Music Friday: "Homecoming"

Here's a song from probably Josh Ritter's best album, Sermon on the Rocks. At least it's my favorite of his. 

Musing of the Moment: Harris as Presidential Candidate

The big news over the weekend was that Biden is no longer running for President. 

And the Democrats, surprisingly, put their support around Kamala Harris quickly. 

I have been surprised about the speediness of the support because historically the Democratic Party usually isn't that organized or disciplined. That's more of the modus operandi of the Republican Party that has become the brain-dead GOP. 

So in the presidential contest, we have a convicted felon who cannot even run a hot dog cart in the state of New York who is also a convicted sexual assaulter versus a former prosecutor and Attorney General. 

Who is the "Back the Blue" cohort of voters going to vote for? 

The answer probably isn't what it should be. 

As Rage Against the Machine sang, "Those of those that work forces/ are the same that burn crosses." 

Possibly not literally but figuratively...

But in some cases literally.

The race-based dog whistling has already started with Moscow Don's allies calling Harris the "DEI candidate." 

More of that shit is coming. 

Music Friday: "Who Am I to Say"

It's unfortunate that this great musical artist passed away in 2020. 

Here's a sold album from his 2008 release The Good Life. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Blueberry Cornbread

I got this recipe from one of the episodes of either Cooks' Country or America's Test Kitchen on PBS.  

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of AP flour

1 cup of yellow corn meal

3/4 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

12 tablespoons of melted butter (cooled)

1 cup of whole milk

2 eggs

2 cups of blueberries

Process

Set the oven to 375 degrees. Put the dry ingredients together and whisk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (butter, milk, and eggs) and then combine the wet with the dry ingredients. 

You don't want to overwork the batter--just get it mixed. Add the blueberries until mixed. 

Grease a cast iron skillet with butter and sprinkle corn meal on the surface so the cornbread comes out cleanly. 

Pour the batter into the skillet. Sprinkle the top of the batter with sugar. Cook for roughly 40 minutes until a paring knife comes out clean. 

Music Friday: "Year to Be Young 1994"

I've featured a tune from this guy's album previously, but here's another fine cut off Stephen Wilson Jr.'s album from last year. 

Random Notes from a Crank

On a mainly weekday basis, I've been posting definitions from the Dictionary of American Slang, which was published in 1967, in alpha order on my FB feed. 

Today I was on the letter M in the alphabet, so I posted this definition from the dictionary:

"meatball meat ball n. 1. A dull, boring person; an obnoxious person; anyone regarded with disfavor, esp. one of flat or uninteresting character; a creep, a drip, a square, a wet blanket. 2. A tactical signal flag bearing a black dot on a yellow field; also, the Japanese national flag. #. A swelling of or on the face, cause by a blow in fighting. 4. In baseball, any pitched ball that can be hit readily by a given batter. v.t. 1. To strike someone with a fist. --ism n. 1. Anti-intellectualism; the state of willing ignorance or mediocrity. 2. A state of, or instance demonstrating, decreasing standards of integrity, ethics, intelligence, and individualism in culture, politics, education, and the like; democratic rule by an uneducated, non-thinking majority."

I'm particularly fond of the term "meatballism" because I think it properly describes the U.S. for quite some time. It's an anti-intellectual country, and it's been like that for centuries. 

The amount of willful ignorance is astounding, and the if you follow politics for any amount of time, the "decreasing standards" will make you depressed. 

I think the U.S. is currently engaged in "democratic rule by an uneducated, non-thinking majority." 

I guess there are glimmers of hope though with the Labour Party coming back into majority power in the U.K.: "How Ken Starmer Overwhelmed Britain's Conservatives."

And over in France, Macron's gamble to call an election turned out better than expected since left-leaning folks flocked to the polls and put down the right-wing idiots trying to take power: "France Electioin Results: Far Right's Rise Suffers Unexpected Blow as Left Surges." 

But what does this mean for November? 

At least if you're going by a flash poll by YouGov that I took today Trump hopefully is in trouble. At the time I'm writing this post, 36% of people polled think Moscow Don is mentally fit to be President, 5% think he was mentally fit to be president in 2020 but is no longer mentally fit to be president, and 54% believe he was not mentally fit to be president in 2020 and is not mentally fit today. 

At least on that last answer, Biden only clocks in at 31%. 

In better news, the people polled were asked about their opinion of the GOP's "Project 2025," and 53% have a very unfavorable opinion of it. 

The biggest challenge before Biden is that he has to hit the swing states hard since we still live under a system that relies on the idiocy that is the Electoral College.

Music Friday: "Sick of Myself"

We were at a baseball tournament over the Fourth of July week, so we were in a hotel, and I got out of my routine of posting this on a Friday. 

This song ran through my head a number of days this week because I heard it played on the SiriusXM Spectrum station a number of times, and then I had a couple of mornings when I had this song in my head when I woke up. 

It's pure power pop from Matthew Sweet. 

Music Friday: "Too Much Information"

This tune got played on shuffle on my iPod this morning. 

If it were updated for today, I think Sting would include misinformation, lies, and bullshit because of the InterWebs. Or maybe that's being too direct about matters. 

The song is from my favorite album of the band, Ghost in the Machine. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Pickled Shrimp

I got the basics of this recipe from an episode of one of the PBS cooking shows I watch on a regular basis. It was featured either on Cook's Country or America's Test Kitchen. 

This recipe is a big one, so when I make this again, I'll probably cut the recipe in half because I'm the only one eating this stuff. 2 pounds shrimp is a lot of shrimp. 

Ingredients

2 lbs. of cooked shrimp-they called for jumbo shrimp, but I just used some frozen Kroger-brand, already cooked and devained shrimp and thawed them out. 

2 garlic cloves, smashed or chopped

1 cup of cider vinegar

1/4 cup of sugar

3 bay leaves

1 ts of ground coriander

1/2 ts of red pepper flakes

1 cup of sliced red onion

1 lemon cut into wedges

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 TB of capers chopped

1 TB of dill seed

1 TB of dill weed

2 TB of dijon mustard

1 TB of hot sauce

1 TB of Worcestershire 

1 TB of salt

Process

Thaw and drain the shrimp. I used medium size, but I'd probably prefer jumbo shrimp, which as a term is an oxymoron. 

In a large bowl mix the vinegar, sugar, bay leaves, coriander, and pepper flakes. Microwave the liquid for two minutes. Whisk. 

Add the red onion and lemon wedges into the mixture. Add the oil, capers, dill, dijon, hot sauce, Worcestershire, and salt. Whisk to make it a dressing. 

Add in the shrimp and refrigerate for at least a day. Throughout the day be sure mix up the concoction, so it's evenly coated. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Cheese Sandwiches

A good while ago I tried this Branston spread that British people apparently like. I didn't care for it. It was way too tangy and root vegetal for my taste. 

On the Interwebs I read that people recommended using the spread on cheese sandwiches. I tried that concoction, and it wasn't good. 

When I think of a sandwich, I usually associate that lunch staple with some kind of deli meat, not just cheese. Yes, I know how American that statement sounds. 

Lately I experimented with cheese sandwiches to good effect. Pick your favorite slices of cheese (I've tried Muenster and Havarti so far) and make a sandwich. However, the way I like it is to use sriracha mayo of some variety on both pieces of bread. It pairs well with the cheese and bread as a solid condiment.

Musing of the Moment: Tottenham's Away Kit

Tottenham's away kit got released recently. You can see it below and read about it on Footy Headlines. 

I dig the new away kit. I like the mixture of three different blues and how the cockerel atop the ball is in the middle of the shirt. 

My only question is why Nike went with the kind of strange-looking v-neck. Why not just do a regular v-neck? I don't understand. 

If I were to get a Tottenham jersey, I think this would be the one I would get. However, the damn thing costs $95. That figure is astounding. 

Music Friday: "Unwritten"

This is one of my favorite songs of my son's current girlfriend. 

I was reminded of it when it was played in between innings of my son's travel baseball game today. 

As pop songs go, it's a solid tune.  

Music Friday: "Pretty Persuasion"

This song was, for whatever reason, in heavy rotation on a couple of different SiriusXM radio stations I listen to. 

You might as well enjoy it too. 

Random Notes from a Crank

The Washington Post has an exclusive report about police officers sexually abuse kids and get away with it. Please read this gifted article titled "Abused by the Badge." 

No one should be above the law. 

In other news, the ignoramuses who are members of the Southern Baptist Convention oppose in vitro fertilization, and a majority of the voters think women shouldn't be preachers. Check it out in "Southern Baptist Convention Votes to Oppose In Vitro Fertilization." 

You can't reason with stupid.

Music Friday: "Dark Matter"

Here's the title track of Pearl Jam's new album this year.