Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Good lord, these people are nuts.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

The revolution will be supervised.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

People are complicated. Love is not.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

This blog will pay for itself.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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Reader Interactions

139Comments

  3. 3.

    Plato

    Donald Trump's day so far:

    – John Roberts votes against him on asylum
    – Ruth Bader Ginsburg votes from her hospital bed
    – Trump posts idiotic drawing of "steel slat barrier" wall
    – Looks like it was drawn by a two year old monkey
    – Trump is going to prison
    – It's still only 6pm

    — Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) December 21, 2018

  4. 4.

    MomSense

    Ha!

    I’m out shopping (bah humbug!) but I want to recommend Miley Cyrus’s rendition of Santa Baby. She’s so cool.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    I’d accept a compromise where the wall is a white picket fence. Americans and Mexicans can paint it together.

  12. 12.

    Plato

    Let me get this straight,

    This con man sold the Wall as something “Mexico” would pay for but now he’s making 800,000 federal employees go without paychecks OVER CHRISTMAS if US taxpayers won’t pay for it?

    — Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) December 22, 2018

  16. 16.

    Thoughtful David

    @Plato: Unfortunately, I think this and Mattis’s resignations and the criticism he’s receiving will make him less likely to backtrack on his decision to withdraw. Two reasons: 1) He can’t “look weak,” he knows more about it than all the generals, right? and 2) He has to show Putin he can follow through on orders.

  19. 19.

    Schlemazel

    @Plato:
    I think these guys may be trying to tell us something

    I wish Dump were a Democrat, he would have been gone a year ago. He is a Republican which means he is probably safe til 2020

  22. 22.

    JaySinWA

    When will the House and Senate start negotiating with the real powers that be (Fox News terrorists)?

  24. 24.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Politically, this will be an interesting and informative weekend to watch. This is clearly Trump’s ‘none of my other tantrums are working’ tantrum, a special moment in dealing with toddlers and narcissists where they’ve tried everything they can think of, and have discovered there are limits where they cannot get what they want. There is no switch that can be flipped to fix things, but that is a change point and will tell us a lot. A bigger part than you would think is the filibuster. Trump knows that theoretically the people who are supposed to be on his side could abuse their power to give him what he wants, and that fact is going to change on January 3rd. He is incapable of understanding why McConnell wouldn’t dismantle the filibuster simply because Trump wants something. When the Democrats take over the House, he won’t have this theoretical power. The narcissist’s desperate last stand of entitled demanding their way.

    Personally, I still think Ryan and McConnell could give him a bill, hold his feet to the fire, and he would sign it. Making him cave during negotiations DOES make someone like this easier to deal with in the future, though.

  26. 26.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Plato:

    making 800,000 federal employees go without paychecks OVER CHRISTMAS

    Trump is inherently cruel, and enjoys hurting them that way. He’s denied them as much money as he had the power to throughout his Presidency. He is intensely vulnerable to public shame, but the things we would feel moral guilt over, he either is unaffected by or actively likes.

  27. 27.

    Mayim

    That puppy’s confidence going through the wall…. adorable.

    Warning ~ whine ahead. Don’t often use electronic stuff on Shabbat (librarian me takes the day for in-person friends and real books) but I have a broken bone in my foot (tripped over some air, right at the point of maximum chaos in my post-move organizing) with a non-weight-bearing cast for the next six weeks, and two of my closest friends went into hospice care in the last couple days. Feeling restless as well as annoyed at the universe for this and imposing Trump and his comrades on us.

    Yeah for my cats, who are definitely helping me stay sane through this.

    Also: some stereotypes have a basis in reality. One good thing through all the big picture crap that makes me doubt general humanity: if you need to surround yourself with good, helpful people… find some librarians. And knitters, genealogists, and animal rescue people aren’t far behind. Mostly all quirky nerds, in my experience ~ but helpful, intelligent, problem-solving quirky nerds who are good to surround yourself with.

  28. 28.

    I'll be Frank

    Steel slats? It’s like they don’t know that the formula for thermite is easily available on the internet and the components are readily available in Mexico.

  31. 31.

    Schlemazel

    @debbie:
    Dump registered as a Republican in 1987 and has changed his party affiliation five times. In April 2012, he returned to the Republican Party and has been since. So, no

  36. 36.

    Marcopolo

    @Frankensteinbeck: Just watch, I’m willing to bet that Trump will try to fire Fed Chair Powell in the near future to change the narrative yet again. It’s the as long as I keep throwing new balls in the air no one will notice all the other bad shit that is happening all around me. I mean, after all that is what this entire boarder (sic) wall funding/gov’t shutdown shitshow is all about anyways. This is what the Syria/Afghanistan pull out is all about. The walls are closing in. I reckon we will be lucky if we don’t wind up at war with Iran by Valentine’s Day.

  37. 37.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @JPL:

    They do not want any part of the negotiations.

    I think you may have nailed it. They just plain want to dump this on Trump and make it his problem.

    @dmsilev:

    That’s probably pissing him off more than anything else about this mess.

    Oh, no. Never underestimate how much it utterly pisses off a narcissist to be slapped in the face with the fact that they can’t get their way. They hate it. People are telling him ‘no’ with no pretense that it’s anything other than their being unwilling to indulge his whims. One of these people is a woman who talks down to him. All while more practical facts of reality are denying him on other fronts, he’s scared, and he seems a future looming up close where that woman holds all the power in their relationship.

  40. 40.

    MomSense

    @Mayim:

    I’m sorry to hear about your injury- just what you needed in the aftermath of a move.

    I’m also really sorry to hear about your friends. I’ve been going through this with dear friends the last few years and it has a way of turning all the things you thought life would be – upside down. Take care of yourself. Sending a big hug to you.

  41. 41.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Doug R: My evil genius escape artist beagle goes through that model by opening the latch. On either the people gate or the kitty gate. With about as much delay as that Pomeranian.

  44. 44.

    Ken

    @germy:

    close Trump ally

    Trump sure has lots of allies and staffers who (anonymously) say nasty things about him behind his back. It almost makes me think he’s right to be paranoid.

  45. 45.

    Ken

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    One of these people is a woman who talks down to him… he sees a future looming up close where that woman holds all the power in their relationship.

    Oh come on. Ann Coulter hasn’t got that much influence over Trump.

  46. 46.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Marcopolo:

    after all that is what this entire boarder (sic) wall funding/gov’t shutdown shitshow is all about anyways.

    I cannot possibly disagree more. This is not a distraction. If he’s throwing random shit, it’s because he’s angry, not any tactic to divert attention. Especially the shutdown. He wants this wall and after January 3rd, a woman will be able to deny it to him and he will not be able to do anything about it. The Syria thing maybe could have been wild flailing to demonstrate his power and look strong, but everything he does is too much of a clusterfuck for the ‘distraction’ argument. It ALL needs distracting from.

  49. 49.

    Frank Wilhoit

    Questions:
    1. Who will be Trump’s Alexander Butterfield?
    2. Who will be Trump’s John Poindexter?
    3. Who will be Trump’s Giacomo Matteotti?
    4. (Obvious question omitted as likely to provoke censorship, even in this generous environment)
    5. Who will be Trump’s Humphrey Appleby?
    6. Which will happen first?

  50. 50.

    Chyron HR

    “Ma! MAAAA! Call the fuckin’ cops! That fuckin’ caravan is making our white ethnostate dirtier and poorer again!”

  51. 51.

    Gvg

    Poms have such a peppy attitude. Many years ago I worked in a pet store and we had a Pom puppy for a while. Someone brought in a toy pioneer covered wagon for toy horses to pull and hitched it to that puppy who loved it and went prancing all over the store showing off. He got sold pretty quick. The store manager explained that poms were miniature sled dog breed. Bred from something like a Samoyed. I could see it after it was pointed out.

  56. 56.

    Gvg

    @Ken: he isn’t likable at all. People who want the things he does work for him, but his personality is toxic. It doesn’t have to be. Someone else could have caught this wave and been a better boss, and they would have been more successful. Think of Bush 2’s someone you would want to have a beer with meme. Same guy authorized torture. Sure there is a tendency to be nasty in being this kind of racist, but your usual nasty racist is nice to whites like him, right?
    I don’t think it’s the racism, I think there is something about being a successful media personality that maybe explains how he could get the attention and votes and still be such an unsuccessful boss. However it’s not something I actually know about.

  57. 57.

    Ben Cisco

    Christmas shopping is done, and I’m glad. Trying to get into the spirit of things but having difficulty. Big dinner with the family tomorrow, that should help.

  60. 60.

    Marcopolo

    @Frankensteinbeck:First off, I wasn’t trying to imply that Trump’s method of continually creating new issues was a strategy (at least a thought out one in the traditional sense of the word)–it’s not, it is more primal & reactive & something that has worked for him previously. An actual strategy would imply some endgame & the only endgame with Trump atm is surviving until tomorrow. Second, if he really really wanted his wall he’s had a number of occasions over the past two years to make it a reality. Just a year ago Nancy & Chuck said they would give him $25 billion dollars for a wall if he would just agree to fix DACA (which, might I remind you, he screwed up in the first place). Anyways, I don’t think there is all that much actual disagreement between us.

  62. 62.

    Ben Cisco

    @Kathleen: Thank you. I am trying. And I have much to be thankful for, without a doubt. I’ve gotten just about everything I wanted out of this move. In fact, everything but one thing. I don’t believe that the story is over yet, but I don’t know…

  63. 63.

    patrick II

    I am not sure that the republicans would be as bad off as they fear if they impeach Trump if they don’t impeach Pence. Trump’s strongest ties are with the Evangelicals, but so are Pence’s. If Pence could persuade them that he is every bit the racist Donald is, and more religious to boot, they might not bring pitchforks to the RNC.

  66. 66.

    Vhh

    @Frankensteinbeck: Correct. The way you deal with a narcissist is to box him in so that he himself suffers the consequences of all his actions. That is what is happening to Trump now. It is not going to be pretty, and there will damage and victims, but it has to happen.

  67. 67.

    Leto

    We have visitors from my workplace stopping by today to check on us/wish us well. They’ve been really good during this whole ordeal so yay! Also when I was ordering my dad’s Christmas gift (the excellent Dark Money by Jane Mayer) that I ordered myself her other book, The Dark Side.

    Hope everyone is getting all their preparations in order for the upcoming week. Avalune, my dad, and I watched Krampus last night. Think it’s a good way to remind us all the true meaning of the holidays. Plus Avanlune and I love all of those old world stories. Adds spice to the season (Buffana!) :)

  68. 68.

    Sister Golden Bear

    I wanted to get some returns off today, but my printer crapped out.

    Good news: Best Buy has a replacement that I can pick up in an hour.

    Bad news: I have to go to Best Buy to pick it up.

    Pray for me…

  71. 71.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Schlemazel: I am weeks behind on threads, but I am glad to read ca was not the dx. I do hope your 2nd opinion can provide a better offer that your current doc, whose caution I understand, but it’s not his/her life that’s gonna change with that approach.

    Happy Cold Moon everyone.

  72. 72.

    Central Planning

    I was just looking at Instagram and it suggested I follow Bernie Sanders because I follow The Onion.

    That’s some fine AI they have.

  73. 73.

    Ben Cisco

    @zhena gogolia: It’s a non-optimal situation for me. First time I really connected with someone since Mrs. Cisco passed. Someone here told me to take it slow, and I tried, but I was put into a position where I had to speak my truth. Funny thing is, I’m still daring to hope. Am I crazy?

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Nice antidote to the lionization of Gen. Theranos in the media by Matt Y. There were never any adults in the room

    The metaphor of “adults in the room” is stupid.

    Trump based his entire presidency on “policies” which were stupid or cruel, and consistently fired or neutralized any advisor who would tell him anything he did not want to hear.

    Some kept looking at Trump behave like a child, but ignored the fact that he is a child with incredible power.

    Also, some folks kept asking why anyone with a shred of honor would not resign instead of serving this president. And now those people with a shred of honor ARE resigning.

    The optimists, and fools, are hoping that Trump will learn something from this, but it will only make him worse. And who knows what kind of cynical and selfish vermin will show up to work for him during the remainder of his term.

    At least we will have, hopefully, a strong Democratic House to oppose him until he can be impeached and removed, or defeated in the next election.

  80. 80.

    Mandalay

    AOC is kicking some ass…:

    Next time we have a gov shutdown, Congressional salaries should be furloughed as well.

    It’s completely unacceptable that members of Congress can force a government shutdown on partisan lines & then have Congressional salaries exempt from that decision.

    Have some integrity.

    Those in Congress need to suffer real consequences for this shit.

  81. 81.

    sdhays

    @Mandalay: They should garnish Trump’s salary, as well as his staff’s, too. Supposedly, he donates it back to the government or something, but I somehow doubt that it’s being done faithfully.

  82. 82.

    Doug R

    @Mayim: Most religous “laws” started out as sensible rules. Cover your head in the hot sun, don’t eat shellfish if you live a few days travel from water, don’t eat meat that might have parasites, take a day off a week.
    I understand trying to stay away from work, but these companies that have programmed devices so you don’t have to “work” on one day just seems ridiculous and against the spirit of why the rule was made in the first place.

  83. 83.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Mayim: That is not good news, but your attitude is. Libraries and librarians are awesome.

    @Ben Cisco: I’m not sure hope it’s ever a bad thing, so long as we accept that it may be disappointed. Good thoughts that your patience will help it not be.

    @MomSense: Did you get my email? I can send again if you didn’t.
    @Kathleen @Miss Bianca: I plan to write soon!

  84. 84.

    Mandalay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Nice antidote to the lionization of Gen. Theranos in the media

    Here’s another: Good riddance to James Mattis, Trump’s last general:

    All the talk you’re hearing about how we’ve got to have American forces in this desert or that mountainous no-man’s land as a “counterbalance” to countries like Russia and Iran is lip-flapping twaddle from the kind of “experts” who got us involved in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan in the first place. They are the same “experts” you didn’t hear a peep from when Mattis stood loyally by Trump as he virtually capitulated to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, trashed NATO every chance he got, and sat down for Nuclear Kimchi with Kim Jong Un. Now Mattis is all “maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies” in his resignation letter. Talk about a day late and a dollar short, he should call Angela Merkel and ask her how much “respect” she’s felt from the United States lately.

    Just brutal.

  86. 86.

    tobie

    @Mandalay: I gather there’s been talk of classifying members of Congress as non-essential employees. dKos has a diary up about this now:

    In 2013, Representative Pete Gallego (D-TX) came up with a way around this by introducing a bill that would deem members of the House and Senate as “non-essential employees”. That way, their fate would be tied to that of the 800,000 federal employees that suffer the most due to their inaction. This should be the first order of business on January 3rd, 2019, when Nancy Pelosi takes the gavel in the House. Once passed, they should challenge the Senate to take it up.

    Evidently Gallego only served one term. What a pity.

  88. 88.

    Chris T.

    Three shutdowns in a year. Republicans control all branches of government, and they fail not once, not twice, but three times.

    It’s mind-boggling, until you remember that Republicans are also the ones who say government doesn’t work … and then make sure that it doesn’t.

    Isn’t this, I dunno … isn’t this like saying, hm, we’d like to go out but we need someone to take care of the kids. Let’s see, we have two options for a babysitter. Mrs D says kids need care, and she’ll do job for $50. Mr R says kids are the problem and he’ll do it for $30. Last time someone hired Mr R, his solution was to toss the kids out on the street! But look, he says he’ll watch our kids for twenty bucks less, let’s go with Mr R!

  89. 89.

    The Pale Scot

    @Amir Khalid:

    “This video is not available.”

    Amir, go get a VPN to change your IP address to the USA, and you can change to other countries, plus it’s encrypted

    I use PIA, it’s one of the largest and doesn’t keep logs

  90. 90.

    Mandalay

    Wow – Trump has now lost the Heritage Foundation! They’re throwing a hissy fit in public over his plans to cut and run in Syria and Afghanistan…

    Announcing force reductions without explaining to Americans how the administration plans to follow through on the excellent national security strategy the president laid out to the American people last year represents a significant failure in leadership.

  93. 93.

    Anotherlurker

    I long for time of a real President and lawmakers who value the common good, over knee-work, servicing their corporate masters.
    I can dream, can’t I?

  94. 94.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Brachiator: Agreed completely. He is not a child. Calling him child gives him a pass, because children can’t help themselves since they don’t know any better.
    The generals lent his maladministration a veneer of respectability.

  95. 95.

    James E Powell

    I’ve been avoid all news, but especially cable, since the summer of 2016. I occasionally drop in when there’s a Huge Story and every time I’m reminded that I cannot should not watch this shit. Just now. MSNBC. Reporter quotes Trump’s tweet demanding a steel barrier or wall. She says this is Trump softening his stance. I know it’s mean and awful and wrong, but I really want them all to die.

  98. 98.

    Ruckus

    @Chris T.:
    It’s not just that they say it doesn’t work and then make it so, it’s that they don’t want it to work. Conservatives don’t want any government except their own security, which they control. Everything else is just a cost factor to them. The government tells them they can’t have slaves, they actually have to pay people to work for them and they have to limit the hours that they can work and certain things like safety and health of their employees are major concerns. Without all those silly laws they could make more money.

  101. 101.

    different-church-lady

    @Plato: That’s the kind of stuff that should be a political commercial right now (i.e. not waiting until someone’s running for something)

  104. 104.

    different-church-lady

    @Schlemazel:

    I wish Dump were a Democrat, he would have been gone a year ago.

    He never would have gotten the nomination in the first place.

  105. 105.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: @Kathleen:
    Have you guys seen “A Very Murray Christmas?” Bill Murray’s short Christmas special? Ms. Cyrus is in it and does a great number. The rest of the folks who show up are also wondrrful. Even David Johansen shows up and is good (who I will only think of as a member of the New York Dolls rather than as his later Buster Poindexter creation).

  106. 106.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: You know that there will be a similar story about Sanders soon.

    PS. Still sending uplifting waves of comradery.

  109. 109.

    Mandalay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Colored me shocked a Greenie accepted aid from a dictatorship. Shocked I am, shocked.

    Well if you are in shock it was wholly self-induced, because you obviously didn’t bother to read the article:

    There’s nothing in the reports to suggest that Stein was aware of the influence operation.

    You are exactly the kind of rube that the Russians target.

  110. 110.

    germy

    @Mandalay:

    There’s nothing in the reports to suggest that Stein was aware of the influence operation.

    That’s what the term “useful idiot” means. She was a useful idiot.

  111. 111.

    Wapiti

    @germy: She’d have to be an idiot, sitting across from Flynn at Putin’s table in Moscow and thinking “Everything is fine.”

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    @Mayim: I am really sorry to hear about your foot. I broke my ankle in the spring and had a non-weight bearing cast for 6 weeks, and I really struggled, so I feel your pain.

    I had to wait 2 weeks after the cast came off to get into physical therapy. That sucked, so maybe you can talk to your doctor about tentatively getting on the schedule before you officially get cleared.

  113. 113.

    germy

    @Wapiti:

    She’d have to be an idiot, sitting across from Flynn at Putin’s table in Moscow and thinking “Everything is fine.”

    It was her burnishing her international resume. The biggest criticism thrown at third party candidates and “lefties” is that they lack foreign policy experience/knowledge. (From villagers like Chuck Todd and Maggie Haberman). So I’m guessing here that JIll Stein was traveling to give herself the shine of an international stateswoman.

  114. 114.

    Brachiator

    In the news

    President Donald Trump has begun polling advisers about whether he has the legal authority to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, according to two people familiar with the matter, who described the President as newly furious at the Fed chief as markets tumble.

    Earlier this year, Trump’s advisers told the President that it was doubtful he would have the law behind him if he fired Powell. But Trump has renewed the issue after the Fed again raised its benchmark interest rate this week.

    Adults in the room. Trump is determined to rid the entire government of “adults.”

    And oddly, the GOP is abandoning any pretense that they hold onto any coherent theory of conservative economics by continuing to back this ignorant lunatic.

    And his equally ignorant supporters just shrug their shoulders and say, “I like how Trump is sticking it to the Establishment. More! More!”

    ETA this is also how you get idiots on the other side of the pond declaring, “Yeah. Bring on a no deal BREXIT. I’m sure everything will work out. And we will have our country back again!”

    https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/22/politics/trump-jerome-powell-fire-interest-rate-hike/index.html

  115. 115.

    Immanentize

    Well, McConnell just told Senators to have a Merry Christmas and don’t plan to come back to DC before Thursday

  116. 116.

    Doug R

    @Mandalay:

    There’s nothing in the reports to suggest that Stein was aware of the influence operation.

    FIFY
    Actually, screw that. She was at PUTIN’S TABLE with his information chief and convicted agent of a foreign government Michael Flynn. She knew EXACTLY what she was getting into.

  119. 119.

    Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian

    The beautiful slat barrier won’t be made of steel, which has become too expensive. Instead, they’ll build it out of soybeans. I understand we have a lot of those lying around.

  120. 120.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Mandalay: Yeah, right. A small personality cult like the Greens would have its leader unaware that people are helping them outside of the party. More than likely she just didn’t care who helped.

  123. 123.

    WaterGirl

    @Immanentize: Did you leave out the part where he said he is ashamed that, as the leader of the party in the Senate, he was not able to leave the country is good shape as they run off to have a Merry Christmas?

  125. 125.

    Doug R

    @CarolDuhart2:

    @Mandalay: Yeah, right. A small personality cult like the Greens would have its leader unaware that people are helping them outside of the party. More than likely she just didn’t care who helped.

    For a lot of Green fringe, similarity with Russian positions is a feature, not a bug.

  126. 126.

    PaulWartenberg

    Got back from seeing Bumblebee this morning.

    THIS is the movie that should have started the Transformers franchise. It’s beautiful, well-paced, well-acted, only occasionally juvenile… it’s like having the Fast and Furious film crew working on it instead of Michael BAYSPLOSIONS.

  127. 127.

    JMG

    If Trump fired the Fed chair, the resulting 20 percent one day drop in all stock indexes and suspension of trading by the exchanges would get his attention in a hurry. It might also inspire GOP donors to tell their hired help in Congress that Trump’s time is up.
    Meanwhile, greetings from Bordeaux, France. We’re having Christmas with my daughter, who lives here, ny son and his girlfriend. Things are very weird here due to the gilets jaunts, who don’t seem that dangerous to me (their Saturday demonstration here was carefully scheduled for after lunch, saw a a bunch of them in cafes before) but who have France’s super crust spooked. This worked out for us, as our Air Bnb is n unbelievable luxury apartment in the center of town, for a very cut rate, provided we paid the woman owner in cash. She wanted to be out of Dodge for awhile.
    So how 2018 was this? Mu children and I were in a store tasting caviar (we’re making blinis for Christmas Eve), when we heard a pop-pop and I caught the scent of a smell I hadn’t experienced in almost 50 years. Tear gas. Nobody in the store or the shoppers in the street even looked up.

  129. 129.

    Mayim

    @WaterGirl:
    Good advice on the physical therapy ~ adding to the list of things to do.

    Since I’m Jewish and don’t celebrate Christmas other than getting together with other non-Christian friends because we all have the day off, my brother is trying to claim that his getting braces put on the day before Thanksgiving still holds the family record for second worst holiday-adjacent health issue [Mum dying on the third night of Chanukah definitely grabs first…].

  131. 131.

    JMG

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: There are many cops and soldiers with automatic weapons everywhere we’ve been in France. The gilets jaunes are not violent and the semi-pro righties and lefties who attend these demos looking for some street fighting don’t have guns. One was caught with a knife hidden in a baguette a few weeks ago. But for sure I feel sager here than if I was in Vegas or Miami for the holidays.

  132. 132.

    Ken

    @Mandalay:

    the excellent national security strategy the president laid out last year

    Does the Heritage Foundation mean the “spend more money” part, or the “break our alliances and cozy up with dictators” part?

  133. 133.

    catclub

    @JMG:

    If Trump fired the Fed chair, the resulting 20 percent one day drop in all stock indexes and suspension of trading by the exchanges would get his attention in a hurry.

    my only suggestion is that if you are going to have a recession in your first term, have it as early as possible, so recovery can be happening when the next election comes around.

    I will also note that ‘everyone’ expected the stock market to drop if Trump were elected. The market often seems to do whatever embarasses the largest number of people.

  134. 134.

    JMG

    @catclub: Too late for that now. The US economy is very big. It doesn’t turn on a dime no matter what policies are in place. The market, on the other hand, always overreacts. So does Trump, of course, which is why it’s not do good he obsesses about the market. But screw with the Fed, and the market will melt. Not here, everywhere.

  135. 135.

    Yutsano

    @Mayim:

    Mum dying on the third night of Chanukah definitely grabs first…

    Oof…baruch dayan emet seems really inadequate here. Much love and healing light to you and your family. And it’s late but Hanukkah Samayach!

  136. 136.

    Mandalay

    @germy:

    She was a useful idiot.

    Quite possibly so, but my post was not about Stein. It was about a BJ poster pontificating on an article they obviously hadn’t read. Russia will find such minds malleable.

  137. 137.

    catclub

    @JMG: i was just thinking that presidents are usually given far too much credit for having influence on the market and the economy. Their effect is quite limited.

    I think it would be a bad thing if trump found out he had ways to have a VERY large effect.

  138. 138.

    catclub

    President Donald Trump has discussed firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as his frustration with the central bank chief intensified following this week’s interest-rate hike and months of stock-market losses, according to four people familiar with the matter.

    1. It is of course interesting that votes to raise interest rates are votes that see the economy as robust enough to absorb those increases.
    [Whether that assessment is accurate is for another day.]
    2. Trump does not seem to realize that the stock market is not the economy. File under ‘not a surprise’

    My main indicator of near term recession is oil prices falling a lot. Employment is still excellent and inflation is meh.

    The fact that the expansion has been so sluggish over the past ten years is one thing that makes a dramatic reversal of growth unlikely. No boom, no bust.

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