IKEA Monkey

"I don't know, I was given that information. I actually, I've seen that information around," Trump told NBC News when asked about the facts.

Del Taco's Wet Burrito Platos offer a choice of either a Chicken Verde or Carne Asada Wet Burrito plus tortilla chips, salsa casera (house salsa), fresca lime rice, and slow-cooked pinto beans.

The chicken plate is $6.49, while the steak goes for $7.49. However, I received these courtesy of Del Taco.

The Chicken Verde Wet Burrito includes marinated, grilled chicken along with pinto beans, green sauce and spicy jack cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla and then topped with more green sauce, spicy jack cheese, and avocado slices.

The Carne Asada Wet Burrito consists of marinated, grilled steak with pinto beans, grated cheddar, and red sauce wrapped up in a flour tortilla and then topped with more red sauce, cheddar, and avocado slices.

The rice was fairly plain and relied on the salsa to liven it up. The beans were similarly mild but were topped with grated cheddar and tangy red sauce. They're a bit redundant if you get the Carne Asada plate (platos means "plate" in Spanish) since the burrito also contains the same beans, cheese, and sauce.

The salsa casera is a blended tomato salsa with just a bit of heat. The chips are fairly sturdy with a decent crunch.

Of the two burritos, I preferred the Chicken Verde over the Carne Asada. There's more of a contrast between the seasoning of the chicken and the spicy, tanginess of the sauce, whereas the flavor of the Carne Asada and the red sauce was too similar and a little boring as a result. I also liked the firmer but still tender texture of the chicken over the almost mushy steak. Either way you go, the avocado and cheese add a nice richness but the jack cheese melts better and has slightly more of a presence.

Overall, both Del Taco's Wet Burrito Platos provide an enjoyable, hearty (and, for some, shareable) meal at a pretty good value. As long as you can stand the heat (it's at the high end of my heat tolerance), I'd definitely go for the Chicken Verde.

There is currently less sea ice surrounding the Antarctic continent than at any point since reliable records began in 1979.

A Florida man's alleged plot to set off explosives disguised as food in East Coast Target stores was foiled after he was turned in, authorities said.

With five adjustable height levels, an accessory hose plus two tools for handling pet hair on floors and upholstery, and (hallelujah) a 25' retractable power cord, this Hoover bagless WindTunnel vacuum is all you need to keep your floors pristine. Today, Amazon will sell you one for just $75, matching an all-time low,…

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Valentine’s Day just begs to be celebrated with something red and bubbly, right?

Enter one of my favorite cocktails—the classic French 75—but instead of using lemon juice, we infuse the drink with something to make it brilliant pinkish red—blood orange.

So pretty! And just as lovely to drink as the original, if not more so.

Continue reading "Blood Orange French 75 Cocktail" »

Happy belated Valentine's Day.

Donald Trump had a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu today, and because the press has found its balls all of a sudden someone actually asked Donald Trump about the rise of (public) anti-Semitism, and how his campaign and administration have played footsie with all those “alt-right” (Nazi) racist frogs. Whaaaaat? We KNOW!

Since your election campaign and even after your victory, we’ve seen a sharp rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Semitic incidents across the United States. And I wonder what do you say to those in the Jewish community in the States and in Israel and maybe around the world who believe and feel that maybe your administration is playing with xenophobia and maybe racist tones?

Oh, haha, we forgot. That press person is a FOREIGN press person, with a suspiciously strange accent. American balls are still right where they have always been: in Kellyanne Conway’s makeup bag, right where they’d left them!

Nonetheless, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, searched inside himself for an answer.

“I have seen what you are talking about,” he said soberly. “During the campaign, a number of young people took it upon themselves to unleash anti-Semitic hatred on reporters, using Nazi tropes and memes wishing people into ovens. And since my own beloved daughter converted to Judaism, I’ve been faced with the fact that there are dark corners of the Internet dedicated to wiping out people like her and my beautiful grandchildren. This is not only a shame, it is a shanda. I categorically reject anyone who says they’re on our side — like David Duke, and Stephen Bannon — who would use that hatred for political gain.”

Haha, Wonkette just did Fake News at you, like a common Wonkette! (You could tell because the sentences’ clauses were all complete.) Here is what Donald Trump, the president of the United States, actually said:

Well, I just want to say that we are, you know, very honored by the victory that we had. 306 electoral college votes. We were not supposed to 220. You know that, right? There was no way to 221, but then they said there’s no way to 270. An there’s tremendous enthusiasm out there.

I will say that we are going to have peace in this country. We are going to stop crime in this country. We are going to do everything within our power to stop long-simmering racism and every other thing that’s going on, because a lot of bad things have been taking place over a long period of time. I think one of the reasons I won the election is we have a very, very divided nation. Very divided. And hopefully I’ll be able to do something about that. It was something that was very important to me.

As far as people, Jewish people, so many friends, a daughter who happens to be here right now, a son-in-law, and three beautiful grandchildren. I think that you’re going to see a lot different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. I think a lot of good things are happening, and you’re going to see a lot of love. You’re going to see a lot of love. OK? Thank you.

It’s all about the love! For the beautiful grandchildren, and the short men in yarmulkes counting his money, for the people who bore the vast brunt of the Holocaust … well, maybe not them so much.

In other Trump-Netanyahu press conference news, Donald Trump had thoughts on the Two-State Solution.

“I’m looking at two states and one state, and I like the one both parties like,” Trump told a joint news conference with Netanyahu. “I can live with either one.”

Donald Trump knows as much about the Two-State Solution as he knows about the life and works of Frederick Douglass. Mr. President, you’re doing just a tremendous job!

Wonkette is supported by Readers Like You.

Welcome back to Giz Asks, a series where we ask experts hard questions about science, technology, and humanity’s future. Today, we’re talking to conservationists, naturalists, and authors about whether the bear is ever your buddy.

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Flavorwire is taking the final week of 2017 off, because God knows we need it. But all week, we’ll be reposting some of our favorite pieces from the year. Read them all here.

It’s hard explaining the appeal of animals to people who don’t like animals. It’s like trying to explain color to a blind person — there’s really no way to convey just how deep the love one can have for a pet, or for animals in general, can be. Objectively, the whole idea of keeping animals as companions seems strange: they can’t talk; your communication with them is limited to commands and observations that yes, you are indeed a good dog; and they have no more understanding of how you see the world than you do of how they perceive it.

And yet, as anyone who does love animals will know, there’s perhaps nothing more purely joyous than the company of a cat, or a dog, or any other creature that happens to come across you in its daily routine and stops to hang out for a while. It’s a joy that’s captured marvelously well by Kedi, which is director Ceyda Torun’s paean to the cats of Istanbul. If you’ve ever visited the city, you’ll know that there are many, many cats there — it is, after all, the city that gave us this fellow. Kedi provides a wonderful portrait of the lives of seven such cats, of the people who love them, and of the city itself.

Plenty of observers have noted that the film is as much about the last two of those subjects as it is about the first, which is true, but it’s important not to sell the former short; while the film certainly provides plenty of fascinating insights into the life of the city, it’s first and foremost about the cats themselves. Torun must have shot oodles of film (or, y’know, filled up a ton of flash cards), because her camera captures every aspect of the animals’ lives: their daily patrols around their appointed territory, the fierce love and care they give to their young, their long hours sleeping and/or derping happily in the sun, the clever ways in which they feed themselves (which doesn’t always just involve either getting fed by people or stealing people’s food when they’re not looking), and their social interactions.

All of this is rendered in some of the most beautiful cinematography you’ll see anywhere — Torun’s camera follows the cats at street level, making it feel like you’re right there with them as they forage and wander, and then pulls back for picture postcard shots of Istanbul (which is, of course, one of the world’s prettiest cities.) Her letter to the audience, which accompanied the film’s release, relates her own affection for these most fascinating of creatures: “I grew up in Istanbul and I believe my childhood was infinitely less lonesome than it would have been if it werenʼt for cats — and I wouldnʼt be the person I am today.” It shows.

Her letter also notes that she “missed their presence in all the other cities [she] ever lived in.” This is an interesting point. There’s a tendency in countries where animals aren’t allowed to roam the streets of cities willy-nilly — countries like America, for instance — to assume that street cats/dogs/etc are “strays” and that they live lives of misery. This isn’t true at all — these were, after all, originally wild animals, and while a cat that has lived all its life in an apartment and then gets lost will struggle to survive on the street, animals born into this life cope with it perfectly well. I’ve lived in cities where there were plenty of local cats and dogs just hanging out on any and every street, and I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve missed them since. Animals, as I noted above, enrich our lives in unpredictable ways.

This is certainly true for the humans of Kedi. Perhaps the film’s most memorable non-feline character is the gentleman who appears to spend pretty much his entire life caring for street cats. We follow him as he visits a colony based in a field, and he’s familiar enough with the cats that he notices immediately that one is missing — no mean feat considering that there are perhaps 30 or 40 cats surrounding him, all rubbing up against his legs and headbutting him affectionately as they wait for him to dole out their treats. The missing cat, it turns out, has just given birth, and we follow the man as he visits her and her kittens, explaining as he goes that he has suffered from crippling depression for years, and that if it wasn’t for his cat friends, he probably wouldn’t be alive. The tenderness with which he treats the new mother will bring a tear or two to many eyes, and rightly so.

There’s a similar devotion shown by many of the film’s other characters — the boatman who we find feeding several tiny kittens from a bottle, nursing them to health after their mother has disappeared; the baker who explains that he and his colleagues all have running tabs with the local vet, tabs that the vet in question is never overly strict in collecting on; the gruff iron worker who starts by telling us that the cats are only here because he’s tried to shoo them away but they’ve refused to leave, and a minute later is telling us earnestly how much he loves them. The animals’ ability to elicit kindness and tenderness from people is as great a gift as the simple and profound peace you feel with a cat asleep on your lap.

The film ends on a pensive note, with a visit to a market in the city’s outskirts, which is currently home to a large colony of cats, but which will soon be demolished to make way for a high-rise apartment complex. Several of the people that Torun speaks to express concern for their animal friends: where will they go? What will they do when there’s no more food to be had from the market? The answer, in this case, is probably that they’ll do just fine — cats are survivors, after all. But the situation speaks to a wider point about urbanization and destruction of habitats, and also about the apparent desire on the part of Istanbul’s administrators to rid the city’s streets of stray animals. We can only hope that this doesn’t happen; it would be a cruel and unnecessary extermination of creatures who have lived there for many generations, and it would rob the city and its citizens of one of the things that makes it special.

Oscar nominee (and predicted winner) Mahershala Ali is on the cover of next week’s issue of The Hollywood Reporter, looking about as good as an actor is capable as looking, which is to say he looks like he looks as amazing as he normally does. But beyond the fact that I want to frame this cover and put it on my desk…

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Welcome to Barf Bag, a new daily politics roundup to help you sort through the chaotic Trumpian news cycle.

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The big political topic on Twitter Monday is a pretty simple question: Is this any way to run National Security? You might remember this vignette from our earlier story about how the intelligence community is a bit reluctant to share all the info with the current Commander in Chief, who may or may not have pals in Russia listening in: After North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile into the ocean this weekend, Trump and his staff had a quick strategy session right there in the dining room of Mar-a-Lago:

As Mar-a-Lago’s wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background, Trump and Abe’s evening meal quickly morphed into a strategy session, the decision-making on full view to fellow diners, who described it in detail to CNN […]

Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and chief strategist Steve Bannon left their seats to huddle closer to Trump as documents were produced and phone calls were placed to officials in Washington and Tokyo.

The patio was lit only with candles and moonlight, so aides used the camera lights on their phones to help the stone-faced Trump and Abe read through the documents.

Even as a flurry of advisers and translators descended upon the table carrying papers and phones for their bosses to consult, dinner itself proceeded apace. Waiters cleared the wedge salads and brought along the main course as Trump and Abe continued consulting with aides.

Huh! So if you want to be on hand for some top-secret intelligence chat, all you need is a Mar-a-Lago membership, still a bargain even though the price just doubled to $200K, and you don’t even need a security clearance. Just make sure you’re dressed appropriately, and try not to be too obvious about lifting up your wristwatch every few minutes to snap pictures of the documents on the president’s table, Mr. Bond.

And about those aides using the flashlights on their phones to illuminate the classified documents “President” Trump was “reading”? It seems, if you are the paranoid type, that phones are quite easily hacked to turn into listening and video-ing devices — so much so, that Edward Snowden had his guests keep theirs in the refrigerator to “block any radio signals that might be used to silently activate the devices’ microphones or cameras.”

So pointing your phone at those documents might be frowned upon!

Heck, while you’re wandering around the dining room, you can also get a snapshot with the guy who carries the nuclear “football” and post it to Facebook! (The Facebook post has since been taken down, but screenshots are forever.)

The guy who took the photos, Richard DeAgazio, was awfully impressed by Trump’s grace under pressure. Oh, sure, he could have gotten up and gone sometwhere more secure, but why?

“He chooses to be out on the terrace, with the members. It just shows that he’s a man of the people,” DeAgazio said.

And any paying members of foreign intelligence services. It’s not like many countries can afford $200,000 anyway.

Looks like the security situation is pretty much top-notch, huh? And while all the National Security-ing was going on, there was also a wedding reception right next door. Cozy! But of course, a bunch of Negative Nellies in the press seem to think maybe it’s not such a great idea to move the Situation Room to your club’s dining room. We don’t see the big deal. It’s members only, for heaven’s sake.

Thanks god we avoided electing the candidate who had a private email server and treated secured information so casually that it threatened our safety. As Donald Trump knows, to really keep things secure, you have to handle that sort of thing at dinner. And then tweet about it on your unsecured Android phone.

OK, sure, so there’s that — a whole different category of insecure server to worry about.

You know, it sure is a good thing Republicans care so much about security. Here’s Paul Ryan giving the president hell about his careless handling of classified information:

Individuals who are "extremely careless" with classified information should be denied further access to such info. pic.twitter.com/0C76Ae95LD

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 7, 2016

Oh, wait, that’s from July 2016. Talk about prescient!

[WaPo / CNN / WaPo]

WHAT.

Let it... no. [ more › ]

This is so bad.

Federal District Court Judge James Robart in Seattle denied a request from the Trump administration to postpone any further proceedings in his court over President Donald Trump's travel ban, while the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals considers whether to rehear the case before a larger panel of judges.

The wife and stepson of a Ku Klux Klan leader found fatally shot next to a river in eastern Missouri were charged in his death Monday.

Malissa Ann Ancona, 44, and her 24-year-old son, Paul Edward Jinkerson Jr., were charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and abandonment...

As a singer, Jimmy Butler makes a great basketball player. The Bulls forward strikes a rock star pose next to Grammy winner Chance the Rapper on the latest cover of ESPN the magazine.

The pair represent Chicago in the magazine's entertainment issue. Chance wears a Bulls sweater while Butler dons...