Saturday, October 10, 2020

Grilled Pork Chops in the Kitchen

 Last week's "Oven Baked Pork Chops in the Kitchen" led to a number of e-mails including one from Natasha who loves pork chops and loves to grill them "but usually remember I have them in the freezer at the last minute and, while defrosting is no problem, I never have marinade on hand.  Is there an easy marinade recipe you know of?"


Many.  My husband frequently grills -- outdoors or on the Foreman indoors -- and will make a slap dash marinade when it's a last minute thing.  If we've got a BBQ bottle on hand, he'll use that in the mix but mainly he just uses six to eight ounces of soda (flat is fine), a dash of olive oil, some apple cider vinegar and various spices -- cumin, red pepper, chili powder, paprika, onion powder, etc -- and some honey and/or catsup.  Stir it up, coat the chops with it and let them sit for an hour.


The Food Network also has a pork chop recipe with an easy grilling marinade:

Ingredients

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Eight 1/2-inch bone-in pork chops (about 3 ounces each)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Begin by making the marinade. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, oil, vinegar, cumin and red pepper flakes. Easy, right? 
  2. Sprinkle both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper and place in a re-sealable plastic bag with the marinade. Let rest on the counter for 1 hour. That's easy. 
  3. Heat a grill or grill pan over medium heat. Remove the pork chops from the bag and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on the grill and cook until the pork chop releases from the grill, about 4 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for another 3 minutes. If using a grill pan, be sure to do in batches so you don't steam the chops. And don't worry if you have neither; you can do this in a pan. See, easy!



There are many store bough marinades that I love but, in a pinch, you can make a simple one yourself.


I went to WSWS and more crazy.  I believe the Gretch The Wretch kidnapped plot by Trumpers story is already falling apart -- on our local news, I saw that one of the plotters was a Black Lives Matter activst and the other has a public record of hate for Donald Trump.  But, hey, if WSWS couldn't go crazy, they couldn't do anything these days.  They're insane.  I really can't wait for this stupid election to be over and for people to regain their sanity. 


I've had with them.  I've had it with all the liars, whores and nuts.  


Please read Kat's "Dear Stevie Nicks, now that you're political, let's talk about your racism." I agree with Kat.  I've always given Stevie the benefit of the doubt -- even after that well known "Stand Back" video, the first one that was never officially released, where she cast herself as the poor Confederate plantation owner during the Civil War.  But part of the reason I've given her the benefit of the doubt is that she didn't take political positions.  I didn't see her as political and just thought that along with being fascinated by fairy tales, she was fascinated by old movies.  Her love of Jean Coucteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST led to the song on WILD HEART so I just assumed that her love for an old movie, GONE WITH THE WIND, must have led to that "Stand Back" video.  But if she's all political now, okay, Stevie, I want an explanation for that and for why you refused to hire African-Americans to be your limo drivers.  Elaine's "Kat's right about Stevie Nicks" makes other solid point.  We, women, built Stevie.  We were the sisterhood for her.  Yes, some men liked her.  But it was primarily women who backed her during the dark years when critics mocked her and ROLLING STONE called her a "space cadet" (among other things).  So for her to finally endorse in a presidential election and to endorse a rapist?  What a slap in the face to all the women who've supported her over the years. And to do it in a video directed by failed film director Cameron Crowe (he's had so many bombs that no studio will hire him anymore)?  Again, what a slap in the face to the sisterhood.  There's not a woman paying attention to rock that's not aware that Cameron Crowe treated Nancy Wilson awful.  Heart (Ann and Nancy Wilson) are Stevie's peers and she's working with that awful man who was so awful to Nancy?


Yeah, Stevie does have to answer a few questions.


Loraine asked me what my favorite snack was these days?  I always change, I'm sorry.  I'm in a salty phase of late so a sour pickle or salted cashews would be my first choice.  But, equally true, I love artichokes -- all the time.  Last night, I got home around 3 in the morning (double shift -- clinic and then hospital) and cooked an artichoke as I took care of various errands (bills, etc).  Then I popped open the laptop at the kitchen table with my artichoke and some melted butter.  My plan was to write a piece here; however, I enjoyed the artichoke so much, I just went online and streamed some music.  It was very relaxing.   Three of the songs I listened to?


Melanie's "Peace Will Come (According to Plan)."


And John Lennon's "Mother."



And Aretha Franklin's "All The Kings Horses."


It was on some YouTube mix.  But it was a solid mix.


I know these are stressful times.  I hope we can all find a few moments to just relax.


This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Friday:

 Friday, October 9, 2020.  Our personal Evita wants to tell us how to vote.



Michelle Obama -- great activist and voice for the people -- wants you to know that you can only vote for Joe Biden.  Jimmy Dore explains what a worthless voice Michelle's is.




"Ignorance and hatred keep me from doing my duty as a citizen"?

What duty?  What have you ever done?


You've never led a march . . .except a march to the bank.


It's really time we said no to Presidential Welfare.  Once upon a time, people didn't dishonor the presidency, turn it into a lotto sweepstakes win.  Now that they do?  No more healthcare coverage.  No more Secret Service detail.  Let these whores pay for it themselves.


Jimmy Carter didn't use his former president status to rake in millions or billions.  A president like that?  Sure, pay for their Secret Service protection.


But I'm damn tired of paying for security at Simon & Schuster book events for Hillary, Bill, Barack or Michelle.  They get millions in advances for books that frequently do not sell all that well -- certainly not enough to justify the advances -- and we're then supposed to pick up the bill for security so that they can make millions?


No.


End Presidential Welfare, end it now.


Read Ann's "Ugly Michelle Obama" which is on the mark.  Ann is a Green Party member.  Her parents are, she was raised to be a Green.

Screw Michelle, that hag should keep her mouth shut.  Every time she opens it lately, she lies.  Pretending Barack didn't put children into cages at the DNC, for example.  She's a hag.  She shows no respect for others -- Green Party members are Americans so stop treating them like your lackeys that you can boss around or shame.  She's a hag.  Barack's hag.

Was she trying to distract from last night's debate?  Probably so.  Last night The Free and Equal Elections Foundation held their own presidential debate where all candidates were invited.  It streamed on FACEBOOK.  I don't see it on YOUTUBE but you can stream at the FACEBOOK link.  Five candidates participated.

 


Gloria La Riva (Party for Socialism and Liberation) attended.  To the first question, her response included:

My party and my campaign believe that all US troops must be withdrawn from every base around the world.  Shut down the more than 800 military bases without any hesitation.  Take the troops out of South Korea so that the people of Korea can be reunited again.  When a country is occupied by the United States, it cannot be truly free.  And that goes for Afghanistan, that goes for Iraq, that goes for part of what used to be Yugoslavia.  I have seen the effects of US war and sanctions.  I traveled three times to Iraq between 1997 and 2001 to see more than one million people who had died from a total US blockade on Iraq.  Why?  For the US to take control of the oil.  That is strategic geo-political domination of the Middle East. Now they've overthrown Libya and created a hellhole for the people.  I believe that the people of the world must be able to decide their own destiny.  And part of that foreign policy [I propose] is also stopping all US military aid to Israel.  Stop oppressing the Palestinian people.  The people in Palestine must have the right to self-determination.  And I made a video about Iraq, by the way, it's called GENOCIDE BY SANCTIONS: THE CASE OF IRAQ.  It won an award for the exposition 


You can find that documentary at the INTERNET ARCHIVE.


And in just that portion of her first response, you find more weight and depth than anything you saw in the Democrat and Republican presidential debates or in this weeks Democrat and Republican vice presidential debate 

Let's not be hags for the Democratic Party.  We'll start with the Green Party.  Howie Hawkins is the presidential candidate. Howie has long called for Medicare For All (Joe Biden and Donald Trump are against it) and a Green New Deal (ditto).  Yesterday, Howie called for other items.


 On YOUTUBE, you can find about six minutes of the debate currently.



If you read the comments, you will see that the YOUTUBE stream had issues.  If they post it to YOUTUBE, we will include it in a snapshot.

Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins also participated.  He's long called for a Green New Deal and for Medicare For All.  At his TWITTER feed last night, he called for an end to the electoral college and much more including:


Demilitarize the police. Invest in social services. Legalize marijuana. End the war on drugs. We need community control of the police!


We must give back stolen lands and honor indigenous treaty rights. We need to guarantee representation of native people in Washington, and bring about proportional representation to our entire electoral system.

We have violated treaties where our government recognizes defined indigenous lands. The least we can do is honor the treaties and respect sovereignty.


No Space Force. No militarization of space.

We need to dismantle the privatization of space. We need to invest in NASA and work towards global cooperation.

End the surveillance state!

Protect Whistleblowers!

The Commission on Presidential Debates is a private entity controlled by the Dems and GOP. It is NOT a public government agency.


We need Full Public Campaign Financing


Jo Jorgensen is the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate.



Despite residents in all fifty states being able to vote for Jo, she is not allowed into the mainstream debates.  How scared are Donald Trump and Joe Biden of Jo Jorgensen?  Little, cowardly boys is all they are.




Jo's been campaigning around the country.  Below is her speaking at a campaign rally in Philadelphia.



Michelle Obama wants to limit your choice.  She wants to make it a two-man race.  Of course, she does.  She was a sexist pig at the DNC in 2008 -- and we called that crap out (and her decision to wear granny panties that were visible through her dress -- see Ava and my "TV: The endless non-news").  She's now yet again working overtime to erase women.  Gloria La Riva is a solid choice and she's a woman.  Jo Jorgensen is a solid choice and she's a woman.  Angela Walker -- Howie's running mate -- is a solid choice and she's a woman.


Michelle doesn't support women.  And she never has.  "Our girls" is about the height of activism from Michelle.  She works overtime to betray women and to keep the patriarchy going.  She doesn't instill pride, she just offers scolding and nagging and bullying.  


You have choices.  You need to listen to yourself and decide who represents you.  If it's Joe Biden, great.  If it's Gloria La Riva, great.  Whomever it is -- even Donald Trump -- if that's the person who best represents your views and opinions, that's who you need to vote for.  And if no one represents you, you have every right to not vote (either just on the presidential or on the whole ballot).  That's what a democracy is supposed to be about.


ADDED:


At THE GUARDIAN, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad reports on the militia:


 

According to Abu Hashem and other commanders, Iranian flights soon started delivering weapons to the newly opened airport in Najaf.

“One of the ministers in the government at that time used to be head of logistics in the [Shia political party and military group] Badr Corps. He sat on the floor in a white dishdasha, picked up phones and arranged for shipments of pickup trucks, munitions and weapons, then distributed them among the different factions.”

With weapons, cars and men came Iranian advisers. They dispersed across the country in a wide geographic arch from Diyala in the east to the western border with Syria. Their voices could be heard on the military radio directing mortar fire in Falluja, installing thermal cameras in a small besieged village in the west of Mosul and accompanying the advance of an Iraqi special forces brigade in Tikrit.

“The reality is, without the Iranians we wouldn’t be able to do anything,” Abu Hashem said. “If the Iranian advisers weren’t there, the battalions wouldn’t attack. Their presence gave the men confidence in the early days.


We last noted the militia's in Monday's snapshot:  We were noting how they were attacking the protesters:


This result was completely expected by any of us paying attention in real time.  That would leave out the likes of THE NEW YORK TIMES which, in 2019, offered that the "militia's independence" would be "chip[ped] away" by this move.  They were wrong.  The move to bring the militia forces under the umbrella of the Iraqi forces was first proposed by thug Nouri al-Maliki in his second term.  But it would be the laughable Hayder al-Abadi who would actually do it.  One of the few to call the militia nonsense out in real time was Ranj Alaaldin (Brookings) who observed:


But such beliefs were met with a new reality on Monday, as were (unrealistic) hopes that al-Abadi could rebuild Iraq and bring the country together: His coalition announced that he will join forces with Iran-aligned militias that spear the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the umbrella Shiite militia organization established in 2014 to fill the vacuum that was left by the collapse of Iraq’s armed forces when ISIS seized Mosul.

Just a day later, the Iran-aligned militias—contesting the elections as the al-Fatih (Conquest) bloc—withdrew from the electoral alliance, not out of principle but because of differences over participation and electoral strategy (there were not enough seats to go around). Indeed, Hadi al-Ameri, the head of the Badr Brigade—Iraq’s most powerful militia, which Iran established in the 1980s and which controls the Interior Ministry—has even hinted they could join forces after the elections to form a government.


Folding the militias into the Iraqi government did not put any controls on the militias.  They terrorize the Iraqi people as they did before they were part of the government.  They refuse to take orders and they issue threats against the Iraqi government.


At The Atlantic Council (a pro-war body), Andrew Peek makes an argument which includes:


The issue is that Sunni extremists are no longer a determinative geopolitical priority. For the moment, the fire has gone out of the radicals. ISIS is not gone but has gone underground like its sister organizations. Though it can still bite, it is utterly discredited in the heartland of Iraq and Syria. ISIS pulled the Sunni world to the brink and it drew back. Outside of a catastrophic black swan event—a mass release from the al-Hol prison in Syria, a Houthi breakthrough in Yemen, some implosion in Pakistan or Afghanistan—it is not clear what would resurrect the mass political appeal of Sunni extremism.

Adding to this challenge is that the Shia community’s radicals are radical in a very different way than the Sunnis. They form the political bodies from which structured, directed militant groups emerge, but there are virtually no lone wolves.  Terror, such as it exists, is carefully controlled for state ends. Lebanese Hezbollah will still conduct bombings in Israel, Syria, and Europe—like the Bulgarian attack for which it was blamed in 2012—and Iran will kill dissidents, but this is structurally a far different phenomenon than the explosion of hydra-headed Sunni radicalism that the US faced at the end of the twentieth century.

The great bureaucratic success of the Trump administration has been to make Iran the US’s top priority in the Middle East, allowing for America’s great big counter-Sunni extremist machine to shift focus to Shia groups. Iranian-backed Shia militant groups have begun to be sanctioned more regularly—even those that had fought against ISIS. President Donald Trump’s targeting of Iranian and Iran-backed targets and his administration’s increased risk tolerance of operating against such actors in battlespaces where they dominate is a signature bureaucratic achievement. Neither the State Department nor the Defense Department readily changed course.

Nevertheless, the public engagement work has not caught up with the new focus on Iran. In other words, the US lacks virtually any engagement with the Shia body politic. We normally do not host Shia religious leaders at official events, Iftar dinners, and the like, particularly not members of the Marjayiya. The Bush administration was actually forward-leaning with this: for example, sending a plane in 2007 to fly a senior Iraqi cleric to Houston for medical treatment. But, other than that (and some very quiet meetings held by myself with one or two others), there has not been much engagement with them, besides the occasional over-the-top communiqué to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Iraq—usually when the walls in Iraq are about to come crumbling down. 

The following sites updated:







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