Saviolo
Saviolo's JournalDouble Roasted Herbed Potato recipe
Another great warm, hearty, and easy holiday side dish. Delicious and dead simple, the trick to the texture is all about the low roasting temperature on the first run, then getting the colour on them in the second, hotter run!
This is another vegetarian/vegan recipe so long as you use olive oil or vegetable oil, and keep it to herbs and spices on the potatoes, and add no butter or anything like that. Of course you can customize the flavour profile of the herbs to your heart's content. Thyme, rosemary, parsley, tarragon, and oregano all work very well. Basil and mint make for nice additions, but be careful, they're strong flavours! We like to let the potato flavour come through.
Also, thanks to everyone here who's been watching our videos and sharing links with friends. We're almost at 250 subscribers!! Exciting for our little project, and we've almost been going for a whole year, now! Thanks to all of you!
Limbaugh: Moore was a Democrat at time of sexual misconduct allegations
From The Hill: http://thehill.com/homenews/media/360346-limbaugh-moore-was-a-democrat-at-time-of-sexual-misconduct-allegations
“Did you know that before 1992, when a lot of this was going on, that Judge Moore was a Democrat?” Limbaugh said on his radio show. “Nobody said a word.”
“When he supposedly was attracted to inappropriately-aged girls — he was a Democrat,” Limbaugh added.
Limbaugh also went after Republicans who have called on Moore to step aside from the race.
“No matter what the real stories are here, and no matter what the evidence is, these guys, these people on the Republican side, are making it clear they are going to prevent this guy from ever being seated in the United States Senate,” Limbaugh said.
A new low, even for Limbaugh. Like it matters or has any bearing on anything at all in any way?
The reaction on the twitter thread:
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/930544148804927489
When Democratic politicians win because of Trump, please remember whose pain brought that.
Someone in another thread posted some bits out of a comment from the Atlantic, including this line:
In some ways this is true for Democratic politicians, sure. There's a Trump Wave that's going to engulf all of the GOP candidates at many levels of government and it's going to cost them votes, seats, maybe even governorships. It will mean that Democrats may hold the Senate or the House after the 2018 midterms (if the pressure from the left stays strong, and those awesome flipping efforts continue).
But a great deal of damage has already been done. Damage to the USA's reputation on the world stage, damage to trade deals, damage to peace accords. McConnell has stacked the federal and state judiciaries with dozens of incredibly far-right life-appointed judges that will affect the legal environment in the USA for decades at least. Trump's incompetent and divisive cronies have already done massive damage to the EPA, HUD, NASA, Department of Education, Department of Energy, and Department of the Interior. Buoyed by the Trump win, states have rolled back protections for the most vulnerable communities. POC, women, the poor, LGBTQ+, and immigrant populations.
This myth that the Trump administration has got nothing done is disingenuous, and highly dangerous. He may not have made any big splashy public policy wins, but those incredibly visible and public failures on the part of Trump have been hiding a shady and effective machine working in the background to enact smaller far-right policies that benefit the wealthy, corporations, lobbyists, and Trump's cronies.
The comment also included this:
Um, no. I don't look back kindly at Reagan at all. When Trump got elected I heard a lot of "Well, we survived Reagan, we can survive Trump." Do you know who didn't survive Reagan? Scores of gay men infected with HIV/AIDS in an unmitigated health emergency that Reagan's administraiont LAUGHED at:
"I don't have it," said Speakes, as the crowd laughed. "Do you?"
Yes, Trump is painting the GOP with his gaudy and damaging brush as they struggle to support him so they can have any glimmer of hope in passing their regressive right-wing policies, but not everyone's going to make it out of this alive, I guarantee. Nazis have already killed people in the streets THIS YEAR. Emboldened by Trump's toxic rhetoric to march openly under nazi flags and shout nazi slogans.
So that "gift" to the Democrats does not come free, there is a price, and it is being paid right now by those most ill equipped to pay for it. Celebrate the upcoming win that the Democratic Party looks ready to claim due to "the gift" of Trump, but please remember: That win comes on the back of vulnerable communities that already supported the Democrats, and many of them are experiencing a lot of pain now. First order of business is to get that fixed.
Moore's Wife still lying to try and cover for him:
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/930505420208246785Roy Moore's wife shared a Facebook post claiming the Olde Hickory House restaurant didn't exist in 1977. Alabama reporter proves it did.
Environmental policy is security policy
As climate change and habitat destruction increase, arable land continues to shrink. As we use more and more natural resources to harvest less and less (fracking, for instance), we create a system of increasing scarcity but poisoning things like vital aquifers, and using up fresh water.
We've got a bit over seven and a half billion people in the world, and many of them are living in areas that are rapidly becoming non-arable. Farming will be impossible because there will not be sufficient fresh water to irrigate. People already living at the margins will be pushed further towards already overcrowded and overstretched communities, and there will be conflict. We are going to see wars over water and arable land within 100 years.
Meanwhile we're fishing the oceans empty, causing species to go extinct at a rate rarely seen, and still growing growing growing. We're still burning fossil fuels, making plastic (and throwing it in the ocean), burning rainforests to make room for cattle. It's all accelerating, the brakes have long since given way, there's no stopping it. Permafrost in Siberia and Northern Canada is melting releasing long-held methane and other greenhouse gases, causing a potential runaway greenhouse effect. It's too late to stop it, but we've got to take our foot off of the gas pedal.
I don't expect it to happen, just wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, this is Trump's pick for a top environmental advisor:
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/928792093182398465
And all I can think about is this scene from The Newsroom:
Trumps pick for top environmental advisor is embarrassingly clueless.
I originally found it in this tweet from Now This News:
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/928792093182398465
Hezbollah's Nasrallah: Saudi Arabia Inciting Israel to Strike Lebanon
Source: Haaretz
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that Saudi Arabia had declared war on Lebanon and Hezbollah, and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was being detained in Riyadh. Nasrallah said Saudi Arabia is inciting Israel to strike Lebanon. An Israeli war with Lebanon as unlikely, he said, but warned Israel against "any attempt to exploit the situation."
In a televised address, Nasrallah said Hariri's resignation last Saturday was an "unprecedented Saudi intervention" in Lebanese politics and called for Hariri to return to Lebanon. He said Lebanon's government was still legitimate and had not resigned. Nasrallah said that Hariri's "forced" resignation is unconstitutional because it was done "under duress."
Nasrallah is calming an apparently jittery population following Saudi Arabia's escalation against Hezbollah's patron Iran. Hariri's resignation last week was seen as a move by Riyadh to take its rivalry with Iran to the tiny Lebanon.
Some fear the escalation will pave the way for Israel to strike against Hezbollah, against which Israel has fought a number of wars. He said Israel should not think "we are troubled. No, absolutely not."
Read more: https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.822100
Homemade Tomato Soup!
So, our video this week is easy homemade tomato soup. If you're really quick about it, you can make it in almost the same amount of time as it takes to heat up a can of condensed tomato soup, and is so much more delicious. With cold weather on the way, this comfort food (especially amazing with grilled cheese) is something you definitely want in your culinary arsenal (though it does require that you keep those big 28oz cans of whole tomatoes around).
If you cook the onions in olive oil or vegetable oil and leave out the cream and Worcestershire, this recipe is vegan, as well. There are plenty of opportunities to customize this recipe. Garlic in with the onions (if you're a garlic fan), some herbs (basil for a Greek flair, or oregano for Italian), spice it up with some of last week's homemade hot sauce... lots of variations you can try!
Thanks, everyone, for watching our videos. I know the production quality's not great (filmed on my smartphone and edited on my struggling laptop), but we keep getting subscribers and views, and a big portion of that comes from here, I think.
Some lessons Toronto learned from Rob Ford that may be useful against Trump:
There are some very strong correlations between how Rob Ford gained power in the Toronto mayoral election a few years ago, and how Trump wedged his way into power in the US federal election. Of course there are vast differences (not the least of which is scale, obviously), but today I saw this thread on Twitter that had some interesting information that seems borne out by the results in VA and NJ this week:
Link to the thread here (it references the Politico article everyone seems to be talking about today):
https://twitter.com/stateofthecity/status/928600275354562560
This is one case where I think it's very fair to make a Pres-Trump v. Mayor Ford comparison. /1
/2 Amid the 2014 Toronto elxn, when I was with @Soknacki2014, a few volunteers described trying to persuade Ford voters.
/3 I had to advise everyone to just stop & walk away the moment they found out Voter X was a Ford fan. The problem..
/4 - as with Trump voters, was a widespread, cult-like suspension of reality. They'd tell you he had built a subway in Scarborough -
/5 - and when you pointed out that construction hadn't even started yet, it didn't matter. Specific broken promises: didn't matter.
/6 Many told canvassers + media the crack story was a lie - but once Ford admitted it, they said it didn't matter (some *still* said it was a lie)
/7 The total loyalty simply based on the notion of shared anger - "he's sticking it to THEM" - was enough to literally turn off brains.
/8 And anyone who worked that election knows that plenty of brains were lost that way. The stereotype of Ford Nation, like camp Trump -
/9 - as uneducated or low income drones was completely wrong; we hit Ford Fans of many age, gender, income & education levels.
/10 So we bypassed them, completely. And the easy reality was seen in Virginia on Tuesday: the only way for Dems & anti-Trump GOP to win -
/11 - elections against this phenomenon is to swamp it with higher turnouts. But in the long term, we really need psych + polici to -
/12 - study these movements like the cults they became, and to test whether approaches used to break cults can do work *politically.*
/13 Because that's what we are dealing with on the voter end of this crisis, and it's time to approach it from both ends accordingly.
X-Post from Canada: 'Hate-sponsored rallies' should be prohibited in Toronto, councillor says
Don't for a second think that Canada is immune to this sort of madness. I know a bunch of fellow Canadian citizens who seem to think Canada is some post-racial utopia. Well, guess what, we've still got some troublemakers.
From CTV News: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/hate-sponsored-rallies-should-be-prohibited-in-toronto-councillor-says-1.3667381
In an administrative inquiry at a council meeting that starts today, Ward 10 Coun. James Pasternak is asking the deputy city manager to look into what can be done to prohibit white supremacist or neo-Nazi rallies and other demonstrations that incite hatred and violence on City or provincial property.
“Do the Toronto Police Service or City of Toronto have ability and what resources could they utilize to prohibit a rally that is inciting hatred and violence?” Pasternak’s submission read.
The question comes a little more than two weeks after far-right demonstrators squared off with counter-protesters at Nathan Phillips Square.
Speaking to CP24 on Tuesday, Pasternak said he understands free speech and the right to gather are “sacred” rights.
“We also have to respect the rights of targeted groups and respect their right to freedom and liberty,” he said.
Pasternak said the while the city already has a “very robust” anti-discrimination policy, which people must sign before they can hold an event on city property, city officials should be able to do more on the enforcement front.
“We think we should have the power to issue trespass orders, to fine for extra police services, maybe freeze bank accounts. We need those powers to make sure that hate can’t grow within our society.”
Nazis and white supremacists are not part of a robust national dialogue. We've seen where that leads, and it's not good. They can assemble all they want, but if they're spewing their vile hate-filled "philosophy" in public, then they should face the consequences of that spewing. They are not there to take part in a robust debate of good will, they are there to proclaim their superiority over others while at the same time claiming victimization by society for their beliefs. Nazis are 100% incompatible with a free, just, open, equal, and fair society.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also in Toronto news today: The white supremacists behind alt-right posters around the city
From Torontoist: https://torontoist.com/2017/11/revealed-white-supremacists-behind-alt-right-posters-around-city/
When they realized they were being photographed, Winston Smith yelled at the photographer “Faggot!” and “Fucking commie scum.” The photographer tells Torontoist that most of the group quickly covered up their faces and that later they yelled “Bitch” and “Cunt” at another woman who was present.
The posters, reading “It’s okay to be white” in large, sans-serif font are part of a 4chan campaign to “expose the media’s anti-white bias through their reaction to a harmless flyer.” In the 4chan thread, one user posts that “the idea is to hide your fucking powerlevel and insist that it’s just an innocent ‘it’s okay to be white.’ If people start being Nazis and supporting the posters, then liberals can just dismiss it all with dogwhistles and moderates won’t be convinced.”
Here, the user is referring to a strategy the alt-right have adopted after the events of Charlottesville, when it became widely accepted that the alt-right is a racist and white supremacist movement.
‘Hiding your powerlevel’ refers to a strategy of publicly disavowing Nazis and “keep[ing] the long-term goals covert . . . Talking openly about a white ethnostate only leads to failure and the average public turning against you, so disavow anyone who reveals his power level. Leftists will recognize dog whistles and know we’re crypto, but normies won’t listen to them.”
In short, the purpose of these posters is to publish a message that’s hard to disagree with – that it’s okay to be white – and paint any opposition to the message as an example of media bias against white people.
Smith, Huxtable, and their crew will say they aren’t Nazis. Huxtable says that white supremacists and neo-Nazis don’t exist. He identifies himself as an “ethno-nationalist” and a “race realist.” Earlier this month, Huxtable posted “(((you))) [Jews] will. Not. replace. Us.!!!!!!!!” in the Students for Free Discourse Facebook page. That’s what the white supremacists chanted in Charlottesville, marching past a synagogue, carrying tiki torches. In one post, Smith says: “Generation Zyklon will save us do not worry.” Zyklon B is a pesticide that was used in gas chambers during the Holocaust.
They can call themselves whatever they want. They are white supremacists and nazis. And they can go fall down a very deep hole as soon as possible, please.
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Ottawa, Ontario
Home country: Canada
Current location: Toronto, Ontario
Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 04:34 PM
Number of posts: 3,283
