Thanksgiving Day 2021
A fake depiction of the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Mass.
Marie: When I was in grade school, we learned that a Native American called Squanto (not his real name) was a big help to the Pilgrims because he could speak English. I always wondered how it could be possible that a New England Native knew a foreign language. One of the upsides of old age is that you find the answers to things you "always wondered about." So by accident last week, I learned how Squanto knew English. It won't surprise you: "Tisquantum [Squanto's real name] was kidnapped by English explorer Thomas Hunt who carried him to Spain, where he sold him in the city of Málaga.... Tisquantum eventually traveled to England, where he may have met Pocahontas.... He then returned to America in 1619 to his native village [which had been at the Plymouth site], only to find that his tribe had been wiped out by an epidemic infection [brought by Europeans, of course!]; Tisquantum was the last of the Patuxets. When his tribe died, he went to live with the Wampanoags." No wonder our whitewashed schoolbooks skipped Squanto's story.
Pete Wells of the New York Times on the history of corn. "The Native people who came to the [first Thanksgiving] celebration [in Plymouth, Mass.] were Wampanoags, though, and the corn that was served was Wampanoag corn.... In that corn -- written, in a sense, into its genetic code -- is the story of the people who lived in Plymouth and throughout the Western Hemisphere before Europeans arrived.... It can tell you why, when the wheat crop planted with grain brought from Europe failed, Wampanoag corn kept the Pilgrims from starving, and why it wove itself so deeply into the diets of the European settlers and their descendants."
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The Bidens' decision to spend Thanksgiving on Nantucket this year renews a family tradition that dates back to 1975, when Mr. Biden and his wife-to-be spent their first holiday together.... They are staying in a home they have visited in the past, that of David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group private equity firm.... Before he was president, Mr. Biden managed to blend in with the local crowds. Residents said they might see him walking cobblestone roads near the harbor in search of a coffee or taking a plunge in the icy waters of the Atlantic to celebrate the holiday.... But with his new job, Mr. Biden brings a dizzying array of security personnel, members of the media and White House officials, not to mention a parade of family members: his children, Ashley and Hunter; Hunter's wife, Melissa; grandchildren Naomi, Finnegan, Maisy, Natalie, Hunter Biden II and Beau; and Naomi's fiancé, Peter Neal.
Russ Bynum of the AP: “Jurors on Wednesday convicted the three white men charged in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, the Black man who was chased and fatally shot while running through their neighborhood in an attack that became part of the larger national reckoning on racial injustice. The convictions for Greg McMichael, son Travis McMichael and neighbor William 'Roddie' Bryan came after jurors deliberated for about 10 hours. The men face minimum sentences of life in prison. It is up to the judge to decide whether that comes with or without the possibility of parole." The article breaks down the charges & verdicts for each charge. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Update. The Washington Post story is here: "The three men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery in coastal Georgia last year were convicted of murder Wednesday, in a case that once went 74 days without arrests and that many saw as a test of racial bias in the justice system. The decision was read to the court shortly after 1:30 p.m., after less than two days of deliberations. Members of Arbery's family cried out with joy. Travis McMichael, his father, Greg McMichael, and their neighbor William 'Roddie' Bryan were all convicted of felony murder in the shooting of Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man -- meaning they committed felonies that caused his death. They were also found guilty of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and attempt to falsely imprison. But Bryan and the elder McMichael were acquitted of malice murder, which involves intent to kill. Each defendant now faces a potential penalty of life in prison without parole. All men still face federal hate crime charges." (Also linked yesterday.)
The statement from President Biden is here. The statement from Vice President Harris is here.
Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post on the remarkable story of how Ahmaud Arbery's murder finally came to be investigated & tried. A persistent public outcry, along with a persistent local reporter were important elements, but most important was that the now-convicted murderer Greg McMichael thought releasing that video to the public would exonerate the men & shut up their detractors & accusers. Because "black man running." "At the time [he saw the video], Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, called it a lynching 'before our very eyes.'" MB: As CNN reported yesterday, local police & prosecutors had the video all along yet declined to bring charges.
Fabiona Cineas of Vox: "... despite all the racial issues that surrounded the core facts of the case, skin color hardly came up during this month's trial.... Legal experts and activists who spoke to Vox said the avoidance of addressing race [to 11 white jurors] in the trial was strategic.... But some experts argued that the prosecutors' choice not to mention race in front of a nearly all-white jury suggests that progress on racial justice has been marginal." Cineas details some of the evidence that the defendants were racists -- evidence that prosecutors did not present during the trial. MB: As an MSNBC contributor noted yesterday, much of that evidence is likely to be presented in a federal hate crimes trial against the men. I'll just add that the jurors figured out the racist element for themselves. Wednesday morning, they asked the judge to replay the first part of the 911 call Gregory McDaniel made before the murder, in which his complaint was "There's a black man running down the street."
Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo Wednesday directing federal prosecutors to prioritize investigations into crimes committed on planes, as record numbers of unruly passengers continue to disrupt travel.... The Federal Aviation Administration has been using its civil authorities to try to crack down on misbehaving passengers, opening 266 enforcement cases, and has sought federal criminal investigations in 37 cases. The majority of incidents have stemmed from disputes over wearing masks, which is required throughout the aviation system.... Garland's memo could help bring more resources to bear on the problem and streamline investigations."
Dino Grandoni of the Washington Post: "President Biden's administration greenlit a major offshore wind project to supply power to New York, arriving as part of a broader push to build out renewable energy and tackle climate change. The federal government's approval Wednesday of a dozen wind turbines, located off the coast of Rhode Island, will send power to the eastern end of Long Island. The move inches the country closer to the Biden administration's goal of generating 30 gigawatts of power from offshore wind energy by the end of the decade. Harnessing the Atlantic's fierce winds is prominent in the president's plan to wean the U.S. power sector off fossil fuels.... The effort to dot the East Coast with towering turbines has at times put advocates at odds with coastal homeowners worried about spoiled seaside views; fishermen concerned about the impact on their catch; and conservationists concerned about the impact on endangered whales. At the moment, only seven commercial turbines -- five in Rhode Island and two in Virginia -- are up and spinning. Europe, by contrast, has already deployed over 5,000 offshore turbines."
Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has introduced a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal -- the legislative branch's highest honor -- to Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who last week was found not guilty of homicide and other charges related to his fatal shooting of two men during a protest against police violence last year. Greene introduced a bill Tuesday to give Rittenhouse the award. While the bill's full text was not immediately available, a summary states that the measure would 'award a Congressional Gold Medal to Kyle H. Rittenhouse, who protected the community of Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a Black Lives Matter (BLM) riot.'" ~~~
~~~ If you're curious as to why anyone who suggest a award was due to a vigilante who killed two people & severely injured a third, Donald Trump, with a little help from Greg Sargent, explains: ~~~
~~~ ** Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump ventured into the safe confines of Sean Hannity's show on Tuesday night, where he disclosed that Kyle Rittenhouse had visited him at Mar-a-Lago. 'Really a nice young man,' the former president declared.... But what came next is more troubling -- and more revealing about the Trump movement's darker impulses. 'He should not have had to suffer through a trial,' Trump said, suggesting Rittenhouse had almost been killed by one of his victims and had rightly killed first. 'He should never have been put through that.'... In Trump's telling, the very act of apparently seeking to dispense vigilante justice -- and thus provoking a situation that led to the killing -- amid violence connected to racial justice protests is precisely what should never have been subjected to rule-of-law scrutiny.... Writing at the Atlantic, Adam Serwer connects this tendency to elements of right-wing gun culture that rely on constant invocations of leftist tyranny to inspire and justify preparation for armed resistance to it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: That is, to "preserve the rule of law," Trump & his ilk say "good people" have to gun down liberals who protest the status quo. When a former president* says something like this, none of us is safe. When he said the Charlottesville neo-Nazis & white supremacists were "good people," this is what he meant. When he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue without consequence, he meant, "shoot a liberal" or "shoot a person of color."
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "A long-running criminal investigation into Donald J. Trump and his family business is reaching a critical phase as Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the prosecutor overseeing the inquiry, enters his final weeks as Manhattan district attorney. Mr. Vance's prosecutors have issued new subpoenas for records about Mr. Trump's hotels, golf clubs and office buildings. They recently interviewed a banker employed by Deutsche Bank, Mr. Trump's top lender.... The developments ... show that the Manhattan prosecutors have shifted away from investigating those tax issues and returned to an original focus of their three-year investigation: Mr. Trump's statements about the value of his assets. In particular..., the prosecutors are zeroing in on whether Mr. Trump or his company inflated the value of some of his properties while trying to secure financing from potential lenders. If Mr. Vance's office concludes that Mr. Trump intentionally submitted false values to potential lenders, prosecutors could argue that he engaged in a pattern of fraud."
Gabby Orr of CNN: "A pair of payments [totaling $121,670] the Republican National Committee made to a law firm representing ... Donald Trump [regarding his business practices] is raising questions among former and current GOP officials about the party's priorities in a critical election year and its ability to remain neutral -- as long-standing RNC rules require -- in the 2024 presidential primary.... Some RNC members and donors accused the party of running afoul of its own neutrality rules and misplacing its priorities. Some of these same officials who spoke to CNN also questioned why the party would foot the legal bills of a self-professed billionaire who was sitting on a $102 million war chest as recently as July and has previously used his various political committees to cover legal costs.... 'This is not normal. Nothing about this is normal, especially since he's not only a former President but a billionaire,' said a former top RNC official." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** Leading Cause of Pregnancy Deaths: Murder. Dan Vergano of BuzzFeed News: "Pregnant people are more than twice as likely to be murdered during pregnancy and immediately after giving birth than to die from any other cause, according to a nationwide death certificate study. Homicide far exceeds obstetric causes of death during pregnancy.... Though it is well understood by victims of domestic violence, the danger that pregnant people face -- often from their partners -- receives little public notice.... According to the study, homicide rates were particularly high among pregnant women 24 and younger, and for pregnant Black women, who were three times more at risk than their white counterparts." MB: Gosh, I wonder if it were easier to get an abortion, some of these murders of young women would not have occurred.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "... among [Kevin McCarthy's] most audacious assertions [made last Thursday night & Friday morning during his marathon House floor speech] was that [President] Biden was to blame for the country's failure to quell the pandemic. Mr. McCarthy used this line of attack even as members of his own Republican Party have spent months flouting mask ordinances and blocking the president's vaccine mandates, and the party's base has undermined vaccination drives while rallying around those who refuse the vaccine." Other Republicans are making the same ludicrous charges. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond the Beltway
France. Aurelien Breeden, et al., of the New York Times: "At least 27 people drowned in frigid waters off the coast of France on Wednesday, after a boat carrying migrants trying to reach Britain capsized in the English Channel, one of the worst death tolls in recent years for migrants attempting the dangerous crossing. Gérald Darmanin, France's interior minister, said that the dead ... were part of a group whose 'extremely fragile' inflatable boat was found completely deflated by rescuers. French officials had previously given a death toll of 31, but later revised the figure. Two people were rescued but were hospitalized with severe hypothermia. It was still unclear where the migrants were from, Mr. Darmanin told reporters from Calais."
Germany. Loveday Morris & Vanessa Guinan-Bank of the Washington Post: "After two months of talks, German parties announced a new governing coalition Wednesday that will pave the way for Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democrats to take over from Chancellor Angela Merkel after her 16 years in power. The Social Democratic Party, which narrowly won September elections, is allying with two other parties: the climate-conscious Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats.... For both Germany and wider Europe -- where Merkel had taken on the role of a de facto leader -- it marks the end of an era with Germany often at the center stage of policymaking."
Sweden. Short-timer. Miriam Berger of the Washington Post: "Sweden on Wednesday confirmed Magdalena Andersson as its first female leader, nearly 100 years after the Scandinavian country extended women the right to vote.... Hours after assuming office, Andersson resigned from the post when a member of the ruling coalition, the center-left Swedish Green party, quit the government in protest after lawmakers passed a budget bill backed by three right-wing parties. Andersson's Social Democratic Party had put forward an alternative budget proposal that failed to pass. Andersson said she hopes to form a single-party ruling government."
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Reader Comments (21)
A Happy Thanksgiving to all RC'ers and your families..
We here have much to be grateful for, the leisure to read, think, share our thoughts in polite company, for that daily company itself, and especially for Marie, who makes it all possible.
Have a wonderful day.
Thank you, Ken, my friend, with whom I feel privileged to have the pleasure of sharing this site day after day. I second your message and hope that if Marie does have turkey you can bet she gonna wash it well.
A very merry, um, I mean happy thanksgiving. A thankful thanksgiving? A tank full of thanksgivings? Better than a dank thanksgiving, I suppose, or a rank thanksgiving. Ew.
But seriously folks…
Anyhoo, I am, as always, most thankful for the company here in RC land, and most grateful for our hostess who has provided the means by which we share our thoughts on the state of things.
So tryptophan away, my brothers and sisters. I’ve only just discovered that tryptophan is a non-polar aromatic amino acid. Who knew that amino acids could be aromatic? Not to mention non-polar, which, I suppose, is better than a bi-polar amino acid, which might wake up one morning and decide it was to depressed to amino anything. Just think of the state we’d be in if that were the case.
Luckily the poles stay where they’re supposed to be. I’m Poland. Ba dum bum.
Well, this is getting far afield (is there such a thing as close afield? Must look that up…)
Before things get any more stupid, I’ll bid you all a happy thanksgiving. Now, bring on the dog show! Rooting for the Peruvian Inca Orchid this year! Up, doggie.
Thank you, Marie, for your daily. It remains amazing.
Muchas Gracias Marie for all the news that's fit to print, and some
that isn't.
Just wondering what Melonie is cooking up for the malignant
narcissist. Humble pie? Nah, no one in that family knows from
humble. Crow? Sounds good. Let 'me eat cake? He'd want his
with Royal Icing 'cause he thinks he's royalty.
How many of you guys have made your pecan pie for dinner?
Mine's in the oven about ready to come out. No pumpkin here. Got
to have my mother's pecan pie recipe.
Cheers!
Forrest,
Silly boy, Melanie doesn’t cook. She screams at the help to bring her something. Fatty sends a flunkie to McDonalds. What a horrible household. Empty, soulless, heartless, greedy, and terminally narcissistic. Real turkeys are nobler creatures by miles. Hell, cockroaches are better.
In any event, enjoy your pie.
Likewise, my thanks to Marie et al.
@Forrest, just took the bowl out to start making my crust. Recipe cards are from when I was a teenager, more than a little while ago.
It wouldn't be T-Day without a visit by the Addams Family and their (more wishful?) rendition of that first meal.
My pie crust is a disaster (not enough water in the dough - I have GOT to get better at gauging how much since the recipes all seem to call for too little) but am hoping that my apple/cranberry/walnut pie will be good nevertheless. Homemade biscuits using thawed frozen buttermilk, which works surprisingly well. No turkey - it’s just me & the hub, and we carnivores like steak.
And many many many thanks to RealityChex and all who are here - you are a oasis of thoughtful discourse in a desert of dreck. I am truly blessed to have all you guys in my virtual life.
One more thing to be thankful for...
Reading about another smash and grab incident, this one in Topanga Canyon at another high end store that sells things I'd never want, makes me wonder at the apparent hot market for hot second hand goods of no earthly or heavenly use to anyone..
and I'm thankful I'm not one of those sad people.
Of course if Nordstrom carried "RC" emblazoned hoodies, that would be something else..
Happy Thanksgiving to all. Tried vodka in the pie crusts for the first time. Added some extra water (1 tsp per unit) over regular amount of liquid. Sample made from the scraps was mighty good!
Pumpkin pie recipe from the same 3x5 card I’ve used for 30 years, and it’s the same recipe Mom read to me when I called from Budapest while on foreign study in the mid-‘80s.
Wait, what? You can freeze buttermilk? Totally trying that.
Two pumpkin pies cooling on the counter. Made the pecan pie when my mother and her partner fled the cold of Down East Maine, where we've had a cottage since the '70s, and returned to the more bearable chill of the NH coast.
I faithfully visit this site at lunchtime every day and often compose a comment in my head as I go about the rest of my day. Return at wine time--to find that someone has already written what I would have said. So, thanks to Marie and to all the wonderful commenters.
And don't forget: "Alice's Restaurant" at noon!
Many things to give thanks for this Thanksgiving. I read this and thought "grace" is earned and learned: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/opinion/ahmaud-arbery-verdict-justice.html.
@ Elizabeth - My mother used to freeze milk, which I don’t recommend, but freezing buttermilk is way easy. I use ice cube trays - 1 cube = 1 oz. Frozen cubes go in a freezer bag to be pulled out as needed. Thaw in a cup sitting in a bowl of warm water. Good luck!
@Rocky Girl: Use real butter (cold) -- not lard -- & work it down to pea-sized pieces, either with one of those wire dough cutters, or -- if you don't have one -- use two knives & make scissor cuts. Work the dough as little as possible.
Ice water in the dough works best & use as little as possible. I sometimes have to go a tiny bit over the 2 -3 Tbs. recommended in the recipes. But the dough should be as dry as possible. Damp, I'd say. Work in with a fork -- again as little as possible to keep the crust from becoming tough.
Also helps on the rolling-out to cut the dough into individual crust sizes, ball up (by hand) & wrap each in plastic wrap & put it in the fridge for at least an hour.
It's late in the day, so I guess this is advice for the next pie crust. But, really, these tips work. I make a tasty crust, though not always ones with the prettiest crimped edges. (I do usually cover the edges loosely in foil till the last 15 min. or so of baking.)
"Tusind tak" from Denmark to you, Marie, and to all your erudite and insightful and commentators.
@Marie, yup, I did all of those things. My last crusts, for chicken pot pie, were perfect, so I think I probably got complacent and and not as careful re the amount of water. Really just need to learn how it should feel. Is all part of that pesky learning curve thingy. Next week will be pecan pie with a new chance to get better.
But in more happy news, after being baked, it do look yummy, even if it’s not as pretty as I might like.
From NYT on the Georgia verdict:
“This is a very difficult day for Travis McMichael and Greg McMichael,” Jason Sheffield, one of the lawyers, said, adding that both of them “honestly believe what they were doing was the right thing to do.”
I suppose if you are one of the McM's, you wake up every morning believing that it is OK to hunt down black men running in your neighborhood. I mean, why would they be running if they weren't guilty of a capital offense ... which can be anything that offends a McM.
Realize that there are millions of them. Like porch dogs, will chase whatever runs down the street if it's not too hot to run.
And this obvious omission from my lists of things I'm thankful for:
The first Thanksgiving in the last five years without a Pretender presiding.
To me, even better than this year's July 4th...
Feels real good. Like a pall lifted.
oops
"Tusind tak" from Denmark to you, Marie, and to all your erudite and insightful commentators.
It's Thanksgiving and I am thankful for all of you. I have been reading this website daily for decades and I don't know which is better, the news roundup or the comments. I think the comments. I know there must be legions of silent people like me who don't comment (I think you say it all better than I could) but appreciate your insights, humor, and humanity.
With all the baking tips today, I’m guessing there must be a few fans of the Great British Baking Show out here in RC Land. We’ve been bingeing through the seasons on Netflix. We were sorry to see Sue and Mel depart, likewise that doyen of British cooking Mary Berry (one contestant who dropped a plop of dough on the floor picked it up and said, horrified, “I can’t offer Mary Berry a biscuit with carpet fibers sticking out!”) Hahaha.
We’ve gotten to like the second batch of hosts, especially the ever whacky Noel and his more reasonable partner Sandi.
We have noticed, however, that Paul and Prue, as the seasons wear on, dream up ever more extravagant and ridiculously wild baking challenges. Just waiting for them to request a baked and fully operational satellite dish.
A Paul Hollywood handshake to all the bakers, baker wannabes, and baked good eaters out here.
Ready? Set. BAKE!