Althouse: NO thanKsgivINGS!

October 19, 2025

NO thanKsgivINGS!

Video by Meade, near Lake Mendota.

81 comments:

BG said...: I hate wild turkeys. They can do costly damage to a car if you accidentally hit one, and they aren't all that great to eat. Very dry meat. Wild turkey recipe: Marinate a wild turkey in bourbon or other liquor of your choice. After two hours, throw away the turkey and drink the marinade.

This past spring we watched three gobblers strutting about, fanning. The lone hen walked right past them. Not interested in those kings.; 10/19/25, 1:00 PM
Shane said...: Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash
As we fell into the sun
And the first one said to the second one there
"I hope you're having fun"
Birds on the run!; 10/19/25, 1:04 PM
Narr said...: Killing turkeys causes winter.

You have been warned.; 10/19/25, 1:05 PM
rehajm said...: Run! In the northeast US turkeys were a rare sight when I was a kid. I only recall one or two sightings. They made a huge comeback now. Not pigeon common but getting there…; 10/19/25, 1:06 PM
rehajm said...: In a larger group like that there’s always one lookout with his/her head up. Try it…; 10/19/25, 1:07 PM
Jaq said...: One of the coolest wild turkey sightings I have experienced was when they were perched about in an apple tree in New England, when the hillside was covered with snow.; 10/19/25, 1:07 PM
TosaGuy said...: The Dems do want to get rid of Thanksgiving, it’s a holiday with friends and family and celebrating abundance. To Dems, it’s about colonialism, genocide and women trapped in a kitchen.; 10/19/25, 1:11 PM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: is there Turkey season in WI ; does MeadeHouse partake?
I will Have_His_Carcase just leave it in locked room; 10/19/25, 1:26 PM
Flat Tire said...: Brined, smoked then a short, hot roast and they’re quite good. we have a ton of them and they’re not native here; 10/19/25, 1:32 PM
Beasts of England said...: I know a few wild turkey hunters. They’re a different breed. No pun intended…; 10/19/25, 1:35 PM
Original Mike said...: I've hunted turkey in Wisconsin.; 10/19/25, 1:37 PM
Eva Marie said...: Today is King of Kings Day; 10/19/25, 2:05 PM
wendybar said...: My favorite wild turkey story is when I stayed at a friends cabin in the Adirondacks in UPstate NY.
I am an early riser, and got up at 4 am as usual, and had my coffee on the front porch. When dawn approached, I started seeing things falling from the tree across the street.
The turkeys roosting in the tree for the night were up for the day. My friend who owns the cabin said she has had it her whole life, and she NEVER got to see that!! It was a sight!!; 10/19/25, 2:15 PM
J Severs said...: Liked the headline :-); 10/19/25, 2:33 PM
Hassayamper said...: I shot a big fat corn-fed Missouri turkey a few years back and his breast was as tender and moist as any domestic bird. Better flavor too. My wife makes a turkey and wild rice stew out of the drumsticks and other odds and ends, and it was the best she ever made.; 10/19/25, 2:53 PM
Hassayamper said...: In the northeast US turkeys were a rare sight when I was a kid. I only recall one or two sightings. They made a huge comeback now.

The same is true in the mountains of Arizona. I was a teenager before I ever saw one, despite living in perfect habitat for them. Now they are a nuisance. I'm glad to be of help to Game & Fish to keep their numbers manageable.; 10/19/25, 2:55 PM
Jaq said...: I have seen them on the golf course in Florida.; 10/19/25, 3:07 PM
Iman said...: Well, the family cook drew a heavy sigh
Stuffing’s made with hot dog buns
Dinner bell was ringing in the village square
For the turkeys on the run
Birds on the run
Birds on the run
And Uncle John and Cousin Fred
Were loading up their guns
For the birds on the run
The birds on the run

h/t Paul McCartney; 10/19/25, 3:19 PM
Iman said...: Dang it, Shane! Hadn’t read comments and just saw you beat me to it.; 10/19/25, 3:22 PM
Leland said...: Turkeys, "no king" protesters; I can't tell the difference.; 10/19/25, 3:46 PM
Rocco said...: BG said...
“I hate wild turkeys.”

What if they come in bottles from Kentucky?; 10/19/25, 3:52 PM
Mason G said...: "In a larger group like that there’s always one lookout with his/her head up. Try it…"

I've heard something similar said about cows in a field- that there's always one standing up as a lookout.

Of course, the larger the group, the better the chances are that one of them will just decide to stand up for no particular reason.; 10/19/25, 3:53 PM
lonejustice said...: I live in east central Iowa on a gravel road out in the country. I occasionally have wild turkeys on my place. Unlike the fat white Thanksgiving Turkeys you get in the grocery store, these suckers are FAST. They can run up to 25 mph on the ground and fly at speeds of up to 55 mph in short bursts. Their eyesight is also incredible, which makes them a real sport to hunt. They will probably see you long before you see them.; 10/19/25, 3:58 PM
Viva Maria said...: Fun is, Kipling's just-so story about the Wild Turkey, "and how the Great Spirit kept him humble."; 10/19/25, 4:17 PM
Scott Patton said...: Meep meep.; 10/19/25, 4:23 PM
Jaq said...: Holy crap!

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/secret-service-discovers-hunting-stand-overlooking-trumps-air-force-one-exit

I used to spend time in West Palm Beach and the Air Force One tarmac was usually protected by a long line of empty school buses, to block snipers, but there is a wooded area across from Southern Blvd along the canal that apparently offers a line of sight over the buses, if they are still used.; 10/19/25, 4:27 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Turkey Trot!; 10/19/25, 4:31 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: They'll sure tear up a lawn. If the Coyotes are controlled the population of the turkeys grows. We've got lots around here.; 10/19/25, 4:33 PM
Jaq said...: No Kings is a non-violent movement funded by people who have zero problem with violence.; 10/19/25, 4:35 PM
Saint Croix said...: AC is great and Europe is insane.

I warn my liberals across the pond -- when your people are hot, sweaty, and irritable, you are more likely to have riots.

AC cooled down race relations in the South. AC makes everybody happy and cool. We should air-drop free AC units into the middle east. (With Donald Trump's photo on them). "Everybody stay cool."

MISAC

(men in shorts are cool)

(unfortunately pronounced "my sac")

(might need to re-brand); 10/19/25, 4:49 PM
rehajm said...: In Newton MA almost twenty years ago the mail carrier reported back at the post office there was a turkey at one of the house on his route attacking him so he couldn’t deliver the mail. Everyone thought is was hilarious he was afraid of a turkey. So a few other carriers went with him and sho nuff they were attacked. See? Turns out the kids at the house
were feeding the turkey Cheerios and the bird was protecting his meal…; 10/19/25, 5:19 PM
lonejustice said...: If you have any doubt how misogynist MAGA has become, just read the latest blog from Powerline. Our host is a retired female constitutional law professor, but MAGA believes that the legal profession cannot survive women in the profession. This is pathetic. Even worse, the commentators there, like here, have argued to repeal the 19th Amendment as a way to cure this. God forbid.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/10/can-the-rule-of-law-survive-women.php; 10/19/25, 5:19 PM
Original Mike said...: "They'll sure tear up a lawn."

We had a turkey start to excavate a big hole in our garden. It was spring and I assume it was a female starting to build a nest. I had to dissuade her. She found somewhere else; there was a turkey family in the neighborhood a few weeks later.; 10/19/25, 5:25 PM
Original Mike said...: lonejustice:
What makes the argument you find so offensive "MAGA"? Is Powerline MAGA? Is Helen Andrews MAGA? (I honestly don't know.)
More importantly, why is it beyond the pale to discuss the possibility that female jurists will negatively affect the law?
And BTW, you did notice that the body of the Powerline blog post was written by a woman, right?; 10/19/25, 5:38 PM
Beasts of England said...: ’If you have any doubt how misogynist MAGA has become, just read the latest blog from Powerline.’

Power line is MAGA?! lol; 10/19/25, 5:47 PM
Jamie said...: lonejustice, as expected you're leaving out the crux of the author's argument - so, just like the treatment the left have RFKJr about "circumcision" when his argument had nothing to do with the practice of circumcision.

The crux of the argument was that the feminization of the legal profession has already begun leading, increasingly, to judicial decisions that favor one party or the other based on how sympathetic a character the party is (meaning "how much systemic victimhood can that party claim") rather than on applying the rule of law to the case. I think you'd be hard pressed to say either that such decisions are primarily originating anywhere but with female jurists, or that there are not male jurists who've come up in the feminine milieu that now dominates law schools who appear to be applying the same non-rules.

Femaleness isn't the problem; feminization - legal decisions based on feeling and empathy (or in the case of some of those jurists, antipathy, i.e. to Trump, because he's so meeeeean) rather than on the rule of law - is.; 10/19/25, 5:52 PM
Jamie said...: And furthermore! Was it here or in the comments on the essay under discussion that someone pointed out that once we're all inured to judicial decisions based on how empathetic the judge feels about the party in those favor s/he decides, we're back to Might Makes Right? And that is not guaranteed to go well.

In fact, that's pretty much guaranteed not to go well.; 10/19/25, 5:55 PM
Original Mike said...: "Power line is MAGA?! lol"

I thought not, but I wasn't sure. I don't read it much.
He also needs to understand the meaning of the word misogyny.; 10/19/25, 5:58 PM
Original Mike said...: It's troubling that this deep thinker was once a DOJ prosecutor.; 10/19/25, 6:02 PM
Jaq said...: Camille Paglia theorizes that a lot of the motivation behind women attending these anti-Trump protests is that they miss the time when women had shared spaces with their daughters and their mothers and where they could just be women, whereas in the workplace, it's kind of difficult to just be a woman with women unless you work in a traditionally female occupation as defined in the 19th century, like a laundry. Even nursing is invaded by men.

She says it better than I do; 10/19/25, 6:20 PM
Beasts of England said...: ’It's troubling that this deep thinker was once a DOJ prosecutor.’

[expletive deleted]; 10/19/25, 6:25 PM
donald said...: I see LJ’s vagina is infected again.; 10/19/25, 6:27 PM
gilbar said...: "They can do costly damage to a car if you accidentally hit one,"

about 5 years ago,
a wild turkey flew right across the road in front of me..
i had Never seen one flying, and was stunned and didn't react.
It hit the hood of the car (denting it), and then hit the windshield.
It shattered the windshield, and put a small hole right through.
If it hadn't hit the hood 1st,
i'm sure the whole turkey would have hit me in the face.
The whole car shook when it hit..
It was very scary (a minute later when i realized what'd happened); 10/19/25, 6:45 PM
Original Mike said...: A friend's brother came up over a rise on his motorcycle and plowed into a flock of turkeys. He was in the hospital for a long time.; 10/19/25, 6:50 PM
Jim at said...: How clueless does one have to be to think the NeverTrumpers at Powerline are somehow MAGA.

Good lord. Stop embarrassing yourself.; 10/19/25, 7:11 PM
Mason G said...: "How clueless does one have to be to think the NeverTrumpers at Powerline are somehow MAGA."

To be fair, the NeverTrumpers at Powerline didn't seem to go "banhammer crazy" with the Trump supporters who post there. Better than you'd expect from the left, as low of a bar as that might be.; 10/19/25, 7:31 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/19/25, 7:47 PM
FullMoon said...: "Mason G said...
"In a larger group like that there’s always one lookout with his/her head up. Try it…"

I've heard something similar said about cows in a field- that there's always one standing up as a lookout."

Gary Larson provided examples.; 10/19/25, 7:48 PM
Inga said...: “If you have any doubt how misogynist MAGA has become, just read the latest blog from Powerline. Our host is a retired female constitutional law professor, but MAGA believes that the legal profession cannot survive women in the profession. This is pathetic. Even worse, the commentators there, like here, have argued to repeal the 19th Amendment as a way to cure this. God forbid.”

It’s astounding.; 10/19/25, 7:49 PM
Jamie said...: Do clutch those pearls!

Paglia is a treasure - or at least she can be. The present fad for pretending that women are naturally superior to men in all areas (the essay discusses this too - I urge the selective quote-readers herein to RTWT) is a subject on which she is reliably a treasure.; 10/19/25, 7:54 PM
Leora said...: A friend of mine decided to get a divorce while forced by her husband to attend a wild turkey hunt. There were some other reasons but she claimed it was the final straw.; 10/19/25, 8:02 PM
Original Mike said...: Well, lonejustice convinced Inga…; 10/19/25, 8:03 PM
hanuman_prodigious_leaper said...: ... to repeal the 19th Amendment ... is trollest of trolling - as easy as roll back clock; 10/19/25, 8:05 PM
Kakistocracy said...: The Venn diagram of people I see mocking “no kings” who also want Trump to remain president for life is a perfect circle.; 10/19/25, 8:10 PM
Jaq said...: "The Venn diagram of people I see mocking “no kings” who also want Trump to remain president for life is a perfect circle."

You almost got this right, "The people who want the president's time in office to end with his life, kind of a "president for life," and the people at the No Kings protests... well, you get the rest.; 10/19/25, 8:16 PM
Gospace said...: My wife, one daughter-in-law, and 3 out of 4 of my sisters-in-law think the 19th amendment should be repealed.

Like suffrage and the disastrous experiment with prohibition, the anti-suffrage movement, if it arises, will be led by women.

One of my sons graduated as an electrical engineer. All the women in his class were hired before even the majority of men were. Regardless of class standing. He's kept track. 5 years later- none of them were working in the field.

Staionary engineers/boiler operators are 24/7/365. I've had one work unit with a woman. Everyone is paid the same, yet, yearly, the lone woman made less then anyone else. Single, no children, so not that excuse. She simply turned down almost all overtime when offered. And everyone I've met who has had a woman in their work unit reports the same thing. Women make the same amount or money- but less. Looking at yearly income, almost looks sexual discrimination, doesn't it?; 10/19/25, 8:17 PM
Inga said...: “Well, lonejustice convinced Inga…”

No the article itself convinced me that many of you have lost your ever loving minds.; 10/19/25, 8:29 PM
Inga said...: “My wife, one daughter-in-law, and 3 out of 4 of my sisters-in-law think the 19th amendment should be repealed.”

See? This is an example of the nuttery that has now gone mainstream on the right.; 10/19/25, 8:31 PM
Christopher B said...: I've read Powerline for a long time, and a lot has changed there over the last four years. Around 2021 the loudest anti-Trump voice there was defenestrated after he got into a rhubarb with Steve Hayward (who left Powerline about a year ago to begin posting at his own blog on Substack named Political Questions, along with other contributors). IIRC midway through the 2024 primary season John Hinderaker switched to a far more pro-Trump position than he had prior to the Biden administration. About the only consistently negative posts come from Scott Johnson but those are pretty few and far between. Overall, I think they fairly reflect the transition of most GOP voters to an acceptance that Donald Trump represented the best chance at defeating Biden (and then Harris) in 2024 and building toward a successful future Party despite any misgivings they had. In this respect they aren't much different than various other groups in the party who over the years had misgivings about putting forward George W Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney as candidates, and no longer reflect the sore loser status of various Life Long Republican(TM) posters here.; 10/19/25, 8:35 PM
Mason G said...: "He's kept track. 5 years later- none of them were working in the field."

The company I retired from (and am currently back working for part-time on occasional projects) has hired five female engineers over the past six years. None of them lasted even a year.

Don't know what that means, if anything, but there it is.; 10/19/25, 8:40 PM
Original Mike said...: "Don't know what that means, if anything, but there it is."

Yeah, we're not allowed to talk about the data.; 10/19/25, 8:46 PM
Original Mike said...: Oh, come on, Inga. I'm sure you believe that the country would be better off if men weren't allowed to vote. You're allowed to think that. And you're allowed to make an argument buttressing your opinion. It's not misandry to do so. It's the contents of that argument that may be misandry.; 10/19/25, 8:57 PM
Gospace said...: Inga-Explain why it's nuttery. Aren't other women allowed to have different opinions then you?; 10/19/25, 8:58 PM
Aggie said...: Inga may be too frightened of the essay to read it, so she probably won't tweak to the understanding that her emotive, all-must-be-inclusive, commentary is rather precisely underscoring the points that Helen Andrews, the author of the essay, was trying to illustrate.; 10/19/25, 9:10 PM
Inga said...: “Inga-Explain why it's nuttery.”

Women who want their vote taken away? You ask why it’s nuttery? What?

“Aren't other women allowed to have different opinions than you?”

Of course women should have the right to express opinions, just as they should have the right to vote and be a part of this Representative Republic. Why does this need to be spelled out to you?; 10/19/25, 9:29 PM
Inga said...: “Oh, come on, Inga. I'm sure you believe that the country would be better off if men weren't allowed to vote.”

That’s a ridiculous thing to say.; 10/19/25, 9:30 PM
Inga said...: And it IS nuttery for women to be in favor of disenfranchising themselves. However women have the right to express their opinions, no one want women silenced, do we?; 10/19/25, 9:39 PM
gilbar said...: Gospace said...
"Everyone is paid the same, yet, yearly, the lone woman made less then anyone else. Single, no children, so not that excuse. She simply turned down almost all overtime when offered."

It's Amazing what happens to the "pay gap", when you change from:
$ per year
to
$ to hour

surprize! pretty much, the entire "gap" immediately disappears.

if you do it for
$ per hour for SAME JOB.. it (OBVIOUSLY!) completely disappears!
it's ALMOST AS IF there is a LAW or something; 10/19/25, 9:55 PM
Jim at said...: To be fair, the NeverTrumpers at Powerline didn't seem to go "banhammer crazy" with the Trump supporters who post there.

They most certainly did. It's a badge of honor amongst Instapundit commenters whenever they link to PW.; 10/19/25, 10:03 PM
Jim at said...: PL ... Powerline. Not PW.; 10/19/25, 10:03 PM
Jim at said...: And they banned people for things not even remotely related to Trump.

That twit Mirengoff banned me for a comment I made about sports going woke.

He claimed in his piece ESPN has mostly stayed away from injecting politics into their coverage. I said he should stick to subjects he knows as ESPN has been far and away the worst offender.

Banned.; 10/19/25, 10:16 PM
ceowens said...: "A friend of mine decided to get a divorce while forced by her husband to attend a wild turkey hunt. There were some other reasons but she claimed it was the final straw."

Of course, I cannot speak to your friend's particular case but when I go turkey hunting it is fairly simple. Get up before dawn, put on your camo, make sure your shotgun is unloaded, put it in the truck and drive the truck to a spot, walk through the woods to a likely location, sit down and do not do anything except call every 10 to 20 minutes. After nothing happens for three or four hours except the songbirds waking up and squirrels running around, reverse everything and have a cup of coffee at home.

On second thought, that might push someone over the edge.; 10/19/25, 10:18 PM
Aggie said...: If I was exploring this any further, I'd probably ask the ex-wife to describe what 'forced by her husband' actually meant, in detail.

Turkeys are very difficult to hunt, their eyesight and wariness are legendary. It's a hunt that requires absolute stillness and readiness, and it really helps to know how to use a diaphragm turkey call, to keep your hands free.; 10/19/25, 10:23 PM
Mason G said...: "They most certainly did."

I didn't notice that happening. But in my defense, my previous comment wasn't based on keeping track of specific posters who might have disappeared at the time.

I've seen comments by one or two posters on other blogs who say they were banned but I don't typically read Instapundit so if there's a group of people there who were kicked off PL, I wouldn't know.

For the record, I've been banned there for including "SSDD" in a comment- getting kicked off is not that hard to do.; 10/19/25, 10:25 PM
Mason G said...: "And they banned people for things not even remotely related to Trump."

Oh, I don't doubt that at all. I was mainly talking about getting banned for supporting Trump.; 10/19/25, 10:26 PM
Iman said...: “There were some other reasons but she claimed it was the final straw."

Turkey and teh straw. ha ha hah!; 10/19/25, 11:16 PM
Christopher B said...: Yeah, I got banned from commenting at Powerline as well. The comments were, as I understand it, mostly policed by Scott Johnson (who to me seems the most Never-Trump though he now rarely posts about him) who had his '100% no profanity' rule which gave him almost carte blanche to ban people because who doesn't at some point or another use something that might be considered a swear word, like 'SSDD'. It seemed, however, that he would almost always enforce that rule when some really outrageously anti-Trump post had been put up and attracted a lot of comments.; 10/20/25, 5:23 AM
Leland said...: I banned myself from Powerline. Too many pop-ups. It just wasn’t worth the time.; 10/20/25, 5:49 AM
Bob B said...: Lone Justice said …
MAGA believes that the legal profession cannot survive women in the profession.

So perceptive. Since Trump won, there will never be a woman prosecutor. Oh, wait…. [Sees who is Trump’s Attorney General.] Never mind.; 10/20/25, 7:16 AM
Gospace said...: Leland said...
I banned myself from Powerline. Too many pop-ups. It just wasn’t worth the time.

Not the only site I don't go to for that very reason. Weather.com is near impossible to use dur to intrusive ads.; 10/20/25, 9:48 AM
Leora said...: The husband generally used the silent treatment to punish his wife if she did not do as he wanted. No violence.; 10/20/25, 3:06 PM