Thanksgiving

Blog Post
Larry-Lambert

Caption: Freedom from Want

I hope that you can be with your family today. Family isn’t only blood; sometimes, it goes even deeper. We all have so much to be thankful for.

 

 

Bullet Points:

** Tomorrow is Black Friday. If you don’t spend all of your money on worthless crap that will end up in a landfill, you’re a racist!

** What should we spend on the Federal Government? I don’t know what the DOGE Mandarins have in mind, but 4% of GDP should be the limit.

** Thanksgiving boating with EdB.

** When you die, if MikeW likes you, he’ll do this for you. Consider buying his book to give a Christmas Gift to somebody you love. Mike will appreciate it. So will the person you buy it for.

** Bullying – When you think of the boys who pounded on Musk, now that he’s the richest guy on the planet and could find a way to even the score, I wonder if it gives them pause?

** Mike_C – Trying to eat a PB&J. Yes, it’s true. He no longer signs women’s breasts with a Sharpie (unless they’re under heavy sedation).

** If your dog is present, you’re not drinking alone at home on Thanksgiving.

** Thanksgiving in the Southern United States vs California (Yes, Tofu Turkey  or Tofurkey is a real thing)

** You may or may not be aware of a debate raging in the United States.  The thing that goes inside of the turkey. Do you call it STUFFING or DRESSING? Vote in the comments. Is it just a regional thing, or is there a definitive answer?

 

The Eating Season

Will you gorge yourselves and eat too many sweets between now and the New Year? Does a bear crap in the woods? Is the Pope Catholic? Is Kamala a stupid Ho? The matter is settled science. A large majority of people say they would not consider using Wegovy, Ozempic, or other semaglutide drugs for weight loss. Costco reports that weight loss injections are their biggest seller, ahead of toilet paper and rotisserie chickens. Go ahead, fill that pie hole, and head to the store to buy your made-in-China weight loss shot at $1000 a pop.

Or maybe you’ll opt for a Bud Lite and a salad?

Is it healthy? “It’s a salad, isn’t it?” You can even eat the bowl. After you’ve downed that Bud Lite, don’t be surprised if Jaguar hits you up to do a commercial for them. It could be a whole new life.

 

As God is my witness!

 

What about HHS?

The Department of Health and Human Services, exposed during the pandemic for its incompetence and groupthink, desperately needs reform—which Robert Kennedy Jr., whatever his flaws, will pursue.

“President Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services has the press corps in the D.C.–New York corridor flummoxed. The Washington Post reports that “Public health experts” call the pick “alarming and unprecedented.” The Wall Street Journal labels it a “strange choice.” And New York Times columnist Zeynep Tufekci opines that “among the chaos generated by Donald Trump’s recent cabinet picks,” his selection of Kennedy “stands out for the extensive suffering and lasting institutional damage it may cause.”

No federal department needs a major institutional shakeup more desperately than the Department of Health and Human Services.

The agency’s “expert” authority was the basis on which President Biden and the vast majority of governors issued a variety of mask, vaccine, and lockdown mandates that undermined Americans’ basic freedoms while achieving little in return.

Kennedy’s bestselling book, The Real Anthony Fauci, took the poster boy of the mask-and-lockdown regime to task.

But that book, a compelling and well-researched indictment of the public health establishment, also clarifies that the agency’s problems extend well beyond one unscrupulous, attention-hogging bureaucrat.

As former Trump advisor Scott Atlas reports in his book, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institutes of Health—all HHS agencies—appear infested with groupthink. During the pandemic, Atlas notes, White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Deborah Birx, then-CDC director Robert Redfield, and Fauci “shared thought processes and views to an uncanny level” and “virtually always agreed” with each other.

Whatever his flaws, RFK Jr. does not share in such groupthink.

And while Kennedy’s critics focus primarily on his being a “vaccine denier,” those accusations don’t undermine his broader case: that Big Pharma has taken too much credit for the improvements in Americans’ health over the past century-plus.”

 

Identify the Aircraft

I’m going easy on you today because it’s Thanksgiving.

1

 

2

 

3

 

4

 

5

Different views

 

 

 

 

Parting Shot

 

End

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72 thoughts on “Thanksgiving”

  1. 1 is Hawker Hunter Mk6

    Thanksgiving is not a Australian holiday so best wishes to everyone who is celebrating.

    1. Yes it is, RCC. You can gorge yourself today and we will consider you an honorary American for the day if you wish.

      1. X2…because – despite the flailing and failing MSM- we are actually an inclusive lot. The more the merrier. Heck, The Danes – any excuse for a party with beverages and speeches…in that order – have coopted our 4th of July: Rabild. Traditions matter, so any Aussie can partake in an American-sized indulgence. Go for it, you’ll hate us in the morning…but that’s why God had someone invent Tums.

  2. The 16 US army guys my men and I saved a very long ago already made that offer, thank you anyway.

    Time differences mean its Thursday evening here. Will have some of my home made mulberry (had a really good crop this year) and apricot fruit preserve with ice cream shortly. You can feel the calories just looking at it lol.

      1. Commentary: It’s 3:05 a.m. on Thursday, Thanksgiving morning, and I’m working at the dinner table with my notebook computer. My son-in-law just walked in after completing a swing shift, wearing his police uniform (he drove a marked car home, as they are allowed to do). He asked me, “Do you ever sleep?” I replied, “No.”
        –
        I lack Surly’s microcircuits and PaulM’s endless supply of coffee, so I am opting out of endless caffeine to manage the business.
        –
        My Son-in-law harnessed up a pit bull to take it for a walk and potty break as I type.

        1. That’s why you are the VM Grand PooBah…and we are Thankful for your service to plebes such as myself.
          –
          Point of note: Coffee is a morning ritual I have become accustomed (no Danish ‘afternoon coffee’ for me), but I’ve limited myself to two mugs so as to not overwind my toys. But yeah, the prepper shelf has a large stock of the preferred roasted brand just in case The Boys in Sunglasses show up at 3am…I’ll be up already, the driveway beeper will alert….figure they’d appreciate a nice “chat” over a mug or two.

        2. Thank you for that image. It makes me think of coffee, and I can almost smell it in the background. I am thankful to be alive and spending Thanksgiving with Ms. HogsbreathSS, Mom, Dad, my sister, and my new little niece. Like you LL Ive spent a lot of holidays away from home. Sometimes not even realizing that it was a holiday back home in the states. But I’m most thankful the God sent his son Jesus to save all of U.S.

          -STA Lethal

    2. Oooh! Mulberry and Apricot preserves! Thank you very much for that lovely idea. I now have it filed away for next year, when my husband is laughing at me as I’m up on the ladder, covered in ladybugs (ladybirds, according to him) and fighting the birds for the fruit.

      1. Hi Dorothy,

        We use some 35 feet by 35 feet nets on our mulberry trees.

        Sometimes for variety I add dried sultanas to the mix just to absorb some of the liquid from the mulberries.

        Usually start with about 2 gallons of fresh berries, very large pot and 5# of sugar

  3. My favorite Thanksgiving memory from the 70’s was when we were stationed in Osan, Korea. We were the only husband and wife in the group and had an apartment downtown so ours was the designated dinner spot. We didn’t have an oven so we cooked the turkey in the barracks’ kitchen and I carried that stupid bird home in a taxi. Thanksgiving Day was our group of eight, sitting on the floor (tables and chairs? What? Who had those?). We shared our favorite memories of “home”, ate cold, dried turkey, drank soju, and had a great time.

    1. Soju tastes a bit like kerosine when you drink the first shot. After that the Oh, be joyful effect kicks in and then it could be Chateaubriand, or dried turkey – all the same.

  5. I’m merely “Thankful” to be alive and still kicking (figuratively)….beyond that I toss caution to the wind and see what sticks. Also – despite being busier than a one-armed post hole digger in Wyoming (the epitome of “no slowing down at the end of the race”) – you somehow manage to continue to provide this forum of intel…fun stuff that affords seriousness and humor on a multitude of subject matter.
    ***
    Major h/t LL…enjoy your “day off” with family. (Everyday is a Saturday, right?)

  6. Identify the Aircraft:
    1. Hawker Hunter
    2. Martin RB-57D Canberra. Looks like it’s fitted for fallout dust collection.
    3. Republic F-105D Thunderchief
    4. McDonnell XP-67
    5. Vought SB2U Vindicator

  7. Black Friday. The one day I succumbed to it happened a couple years ago. It started with a 16″ long Ballistic Advantage barrel in .308 on sale for half price. The plan was to accumulate the rest of the parts as they came on sale. Along came Black Friday and everything was on sale. The resulting rifle happened much faster than planned and shoots very nicely thank you.
    Happy Thanksgiving to all here. Eat hearty.

  8. i think fda/cdc et al did a good job the first hundred years or so making our health better, but then they went off the rails with corruption and went power mad in the process. rfk,jr can fire all he wants but until integrity is brought back it’ll just rot from within. there are several methods to do that, but i favor the rope/tree process. happy thanksgiving yawl, and yuze guys up north.

    2. Nope. Stuffing gets stuffed into something. Thus ‘stuffing.’ Dressing is what you dress the plate with that’s not stuffing, thus… ‘dressing.’
      –
      Same same same.
      –
      Dressing and Stuffing can be the same damned thing. Stuffing imparts flavor to the thing it’s stuffed in, while receiving moisture from said thing it’s stuffed in. My favorite stuffing is my dad’s dirty rice.
      –
      We had dressing. Cornbread dressing, very delicious, modified from my wife’s family’s recipe.
      –
      So there you go. Dressing can be used as stuffing. Stuffing can be used as dressing (especially when one makes too much ‘stuffing’ and the excess is cooked outside the stuffed object.
      –
      Don’t make me get out the BBQ fork and poke you all into submission.

  10. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here! I read everyone’s comments here so often I feel like I know you guys.

    1. Then you know if you look at your ring camera at 4 am and see a bunch of folks at your front door with LL pushing the door bell over and over… best not to answer… or it’ll be like the dwarves showing up to visit Bilbo in the Hobbit movie…

    2. Amen to that

      and more agreeable than many “ real” family.

      may G-d bless, preserve, prosper you and yours!

      Juan

  11. Most interesting Thanksgiving Meal for me was Singapore office pot luck lunch, which included chicken feet. Did include cooked chicken, minus the feathers, and rice.
    Happy Thanksgiving!

    1. I don’t understand the fascination with Asian people chowing down on chicken feet. They don’t seem to have the same joy as gnawing on a dead rat’s tail. I took Vietnamese and Chinese ladies to lunch one day, and they ate three appetizer orders of chicken feet. I didn’t join in, but I will note that it didn’t diminish their appetites at all. Watching them eat the chicken feet was akin to watching Asian ladies devour a whole fish. It’s as if they hadn’t eaten for a week.

      1. Usually, I have found, there are two styles of chickens feet on the Chinese and Vietnamese menu. One is the steamed variety, which are white and which I, personally, find tasteless. The second is the caramelised variety, which are brown and juicy (not Jussy, as in Smollett). These, to my taste at least, I find quite tasty. One or two feet will do me, as I do not see, nor feel, the need to make a meal of them. Having said this, I will agree that, to the Western palate, chickens feet of whatever variety, are an acquired taste.

      2. Larry. Please accept my apologies for my rudeness and ungratefulness. Thank you kindly for your suggestion, to our fellow readers, commentators, and the other denizens of your blog, that they might consider giving a copy of my book to others they love as a Christmas gift. Your kindness in making the suggestion is very much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As an aside, I tried clicking on the link to see what I am supposed to do for people, if I like them, when they die, but all I get is a Facebook logo.

      3. I don’t understand eating chicken feet either. Neither did my parents. We all thought chicken feet were disgusting. As were sea cucumber and bird’s nest soup (the nest of the particular species of swallow whose nests are harvested is made of vomited-up partially digested fish, and bird saliva). Similar revulsion for many other Chinese delicacies. And this wasn’t because they were poor and never had a chance to sample these “treats”.
        —
        We always dismissed these things as “Cantonese-speaker food” and appropriate to “those people” but not for normal human beings like us. (It’s okay, Cantonese speakers generally despise us “northern barbarian invaders” right back, only twice as hard.) That said, pretty sure dad’s taste was not normal for a Chinese. His idea of a really good dinner was a huge slab of prime rib, rare, washed down with good German beer.

  12. Here in the US we have a Medical Industry, I hope Kennedy can do something as there is a LOT of money involved…
    ~~
    Stuffing comes out of the bird and dressing from the casserole dish… IMO you can’t have too much of either as long as you have gravy!
    ~~
    As I read on another blog this morning, calorie counting does not count this weekend. Enjoy!
    ~~
    Happy Thanksgiving!

  13. I never heard it called dressing until I found myself in eastern NoDak; never heard it called dressing since, though I was invited (in a DC suburb) for Thanksgiving dinner (only) once where the bird was presented with a white lace (paper) doily covering cavity opening – Yes! I did have the temerity to ask.
    My Mom used to stuff the cavity with an herbal, (sorta savory) bread pudding that disappeared so fast you were never quite sure it was ever there in the first place;
    the white meat was as tender and juicy and aromatic as the thigh, and the skin was (almost as crispy and crunchy) as bacon (hey! I’m Jewish with an Orthodox upbringing – what did I know). I have had the great pleasure of Florida (Southern) deep-fried turkey that came within a smidgen of being as good as my Mom’s
    I can understand a “Freedom from Tyranny, but I never could understand that “Freedom from Want” thing; ya think that might require a “Sunday Sermon”?
    Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: am I in error or was the The Donald (at one point in NYC) sitting more towards the left side of the room: or was that just more politically convenient at the time;
    having had a very strong interest in “health” throughout my career, I wonder if he’s not the perfect, round peg, even if he may have (what I consider) some unusual views; I’m hoping he’ll amount to a very stiff wire brush that’s needed to remove the unneeded/unwanted/unnecessary accretions

    1. Freedom from Want means at least two things:
      1. Want as in “lack of”. Freedom from this want is not being hungry, not being cold, and so forth. Not lacking material things needed. It can also extend to psychological and spiritual things. Not being lonely, not feeling adrift, etc.
      2. Want as in “desire”. This gets Buddhist. And Stoic. When I was young I didn’t understand either. I still don’t claim to Understand, but I’m appreciating Stoicism more and more as the years go by. Anyway, this is the much more important want to be free of, at least for us fortunate Westerners who for the most part are not literally starving and freezing to death. And although “desire” is the common translation, maybe “covetousness” might be better.
      —
      At least that’s how I see it.

      2. TNX, Mike.
        #2 makes more sense; a lack of desire to own/have/take what others have if I’m interpreting the Commandment properly
        told my wife very shortly after we were married (50+ yrs ago) not to look (covetously/jealously?) at what others have; I just don’t live that way.
        Freedom from not having the basic necessities of (a reasonably comfortable?) life: that’s Freedom from Want?
        but you can work for (sometimes very hard, not taking your eye off your goal) and achieve both of the above;
        more important to me is the Freedom of not having grasshoppers take (as a “right” or a “tax”) what I’ve earned/worked hard for
        right now (as I see it) TPTB are taking from the ants, as a tax, and giving it to the grasshoppers, as charity: something’s amiss here; perhaps I need new glasses

  14. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
    .
    It’s stuffing if it’s stuffed inside the bird (the proper place), and it’s dressing if you put it in a casserole dish and baked it separately. If you had problems defrosting the bird and so cooked it afterward with the turkey drippings because you needed the hot airflow in the chest cavity, I’ll make sympathetic noises and agree it it’s stuffing.
    .
    If you insist otherwise, I’ll smile and decide it’s not a hill worth dying on, and how do you like the pie?
    .
    Speaking of, South Africa has heavy Indian influences in the food, but no tradition of making gourds into a dessert. Therefore, my Calmer Half is rather offput by pumpkin pie. I have finally found a variation that he likes: about half the sugar and replacing the traditional pumpkin pie spice with masala chai. Tastes delightful, if you’re not expecting the standard.
    .
    …as for RFK and Trump, I don’t ask that they be flawless. Only competent and effective.

    1. Will Peter agree to taste hot Dutch apple pie (heavy on the Afrikaans accent) if vanilla ice cream is dolloped on top?

  15. Oh, BTW, if we set aside as special day we call “Thanksgiving” to thank G-d for His many blessings or to thank this great great country of ours for its many Freedoms, I’ve been doin’ it 365 for many years now. (gotta say I feel more like an Aztec [or whatever] sacrificing a big bird one day a year)
    to those who celebrate these blessings only once a year, “Happy Thanksgiving”

    1. Do you have a personal prejudice against Aztecs and their faith-based rituals? Are you AzPhobic?

    1. Wait – You don’t eat stuffing? That’s the best part of Thanksgiving AND the day after (fried a little crispy in a pan with a medium fried egg topping it). Maybe you haven’t had GOOD stuffing. Clearly stuffing made with a tofu base or without bacon or quality sausage added (vegan stuffing) wouldn’t be desirable.

  17. I am thankful for this fine blog, for L-L who provides it and all of y’all who occupy it.
    .
    God Bless all here!

      1. It has become a symbiotic relationship…it’s what makes life more tolerable knowing there are such cool folks out there in the ether, which would have never happened without your daily effort and lead LL. Just talking with EdB about this, most of us have no idea the affect we have on others by simply doing what we do… because we are not in it (whatever ‘it’ is) for accolade but “to help”, either tangibly or to offer perspective or experience. Pretty neat this VM campfire can have that effect on those who choose to have a seat…me especially.

  18. I don’t know if Nathan Fillion is behind it, or it’s just an industry joke to have call backs to his prior roles, but here’s where the signing chests thing comes from.
    Detective Beckett interrupts a father-daughter heart to heart:
    https://youtu.be/3MTfp3tYTwo?si=CSOGp6NbeHZM-Wie&t=94
    —
    Happt Thanksgiving, everyone. I’m grateful for all of you. (yes, that includes YOU ;-).

      1. There is a long list of us who were not invited to dine with WSF, Banner and the Coven… I chose not to be mortally wounded by the snub.

  21. Happy Thanksgiving all, from this daily reader and almost-never commenter. VM reminds me of 0600 coffee at Bagel Central before work, decades ago: an interesting and thoughtful ongoing conversation, not to be missed.
    Be well,
    SP RN

  22. Dorothy Grant expressed my sentiment about the savory bread pudding served at Thanksgiving; in the bird it is stuffing and cooked in a pan by itself it is dressing.
    —————
    I am thankful for many things. I am thankful that we got DJT coming back into the Presidency with a hardass attitude from all his trials and tribulations. I am thankful that this nation is already correcting from its leftward drift off course with a rightward turn. I am thankful for the opportunities I have had and continue to have. I am thankful for Virtual Mirage with its excellent author and fellow readers and commenters.
    —————
    At least four aircraft were left out that were in the same photo as the F-105. There were F-104s, F-100s, T-33s and C-47s (or maybe C-46s).

    1. I’m afraid that the VM crew would be considered an eccentric assortment in most settings, but I join with you in my appreciation of them.

  24. Just received an email from Friends of Notre Dame de Paris…re-opening this phase of restoration in 10 days! Astounding. The email was offering a hearty “Thanksgiving” in a personalized manner that THEY were thankful for those here in the USA who gave in support. What class.
    –
    The generalized Thanksgiving note is here on the donate page: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/friends-of-notre-dame-de-paris-inc/happy-thanksgiving-we-are-grateful-for-your-support-e98c815a-ce5d-48d6-9ce8-3a774df7bcc5. …but click on the FoNDdP logo for the full restoration update. Incredible.

  25. A day late, but happy Thanksgiving!

    Does Black Friday mean you have to shop at black owned shops? In other words, no more shopping for you.

    1. If you don’t celebrate Black Friday, you’re racist. I did go to The Rib Cage (a negro-owned restaurant in a converted home in the Hood) and celebrated, LSP – so there. Ribs, corn bread and a slice of pecan pie. I didn’t see you there, so what are your true feelings on miscegenation?

    2. PS – It was my son-in-law’s 40th birthday. He’s white but the appropriate (to his age and the season) black balloons were in evidence at the Rib Cage. How politically correct can I be? I draw the line at shaving my legs, wearing a mini-skirt and walking like a duck.

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