The Weekend Game: Your White House State Dinner

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Let’s play a game for the weekend. You’ve somehow grifted your way into hosting a table at a White House State Dinner, and the survival of Democracy might just depend on who you sit next to.

You have two missions.

Mission 1: Your Table for Ten
You take one seat. Your assignment is to invite nine others to join you—living or dead. The Catch: First come, first served in the comments. If someone else in the thread beats you to a person, no stealing. You have to come up with a new name.

Mission 2: The Head Table Nominations
After your table is set, present your nominations for the Head Table. Name a President, a Guest of Honor, and a humorist/speaker to entertain the room. Once the floor is filled, we will hold a vote on the final President’s table from your combined nominees.

To get your creative juices flowing, here is the actual menu and setting awaiting your guests tonight:

The Menu & Pairings

  • Celery Broth with Crispy Rock Shrimp
  • Newton Chardonnay “Unfiltered” 2002
  • Medallions of Buffalo Tenderloin with Roasted Corn, Wild Rice Pancakes, Glazed Parsnips, and Young Carrots
  • Peter Michael Pinot Noir “Le Moulin Rouge” 2002
  • Mint Romaine Lettuce with Blood Orange Vinaigrette, Vermont Camembert Cheese, and Spiced Walnuts
  • Petits Fours Cake & Chartreuse Ice Cream with Red and Green Grape Sauce
  • Iron Horse “Wedding Cuvée” 2002

The Vibe & Entertainment

  • The Room: The State Dining Room, The White House State Floor
  • The Settings: Clinton China, Vermeil flatware, gold pintuck silk tablecloths, and sprays of white phalaenopsis orchids with camellia foliage in historic White House vermeil candelabras.
  • The Music: The U.S. Marine Band Flute Trio (East Entrance) and “Strolling Strings” (State Floor).
  • After Dinner: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and concert pianist Kathryn Stott in the East Room, followed by the U.S. Marine Dance Band in the Grand Foyer.

Take your seats and drop your guest lists below.

💬 Add your voice: Comment on today’s post

147 thoughts on “The Weekend Game: Your White House State Dinner”

  1. Jamie, please, let me man the dessert cart. What fun to visit all the tables and listen in (if not provide grist) for all the wisdom and witticisms that would ensue.

  3. Yesterday we did a trial run. Some folks couldn’t count to ten others kept trading and thieving and we ended up with a host of celebrities sort of wandering the room. So to clarify. You plus nine other people, living or dead real or imaginary. You can just present a list or produce a picture of your table. If you must invite Hannibal Lecter to dine, you are responsible for his eating habits. Feel free to explain your choices.

  4. The tables will be rectangle so every one can be seen. If you have AI and want to do a picture have at it. Here is mine from yesterday.

  5. while we ponder the perfect guest list for the Trail, here’s the first Meeting Of Minds with Steve Allen, Season 01 Episode 01

  6. Here’s my Mission 1: Table For Ten
    Yesterday I hogged Ben Franklin, but saw how much others wanted him, so I’ll leave him to first come, first serve this morning.
    Me
    David
    Amelia Earhart
    Clive Davis
    Marcel Proust
    Richard Pryor
    Yeshua bar Yosef
    Queen Elizabeth
    Simon Bolivar
    Ann Richards

  10. Craig,

    The nominations for President can be real, fictional or desired . I’m undecided between Hillary Clinton or Josiah Bartlett from West Wing. I was leaving that decision until later in the day so they are currently still available for theft.

    PS Anybody who wants an AI of their table and doesn’t have the means, just ask. We have the technology.

  11. Mission 1: Table For Ten
    Me
    Craig
    Cher
    Tina Turner
    Alexis Carrington
    Jackie Collins
    Mary Tyler Moore
    Channing Tatum
    David Geffen
    Cal Ripken, Jr.

    Mission 2: The Head Table Nominations
    President – JFK
    Guest of Honor – Diana Spencer
    Humorist/Speaker – Joan Rivers

  12. Mission One: my table
    Barbara (me)
    Barack Obama
    Michele Obama
    Jane Austen
    Ben Franklin
    Loren Eisley
    Maya Angelou
    Neil Degrasse Tyson
    Mary Oliver
    Jesse Norman

    Mission Two: can my table be head table?
    President: Barack Obama
    Guest of Honor: Mary Oliver
    Speaker: Maya Angelou

  13. Attempting to go where none have chosen before
    Me
    Brando
    Judas
    Xenophon
    Thucydides
    Bertrand Russel
    Mrs Socrates
    Zappa (I think he’d enjoy the irony.)
    Ringo
    Dorothy Parker

    Nominations
    President – Jimmy Carter

    Guest of Honor – Jeanne d’Arc
    Humorist/Speaker – Lenny Bruce

  14. I’m making my lists and checking them thrice (but I’ll probably still get confused)

    Sturgeone – Is that Judas Priest or the shamed Judas of the bum rap to keep Jesus company since Judas was just following orders? I named Xantippe since you didn’t mention Mrs. Socrates name.

    Babbo – No on you being the head table. That will be filled by vote and acclimation though it is turning into the table for celebrity refugees hunting for a meal.

  17. For those not familiar with Mrs. Socrates – Another victim of “blame it on the wife”

    Xanthippe was an ancient Athenian, the wife of Socrates and mother of their son Lamprocles; she may also have been the mother of his other sons Sophroniscus and Menexenus. She was likely much younger than Socrates, perhaps by around 30 years. In Xenophon’s Symposium, she is described by Antisthenes as “the most difficult, harshest, painful, ill-tempered” wife; this characterization of Xanthippe has influenced all subsequent portrayals of her

  18. Anonymous

    Who do you want to leave off as “designated survivors)

    Deborah Furness
    VP JD Vance
    • Secretary of State: Marco Rubio
    • Secretary of the Treasury: Scott Bessent
    • Secretary of Defense: Pete Hegseth
    • Attorney General: Todd Blanche
    • Secretary of the Interior: Doug Burgum
    • Secretary of Agriculture: Brooke Rollins
    • Secretary of Commerce: Howard Lutnick
    • Secretary of Labor: Keith Sonderling (acting)
    • Secretary of Health and Human Services: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
    • Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Scott Turner
    • Secretary of Transportation: Sean Duffy
    • Secretary of Energy: Chris Wright
    • Secretary of Education: Linda McMahon
    • Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Doug Collins
    • Secretary of Homeland Security: Markwayne Mullin

  21. blueINdallas aka Me
    Freddie Mercury
    Mikhail Baryshnikov
    David Byrne
    Hilma af Klint
    John Lennon
    Yoko Ono
    Tracee Ellis Ross
    Mark Twain
    Ronan Farrow

    Head of table: Taft
    Honoree: Jon Stewart
    Speaker: David Letterman

    Vegetarian meal with vegan options, served on fun stoneware from Fish’s Eddy in NYC (celebrating their 40th year in business), and lots of ube-centered options for dessert, including ube-cream filled croissants and halo-halo. Entertainment will just be a jam session, sing-along. I’m running a very business casual WH dinner.

  22. I saw a table back by the kitchen with
    -Benedict Arnold
    -Alcibiades
    -The guy who led the Persians around behind King Leonidas and the 300.
    -Aaron Burr
    -Tokyo Rose
    -Lord Haw-Haw
    -Mata-Hari
    -Harold “Kim” Philby
    -Brutus
    -Trump

  33. too much going on in life right now to try and remember who took whom and what… just going to try and relax this weekend.

    I do like reading with the tables you all come up with…

  38. My official Olan Mills portrait.
    Taken last week.
    No, really.
    I shaved.
    And see? I’m not bald at all.

  45. Holy crap…. First thing I see looking at my table is I notice that it’s all white people. That means choosing off the top of my bean like that I missed out on Ali, George Forman, de Grasse Tyson, Pryor, Chuck Berry, Otis Redding, Angela Davis, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Ray Charles, MLKjr, Porter Middleton of Wadmalaw Island, Redd Foxx…..

    Ye gads…..I missed about 80 tables worth of folks…..and Mel Brooks too.

  46. 1) Foghorn Leghorn
    2) General Giap, Viet Nam
    3) General Mark Hertling, retired
    4) Elgin Baylor, basketball
    5) Studs Terkel
    6) Eugene V. Debs
    7) Satchel Paige
    8) Vance Hartke
    9) Tom Waits
    10) Yerz Troolie
    Head table speaker: Wes Moore

  50. Lesson 1: Never share your video with the Feds, because they’ll bury it or manipulate it, and/or use it against you.
    Lesson 2: Voter roles aren’t just for voting.
    Lesson 3: Proximity could equal guilt under surveillance like Oracle’s products.

  52. Today in the Diner…
    Donald Trump NASA Speech & Dolly Parton

    Donald Trump’s NASA Artemis 2 speech, plus the campaign to rename the Nashville airport for Dolly Parton. We also build our ultimate dinner party.

    Let’s talk about Donald Trump handing out the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the Artemis 2 crew at NASA. His speech went completely off the rails into a bizarre rant about the Space Academy, proving once again that he is just playing the old hits for his base. It was a strange moment that left everyone scratching their heads.

    To recover, the Digital Diner crew dives into our ultimate White House State Dinner game. We are seating historical heavyweights and pop culture icons together. The table is packed with fascinating figures like legendary basketball star Elgin Baylor, sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guin, and military strategist General Vo Nguyen Giap. We also swap legendary music industry tales, including a hilarious story about Clive Davis pranking John Denver on tour.

    Finally, we are tracking the real life petition to rename Nashville International Airport to the Dolly Parton International Airport. With over 123,000 signatures, it is heading to the Tennessee governor. We are fully on board, especially if they use Dolly’s actual voice for the gate departure announcements.

    Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
    Website: https://trailmix.cc
    Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts

    00:00 Intro
    00:15 Trump NASA Artemis 2 Speech
    03:40 Barack Obama and Loren Eiseley
    13:50 Hilma af Klint Art Discussion
    21:30 The Muppets and Brett Goldstein
    26:15 Ed Asner TikTok Death Hoax
    27:20 Larry Ellison Oracle Lawsuit
    33:00 Ursula K. Le Guin Sci-Fi Debate
    48:50 General Vo Nguyen Giap History
    50:50 Elgin Baylor Basketball Legacy
    55:00 Clive Davis and John Denver Tale
    58:30 Dolly Parton Nashville Airport
    — Human directed and edited. Machine drafted (Gemini Pro).

  53. My final list

    My table: Patsi, Leonardo D Vince, Nicolo Machiavelli, George Carlin, John Steinbeck, Ursula Le Guin, Marie Curie, Mel Brooks, Kurt Vonnegut

    At the head table: President: Teddy Roosevelt. Guest of honor, Aiionwatha, aka Hiawatha, one of the cofounders of the Iroquois confederacy. Guest speaker, Fredrick Douglas

  56. Sturge:
    So many to choose from. and that is just from the Euro-centric world.
    Then there is China, India, Japan. Africa.
    I wonder what would happen if you put Genghis Khan, Shaka Zulu and Andy Jackson at the same table. would they be at each others throats or would they trade stories of their favorite genocide.

    Jack

  62. Had to update my table and picture. Needless to say Merlin had a thing or two to say about the extra work:

    That table is basically a cabaret with philosophers accidentally booked for dinner.

    Four piano players and six singers means Steve Allen probably starts something at the microphone, Sammy picks it up, Linda turns it into a concert, Audra raises the roof, Hugh decides choreography is now required, and Bob gets dragged into accompaniment whether he intended to or not.

    Meanwhile Hume, by most accounts, was sociable, witty, fond of good food and conversation, and considerably less dour than his philosophical reputation suggests. He would probably be delighted by the whole noisy arrangement. Adam Smith may be the one quietly calculating the opportunity cost of dessert.

  63. Whiskey

    I agree. No matter how much Miller Elon and their fellow racists want to pretend, human knowledge didn’t begin in the white parts of the globe. Even those folks migrated from much father south before sitting around and bleaching for several thousands years.

  64. Craig,

    Don’t know if you saw a post from yesterday, but Pocahontas has about 100,000 US descendants through the Rolfe/Bolling line. Those feelings from deep down in genes certainly do get around.

  65. Jack, with all the singers and such, here are some Japanese Haiku writers for poetic balance

    Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694): Widely considered the master of the form, he elevated haiku from a social pastime into a deep, spiritual art. Famous work: “The Old Pond” (frog jumping into water).

    Yosa Buson (1716–1783): A talented painter and poet who brought a vivid, visual, and romantic quality to his verse. Famous work: “Lighting One Candle”.

    Kobayashi Issa (1763–1828): Known for his compassionate, folksy, and often emotional style that highlighted small creatures and human suffering. Famous work: “A World of Dew”.

    Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902): Credited with actually coining the word haiku and modernizing the genre during the Meiji period

  66. Blue – I guess you saw Linda McMahon got confused by the term “AI” and called it “A1.” Bill Maher last night said she thinks AI runs on steak sauce.

  67. Yes, Dave B. The Department of Education is in fine hands…since the goal is to demolish it.
    She is one, soggy cookie.

  68. For China, I’m nominating Tzu Hsi (Empress Dowager Cixi), the last de facto ruler of the Qing Dynasty. Pearl S. Buck wrote about her in Imperial Woman as a young concubine entering the Forbidden City in 1852 to a powerful leader navigating decades of national turmoil and palace intrigue.

  69. @AnnieAndrewsMD X.com
    Mrs. Graham Nordone says her family suffered and died without health care and apparently thinks yours should too.
    Call me crazy, but as a doctor, I believe there are few responsibilities more fundamental to government than keeping its citizens healthy and safe. No family should have to suffer simply because generations before them did.

    *At last, Sister-Girl “Whatever Her Name Is” finally gave us a Republican healthcare plan. Work hard, go to work even if you’re sick, and die young like her parents. Unlike DarLINe and LINdsey, there won’t be much in the way of government assistance for orphans.

  70. Anon. That factoid is from a study that found the related Khan Y Chromosome in about 8% of males in the area and about 0.5% of global men.

    The Math: This signature translated to roughly 16 million men alive at the time, or about 0.5% of the global male population. The Reason: Scientists attributed this massive spread to social selection. Genghis Khan and his male descendants held extreme power, had many wives and concubines, and left behind large numbers of surviving children.

  71. Blue

    This is why the human race should have been encouraged to use birth control once the smallpox vaccine was discovered and definitely after MMR & Polio. Due to the birth rate that originally offset child deaths and kept the population around one billion was no longer true, global population has now climbed like a rocket from one billion to aiming for nine billion. Result: Habitat destruction, Extinction of other species and resource decline.

    One way or another and we will probably hit a point of either kill off a whole lot of people or do what Elon wants to do not fast enough and migrate to Mars to ruin another planet.

  72. yep i also ai’d it, got the same result

    which may or may not be true, but ai sure is authoritative eh

  73. the milo thing is kinda scary, even though he asked for it

    snitch society

    like they ain’t my politics, but he is a political figure

    And you might disagree with that designation but when they go for one of yours or ours, they’ll say “oh we got Milo too. We’re applying these standards equally.”

  76. Most of the films of the original Meeting of the Minds have disappeared, but some of the scripts have been recreated. Here is one featuring Emily Dickinson/Attila the Hun/Charles Darwin/Galileo

  77. I’m really enjoying on the various people. It definitely has me looking up details and staring at my library to see what I already have on hand. Among other things, the published scripts for Meeting of the Minds.

  79. Speaking of Niki Minaj, Kelly Loeffler (whom Dumbass confused with Niki) head of the SBA…

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-small-business-classification-b3039876.html

    The Trump administration wants to change what it means to be a small business by raising the standard, allowing certain companies with more than 3,000 employees and making $1 billion to apply for federal loans and grants.

    Under a new rule proposal, the Small Business Administration would massively increase the current limit on how much a business may earn or how many people it may employ to be considered “small” – as part of a goal to “reward” growing firms.

    In the financial sector, businesses handling “miscellaneous financial investment activities” could make up to $1.011 billion to still be considered small – rather than the current standard, which is capped at $47 million in revenue.

    –> Political organizations making $632 million would be permitted to seek loans and grants – a nearly 200 percent increase from its current cap at $14 million. <—

    “This rule would decimate opportunities for actual small businesses by opening the door to federal resources for billion-dollar companies. This admin must end its war on Main Street," Markey added.

  80. Here’s my Mission 2: The Head Table Nominations
    President: Thomas Jefferson
    Guest of Honor: John Adams
    Featured Speaker: Ben Franklin

    the three imagined together in “1776”

  82. Jamie, Anon. the problem of letting AI do your thinking. It still tends to leave out the “Yeah but” parts of the problem.
    In genetics these days there is a lot of that. What was true yesterday is not so smart today..
    From a short article on the subject in Scientific American. I found it the old fashion way. (link here)

    In 2003, researchers discovered that around 8 percent of men living in Central Asia, or about 0.5 percent of the global male population, had the C3* cluster. Based on its prevalence throughout what was once the Mongol Empire, they proposed that C3* might be a genetic signature of Khan’s male descendants.

    However, since then, scientists have discovered that the C3* cluster is a large genetic family. “It has many different branches,” Askapuli tells Live Science’s Kristina Killgrove. “The Golden Horde elites have one of those branches.”

    My favorite sentence in the article.

    As such, the genetic legacy of the Mongol Empire is more complicated than previously assumed.

  84. We are going to Nashville whenever the airport is officially Dolly’s. Join us.

    For some weird reason I have never been to Nashville. I guess it’s just so far from Memphis and Chattanooga where I have often been.

  85. Craig,

    I just got the work history for my Nashville cousin who passed away a couple of years ago. Apparently, he was a more major actor than I realized judging by the references on recordings and research sources. I’m writing the Special Collections unit government project housed at the Nashville Library to get the interview done with him on his career as a sound engineer with a host of major recording artists.

  86. Jack,

    I tend to do the “yeah but” part once I’ve got the initial short bits. You are right that it is important to not let AI be the source. It is like Wikipedia – A good place to start before heading out elsewhere for detail and accuracy.

  87. That SBA change would decimate real small businesses and family owned enterprises. It is becoming more and more clear that everything Trump touches dies. Now if he would only rub himself all over.

  90. Craig – Dollywood is over 3 hours away from Nashville, but her new Storyteller Hotel is in town.

    I’m going to go to Dolly (the Broadway musical), if it runs long enough. Maybe next autumn.

    Home

    DOLLY: A True Original Musical is the story only Dolly Parton could tell, in her own words and through the songs that shaped her life. From the top of the Smoky Mountains to the top of the world, DOLLY captures how she dreamed, dared, stumbled, and soared.

    Featuring beloved hits including “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” and “9 to 5,” along with new music written by Dolly for the show, and directed by Tony Award® winner Bartlett Sher with a book by Dolly Parton and Maria S. Schlatter, DOLLY: A True Original Musical takes you inside her life in the spotlight and the music that carried her there.

  92. If Dolly on Broadway runs until next September, maybe the 9/25 show. It’s a Saturday. (Depends on the Dumbass regime, etc.)

  93. Oh, so we get our table but the honoree and speaker & POTUS are up to a vote? All of our tables are there?

  94. This has been great fun . rather than a vote just create the head table you want to see. We are heading out for dinner in an hour. To be continued …

  99. When we get this many comments with images and videos on one thread your browser might choke and need a refresh (especially on mobile devices).

    Here’s how:

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  100. https://hoodline.com/2026/08/trump-s-65-billion-barrel-venezuela-oil-deal-hits-legal-minefield-gas-still-tops-4/

    Trump announced Friday that the United States has entered what he called the biggest oil deal in world history, a 100-year concession granting a private joint venture control over 17 Venezuelan oil fields holding an estimated 65 billion barrels of crude — with the U.S. government holding a 55% controlling stake in the venture’s effective output through equity and rights to purchase oil at cost.

    The deal was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez, per the outlet’s report. A U.S. official told CBS News the venture would become the world’s second-largest corporate holder of proven oil reserves, trailing only Saudi Aramco.

    Rodríguez and Rubio have projected that the 17-field agreement will draw nearly $100 billion in private investment into Venezuela’s energy sector and generate more than $209 billion in tax revenues for the country, according to statements reported by MercoPress. That infusion arrives as Venezuela tries to rebuild energy infrastructure that has been left severely dilapidated, the outlet noted. The scale of the reserves at stake is striking on its own: the 65 billion barrels covered by the deal exceed the entire domestic proved crude oil endowment of the United States, which stands at roughly 48 billion barrels, per the same MercoPress reporting.

    *Smells like mafioso-communism. Is that a thing?

  101. was just going express disbelief that trump’s oil plunder hadn’t been mentioned yet

    good job 🫡

  102. you can imagine the techlords selling us out to the highest bidding adversary for post-conflict access and control in an escalated scenario

    they’re already in all the systems

  103. Watching Fox panic over TX and Paxton barely bothering to campaign. Not taking it for granted, but the GOP is showing signs of flop sweat as Trump sinks ever lower into money grubbing criminality.

  108. Pepped up the tenderloin with socialist seasoning sent by BlueD — Tsar Dust from Penzeys: black pepper, salt, paprika, Cayenne Red pepper, white pepper, chipotle pepper.

    Medicare For All!

  110. Trump administration plans to sell sliver of Yosemite to private company: Report

    The Trump administration is pursuing a deal to give a small sliver of land in Yosemite National Park to a private company for development, according to a report.

    Four people familiar with the matter told NOTUS that the Trump administration has been trying to arrange a land exchange between the federal government and a Nevada-based company since Spring 2025, a move that would include handing over a tiny parcel of Yosemite to the private company. The move was noted as unparalleled — National Parks had previously sought only to expand their territory, rather than subtract from it.

    Federal government regulations hold that any land given to a private company must be exchanged for land of equivalent value, but this hasn’t previously involved giving away National Park land. The deals also haven’t been as secretive as this one.

    The National Park Service said “no final decisions have been made on the matter,” but stressed that any deal “would be subject to all applicable federal laws, regulations, and Departmental policies, including required environmental review and public notification processes.”

    “If a proposal advances, the [Interior] Department would follow established procedures to ensure appropriate coordination, transparency, and public involvement, consistent with federal law,” the spokesperson told the outlet.

    *If there were transparency and public involvement, this wouldn’t be a thing. This started in 2025!?!

  116. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/did-trump-cut-down-over-100-year-old-cherry-blossom-trees-japan-in-washington-dc-for-east-potomac-golf-course-details-101788040464640.html

    Reports about the state of an iconic cherry tree at East Potomac Park in Washington D.C., gifted to the United States by Japan in 1912, have raised alarm.

    According to the WaPo report, Trump is seeking to build a golf course on a man-made island on the Potomac River that would be capable of hosting PGA events.

    The cherry blossom tree was felled by the Trump administration along with at least 60 other trees, purportedly to make way for the expansion of Potomac Golf Links, it added.

    The Washington Post reached out to the National Park Service about the tree cutting ongoing in East Potomac. They have said that the cuttings are part of regular maintenance work at the golf course.

    “Arborists are doing routine maintenance at East Potomac Park with selective removal of hazard trees, non-native invasive trees, and declining and dying trees that cannot be brought back to good health through any degree of intervention,” a spokesperson told WaPo in a statement.

    “Trees throughout the park are regularly monitored for potential safety impacts to visitors, and when a tree is determined to be dying, declining or hazardous, our arborists may make the decision to remove it.”

    The cherry blossom trees at East Potomac are part of over 3,000 trees Japan brought to the US as a sign of friendship between the two nations. They were planted there between 1913 and 1920, according to the

    Many of them have been destroyed by over the years, including when the flood wall was built on the Tidal Basin.

  117. But do you roast them in the oven or do something else?

    Oh, in a skillet? Never thought of that. Always did root vegetable SF bake for Thanksgiving when I was in Texas.

  119. Moving the left direction..

    Cook Political Report shifts FL gubernatorial race from ‘solid’ to ‘likely’ Republican:

    “While Jolly trails Trump-backed Rep. Byron Donalds by more than a 10:1 margin in fundraising, his ability to potentially reach out to independents and disaffected Republicans makes this a unique contest that could possibly become competitive,” writes Jessica Taylor with the Cook Report. “Jolly would still need a significant financial boost to mount a statewide television campaign and have a real shot”

  121. My pork chops are marinating in some homemade pico de gallo. The pico de gallo is very salty with lime juice so it is pickled product. It keeps for several weeks in the fridge. made with home grown tomatoes peppers and onions. I copied it after salsa I used to buy in a Mexican store back in the old neighborhood. And don’t ask me how much salt, just till it tastes right and more than you would think. sides a cucumber tomato and pepper salad with feta and green olives , will use the olive juice for dressing. and I still have a few home grown new potatoes, small ones perfect to cut in half boil and deep fry until golden brown.

    Jack

  126. Carrots, parsnips, onions, potatoes, yams, fennel, and green beans with olive oil and the SF herbs aka Thanksgiving herbs.

  128. Sci-Fi legend throwdown:

    Seating liberal Ursula K. Le Guin next to libertarian Robert Heinlein guarantees someone flips a table before dessert.

    🍽️ From today’s Digital Diner menu

  129. We were hard core rockers, rhythm and blues, and while we always poked fun at country music with its “tear in your beer”, we also knew that on the Nashville tv shows of the 50’s and 60’s the people were actually playing their instruments, there wasn’t no bullshit American Bandstand lip-syncing. That shit was filmed live.

  130. what brought this on?

    If I was betting a certain Senator from NYC, who would rather go down in flames than have Palestinian supporter in the Senate.

    Jack

  132. It does smell of Schumer. (Careful where you step Doc, that doesn’t wash off.) Release the funds Chuck.

  133. Stur – I’ll bet you crossed paths with my dad at some point in the late 60s to early 70s when he was on the road a lot.

    There don’t seem to be any recordings from the 1950s Saturday Night Jamboree (Nebraska version). Live was live, and then it ceased to exist when the cameras went off.

  134. Went to VFW Prime Rib. Had two glasses of Cabernet. Amazed, I can still type even if I do have to squint at the screen to make sure it doesn’t wobble.

  135. https://the-express.com/news/world-news/214926/nbc-news-crew-beaten-clubs-west-bank-214926

    *Hasan Piker is not the problem. Every MF in Congress doing Israel’s bidding is the problem. And, go look at global news; Philippines, Thailand, Brazil, Italy, Sardinia, India. There’s a pattern.

    NBC News crew beaten with clubs in violent attack by Israeli settlers in West Bank
    An NBC News crew was attacked by Israeli settlers in the village of Jalud, in the northern West Bank, on Saturday after finishing an interview with local residents, journalist Nida Ibrahim reported.

    Eyewitnesses who spoke with Al Jazeera said the attack occurred after the NBC News correspondent spoke with the family of Mahmoud al-Tubasi, who had been forced to flee their home a month earlier due to repeated settler attacks.

    Ibrahim reported that the settlers attacked al-Tubasi and his wife, as well as the eight-member crew, near the house where the interview took place, beating them severely with clubs. The crew’s camera and a journalist’s vehicle were also smashed.

    Two members of al-Tubasi’s family and at least two journalists were injured. The journalists, who reportedly suffered from wounds to the hands and back, were taken to a medical center in the town of Qabalan, while al-Tubasi and his wife were transferred to Ramallah Hospital for further treatment.

    The attacks were part of several from Israeli settlers that allegedly took place over the weekend across the occupied West Bank.

    In a second incident, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its crews attended to two wounded individuals who had been attacked by Israeli army fire in the Al-Amari refugee camp in Al-Bireh. The victims were a 15-year-old and a man who’s age remains unknown, who was shot in the foot.

    In a third incident, local residents said that politician Abdel Fattah Hamayel was severely beaten by occupiers while he was heading to the Al-Ras area. His vehicle was reportedly stolen as he was taken to the Abu Falah Medical Center for treatment.

    The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission says Israeli soldiers and settlers have carried out at least 2,256 attacks against Palestinians since July.

  137. Thanks for portraying my table for me! Foghorn and the luminaries.
    Here’s some important details:
    It is **not** set in stone – it’s a proposal that will be taken up on September 17.

    What happened on August 28 was an announcement of *intent*.

    > Tennessee intends to name Nashville International Airport after country music icon Dolly Parton

    Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Nashville International Airport announced on Aug. 28 that they intend to name BNA after the legendary singer. Gov. Lee’s office said he spoke with Dolly’s team about the proposal this week and they are touched by the idea and open to continuing the conversation.

    On September 17, two things have to be addressed at the Metro Nashville Airport Authority meeting:

    1. **The proposal itself** to rename it Dolly Parton International Airport
    2. **The current naming policy** that blocks it

    Right now the airport’s policy only allows facilities to be named for people who have been dead at least two years and who made significant contributions to the airport authority or aviation in Middle Tennessee. That policy would have to be changed first.

    It’s getting a lot of push – Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and the airport CEO are backing it, and a Change.org petition that started in 2025 had just over 155,000 signatures by the time of Lee’s announcement. The airport had estimated in 2025 that a full rebrand would cost $10.34 million for signage across the 4,500-acre property, a replacement for the 40-foot BNA monument, merchandise, uniforms, and amending legal contracts.

    So September 17 is the meeting where they will *discuss and vote* on whether to allow it, not the day it automatically becomes official.

    And a small note: Nashville is **BNA**, for now anyway.

  139. https://www.rawstory.com/trump-emergency/

    Trump declares national emergency over ‘extraordinary’ threat in America’s power grid

    *Hmmmm, why now? It’s almost like the WH is telling us what it plans to do to us.

    …over foreign-made equipment that the White House warned could leave the nation’s power system vulnerable to sabotage and catastrophic disruption.

    President Donald Trump declared a national emergency Wednesday over foreign-made equipment that the White House warned could leave the nation’s power system vulnerable to sabotage and catastrophic disruption.

    Trump signed an executive order aimed at protecting “the security, integrity, and reliability” of electric equipment used in the country’s bulk-power system, according to the White House.

    The order blames an “unusual and extraordinary foreign threat to the United States involving bulk-power systems produced abroad that may present national security vulnerabilities.”

    Among other things, Trump’s order “generally prohibits certain foreign-produced bulk-power system electric equipment, including associated critical software and digital capabilities that could pose cybersecurity or operational risks, from being purchased or installed in the United States.”

  140. https://nypost.com/2026/08/19/us-news/shockingly-vulnerable-us-power-grid-could-result-in-18-month-nationwide-blackout-expert-warns/

    *tRUMP’s old, reliable NY Post…bring up something from over a decade ago to coincide with the timing of the EO about “bulk power.”
    Hmmmm???

    Shockingly vulnerable US power grid could result in 18-month nationwide blackout, expert warns

    The US is at a heightened risk of a catastrophic blackout that could last up to 18 months due to aging power grid infrastructure that takes agonizingly long to update and is potentially vulnerable to a precision weapon strike.

    The alarming vulnerability was brought to light in 2013 by Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), after a coordinated attack on a California electrical substation in April 2013.

    The gunmen fired 120 shots, taking out an alarming 17 transformers at a Pacific Gas and Electric’s Metcalf electrical substation just outside San Jose, New York Times Magazine reported.

    FERC soon thereafter conducted a power flow analysis to model how a disruption at critical substations — where multiple high-voltage lines meet — would impact the US power grid, which the outlet notes is actually divided into three sections: the Western, Eastern and Texas Interconnections.

    “We came up with some very astounding numbers,” Wellinghoff said.

    “If you knock out nine total substations along those three grids, you can black out the entire United States.”

    He said it didn’t even matter which nine were hit, as long as each was among the 10 most important in its respective region, and that with enough guns the entire grid could be taken out in 20 minutes.

    The blackout resulting from such an attack, he warned, could last 18 months or more.

    After learning about the analysis, Wellinghoff briefed the White House, Congress and the Department of Energy about the alarming findings.

    “I basically wrote a memo about what happened and gave it to everybody I could to explain to them that we needed to do something immediately, linking what we had done in our analysis with what had been physically done at Metcalf.”

    It took PG&E 27 days to bring the substation back online after the attack, which remains a mystery and no arrests have been made.

  141. Stock up on dry beans and canned goods and water and firewood and long underwear, I guess. They’re planning to tear it all down.

    ps – Beware the rice recall.

  142. @TJenksTampa X.com

    “First they poisoned the lettuce, and I didn’t speak up because it’s lettuce.

    Then they poisoned the fruit, and I didn’t speak up because it’s fruit.

    Then they poisoned the jalapeños, and I didn’t speak up pero yo soy gringo.

    Then they poisoned the buffalo chicken wings.”

    *ps – The wings have been recalled, too.

  143. well contrived blackouts in dem strongholds sure will mess with election day eh

    no wonder he doesn’t want mail in ballots and does want same day results

  144. https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-states-impacted-iv-fiberglass-detected-saline-12380272

    Map shows states with impacted IV as fiberglass detected in saline

    *Also, don’t need an IV.

    The recalled product is commonly used as a source of water and electrolytes in patients receiving intravenous treatment and is also used as a priming solution in hemodialysis procedures.

    The company said the affected products were distributed to healthcare providers and distributors in 14 states between July 31 and August 3.

  145. https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/britain-rewrites-its-22-year-old-war-book-families-told-stockpile-food-water-1816332

    Britain rewrites its 22-year-old ‘war book’ as families told to stockpile food and water

    The preparations come amid warnings that Russia could be capable of attacking a NATO country by 2030. However, the household advice will also cover extreme weather, flooding and other emergencies rather than focusing solely on war.

    The guidance recommends at least 2.5 to three litres of drinking water per person each day for survival. Additional water may be required for cooking, hygiene, babies, medical equipment and pets.

    Officials are expected to present the campaign as practical preparation rather than panic buying.

  146. This is where being a Mormon comes in handy. Church dictates each family have six months food and water. They even maintain warehouses for storage space. I don’t know if they still have annual volunteer canning of foods for storage.

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