Trina's Kitchen: Ham and Potato Casserole in the Kitchen

Karah loves the Budget Bytes website (I do too). She says she finds at least ten good recipes each year there "at least, probably much more." She's just started cooking their Ham and Potato Casserole recipe: "I made it Friday, the kids were screaming for it the next day but they had to wait until Sunday. They're wanting it again and I'm telling them I'll make it Friday." Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

2 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes ($2.40)
8 oz. ham steak ($2.79)
1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
2 Tbsp salted butter ($0.28)
1 small yellow onion, diced ($0.39)
2 cloves of garlic, minced ($0.16)
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.06)
½ cup chicken broth ($0.08)
1 ½ cup whole milk ($0.51)
1 ½ tsp salt, divided ($0.08)
¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
¼ tsp garlic powder ($0.05)
½ tsp Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning ($0.05)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided ($1.25)
2 green onions, sliced ($0.30)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Wash, peel, and dice the potatoes. Add the potatoes to a large pot. Cover with water and add 1 tsp salt. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-high and allow the potatoes to par-boil for 4 minutes.*
While the potatoes are boiling, dice the ham into small pieces.
Once the potatoes have par-boiled for 4 minutes, drain them in a colander.
After the potatoes have drained, add them to a lightly buttered 9×13-inch baking dish.
Now add the cooking oil to a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the diced ham to the skillet and cook, stirring often, until the ham has browned.
Remove the ham from the skillet and add it to the baking dish with the potatoes.
In the same skillet, add the butter, diced onion, and minced garlic cloves. Sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
Sprinkle the flour into the skillet with the onion and garlic. Stir and allow the flour to cook for about 2 minutes.
Now, slowly stir in the chicken broth and milk. Then season the sauce with ½ tsp salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and Creole seasoning. Stir well to fully dissolve the flour. The flour will start to thicken the sauce when it returns to a simmer.
Add ¼ cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese to the skillet and stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.
Pour the sauce over the potatoes and ham in the baking dish. Carefully mix everything together.
Now sprinkle the remaining ¾ cup of cheddar cheese on top.
Bake the casserole in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly around the edges and the cheese is melted. Top with sliced green onions and enjoy!

News? Alex Henderson reports:

Founded in the 1970s, the Sojourners movement has a long history of making a Christian case for liberal/progressive politics — and has vehement disagreements with the Religious Right and far-right white evangelicals.

Christianity, as Sojourners see it, is more compatible with the left than with the right. And while President Donald Trump is quite popular with the Religious Right — which aggressively supported him in 2016, 2020 and 2024 — Sojourners are blistering critics of Trump and the MAGA movement.

In an interview with Salon's Chauncy DeVega, the Rev. Adam Russell Taylor (president of Sojourners) outlined the role that Christianity and other "faith traditions" can play in combating the second Trump Administration.

Taylor told DeVega that Trump's second president is turning out to be even "worse than I had feared or expected."

"I knew that President Trump would reverse the executive orders from the Biden Administration and would seek to push the limits of his power and authority," Taylor argued. "However, the unaccountable power of Elon Musk is a new and increasingly dangerous element, as is the degree of carelessness and callousness of many of the policies they have pushed forward, including trying to end birthright citizenship, pardoning practically all of the January 6 insurrectionists…. seeking to freeze federal grants that directly impact people's daily lives…. and giving inordinate power to Elon Musk and DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) to run freelance and roughshod across our federal government to illegally cripple and shut down agencies such as USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) are alarming and represent a real abuse of power."

Again, I'm Catholic. So I tend to shake my head in disbelief at some of the people claiming to be Christian when their hearts are full of hate and they're racists and homophobes and just want the whole world to suffer because they've got nothing they believe in. That is how you know that -- despite talk otherwise -- they don't know God or his teachings. They only know hate. Sorry to state the obvious, but they didn't learn hate in a church -- not in a church of Jesus.

Moving over to news on Trashy Garbage, Erik De La Garza (Raw Story) reports:

Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s bumpy road to nomination could hinge on the tie-breaking vote of Vice President J.D. Vance – who is currently overseas – throwing further uncertainty over her confirmation prospects, according to a new report.

Gabbard’s selection to be the country’s next director of national intelligence has been marred by her controversial statements and past foreign associates, which has left even some Republicans in the GOP-led Senate hesitant of whether they will ultimately vote to confirm her to the top cabinet position.

[. . .]

Currently, Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) has been noncommittal on whether he will ultimately vote to confirm her later this week, though his office told Politico that he is likely to vote to advance her nomination for a full vote. Meanwhile, Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) are widely considered to be possible swing votes.

Murkowski, McConnell and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) all broke ranks last month and voted against confirming Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, forcing Vance to break the tie — just the second time in modern history a vice president has done so.

“If three Republicans oppose Gabbard — and no Democrats support her, as expected — she will need Vance to break a tie to help get her over the finish line,” Politico said.

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for Tuesday:

Tuesday, February 112, 2025. As the country appears to be headed towards a Constitutional crisis, James Zogby and others show up -- after the election -- to insist it's not their fault -- that they tanked the election to prevent the highly qualified Black woman (yes, it really was about race and gender) from being president.

Let's start with Rachel Maddow.

That's the frightening world we live in right now -- where court orders are being ignored, where Donald Chump is refusing to follow the rule of law, the checks and balances put into our system from the start to ensure democracy. It appears that we may be headed into a Constitutional crisis.

For more on the administration's war on the courts, see Betty's "Alien Musk and JD want to kill the courts" and Ann's "Grifter JD."

Rachel spoke with Senator Elizabeth Warren about this issue but MSNBC hasn't posted that yet. Jen Psaki also covered this issue last night and spoke with former Judge Nancy Gertner (former US district judge of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts).

Gertner also speaks with Leila Fadel today on NPR's MORNING EDITION.

At SLATE, Dahlia Lithwick examines the legal landscape:

If the theme of the first week of the Elon Musk and Donald Trump autocoup was “Why isn’t anyone doing anything to stop this?” then the theme of this past week was “Go lawyers.” The Trump administration has been hit with over 40 lawsuits challenging everything from DOGE’s takeover of the Treasury to the “Fork in the Road” fake buyout scheme for federal employees. And the scoreboard is, thus far, tilting in favor of the rule of law. Trump has lost on his efforts to rescind birthright citizenship, on his attempt to freeze government spending, on efforts to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development, and on an attempted purge of the FBI. Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk, in response, have now floated the idea of just ignoring judicial orders they dislike, but thus far we haven’t seen much of that. With the caveat that the courts have no army, at least at this moment the red line manned by the judiciary seems to be holding. On this week’s Amicus podcast, Dahlia Lithwick spoke with former Judge Nancy Gertner, who is on the board of State Democracy Defenders Action, one of the many groups filing lawsuits to protect government employees and public data from Musk’s efforts to move fast and break things. Judge Gertner is a former United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She is a senior lecturer on law at Harvard Law School. Their conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Some reactions on BLUESKY.

That is a major problem and there are so many problems that the convicted felon is creating for our country. At THE MARY SUE, Rachel Ulatowski notes South African born Alien Musk:

Elon Musk has given a 23-year-old DOGE employee access to the Energy Department’s IT systems despite alleged pushback from the department, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapon arsenal.

Since Donald Trump’s inauguration, Musk has relentlessly pushed himself and his so-called DOGE into every corner of the government. He forced his way into sensitive government information from USAID, putting the agency’s security chiefs on leave to do so. Additionally, he gained access to federal pay systems in the Treasury and student loan systems in the Department of Education, including the personal information of millions of Americans and students. It’s highly unusual for someone who is not part of an official government agency and who has not been elected to a cabinet position to gain the level of access to sensitive information that Musk has seized. Even more concerning is that Musk’s 19 – 26 year-old DOGE employees are accessing this information, too.

Musk has been suspiciously secretive about his DOGE employees, refusing to release many of their names and qualifications for their positions. There are concerns about how, or even if, he’s vetting these candidates. Given that one DOGE employee has already resigned after promoting racism and eugenics, Americans have reason to be concerned with who exactly Musk is giving access to classified government information, especially since they could potentially access information relating to nuclear weapons.

Musk is a security threat -- as are his employees. No one elected Alien Musk to any office.

This is where we are. And people need to take accountaility.

Instead, there's a strong desire on the elements of the left that tanked Kamala's campaign to continue to insist that it is not their fault. It is not their fault!

It is your fault and you better damn well own it.

And don't give me any number count. It was always about optics and feeding the lie that Democrats didn't support Kamala. DSA' useless 80,000 members couldn't tank her campaign by withholding their own votes. The point was for them to to establish a false narrative that their friends could amplify

I should have known the ridiculous James Zogby would show up eventually to try to lie his way out of it.

James Zogby -- as Mike noted last night in "Idiot of the week James Zogby" -- is attempting to rewrite history. In order to do that, he has to lie. That includes lying about who he is: A Socialist. James, let me be clear, we -- actual Democrats -- don't want you in leadership and we have already begun working to limit your influence on the party. For all I do up here calling out the liars, I spent twice as much time face to face and on the phone ensuring that those of you who chose to risk our democracy are never, ever in the same positions of power. Never.

You're a liar and you're trash.

Let's go to Jacob Cross and WSWS (where there are no political closets) from March of last year:

In furtherance of the protest vote, the DSA called supporters to “make calls, text voters, knock doors and organize.” While Biden easily won the primary with over 81 percent of the vote, over 13 percent of voters, some 101,000 people, selected “Uncommitted.” About 43,000 people voted for Democratic primary candidates other than Biden.

Despite attempts by media efforts to present this protest vote as an expression of Biden’s collapsing support only among Muslim and Arab-American populations in Dearborn and other areas around Detroit, “Uncommitted” garnered at least an 8 percent vote in all 83 counties in Michigan. In total, 73 out of 83 counties in the state recorded at least a 10 percent vote for “Uncommitted.”

The Democrats, and the ruling class as a whole, are terrified that this mounting opposition to “Genocide Joe” will lead to a break with the Democratic Party and capitalist politics entirely.

Many of those voting “Uncommitted” have no intention of voting for Biden in November. However, as one of the organizers of the effort, former Rep. Levin, made clear before the vote, and afterwards in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, the purpose of the campaign was to “send a message” to Biden: “We are your base, we want to win in November, and in order to win we want peace now.”

In the same program, James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute and director of the influential political research group Zogby Research Services, reiterated, “As the congressman said, as the organizers of this movement have been very clear, this is not the ‘Abandon Biden’ movement. This is the ‘for god’s sake, shape up or you might lose in November’ Biden movement.”

In the same vein, Branko Marcetic, writing in Jacobin, the house organ of the DSA, went out of his way to stress in a February 28 article titled “Michigan’s Primary Shows Biden Is Courting Political Suicide” that the “Uncommitted” campaign was seeking to save Biden’s presidency, not challenge it.

We've told you before that red diaper baby Amy Goodman rigged her coverage to tank Kamala's campaign. And she was there at the start of the lie about this so-called 'movement.' As was James. It was a Socialist movement. As Rebecca noted, we have not called it an Arab movement or a Muslim movement because, in fact, it was Norman Solomon's movement. It started out as and that failed. For those who don't remember, it was 2022 and the 'movement' was called "Don't Run Joe" and it was started by Norman Solomon. The dilettante quickly learned that no one cared. But when October 7, 2023 took place, Norman realized he could harness his campaign using Gaza and using a Palestinian-American as a front to hide behind. He then got cocky. In his October 14th column, Norman Solomon declared, "I have no intention of voting for Harris" After the fall out -- Norman can't work a real job and has always been dependent upon donations to make a living -- he backtracked in his October 22nd column and also offered a different take in his October 28th column. What happened? Norman's never earned an honest buck in his life. The dilettante has always been dependent upon donations to make a living. He burns his bridges (see Sean Penn). And it was made clear to him just how much money his various foundations and fronts could lose. So he walked that back.

But are you getting yet how you were conned and deceived? If you were an actual Democrat, they targeted you as their mark. And that's not going to happen again. DSA is a tiny group and they're a group that's going to be outed every day for the next four years. And Democrats are going to know what they did and hold them accountable.

James Zogby, you were never that important to begin with. Have you not noticed that you've been sidelined of late? That's only going to get worse. Those of us who fund the party are making clear with every donation given and every donation denied that you cannot be trusted and must be held accountable for your actions and your lies. We are a united front against you.

This shouldn't be surprising -- even a microcosm fights for survival. And those of who are actually Democrats are appalled at you non-Democrats who tanked our candidate. And, honestly, at this point, I would just shrug. I would shrug and continue on with my life. I wouldn't be hiring private investigators, as I am now, to ferret out every piece of dirt I can. What's the difference?

This was not a normal presidential election. We didn't see Mitt Romney ushered into the White House -- someone we disagreed with but knew would follow the laws.

This was Kamala Harris or Donald Chump.

And we all knew from his previous four years, from his leading an insurrection against our government, from his use of racism to garner support, just how dangerous Donald Chump back in the White House would be. We all knew it.

Immigrants are devastated right now. They are scared for their safety and their lives. And that's not on them. They didn't vote because they couldn't vote.

Those of you who could vote and didn't vote for Kamala have doomed them. You have doomed so many in this country and you may very well have helped destroy democracy.

Grasp that I'm not ruled by fear. I called out THE NATION here with their stupidity of insisting something was "the torture election" and that we either rejected it or lost our country. That was hyperbole and then some. (Especially when you consider the candidates that they were pimping really weren't against torture.) I don't believe that fear is a good way to win elections.

Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger did not back Kamala out of fear. They showed real bravery and real loyalty to their country.

And let me step aside from my main point for one moment here -- James Zogby, your ridiculous defense of Arabs and Muslims who voted for Chump or Jill Stein or just didn't vote is insane and reinforces stereotypes. How dare you offer 'their people' and think you're helping them. They are American citizens -- that's why they could vote in a US election to begin with -- so their people? That would be the American people. And as a 'trusted voice' who elected to speak at events and to speak for them to the press, you should have made that very clear to them.

It's amazing how you rush to minimize your responsibility when, just weeks ago -- before idiots grasped what a very real threat Chump was, you were boating about these numbers:

The national results show Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein received 53% of the Muslim vote, followed by President-elect Donald Trump with 21% and Vice President Kamala Harris with 20%.

CAIR also released Michigan-specific responses from 502 registered Muslim voters, revealing that Dr. Stein received 59% support, with Trump at 22% and Harris at 14%.

Now that the country is suffering you want to backtrack. No, Zogby, you own this. And we will make sure that you pay for it.

Back to the main point I was making is this was not a normal election, we knew how bad it would be under Chump. We are now living under him.

Every morning, I get up hating the fact that I have to do a snapshot. Because I'm sick of being online? I was there back when FRINGE started, remember? That's when I was supposed to shut this down and planned to. But Ava and I were reviewing the new show FRINGE and had a problem with one aspect and were speaking with two friends who were producers on the show about it and were told that the issue we had would be addressed. So, in writing our review, we noted that and said we'd look at in a few months. And we weren't thinking and that meant there was no stopping at the end of 2008. That might be why I loathe Leslie Cagan and the others who were UFPJ so much. They were an alleged organization dedicated to ending the Iraq War and yet they got to close shop in November of 2008 while I was stuck continuing. And it's been a six month renewal since then. I loathe being online. I would love my old life back. That's not new to today.

What is new is how the administration attempts to overpower and overwhelm us with their crimes and threats. And I hate that. Fortunately, I'm not new to this. I know I can't focus on everything. I grab what I can cover and will note other issues and news via excerpts and reposts. But I am very, very lucky and I don't pretend otherwise. So many people are not. And if I am feeling overwhelmed, I can't imagine how they feel. Imagine being trans right now? "It gets better." We said that in the past. Can we honestly say it now? If Chump destroys our democracy and our country, no, it doesn't get better. It gets much worse for trans persons. They get scapegoated more and people stop objecting to violence or do you not get how that works in history? Immigrants? "It gets better." How? If they're tossed back to a country that they had to leave to stay alive, how and when does it get better for them?

These idiots f**ked with a lot of lives. James Zogby can try to pretend that we're coming after Muslims and/or Arabs all he wants. We're not. Because most Muslims and Arabs in this country were not stupid enough to be misled by Norman Solomon and Rashida Tlaib. But, yes, in her area, they were. And, in her area, they are deeply homophobic as evidenced by the war Dearborn and Hamtramck have declared on LGBTQ+ people. That started four years ago and it is outrageous that Zogby and others have silenced that with the threat of calling someone anti-Arab or anti-Muslim.

I don't care what you call me, I'll speak the truth. In addition, unlike most of you leftist dilettantes, I didn't drop Iraq when the US media pulled out (at the end of 2008 -- with few exceptions). I covered it on through 2024. Look hard through all that years of daily coverage for when I offered anti-Arab sentiment. You won't find it. I also covered Gaza. You won't find anti-Arab coverage there either.

I will call out the Socialists in the US who misled and outright lied (SEP didn't, DSA-ers did -- that's why we don't highlight Kyle Kulinski anymore -- like Kyle and if he ever comes out about being a Socialist -- as opposed to creating another cover group like "Justice Democrats" I will happily note his commentaries again -- I think he makes many strong points but I can't hold just some political closet cases accountable). I will call out the homophobes in the US regardless of their religion or ethnicity or race.

Again, these are very depressing times. And I'm someone who has the least reason to be depressed. MAGA can't hurt me. Chump can't hurt me. So if this is frightening and depressing for me, I know it's so much more for those who are in the frontline of being targeted and scapegoated.

Richard Hall (INDEPENDENT) reports:

Jose Luis had stopped to pump gas on his way to work in southern Texas when his family’s whole life changed.

ICE agents pulled up out of nowhere and demanded to know his immigration status. The father of five, who came to the United States from Mexico in 2010 when he was 19, was quickly placed in handcuffs and taken away.

Now, he is facing deportation and permanent separation from his wife and kids — and the family’s sole income is gone.

“His little girls ask every day ‘Where’s Dad? What time is he coming home?’” his wife, Rosa, who doesn’t want to break her children’s heart by revealing the truth just yet, tells The Independent. “I have to tell them he’s out working.”

“I’m really stressed right now, like really, really stressed. I don’t know what’s next,” she says.

Jose Luis is one of some 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. — many of whom have lived, worked, paid taxes and raised families in the country for years — who are being targeted by authorities in what Donald Trump’s administration has promised to be the largest “mass deportation operation” in American history.

Some did vote for this. Latinos for Trump voted for this. Idiots who listened to Socialist Rashida Tlaib voted for this. Jose and Rosa didn't vote for this. They are immigrants, non-citizens, so they didn't vote. But some of those Latinos for Trump? They insisted that people like Jose would not be impacted. They insisted that Chump was only going to go for the 'criminals.' Did they not listen or are they just extremely stupid?

Chump said he was going to rid of the criminals. Did they not realize that Chump had called all immigrants who were undocumented "criminals"? How did they miss that? Because they wanted to.

Jose and Rosa didn't hurt anyone, didn't break any laws. Now they and their children -- who are American citizens because they were born in this country -- are all getting kicked out.

So, forgive me, James Zogby, if I don't give a damn about whatever lie or justification you're serving up today. That family is suffering and they're suffering because of you and all the other idiots who couldn't listen and wouldn't hear. That's on you. Maybe shut the hell up, sit your tired ass down, think a moment and don't open your mouth again until you're ready to apologize and beg for forgiveness. Beg. Beg.

You idiots and fools put us where we are now. You've left us with the hope that maybe in two years we can grab a house of Congress or both.

At which point, you better believe impeachment proceedings will begin. But even that may be too late. As Chump goes around firing everyone and forcing them to arrive, who's going to help Congress remove him from office?

Or are you so damn stupid that you don't realize there is no police force that the Supreme Court controls? Are you that stupid?

You have condemned this country to suffering.

There is no do over. We don't get perfection at the polls. I wanted Katie Porter as my US senator. I voted for her in the primary. Adam won the primary. I didn't sit out the general election or vote for his opponent. I voted for Adam and he's standing up and I'm glad. But he was not my first choice. And most of us don't get our choices. We get two choices for president -- sometimes three -- and that's it. We have to support the best choice. Not voting was not the best choice. Voting for Jill Stein was not the best choice. Voting for Chump was not the best choice. But that's what 'uncommitted' urged. And now they have to live with it.

We have to live with the threats resulting from their stupidity so, yes, they have to live what they did.

Let's close with Lawrence O'Donnell.