happened at the campground last night. You'll see why, and won't be disappointed.
A drinking song from a nation that actually had prohibition and decided drinking in the day time was something curiously bad and worth naming.
𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐤
“This was not political at all; nothing about Trump, Democrats or Republicans,” Jennifer Pippin said. The Moms for Liberty Chair said the gatherings were a community approach for people to come out and support Charlie Kirk and his family.
Karen Osborne, a member of the Indian River County Republican Party, came up with the idea to formulate a gathering to honor Charlie Kirk. Within 48 hours, groups like Mom’s for Liberty [sic] garnered the attention of community members and event was shared across social media platforms.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/residents-gather-indian-river-county-203352527.html
[ed: I have done a LOT of one on one battle with Jen Pippin, quoted above. She proved to be low information, low intelligence, and a completely classless, crass individual. Who's surprised?]
Well, she IS supporting Kirk.
ETA: This comment was a mistake. Oops. I had confused Indian River Co. with Pinellas County.
I just realized...my personal nemesis was the Moms For Liberty chair in Indian River County, Angela Dubach. Funny that Pippin got quoted...maybe Angela got the axe, which would be no surprise. She is the MOST obnoxious person ever.
"Not political" said The Moms for Liberty Chair.
Fuck off.
Yeah, Moms4Liberty* Not political? Ha! We fight those beeches at all our School Board meetings. They just read out of their nationwide notebooks. You could transport them anywhere and get the same robotic effect; they just fill in the appropriate target issue and blather on with the same generic Reich-wing arguments for it, often winding up with a pleas for "Protecting Our Daughters from Transexual Predators in the Bathroom/Library/Locker Room." They are horrible people.
*We wear "Red4Ed" attire (I own only one red thing for this purpose) and outnumber them in their little Talbots-'n'-pearls outfits by the scores at these meetings. And yet, they get their crap pushed through because too many voters don't think School Board elections are important.
NB: School Board elections are important.
I'd also say you have to be into politics to even know who Kirk was to begin with.
Republican donors helped pay for Qonder Boy's wedding
She is even more awful than I let on in my little addendum there.
I can barely even describe it.
Honestly, I believe you.
I just looked at her picture and thought I needed to find my manager.
Next up: Find her running buddy, Michelle Beavers. (Really. lulz.)
A local government official in Iowa has said he would refuse to comply with orders from the Republican state governor to fly flags at half-staff in honor of rightwing political activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot on Wednesday.
Jon Green, the chair of the Johnson county board of supervisors in Iowa, announced on Thursday on social media that he would not follow governor Kim Reynolds’s directive to fly flags at half-staff for Kirk through Sunday evening.
“I condemn Kirk’s killing, regardless of who pulled the trigger or why,” Green, who is a Democrat, wrote. “But I will not grant Johnson county honors to a man who made it his life’s mission to denigrate so many of the constituents I have sworn an oath to protect – and who did so much to harm not only the marginalized – but also to degrade the fabric of our body politic.”
Whelp, he'll be fired soon or recalled or something. Still, good on him.
Ricky Hatton is dead!
Oh no. I wonder if I can be bothered making pizza for lunch.
The story I have to tell about the campground involves pizza. FYI.
Young. Was it from pugilism poisoning?
Democrats.
Pies. Lots of tasty pies.
Eat too much pah and you start looking like Cartman!
A respectable shape, indicating Darwinian success.
Anybody remember THIS guy? MAGA - bringing you political violence since FOREVER! We should start a petition to get the flags lowered to half mast for Alan Berg:
The American talk radio host Alan Berg was killed in 1984. He was a Denver-based host with outspoken liberal and atheistic views and was assassinated by members of the white supremacist group The Order on June 18, 1984, due to his Jewish heritage and liberal politics.
I was eating breakfast (eggs and gyros) at Pete's Kitchen on Colfax in Denver the day after he was gunned down and read about it in the Rocky Mountain News (now defunct). The radio was on behind the counter and wait and kitchen staff kept lingering next to the radio as the talk radio talked about nothing else. I think I drank three cups of coffee that day instead of the normal two. I weighed 187 lbs. The weather outside was beautiful with a chance of late afternoon showers.
Yes. I do remember that guy and that day. And I cheered when they caught the rat-nazi bastards who killed him and their rat-nazi leader died in a flaming house shootout.
I remember. I will never forget.
https://www.petesrestaurants.com/petes-kitchen
Coloradoan here—I was 11. Walk to wall coverage on local stations and we didn’t have cable.
TWINS!
Used to live kind of close to Pete’s too!
Cap Hill Rules!
I remember that one!
It's driving me insane that Kirk is being remembered as a thoughtful debater, just out to peacefully get dialogue started with people he disagreed with. What a load of horse shit. His last words on earth were spent denigrating trans people and minorities.
Yeah. After being quizzed on the number of trans shootings.
His last words: "Counting or not counting gang violence?"
A massive racist dogwhistle.
I would have said "Does January 6 count as gang violence?"
I'm going to have to make sure I don't bake Mexican Wedding Cookies too regularly, those things are ridiculously moreish.
45 minutes ago there was a plate with 22 of them in front of Mr Cakes, Cakes Jr and I... there are now only 9 remaining, and they have been hidden away in a tin, ready to go into work with Mr Cakes tomorrow.
I love those, though I am not a huge sweet fan.
Similar are these that I have to have every Christmas
https://platedcravings.com/german-christmas-baking-vanillekipferl/
That's 13 cookies divided by 3. Wait a minute, one of you got an extra cookie.
It was me. Mr Cakes decided to save his to eat at work tomorrow, I don't think he could bear the thought of having to watch his colleagues eating them while he didn't have one.
That texture is luxurious.
Maybe cut down on the recipe's heroin amount next time?
If only I could explain their addictiveness so easily.
It's said sugar is as addictive as cocaine and I believe it.
I can resist sugar for the most part, and I didn't find these overly sweet. They were just delicious.
I have an excellent way you can avoid eating them all, send them to me!
There aren't enough left. But they're a lot easier to make than I thought they would be.
I had to take a metformin just reading about that.
Thankfully, the only thing I've had to eat so far today is a bagel with low fat cream cheese and ham. And I'll be keeping dinner reasonably light.
I'm contemplating ordering from Einstein's Bagel Organization.
Narrator's voice: those cookes are NOT going to work...other than on my waistline.
Wut? No garlic? No sriracha?
' Nigerian chef attempts to make world's largest pot of jollof rice '
Her gigantic jollof rice recipe included 4,000kg (8,800 lb) of rice, 500 cartons of tomato paste and 600kg of onions - all poured into a custom-made pot of almost 23,000 litres.
The dish took several hours to cook and now must be validated by the Guinness World Record with photo and video evidence of the achievement.
Manufacturing the giant steel vessel to hold her dish took a culinary team of 300 people two months to make.
Jollof rice is a staple of Nigerian cuisine, featuring rice simmered in a tomato based sauce, often paired with meat or seafood.
Hilda Baci won a competition for her version of jollof rice in 2021, and then became a national sensation in 2023 when she claimed the cooking marathon record.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c306m1j542po
From Josh Gondelman.
======
I did a minor good deed this morning, which made me miss my subway train, so I took an expensive cab instead. I briefly (sarcastically) thought: "I will never help anyone ever again." And then I realized that's the full sincere thought process of like 50% of newspaper op-ed columnists.
https://bsky.app/profile/joshgondelman.bsky.social/post/3lysjomlcjs2s
Bill Kristol
@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social
Brian Kilmeade deserves praise for his apology.
https://bsky.app/profile/billkristolbulwark.bsky.social/post/3lyshrsi7sc2w
In case you forgot who these people are.
I'm sorry if you were offended!
It's that he said "not all" should be killed! Like, he didn't apologise!
No; he should have been instantly removed from the air and walked out of the building with his desk stuff in a cardboard box.
Court ordered therapy.
Just when I begin to think Bill Kristol is an actual human being, he goes out and proves me wrong.
I will never forgive him for promoting Sarah Palin to John McCain. She made for great SNL skits, but I swear, she pulled the rug off all the Reich-Wing feathers that had been swept under it for decades and look where we are now.
My first thought when I heard about it, and heard a bit about her, was, "That's the best they could do?"
No, he needs to be fired, full stop. Also, what about the other two couch ornaments who agreed with him when he said it.
It was that Ashleigh Airhead who just immediately agreed.
I think those sounds she makes are just involuntary at this point.
"A Skinner Box where the observers are the ones being experimented upon"
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78938
"I didn't really mean it to go that far" says Franz Stangl, who deserves praise for admitting that.
Crocodile spew!
No he doesn't. The best he could ever earn is grudging acknowledgement. Being forced to walk back a thing does not make you noble.
Apologizing for saying what's on his mind does not change the fact that he was thinking it and still is thinking it. (For a rather stretched interpretation of "thinking.")
All he did was recite the note HR gave him to read on the air.
I don't trust any of the Bulwark people at all. They're just waiting until being a right-wing extremist isn't so embarrassing and tacky, and then they'll be right back at it, probably itching to go to war in the Middle East again.
Begging for his job, not out of remorse
I’m sure he believes what he said
Bill Kristol shall eat my farts and enjoy it.
Fuck Brian Kill Me Dead with a CVN propeller.
No longer to be referred to as Woke Bill Kristol.
Well, maybe if we praise him, rub his head, and give him a treat his behavior might change? "Oh, what a good little boyl"
Okay, here's the thing about Charlie Kirk; he did nothing but advocate for political violence. He just hid the implications of what rightist and conservative views would necessarily entail. Because he was a mendacious sophist, and that's when he wasn't just a fucking fool.
Charlie Kirk appears in the Epstein Files in 7... 6... 5...
Too young. And not rich enough.
I bet he has a roommate that’s in those files, or a brother
Or maybe somebody that he went to school with,,,
Hold up I’ll think of something
We should look through the unredacted files just to be sure.
Surely releasing the Epstein Files could only benefit Kirk!
I think I need to peace out for the day. The sainting of Kirk is driving me round the bend and I want to hold onto the joy of going dancing last night for a bit longer. I decree that everyone should get off the internet and go outside for at minimum, one hour today. Laters.
Just came back. Now, where were we?
Speculating on when the Epstein Files are going to be released, of course.
Local jazzfest today, and one in Inwood next weekend. I don't expect there will be a MAGA in sight. I will happily take your excellent advice.
Is that Inwood, NYC?
https://www.inwoodjazzfestival.com/
HIGHLY rec both Akua Dixon and Stefon Harris, who isn't seen that much these days.
HA. I was just typing the same. Not TOO far from me.
Sorry, yes, NY. The one by me is Somerville, NJ, which is a really lovely day. The main street is closed, there is a nice bandstand by the courthouse; lots of food and drink, lovely dogs being walked around, and nice people. This will be our first year at the one in Inwood, and we're looking forward to it.
Beautiful setting and a good lineup. Should be a great day. Vibist Stefon Harris pretty much blows the roof off every time.
We love Inwood! And you just made my day, as I was not aware of Stefon Harris.
I'm planning on doing the important soul-clearing ritual of staying in bed and bingewatching Criminal Minds and ordering Greek cuisine for lunch.
Although not likely to happen, I'm pulling for Scotland to upset England today at the Women's Rugby World Cup.
Well England is always upset by Scotland so ...
Yeah, but the Scots really lose their heads.
Someone please explain to me what it is that US media expects a Nazi or any other fascist to be like.
They are constantly taken aback by the idea that anyone who functions in public, who is nice to people on a one-to-one basis, who isn't explicitly bigoted in every single statement they ever make, who dresses nicely, who has a reasonable vocabulary might still hold reprehensible views. What are they expecting? What is their picture of a fascist, and why?
Cartoonish. Movies.
Hugo Boss, Iron Cross, churman accent. Anything else is just sparkling fascism.
Don't bother. They're all in for the fascism so they are inclined to pretend they were otherwise.
All it is.
The media are the 10 friends that happily sit with a Nazi.
"How can bad people have good friends?"
They.expect Nazis to look like the dominatrix they pay to dress up like that.
Their picture of a fascist is US.