Christmas Eve at Emptywheel
Well, it is that time of year again. We have reached another Christmas eve here at the Wheelhouse. Here at Casa de Bmaz we are still finishing up some shopping, doing some cooking and getting ready for happy hour. Marcy and Mr. Wheel are in the Keystone state visiting family and Jim White and family are preparing for a sunny Christmas day down in Florida.
Don’t have a lot to say here, just a hello and thanks for making this forum the best in the blogosphere. Times change, but the consistency and quality of our friends, colleagues and commenters is amazing. Thank you.
One last note, today marks the second anniversary of the passing of our colleague and friend Mary Perdue, or as she was simply known here “Mary”. There are two days that I will forever associate with Mary, Kentucky Derby day because of her love for horses and Christmas Eve. So, as we did last year at this time, raise a glass, have a laugh, think of the Constitution and salute.
If you are around, chime in with what you are up to, what you are eating and cooking, what you are drinking and what you are thinking.
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays folks!
Putting the last touches on my sermon, thankyouverymuch, while keeping watch over the pies for tonight.
Eating, drinking, and such will commence sometime around 11.
@Peterr: This is why I could never be a padre, padre. To much work, not enough drinking and football on holidays! Hope you have a great sermon and Christmas.
Christmas Eve at our place is always chili. And that is a mighty fine batch simmering on the stove, if I say so myself. Wife and daughters are happily making the traditional almond loaf (it’s basically a caramel with almonds in it, yum). Tomorrow younger daughter and I will make a batch of snickerdoodles. Gonna grill a turkey breast with some special bacon stuck to it. And there’s the sweet potatoes with lots of rum and the cranberries cooked with lots of brandy. Lots of fun with the tree last night, but we did need to buy more rum today.
Happy Christmas everyone!!
We are staying home tomorrow but headed to the Bay Area where two grandbabies await our late arrival on Saturday. I love me some babies.
Dungeness Crab. Nice chilled sauvignon blanc (alta maria vineyards). Season 4 “Justified” on the DVD. 78 degrees.
ahhhh.
i raise a toast to our magnificent mary, and bid sad farewell to our sweet Bob Schacht.
merry merry everyone!!
@rosalind: Yeah, we are totally lame here. All three of us going out for Chinese for dinner tonight. But have a lot of food cooking for tomorrow.
Yes, Bob Schacht, Scarecrow and Mad Dog too. Man, I miss these people terribly.
@bmaz:
*raising a glass*
DING!
(And yes, you are totally lame. Tomorrow’s menu better make up for it.)
@rosalind: I’m jealous on soooo many fronts with that one comment.
*g*
Have an extra leg or eight for me.
Always miss Mary. Found some canned spring rhubarb in the basement and tiny summer strawberries in the freezer. That might still make a Christmas pie, say I.
@Peterr: (and if you by chance have any suggestions for what I should do with a box of my great-grandfather’s sermons – he was a Methodist minister who graduated divinity school at the start of the Civil War and moved West from Church to Church – i welcome any and all!)
@Mary McCurnin: quote” I love me some babies. “unquote
Indeed, Mary. And on this night some 2 thousand years ago, I submit another Mary contemplated the same thing.
Mary was the absolute best.
My fifteen year old former stepdaughter lives with me. Long story. Her father is from Guam. He is in my kitchen, and he is cooking Chicken Kelaguen.
Thanks for everything, Wheel, Bmaz, Jim, and commenters.
And an especially merry Christmas for all the newlyweds in Utah: the 10th has turned down the emergency-stay appeal!
Merry Christmas all. Boise St & The Beavers on TV. Still sober after many many years so Rose’s Lime Juice and tonic substitute for kamikazes.
I appreciate all the work done here and apparently I’ve been away too long – I knew about Mary god rest her soul but was unaware of the other wonderful people mentioned supra.
Have a great holiday all and a peaceful new year.
Delurking to say an amazing sunset is nearly finished in the Bay Area where Bittersweet and I are visiting relatives. Venus is brilliant tonight.
We miss Mary’s sharp and witty commentary. We will find some Lagnitas in the fridge and raise a glass to her.
@burnt: Burnt!! Long time, no see!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Visiting relatives in Haverford PA — a teensy dusting of snow, wholly foreign to me and quite the fun. Japanese food for dinner and the annual world’s best chocolate+peppermint cookies now in the oven, our son off in Paris after college. Different but lovely — merry, merry to all at EW and a special thanks and best wishes to Mr. Snowden.
Merry Christmas Wheelers
Merry Christmas to all!
And thanks for all the deep-think here. This is quite a place!
Just finished stuffing the stocking for our 9 year old son.
Mr. posaune is hunkered over a set of open source hardware (Arduino and Little Bits)
hoping to finish the home-made robot by daybreak.
With 5 grand kids under the age of 5, Christmas has that old familiar feel of childhood about it again.
But who in reality is their Santa Claus; who is the person or persons who give them the greatest gift?
To these infants, their need for privacy is already apparent as they build pillow and cardboard-box forts in which to play out their earliest desires. Their despair when their private fort is invaded by the prying eyes of adults is palpable. We joke about their joy at playing with these pillows, or cardboard boxes, more than the gift, rarely, if ever realizing that it is the privacy these forts permit that actually is the object of their effort.
Privacy, even to the youngest child is a wonderful and likely character building opportunity.
So, while these infants may never know it, whistle-blowers, journalists and concerned individuals who fight to ensure that a similar level of privacy will be available to them as adults may be the greatest gift they receive.
And is altruistically given as these infants will likely never know the sacrifices made for their future.
So, thank you to the principled people who strive to ensure that all the grand children of the world can enjoy the gift of privacy.
Thank you to all those who contribute here with relentless vigor to provide the greatest gift all grand children will every receive.
And a very Merry Christmas to you all.
Merry Christmas, Emptywheelers.
To remember Mary, I ordered a copy of the movie “The Ox-Bow Incident” (http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/09/11/a-way-towards-the-rule-of-law-–-an-answer-to-cap’n-jack/)
I hope to watch it tonight and then every year at this time (and every anniversary of 9/11).
Well wishes to Marcy, bmaz, and Jim for all the work you do at this site and to the community of commenters whom always add to the conversation. Cheers.
Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, Mele Kalikimaka
However you may say it, have a good one
Hey everybody, Merry Christmas day!
Rock on.
@bmaz: And also with you.
So what’s on the menu today at La Casa Bmaz? Besides margaritas, that is.
Around here, it’s a standing rib roast with twice baked potatoes, and various pies to follow.
@Peterr: Started the day’s eating not too long ago with some egg, sausage, cheese and bread souffle (a family specialty of my wife, and quite delicious) with a side of custom Applewood bacon (also quite delicious.
Well, bacon is always good. Had some here this morning for breakfast.
Here, at Casa Scribe, the menu is 5 hour roast duck (rolling into hour #5 as I write this), brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes. K.I.S.S. And lots and lots of cookies. The dog is happy – got a new cow femur from Santa – and scribe is, too.
Merry Christmas to all!
Yes, a Merry Xmas to all and thanks for all the thoughtful news that you don’t even have to make up;)
Leg of Lamb is waiting for me to start the BBQ with yam and the 1st salad from the greenhouse this year with fresh crab the neighbor gave me:)
If I had time I would Beam to every ones house for a taste of all the wonderful food talked about but I think my tin foil hat is blocking the ray beam.
@jo6pac: Friend at DOJ just told me that NSA already has your taste profiles stored, and will retain the same for five years. Gotta hand it to them, the buggers are efficient!
Best holiday wishes to all. And, thanks to all of you at the Wheelhouse, principals and commenters, for your savvy, and always, a “great read”.
@bmaz: I’m thankful for that because as I get older the mind just doesn’t work as well and I can contact them or they me to tell me what I was going to do;) Enjoy bmaz, started the BBQ so it’s my only thought except open the bottle of wine stupid:)
72 degrees outside, and 6% humidity at Van Nuys airport. The dew point is 1 degree F. No frost tonight…
@jo6pac: I damn near bought a new barbeque two nights ago. Seriously tempted although I got a permanent gas fed one built in on the patio. Still want this one.
@bmaz: I’ll send you a link to what I have tomorrow but I do love it:) Dinners ready:)
Whisky – Laphroaig 18, loses the creosote, keeps the peat and lets the salt marshes surface. Also, whiskey out of a mason jar for someone I’d played music with for 40 years who died last week. Even when we cut time into little pieces on fast tunes there’s not enough of it.
Thanks to all for the opportunity to participate in sorting through what’s happening in the world and making some sense of it. The wheelhouse is a unique and wonderful community.
@lefty665: Whoa, that is some fine Scotch. And that is coming from a pure Bourbon, not Scotch, man. Cheers to your musical colleague, and what he did while here.
The holidays are a brutal time to lose people in a way, but in a way also a great way to take the sadness of loss away and provide good path to yearly celebration.
Merry Christmas
Emptywheel rawks 24/7 365! Luv everyone, although the occasional troll throws a wrench into things, but that’s fine, it keeps us sharp. Greatly miss all those who’ve gone on to better places.
PS Rio Bravo or El Dorado? I’d go with Rio Bravo. Can’t go wrong with the Duke and Deano, Walter Brennan, and a young Angie Dickinson
@JohnT: Yeah, but Duke, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Ed Asner and Michelle Carey (very underrated!) ain’t bad.
@bmaz:
Rule of thumb: any movie with Walter Brennan ;-)
@lefty665: That’s a NICE beverage.
And your remembrance of your friend brings to mind a song by the late Steve Goodman . . .
*raising a glass (but not as nice a glass as Laphroaig)*
To music, to the folks who make it, and to the joy it brings!
*DING!*
@JohnT:
Although I’m re-watching the first season of the British sci-fi series Primeval
@JohnT: Same could be said about any movie with Jack Elam or Slim Pickens. But Arthur Hunnicut, who plays “Bull” in Rio Bravo, ain’t bad.
It is an outrage. The Daily Dot, lists the Internet’s top ten freedom fighters during 2013. Marcy Wheeler is merely at Number 10. And they say no one matches EmptyWheel.
Justin Amash is placed at Number 5. Ha ha ha. I do not think so. Maybe next year justice will prevail.
@Frank33: Far from an outrage for being 10th, it is astonishing that Marcy has penetrated the noise as she has. It is a near impossibility to do so for mere mortals.
But I agree, Marcy should more appropriately be ranked second only to Snowden for what she has contributed.
I have no doubt that had Marcy been provided the Snowden dump we’d not only be having ‘a necessary conversation’ but ‘necessary indictments, resignations and a long passed due impeachment’.
But you know what they say about instant stardom; you just have to do the decades of slogging to achieve it.
I have no doubts Marcy will be pivotal to the future of the news industry should she choose to be.
@Frank33: Damnit. Amash beat me.
Still, you gotta admit that MI’s 3rd CD is hitting above its weight class on civil liberties.
Sorry for being so scarce.
Made big old ham dinner yesterday and played with the family.
Merry Christmas to all.
Post Christmas food hangover notwithstanding, it’s 8am..time to go to work.
As I began my usual morning habit of blog visits, this morning I happened to come across this…
http://www.whistleblower.org/blog/44-2013/3121-opm-oig-report-confirms-misconduct-at-osc-by-agency-chief
Not being familiar with the story of this contemptible schmuck, and already outraged by his ONE DAY SENTENCE..I called upon Google, whereby,
what do I find right below Wikipedia’s listing?…
http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/06/24/the-day-of-sentencing-judgment-for-scott-bloch/
I should have known. I’ve only been registered here for a few months, but now I understand why Ms Wheeler has been declared one of the “Internet’s top ten freedom fighters during 2013”. Congratulations. However, I do have to commend bmaz and Jim White for their contributions to emptywheel as well, as the post linked to above was authored by bmaz.
Emptywheel is now #1 on my daily excursions into the bloggosphere. I should note Peter Van Buren too, as his site, We Meant Well has been instrumental in forging my interest as it was his site where I found the link to emptywheel. I should also acknowledge Kevin’s blogroll at The Dissenter, as I began to understand the breadth of the community while visiting these sites. In that light, I look forward to the coming new year as now, I don’t feel so damn alone. Thank you all.
@emptywheel: quote” Made big old ham dinner yesterday and played with the family.”unquote
Ham. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm…. That’s what we had too. And this morning…fried ham, eggs and mashed potato patties…mmmmmmmmmmmmm! What better breakfast while looking at 12″ of snow while it’s snowing. Happy Post Christmas, food hangovers notwithstanding. :)
@bloodypitchfork: Oh, that particular post was bmaz. He developed quite a healthy focus on Bloch evading justice.
@emptywheel: quote:”Oh, that particular post was bmaz.”unquote
Yes, that’s why I acknowledged the fact in my reply. :)
quote:”He developed quite a healthy focus on Bloch evading justice.” unquote
He may have escaped a prison term by virtue of his standing in the Two Tiered Dept. of Injustice system, however, I am living proof he can NEVER escape the internet. :) Even though he tried..
http://www.examiner.com/article/scott-bloch-threatens-to-sue-his-critics
god I love the net.
@bmaz:Peterr:
Thanks to you both. Didn’t intend to talk about death, but it just came out. I think it was because this community seems a lot like the musical one. It’s a varied lot of knowledge, experience, and (com)passion. We are all finite, in the end what’s left is what we give.
I still miss Steve Goodman too. He was an amazing musician. First time I saw him was in Richmond when he was opening for Emmy Lou’s inaugural national road tour. It was their first stop out of D.C. They had an incredible bunch of musicians wrapped around her (Scotty Moore on guitar among others) to protect her. Goodman had more energy standing on stage by himself with a guitar than Emmy Lou and the whole damn band. Goodman’s song for his father is among the best I’ve ever heard.
And the scotch ain’t bad either:) The corn’s more interesting with fruit, cherries or pears mostly here.
Dunno how long her site will stay up. http://www.beckytaylor.biz/Wildwood%202%20Church%20St.avi
“take the sadness of loss away and provide good path to yearly celebration.”
*DING!*
:)
@bloodypitchfork: Yep, in fact, one of the “critics” Bloch threatened contacted me and gave me a copy of his threatening letter. So I published it in this post and sent a copy of the post and letter to Judge Wilkins at DC District Court, who then lodged it in the record.
@emptywheel:
Perhaps Amash might be Number 500. But if Amash is 500, I am at least Number 499. Most of the Congress Kritters have failed to keep their Oath of Office to defend the Constitution. So I doubt that Amash or any other Kritter would be higher than Number 5000.
The Congressional “Crickets” regarding the numerous crimes of sleazebag Bloch just proves what cowards the Kritters have become. It is OK to lie to Congress if you are in the Secret Government. And then you can make “7 Level Swipes” to protect the lies and spies. But give Bloch credit, the Bloch Crime Family has been quite successful with their crime spree. And Bloch has been greatly rewarded instead of greatly punished.
trash talk: Aaron Rodgers has been cleared to play.
EW (and crew) sit at #1 on my list of freedom fighters.
Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season and traditions that anchor our lives.
EW provides a lens that keeps everything in focus. Hope each EW team member and commenter enjoy a blessed New Year.
Take care, Marcy, bmaz and Jim.
@bmaz: bmaz..I am astounded.
While I don’t often equate people’s acts as courageous, you are one brave mofo.
And this simply blew me away. …
quote” Please do not dishonor the memory of Judge Robinson, the sanctity of your Oath, and the preeminence of your Court – not to mention the romantic notions of a California lawyer who believes in the American system of justice – by allowing the present efforts of the Department of Justice to whitewash the despicable actions of Scott Bloch. Please, please, PLEASE send at least Scott Bloch to PRISON for the violations of law to which he has already pleaded guilty, and do NOT facilitate the cowardly and despicable efforts of the Justice Department to establish a principle that governmental criminals should be exempted from the Rule of Law when it comes to sentencing.” unquote
Despicable. Both Bloch AND the DOJ. Fabulous.
Now I feel confident my assessment of Scott Bloch was in the ballpark. And his Internet life sentence is justified and in the record. Thanks so much for your link.
@rosalind: Publish them? Interesting times for sermons?
Mary and Bob and Mad Dog and Scarecrow, as you say above, and also Sara.
To quote Admiral Kirk from Star Trek III as he raised a glass: “To absent friends.”
Sorry for the late post. I was thinking it…
@thatvisionthing: Yes, Sister Sara too.
@bmaz: Isn’t there a term for that kind of letter?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_terrorem
Just so we know where they are. Plus, the crime Bloch ended up pleading to — “the misdemeanor crime of destruction of property for his role in deletion of files from government computers” — I can’t help but think of Thomas Drake and the very different prosecution and career consequences he suffered.
@bloodypitchfork: Re the Two Tiered Dept. of Injustice system — I saw Jim twitterlink to this 12/23/13 post: http://www.popehat.com/2013/12/23/burn-the-fucking-system-to-the-ground/
worthy fury, over 250 comments too
@pdaly: I could hug you for that or light a candle or something. Mary. That clip. You remembered. You carry forward. Glow, I think. Not exactly my place to thank you, but I do.
@bmaz: Yes. And thanks to you too. Much appreciation.
@thatvisionthing: Yes, that is exactly what Bloch’s letter was. It was also hollow total bullshit. The tell is that he never tried that junk here, and we’ve been on him for years, only with people he thought couldn’t and wouldn’t defend themselves.
Wondering did the redacted addressee who gave you the letter copy cave? I hope not. Terrorism is bullyism.
@thatvisionthing: No. But was pretty scared at first.
@bmaz: Well I’m grateful he didn’t and grateful you supported him.
@thatvisionthing:
Miss each so much and sad that I never had a chance to meet in person.