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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Monday Morning Open Thread: Happy Lunar New Year!

Monday Morning Open Thread: Happy Lunar New Year!

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Gong xi fa cai! for the Year of the Fire Monkey. Probably should have linked to this list yesterday, but if you’re looking for an excuse not to do any housework and then go out for dinner (preferably wearing your lucky red undies), you’re good!

From the Washington Post:

… Market ups and downs, fires and viruses, the Year of the Monkey is predicted to have them all.

Hong Kong feng shui master Louis Wong foresees “a lot of fires happening around the world, especially in the forests. So we need to watch out for fire hazards,” he said. “Southeast Asia will see a lot of viruses or disease, so we need to be very careful about the Zika virus now.”…

A Hong Kong brokerage that publishes a tongue-in-cheek annual feng shui report said the Chinese territory’s Hang Seng stock index would perform decently until a downward swing mid-year, followed by a recovery.

“Overall, it’s a year for slow, considered expansion, not for raucous monkey antics,” it advises.

The CLSA brokerage says U.S. presidential campaigner Donald Trump [Fire Dog] should watch his cash outflow and beware the “golden-tongued” Hilary Clinton, who was born in the Year of the Pig and is therefore a good pal of the monkey…

***********
Apart from lunar celebrations — not to mention bracing ourselves for Mardi Gras & the NH primary tomorrow — what’s on the agenda as we start the week?

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Setting up the grow lights, getting the starter mix, and cups in preparation of starting my seeds.

  2. 2.

    Applejinx

    The CLSA brokerage says U.S. presidential campaigner Donald Trump [Fire Dog] should watch his cash outflow and beware the “golden-tongued” Hilary Clinton, who was born in the Year of the Pig

    Sexist!

  13. 13.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    Our daughter lives in CO as well as some of my wife’s cousins I went to look at facebook this AM & found it unreadable. 15000 posts about how wonderful the Broncos were & how Manning is going to be drinking Budweiser (WHAT?!? I assume some SB tie in but really?) It was nice, I didn’t have to pretend to even try to wade through that.

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    a lot of fires happening around the world, especially in the forests

    As opposed to happening in the world’s deserts, lakes and oceans, definitely.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Now if only they made an athletic cup-shaped gravy boat…      ;)

    (Wouldn’t be at all surprised if such a thing exists.)

  16. 16.

    raven

    @Mustang Bobby: Yea, we had about 25 people, half of who left to watch Downton Abbey. They all brought wonderful food so there was a good bit of everything left!

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    Big question is whether or not the Stupor Bowl reverts back to Roman numerals next year for Bowl LI.

    Almost worth using a stadium on Long Island.

  21. 21.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    The new management has been fretting over structure for a year now. They announced last week that they are going to make the big reveal next week Wed. So, as hot as the rumor market has been for the last 12 months it went nuclear overdrive. It is going to be interesting as I have my own ideas as to what is going to happen. Whatever happens we are sure to have 2 new lamprey’s attached sucking money out of our organization like it is endless.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    (*mouth agape*>)

    A Chicago police officer who fatally shot a college student and his 55-year-old neighbor has filed a lawsuit against the teenager’s estate that blames the mentally ill 19-year-old for causing the officer “extreme emotional trauma.” Source

  32. 32.

    David Koch

    @Baud: You mean Sharia numerals.

    Over the years I’ve actually seen wingnuts on deadspin attempt to make jokes predicting Obama will force americans to use “arab numbers”. the mockery that follows is delicious.

    A couple of years ago Trump was sued because he wanted to fly the world’s largest american flag at one of his golf courses (rich people in palm beach didn’t like it obstructing views). So Colbert interviewed Trump and asked him what do the stripes on the flag represent and he had no idea. And he was proud of it. There could be no better standard bearer of the Know-Nothings.

  35. 35.

    HinTN

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): St. Peyton’s halo really tarnished the first time he said that, “I’m drinking a lot of Budweiser tonight.” crap. When he repeated it, slightly garbled, we thought, “Hey, he’s endorsing Marco Rubio” and we’d had enough. Click

  36. 36.

    Steeplejack

    I vaulted out of bed this morning with renewed purpose in life when I suddenly remembered two things that happened yesterday: I doubled my notebook’s RAM (from 4 to 8 GB), and I downloaded Håkan Nesser’s new Inspector Van Veeteren novel, Hour of the Wolf, which I had completely forgotten came out a few weeks ago. If you like Scandinavian crime fiction, check out the series. Starts with The Mind’s Eye and Borkmann’s Point.

    The housecat vaulted out of bed so that she could vault onto her heated workstation to start her morning nap.

  37. 37.

    Central Planning

    I’m getting ready for a business trip to Germany at the end of the week. That should be a good time.

    We also got our first batch of maple syrup last night – 12 ounces… I think we probably boiled down 4-5 gallons of sap that we got from 2 trees yesterday. Yum!

  40. 40.

    magurakurin

    @Princess: thank you for that link. I put it on my facebook page. Of course I don’t have any friends so my facebook page is more like a multi year bookmark list of outrage. But I liked that article very much.

  41. 41.

    bemused

    After someone commented in GOP debate thread that audience didn’t know whether to clap or not when Trump said we’re not going to let Americans die in the street, I had to watch that clip. It was worse than I imagined, sounded like one person clapping. They really do want to see uninsured Americans die, preferably right in front of them.

  43. 43.

    satby

    Happy Lunar New Year everyone! We’re expecting snow from now until Thursday, 4-8 inches, so the girls will finally get a chance to go sledding. I’m off to go buy some cheap sled now ;)

  49. 49.

    Central Planning

    @Baud:

    According to Reddit, this happened in Germany.

    I’ll make sure I’m on the lookout when I’m over there and report back the oppo research to you.

  50. 50.

    Matt McIrvin

    @David Koch:

    Over the years I’ve actually seen wingnuts on deadspin attempt to make jokes predicting Obama will force americans to use “arab numbers”. the mockery that follows is delicious.

    To be slightly fair to them, the version of Arabic numerals actually used in the Arab world isn’t quite the same as what we use; the system is the same but the actual digits are written differently.

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    Long White House tradition nears end for a family descended from a slave
    By Juliet Eilperin
    February 7 at 11:53 AM

    The public and private rhythms of the White House have shaped John Wrory Ficklin’s daily life from the day he was born.

    On Nov. 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Ficklin was 7 and playing at a neighbor’s house when his friend’s mother told him he needed to hurry home. At the time, his father, also named John, was the White House maitre d’ and very close to the center of the unfolding national tragedy. The next time Ficklin actually saw his father was on television three days later, in a rented morning suit, as the slain president’s coffin was carried into the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington for the funeral Mass.

    The White House is a place defined by transients — presidents and political appointees who come and go after a term or two.

    But Ficklin is a different, more enduring sort: He is the 10th member of his family — all children and grandchildren of a Virginia slave born in 1857 — to have worked in the White House, a long line that stretches back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration. Ficklin’s uncle Charles got a job as a White House butler in 1939. His father, John Woodson Ficklin, born in 1919, joined the staff in 1940 and stayed for 43 years.

    The long family streak may end with Ficklin, who retired last month just shy of his 60th birthday. But he was also the first whose work would range beyond the kitchens, pantries and dining rooms of the executive mansion and into the West Wing. Ficklin retired as a special assistant to the president and senior director for records and access management at the National Security Council.

  64. 64.

    D58826

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: It just seems that if you are Bill or Hillary and go about doing the things that normal politicians/public figure do it becomes the biggest scandal since the last time Bill/Hillary did something scandalous. . So she charged a speaking fee for speeches, what of it. There are agencies that co-ordinate these kind of events. If she was able to ask 750k and someone was willing to pay it then more power to her. Isn’t that the heart of capitalism – charging what the traffic will bear? I understand her ‘I’ll release my transcripts when every one else releases theirs’ but I suspect that will just drag this out and she must be hiding something. Confession that she personally lead the attack in Benghazi maybe. Just one more media frenzy that proves nothing. I suspect that some of it is pure jealous among those who can only demand 50k per speech, Can we get back to really important issues – like how she or Bernie will improve medical care access in the US or the best way to deal with ISIS.

  65. 65.

    gogol's wife

    I was looking forward to the final episode of War and Peace tonight, but I don’t think the retreat from Moscow in the snow is going to be quite what I’ll want to watch tonight, after storms on Friday and again today. I hate winter!

  66. 66.

    Peale

    @D58826: It will prove that she sold us out to the banks. You may think making money and capitalism go together, but she’s made too much money and I know so. She may even believe that financial services are part of a modern, well functioning economy and that banking interests aren’t necessarily at odds with life as we want it to be. Clearly anyone who thinks that capitalism might work and that we shouldn’t destroy the capitalists is going to hand us over to years of servitude, neigh slavery, to the parasitic rentier class. There is only moderate socialism and there is neo-liberal extremism and only those two exist right now.

  70. 70.

    Paul in KY

    @MomSense: Had never heard of this publication till now. Read the wiki summary of it & that would be a good guess. Will say that Libertarians are not Progressive (in my book, anyway).

  71. 71.

    Paul in KY

    @The Thin Black Duke: I was thinking this part: ‘Clearly anyone who thinks that capitalism might work and that we shouldn’t destroy the capitalists is going to hand us over to years of servitude, neigh slavery, to the parasitic rentier class. There is only moderate socialism and there is neo-liberal extremism and only those two exist right now.’

    I myself like tightly regulated capitalism. As tightly regulated as Adam Smith advocated & was done back in FDR’s time.

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning all.

    Fell asleep last night before halftime; woke up thinking the Broncos would win, but kind of bummed to miss the festivities. Def missed most of the ads; the ones I saw were kinda “meh”.

    Was there any equivalent of left shark this year?

  75. 75.

    Davebo

    Gong xi fa cai!

    If we are going to do Chinglesh I prefer Gong Hai Fat Choi!

    Regardless, here’s to a healthy and prosperous new year.

  76. 76.

    henqiguai

    @Davebo(#75):

    If we are going to do Chinglesh I prefer Gong Hai Fat Choi!

    ‘Chinglish’? You say Cantonese, he say Mandarin.

  77. 77.

    D58826

    @Peale: Then any politician who accepts money from any one making more than 100k per year has sold us out to some special interest or another. I agree that there is to much money floating around in the system, most of it unaccounted for but at the moment that is the way the system is set up. Which of the GOOPERs (and just about all of the democrats as well) is not beholden to one special interest or another. Adelson/Koch/defense contractors, the list goes on and on without even getting to wall Street. Christie’s wife works on wall street and Cruz’s wife took a leave of absence from Goldman. Of course that will have no impact on their decisions as president. And none of this touches on the revolving door between government agencies and the private sector. Or the congress criters who retire to become lobbyists or start a multi-million dollar ‘consulting firm’. Or the general who retire to become VP at a defense contractor in charge of the same weapon system they were in charge of at the Pentagon. It doesn’t matter how badly the weapon system performs, no active duty project manager will flag it because they will lose thew chance for that cushy post-retirement job. From that perspective and how it influences government policy the speaking fees are just lose change.

    My point was when Bill or Hillary do it it is a crime and rates a banner headline in the NYT. When any one else, esp. a gooper, does it well that’s just business as usual and hardly rates a mention. A recent non-financial example is the blasted e-mail server and the retroactively marked’ top secret’ documents. Condi’s folks sent top secret information to a private e-mail account, and so did Colin Powell. Powell has deleted all of his e-mail and the Bush WH sent a huge number of e-mails to non government accounts. E-mails that may have shed light on the US attorney scandal. Jeb used a private e-mail account and decided which to delete and which to make public. Hillary’s account requires multiple congressional investigations, an FBI investigation and a threat that if elected the Goopers will file articles of impeachment on Inauguration day. There are some folks demanding that even her personal e-mails be made public because you never know what evil they may contain.
    I guess I’m cynical about all of this because I lived thru the Clinton scandals of the 1990’s and after 8 years and 100+ million dollars all we found was a blue dress and a consensual blow job. As to the perjury charge, any other citizen would have invoked his 5th amendment rights and never appeared before the grand jury thus no testimony no perjury.

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