The Chat Thread

[Richard]

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all our members and friends in the US. This recipe works for Christmas too!

www.facebook.com/boredpanda/videos/10154746522614252/

Best wishes from London,

Richard

[Jeff]

Yes Happy Thanksgiving folks ! However not every turkey will be eaten. Every year Barack Obama saves a couple from execution. (I think he's trying to say something about a kinder America but I can't imagine his successor would do the same ! )

[Libby]

Umm, Jeff, this is not something new with Obama's presidency! The first one was 153 years ago!! Although, it hasn't been every year since then. From what I've been reading, there wasn't another one till 100 years after that, with President Kennedy. Nixon and Reagan pardoned some of theirs as well, although it was not called a "pardon" until 1987 by Reagan (read more below). However, it did not become an annual tradition until 1989 with George H.W. Bush. So Obama isn't that special! I don't think we've ever had a vegetarian president! So, I would assume Trump will continue the tradition, yet still eat one for dinner, just like all the other presidents! So, as far as animals go, he will not be any worse than any other president (or most other human beings??). This is all for show!

I mean, most people don't hate animals, but there are very few people on this earth who have not at least somehow supported, whether knowingly or unknowingly, something that involves cruelty or even just discomfort to animals in their lifetimes. Many, in fact, do take intentional part in such things, of course. But for the most citizens, it's not their fault; it's simply because some things are hidden from the public as much as possible, because they know that if the public knows about it, there will be public opposition to it, and they don't want that. But in many cases the public does know or has heard inklings of it, but just try to keep their heads buried in the sand and pretend everything's all hunky-dory, and that all animals everywhere are happy no matter what we do to them, and they're all just here for our benefit. But hey, don't let me spoil things.

Oh well, anyway, here's some of the history I found on the subject:

The tradition of “pardoning” White House turkeys has been traced to President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 clemency to a turkey recorded in an 1865 dispatch by White House reporter Noah Brooks, who noted, “a live turkey had been brought home for the Christmas dinner, but [Lincoln’s son Tad] interceded in behalf of its life. . . . [Tad’s] plea was admitted and the turkey’s life spared.” www.whitehousehistory.org/questions/which-president-started-the-tradition-of-pardoning-the-thanksgiving-turkey

On various occasions, turkeys had been donated to the President as gifts from private citizens. Henry Vose, a Rhode Island turkey farmer, presented a turkey to the President each year from 1873 until his death in 1913.

The official presentation of a turkey to the President each year began in 1947 under President Harry Truman, and many sources erroneously attribute the origin of the turkey pardon to Truman. However, the Truman Library says that no documents, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs or other contemporary records are known to exist that specify that he ever "pardoned" a turkey; there are records that he publicly admitted to eating at least some of them. President John F. Kennedy spontaneously spared a turkey on November 18, 1963, just four days before his assassination. The bird was wearing a sign reading, "Good Eating Mr. President." Kennedy returned the massive 55-pound turkey to the farm, saying "we'll let this one grow." At least one headline in the Los Angeles Times referred to it as a pardon, but Kennedy did not refer to it as such. Likewise, Richard Nixon also spared some of the turkeys given to him during his time as President.

The first President on record issuing a "pardon" to his turkey was Ronald Reagan, who pardoned a turkey named Charlie and sent him to a petting zoo in 1987. The reference to it being a pardon was in response to criticism over the Iran-Contra affair, in which Reagan had been questioned on whether or not he would consider pardoning Oliver North (who had yet to be tried for his involvement in the affair); Reagan conjured the turkey pardon as a joke to deflect those questions. Reagan did not pardon a turkey in his final year as President in 1988, but his successor, George H. W. Bush, instituted the turkey pardon as a permanent part of the presentation beginning his first year in office, 1989, in response to the protests of animal rights activists.[2] Since then, at least one of the turkeys presented to the President has been taken to a farm where it will live out the rest of its natural life.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Thanksgiving_Turkey_Presentation

[Bamafan]

Happy Thanksgiving yall! I hope everyone is safe, happy, and healthy.

-Taylor i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

[Richard]

Here's one turkey who wasn't eaten yesterday:



Richard

[Jeff]

Thanks for that, Libby ! I didn't realise turkey pardoning went back so far in history ! Now I'm off to the supermarket to buy some veggie burgers !

[Libby]

Nov 26, 2016 11:59:01 GMT Jeff said:

Thanks for that, Libby ! I didn't realise turkey pardoning went back so far in history ! Now I'm off to the supermarket to buy some veggie burgers !

If you say so.

[Jeff]

and very tasty they were too !

groceries.iceland.co.uk/iceland-4-vegetable-burgers-340g/p/54086

[Jeff]

One thing that is not suitable for vegetarians apparently is the new £5 note !

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38144598

I've heard of eating your words but never eating your money !! Still, I suppose it's one way of stopping the taxman getting his hands on it !

[Jeff]

Richard, here's a question for you.

What carol do they sing in the desert ?

O camel ye faithful !!  

Merry Christmas Everybody !!!!!! 

[martindn]

What did Adam say to his wife on the night before Christmas?

It's Christmas Eve!

Martin D

[Richard]

Merry Christmas everybody!

Here's a little ditty I've shared with Classical Reflection:



Richard

[pjrcorreia]

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

[Dave]

Merry Christmas to one and all!



Dave

[comet]

and a happy Christmas to all the Staff and mods, Guests and lurkers too...................