Man, I guess people have more important things to do on the night before thanksgiving than comment on a Slog PM, but this was a good one! Thanks for documenting the OC weekly shutdown. It’s a big deal that so many local outlets are being silenced. If we’re not careful the only print journalism we’ll have will be owned by billionaires who are also presidential candidates who their papers won’t report on.

Also, I gotta say that even though Slog AM and PM are no substitute for real reporting, they do a lot to keep me informed and I am super thankful for that. I even impress my friends with all kinds of cool, hip, young-people knowledge I learn on Slog AM and PM, like rural Chinese cooking shows and other stuff I can’t think of right now b/c I’m getting old.

Thanks Chase, Nathalie, sometimes Rich, and the rest of you that contribute! Have an awesome Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving @1 - and to all.

And after everyone is served, I invariably loose my appetite (except for the wine). Tis the season.

"massive explosion early Wednesday at the TPC Group plant in Texas"

Not only has this plant a long history of being out of compliance with EPA regulations but the Trump administration just scrapped the safety regulation introduced by Obama following the massive 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in Texas

"On November 21, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that they were ending regulations that require chemical plants to provide the public with information about potential risks.
[...]
the pertinent question, “What’s burning at the TPC Group Plant in Port Neches?”:

According to Mike White, the Jefferson County Emergency Management coordinator, there are a couple of chemicals housed at the facility.
His crew is treating it like it’s the most serious, Butadiene. It is a colorless gas with a gasoline-like odor, used to produce synthetic rubber products like tires, plastics, and other chemicals.
Long-term exposure has been associated with cardiovascular disease and cancer. That’s why the air quality will continue to be monitored."

Texas chemical plant explodes 6 days after EPA announces deregulation
https://ww.electrek.co/2019/11/27/egeb-epa-deregulation-chemical-plant-explosion-port-neches/

Why do you bother with Komo if they aren't reporting the basic information?

EU parliament declares climate emergency as scientists warn that the world may have already crossed a series of climate tipping points, resulting in “a state of planetary emergency”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/28/eu-parliament-declares-climate-emergency

How many of you aren't going to talk about a fucking planetary emergency with your family today?

@4: Certainly not at our table. I veto any discussion of politics and contentious topics. Today is a day for family, grace, and gratitude.

@5 I am trying to understand how today could be about family if you can't even discuss their dealing with an emergency around the dinner table.

@6: Because such matters are already discussed ad nauseam. Why do you begrudge a respite?

+1 @1. Chase Burns does a fine job with these Slog PM posts. I appreciate both Slog AM and PM, even if it's just an exercise in aggregation. And Chase came up with a few items that hadn't been on my radar yet as I was trying to read myself to sleep last night.

Phoebe @2, may you loose your appetite upon your Thanksgiving meal until such time that you lose your appetite. Also, I would suggest inviting anon1256 to your family gathering today. What are the odds that he or she would accept?

@8 - Yes, I often lose the intended meaning when I use homophones loosely.

Invitation sent! We always have room for strays.

"such matters are already discussed ad nauseam"

We wouldn't be having this discussion if this were true. In fact, most surveys of media coverage show that climate change is hardly discussed when covering weather events conditioned by climate change.

Don't drink and cook?! Horrible advice.

@10: There are no climate change deniers at our table, so other than agreeing how urgent the need to combat climate change is, please tell us what profound commentary would you add at such a gathering?

“ so many local outlets are being silenced.”

Being silenced by whom pray tell? Maybe the problem is the woke, intersectional, non-binary, pro-socialism demographic has zero appeal
to advertisers.

“ How many of you aren't going to talk about a fucking planetary emergency with your family today?”

I’d have to drag the kids away from the Xbox. Anon, you must be a joy to sit next to at the Thanksgiving table.

“Could you pass the stuffing and carbon panic please?”

You know Anon, evolution shows us time and time again that high quality females look for confident and strong mating partners, so when you run around like a chicken with its head cut off in a full blown carbon panic attack, your mating prospects will decline precipitously.

Just sayin’

I'd SO love to see Trumpty Dumpty carried out of the White Trash House, restrained and straitjacketed on a gurney, kicking and screaming like Ethel Merman in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, from 1963.
@10: anon1256: Climate change would certainly be a dinner table topic at my oldest sister's house. She and I do agree on environmental issues. But as she tends to be antagonizing and exhaustingly argumentative I have developed a tendency to talk to her as little as possible.

“ she tends to be antagonizing and exhaustingly argumentative I have developed a tendency to talk to her as little as possible.”

Pot, meet kettle.

What are these clowns going to do when we're still all here and fine in 12 years time? Well, The Stranger will have long since folded

@16 & 17: Isn't it past your bedtime? Cheer up, 'lil Buckaroos--there's still SuperFriends on Channel 4.

Any moron can do touchups for Trumpty Dumpty on PhotoShop. What next? Ol' jowl face, Mooch McDumbbell poses for Playgirl? Barf!