Per Reuters, “Robust US economy may not need Trump’s big reforms”:
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on promises of aggressive import tariffs, strict immigration curbs, deregulation and smaller government, but the economy he inherits next week may be screaming for something different.
Namely, don’t break anything.With output expanding above trend, the labor market near maximum employment and adding jobs, and the embers of inflation still smoldering, Trump may be launching his promised reforms into an economy less in need of the sort of stimulus his 2017 tax cuts provided. As a stock selloff following last week’s strong December jobs report showed, it may also be prone to correction given high asset values and a bond market that has been moving yields higher.
“Success for the Trump administration would be to do no harm to the exceptionally performing economy it is inheriting,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. On their face, the planned combination of tariffs, deportations, and deficit-funded tax cuts “will do harm. How much … depends on how aggressively these policies are pursued.”…
halfway convinced trump is just going to go full economic meltdown by pulling all triggers simultaneously just to spite the people trying to talk him out of it
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) January 13, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Meanwhile…
— Mike Luckovich (@mluckovich.bsky.social) January 14, 2025 at 2:38 PM
tired: government that's small enough to drown in a bathtub
wired: government that's dumb enough to drown in a bathtub— e.w. niedermeyer (@niedermeyer.io) January 14, 2025 at 8:20 PM
the los angeles metro area has almost 4x the population of tuberville’s entire state, these guys are all getting out way over their skis
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) January 13, 2025 at 5:24 PM
And there are A LOT more big Republican donors in LA County than in Louisiana.
— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) January 13, 2025 at 6:29 PM
(Blocked quote: There are more Republicans in LA County that Republicans plan to force to suffer than there are in LA the state)
Today’s Pam ‘Can’t be bought, but ask me about my very reasonable rental rates’ Bondi’s turn in the Senate barrel…
Few US adults are confident that the Justice Department and FBI will act fairly under Trump, AP-NORC poll finds https://t.co/D4Ik0bfVOY
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 15, 2025
NotMax
FYI.
It’s turtles all the way up.
;)
Baud
So they take Trump at his word.
NotMax
Hitler’s dog: Blondi.
Felon 47’s lapdog: Bondi.
//
narya
I cannot even. That’s where I am today.
One thing I appreciated yesterday: Hakeem Jeffries saying, on Chris Hayes, that the proposed prevent-trans-girls-from-playing-sports bill is a bill to enable groomers and pedophiles.
Kay
Well, he has to do SOMETHING – Media and Trump have been screaming for four years that people can’t afford food – they’re really going to just abruptly drop it now that they installed the far Right?
Hey – has anyone heard anything about The Crisis At The Border since election day? There’s still plenty of Haitian refugees in Ohio. They’re no longer a threat? I’m not sure which group of people I’m supposed to hate and fear now. Oh, that’s right. The 11 trans kids in my state.
tobie
Not a day goes by right now when I don’t think about leaving the US. We focus on Trump but the election was an indictment of the American people. A plurality voted for this. “Working people” decided they believed the obscenely wealthy would do more for them than a party that fought for (and won) good-paying jobs, reshoring of manufacturing, and expanded benefits and consumer protections.
Kay
Trump could just say he put some economic policy in and it would become “true”
We’re much, much more detached from reality than we were in 2016. He can golf for four years and people will still be told he’s a Huge Success and half the voters will believe it.
We’re no longer connected to actual material conditions. It’s lies all the way down.
Doug R
Heard a couple of Canadian bidness guys on the CBC yesterday. They’re not too worried about tarrifs, they figure the Bank of Canada will just cut interest rates more, let the Canadian $ drop a bit more and it’s like the tariffs didn’t happen.
Old Man Shadow
That last item tells me we are no longer a free people. Accepting corruption in Federal law enforcement without doing anything is accepting servitude.
Melancholy Jaques
Few US adults are confident that the Justice Department and FBI will act fairly under Trump, but they voted for him anyway because god for fucking bid that a woman occupy the White House.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Baud
@Kay:
The news is telling me the economy is great now. Everything we all said would happen with the media if Trump won is happening. There is zero surprise.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
BlueGuitarist
@NotMax:
Speaking of Bondi and dogs, a reminder:
hurricane Katrina victims had to take Bondi to court in a long battle to get back their dog.
https://www.businessinsider.com/rnc-speaker-pam-bondi-custody-battle-dog-with-katrina-victims-2020-8
rikyrah
@Kay:
He already told them that he can’t do anything about groceries 😒
Phucking clowns 😡
rikyrah
@Baud:
Not one iota of surprise 😒
rikyrah
@Kay:
Crisis at the border?.you lie 😒
Melancholy Jaques
@Kay:
I’m afraid you are right. We – or most Democrats anyway -spent the last four years thinking that the reality of Trump’s insurrection, corruption, lying, and incompetent response to COVID was so obvious that voters would not elect him again. I know I thought that. But it turns out not one of those things moved the needle.
rikyrah
I don’t think many people here are on TikTok.
But, I am quite amused by the turn of events over there. It’s cracking me up, the way the masses pulled the Uno Reverse on the politicians in DC and Zuckerberg 😂😂😂
TBone
I hope someone brings this Roodles affair to the fore today. Bondi was a witness for the
911J6 disbarment defense. Listed for Rudy because:https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/rudy-giuliani-plans-to-call-doug-mastriano-christina-bobb-peter-navarro-jenna-ellis-corey-lewandowski-pam-bondi-and-others-to-defend-his-d-c-law-license/
The Thin Black Duke
If most Americans don’t give enough of a damn to participate in a democracy, they don’t deserve to keep it. This election, most Americans collectively chose to bend the knee. Bitter? Yeah, a wee bit.
The Thin Black Duke
If most Americans don’t give enough of a damn to participate in a democracy, they don’t deserve to keep it. This election, most Americans collectively chose to bend the knee. Bitter? Yeah, a wee bit.
The Thin Black Duke
Deleted.
Soprano2
I got a new kitty on Sunday – his name is Lewis, he’s a gray tabby and is around 8 months old. I got him from one of our servers who said he didn’t get along with her 8 year old cat, plus I don’t think she can afford two cats. I took him to the vet on Monday to get neutered, tested and vaccinated. Luckily he got a clean bill of health. I’ve been keeping him in our bedroom upstairs. Last night I let him out to roam around the house when I was home and could watch him. He encountered our dog, who was curious and non-threatening. Lewis hissed at him, but I think they’ll be OK after a few days, because the dog isn’t aggressive toward cats – his attitude is “oh, another cat”, then he goes and lays down. Lewis eventually saw Half-Pint, who was on the top of the refrigerator. They exchanged yowls and hisses for a few minutes, but there was no fighting or other interaction. Eventually Lewis went back upstairs. He’s there today while I’m at work. I figured after he’d been in the house a couple of days the others knew he was there and he knew they were there, so he might as well come out on his own terms. I’m hopeful he’ll be out and getting along with the others by the end of the week, but however long it takes I’m willing to do it. I’m hopeful that since he and Half-Pint are both young (and big, both of them are 11 pounds!) they’ll start playing together. Lewis is a real lover; he was trying to get my attention the whole time I was putting on my makeup. Wish me luck!
Soprano2
No, it’s like the October caravans – they mysteriously disappear the day after the election in November.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Soprano2:
Great news! Hope the two can work out a co-habitable living arrangement.
From yesterday’s Senate hearings on the Drunk Confirmation, as always, the ineffable Frank Conniff:
Soprano2
@Baud: Yes, the price of eggs is really high but for some reason they aren’t talking about it all the time. They’ve suddenly discovered something called “the market” and “supply and demand” as an explanation for higher prices, rather than who the president is.
catclub
Halfway?
Relevant again!
https://thereformedbroker.com/2016/12/13/every-unified-republican-government-ever-has-led-to-a-financial-crash/
TBone
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: hahahaha!
Soprano2
@Baud: Isn’t it strange how suddenly telling people the economy is good isn’t “insulting to the voters”? *rolleyes
catclub
Vote by mail was the difference. Lots in 2020.
artem1s
Instead of having all the leftist pundits screaming about saving the planet, it might be a good idea to ask actual climatologist how close the south and midwest states came last year to having wild fires of the their own. This is when a local TV affiliates in red states could come in handy for changing the narrative.
IIRC areas across the midwest – including reds states like OH, IN, WV, KY- had record low rainfall last year. The midwest’s aquifers are depleted due to agribusiness and white flight suburban developments. Wells are drying up and many residents have to have water delivered. Those of you who remember the blizzard of 77-78 know what it’s like when entire states don’t have the infrastructure to deal with systemic failures and natural disasters. One of these years (probably not too far in the future) it’s only going to take some dumb MAGAt, glibertarian asshole deciding he’s going to burn his trash instead of paying for pick-up in some shitty rural unicorporated township outside Columbus, OH to set the whole midwest on fire. I’m sure there are whole swaths of the South too that are at risk.
Also,too Tuberville needs to be reminded that his state is one of the takers and needs to pull their fucking bootstraps up.
Steve LaBonne
Four years, not a single month with negative job growth. But “the economy was bad”. When people can’t recognize and reward competent government, democracy becomes impossible.
MomSense
@Kay:
Mass delusion and fascism go hand in hand. We are seeing it everywhere. The bizarre conspiracies about fog, the fires in California, chem trails, government caused hurricanes, etc.
My oldest made an excellent and terrifying prediction yesterday. He said that you can see the coordinated blaming and vilification of Newsom. He thinks federal assistance will be conditional on Newsom resigning.
If Newsom doesn’t resign he will be held responsible for lack of federal funds. If he does resign there goes a big state and player in any resistance. He will look weak and discredited.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: I don’t know, I kind of figured they’d continue to stress the misery until the moment Trump actually entered office, so he could be the causal factor. Trump isn’t President yet–isn’t this still Biden’s economy?
That’s certainly what Trump will do.
eclare
@Soprano2:
Yay! Good luck. My new kitty that I got last September has finally started getting along with my existing kitty. They are not BFF’s, but they don’t hiss at each other, so take every victory!
Matt McIrvin
@artem1s: There were some in the Northeast and Canada this summer, which we got the smoke from in the Boston area. They just didn’t spread to burn down huge populated areas like the ones in California.
Geminid
@Kay: You won’t be too surprised that a speech on Middle East that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken gavee yesterday was widely panned. Turkish journalist Ragip Soylu posted this from Gregg Callstrom, who reports on Middle East matters for The Economist:
The normally affable Laura Rozen responded:
Soylu got his licks in when he introduced Carlstrom’s review with:
eclare
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Hahaha….love it.
Soprano2
@Steve LaBonne: When people say the economy is bad, they mean prices are too high, or prices went up too much too fast. Most people have no idea what “the economy” is.
Steve LaBonne
@Soprano2: Not even that because, as pointed out above, the price of eggs is somehow no longer a problem. It’s all bullshit all the time, reality need not apply.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MomSense:
The easy solution to that, should it come to pass, is for Newsom to refuse to resign and Dems at all levels as well as voters complain to their reps about this and raise hell about it. Put pressure on them
Miss Bianca
@Soprano2: Yeah, and did you know there’s this thing called “bird flu” that’s affecting the egg producing industry? *They say* that that might have something to do with the price of eggs, also, too.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@artem1s:
Nah, classic conservative reality is:
Bootstraps for thee but not for me.
It’s amazing how many groups across the political spectrum use variations of that (swap out “bootstraps” for something else) to justify their policy agendas.
kindness
I’m fairly convinced Trump’s opening act upon being crowned President was to have Stephen Miller do huge roundups of immigrants in California on day one or two (he sure as hell isn’t going to touch them in Texas). The LA fires complicates this. The immigrants are now scattered from the liberal devil city and the only easy place to get them is California’s Ag industries, which are all Republican owned.
sixthdoctor
I did see this morning that Oliver Willis on BlueSky complimented both Hakeem Jeffries and Gavin Newsom on their messaging, so after checking to make sure that it wasn’t raining frogs maybe Democrats are starting to up their game.
Miss Bianca
@sixthdoctor:
Or – *maybe* – bear with me, here – some pundits are starting to experience that “Don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” kinda feeling now that the Democrats they’ve routinely trashed for four years are on their way out of power.
Matt McIrvin
@tobie: The recurrent thoughts I have to deal with aren’t about leaving the US (which is something I could probably actually do, though it’d be hard, but I’m not feeling it)…
It’s punishing myself somehow, because the anger and frustration turns inward and I find ways to blame myself for everything. I did seemingly innocent things 10, 20, 30 years ago that contributed in some indirect way to creating this world. Somehow, this is all my fault. My leaving the US would just be spreading the moral taint elsewhere.
Of course I can’t actually do anything too bad, because I have responsibilities, there are people I love, I can’t hurt them. But I can make myself feel miserable.
And then I think, what the hell, it’s not as if professional-class nerds in other countries behaved substantially differently from me, they just had the luck to be born elsewhere. (And there’s no guarantee the same awful processes aren’t going on there–they probably are.)
It’s this kind of terrorist-manifesto reasoning, the kind where they go on about how they had to hurt civilians because there are no innocents.
This has been going on for most of my adult life, but it gets bad when politics are bad.
Geminid
@sixthdoctor: Hakeem Jeffries isn’t “upping his game.” Jeffries has always been a tough opponent for Republicans and his comunications have reflected this throughout past years.
sixthdoctor
@Geminid: Fair enough. I was taken aback that the fact that Oliver Willis complimented Jeffries on his messaging. He hasn’t had anything positive to say about any Democratic leader post-election.
lynno
Last time Trump told the world he was going to build a wall and mexico was going to pay for it. We got some wall and we paid for it. Now he’s going to send all the immigrants home, cut rich folks taxes, put tariffs on all imports, fire federal employees based on whatever Musk determines as waste, and eliminate healthcare insurance. Who going to pay for that….Its jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.
Geminid
@sixthdoctor: Ah, now I see what you meant.
Personally, I think the Willises-and there are plenty of Willises– could learn a lot from Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar if they could only grow out of their “feckless Democrat” mindset and watch without prejudice what the Democratic House leaders say and do
narya
@sixthdoctor: Jeffries WAS good! He said the anti-trans-girls-in-sports bill enables bad actors to inspect kids’ genitalia, and we already have experience with that, and it’s not GOOD experience.
Captain C
@Miss Bianca: “I didn’t think the leopards would throw me into the camp for recalcitrant journalists!!!”
Captain C
@narya:
So, a large portion of their coalition, then?
eclare
OK. I don’t even know how to say this, but I don’t give a fuck about the price of eggs. I’m single, no kids, I can’t remember when I last bought eggs.
But you know what I do remember buying? Paper products. I buy TP and paper towels all the time. Why wasn’t this a theme?
danielx
Three degrees outside. Have reached an age where “it’s too cold” is a perfectly acceptable and valid reason for not leaving the house.
Captain C
@eclare: Too bad no one in a position to use it came up with “the Trump TP shortage” when that whole ‘are you better off than you were 4 years ago [when we had an unpreventable plague and the idiots in charge were wrecking the economy with their shitty response]’ shit was asked and not answered by the MSM.
sixthdoctor
@narya: And it gives busybody parents a ready-made excuse to target ANY kid who doesn’t follow how they think they should present their gender identity. It’s going to drive kids to depression and self-harm.
I’ve heard it’s DOA in the Senate but I will call my senators anyway because I will be doing that a lot more going forward.
moonbat
@danielx: Speaking of cold, I met the news that Jan. 20th is going to be unseasonably cold in Washington, DC with unbecoming glee. I can’t be the only one hoping that 45 pulls a William Henry Harrison.
Professor Bigfoot
@Melancholy Jaques: We really don’t want to accept what REALLY drives them, because it hurts so much.
But we know what it is, and Davis X. Machina put his finger on it decades ago.
Captain C
@sixthdoctor:
For the sadists in the Republican party, this is a goal.
252man
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Here’s an idea: Newsom should issue an order (or whatever one would call it) that any federal taxes owed by anyone (individuals, businesses) will be held by the state of California. Those funds would be forwarded to the federal government upon receiving disaster relief. If that relief doesn’t arrive in a timely manner, use those federal tax dollars held up to rebuild and restore devastated areas. California sends more than $6 to the federal government for every dollar they send.
Captain C
@Professor Bigfoot:
These days I assume it’s the case about any Republican or ~-voter and if it’s not the case in a specific instance, that person still has no problem with voting for a party run on that principle. The only way to prove me wrong is to leave the party and stop voting Republican, until they stop being the party of sadism, scams, and (white-)supremacy.
Kay
@Geminid:
I tried to watch it but I didn’t last long. Biden’s worst pick, IMO.
I’m in wait and see mode on any (delivered) benefits to Palestinian civilians from any deal. The truth is the United States government simply doesn’t recognize them as human beings. And that’s bigger than Biden – if you doubt it’s blatant bigotry go read the op Ed by the ct of appeals judge who was subjected to absolutely vile religion and ethnicity based attacks for more than a year. Perfectly acceptable in the US.
I wouldn’t trust anything the US said were I a Palestinian. We never deliver on our end of the deal and we lie about them constantly. Appalling.
I hope Blinken ends up in some cushy letterhead-only job in the private sector so he can’t do any more damage to the public sector.
Obama had Arne Duncan and Biden had Blinken, except the Sec of Ed can do a lot less damage.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@catclub: remember tfg saying an economic crash is good so he and his pals can pick up properties for cheap. Having people willing to accept lower pay packages because the economy sucks is just a side benefit for Bezos and Muskrat.
Old School
@eclare:
My guess would be because the price of paper products skyrocketed during the COVID pandemic and haven’t dropped (and of course had dramatic shortages as well).
The increase in egg prices happened during the past four years. Thus it was entirely the fault of Biden/Harris.
Kay
@Geminid:
I will never understand why Biden allowed Blinken to come out ELEVEN times to say they were close to a deal, which of course made it look like they were just buying time to allow Israel to destroy Gaza. They tanked their own credibility. I don’t have any sympathy for them. No one believes them and no one should – they lied to us.
Professor Bigfoot
@danielx: 11 here this morning and I’m sitting right next to the furnace vent.
Nursing a cup of coffee and NOT getting dressed.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Geminid:
What’s your take on Blinken as State Secretary?
TBone
@eclare: it was a theme for Senator Bob Casey. But McCormick’s money outspoke him.
TBone
Anybody watching Pam Bondi audition for AG? Bueller???
Senator John Kennedy distinguishes himself bringing up Avenatti
Now we’re on to SBF looking like John Belushi (!🤣)
sab
@eclare: Isn’t your kitty one of the crew from South Bend that satby rescued? Mine are finally fitting in. Solomon got laser pointers for Christmas, and that sealed the deal for him.
They wander the house at night while the pitbull is sleeping. We find them everywhere: on the counter in the bathroom, on the counter in the kitchen, Solly once on top of the fridge.
Solly is huge,14 pounds and very thin. He “helps” with sewing in the basement and he is bigger than my sewing machine. He is also very gentle, and is utterly deferential towards the girl cats, and friendly with the boys. Echo is just all around shy.
Geminid
I see The Grio is still kicking. They reported on yesterday’s Oversight Committee’s session, where members debated creating a subcommittee dedicated to promoting the work of the DOGE commission.
Feisty Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett said that if anything, the Committee should revive a subcommittee for civil rights. Then feral South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace launched into a scurrilous tirade about “chicks with dicks” in women’s bathrooms.
So Crockett posted a clip of the exchange as an example of the difference between Congressional Republicans and Democrats, adding with regards to Mace, “Bless her heart.”
Josie
@Geminid:
Agreed. Personally, I hope to see this team of three strong advocates lead us out of this morass and eventually become the rightful leaders in the House. Much of their work goes unseen and unheralded.
sab
@moonbat: Tsk tsk. I agree.
Geminid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I couldn’t give that informed an opinion, but Gregg Callstrom and Ragip Soylu have paid Blinken a lot of attention in their professional capacities so I’ll give some weight to their criticisms.
P
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Geminid:
Got ya. Thanks for the answer
Kay
I had to coordinate with Roanoke VA re: a situation with a “vulnerable adult” – thats a special missing persons designation for people with dementia or mental illness. I had to get our local police to talk to Roanoke City police because that’s the process – I need a local.police agency to get the out of state police agency to start the process.
I was so embarrassed of our local police – almost surly with the super on the ball Roanoke dispatcher, to the point where we cut them out and I just talked with her while they stared at me like they were going to arrest me. Anyway, great job, Roanoke, very professional.
Very cool southern accent too. Its reminiscent of the Pittsburgh accent. I’m sending her a thank you note.
TBone
@TBone: AG mood music
https://youtu.be/jrwjiO1MCVs
Soprano2
@Kay: So once you got the surly men out of the way the two women were able to work it out. I listened to a pick menu of names this morning and picked the only one whose name sounded like a woman’s name. It was a woman, I had to leave a message. It’s not always true, but most of the time it’s better to talk to the administrative person than the “person in charge”.
Anyway
zhena, please don’t read.
Blinken, Kirby, Sullivan were Biden’s worst picks. I won’t miss the crew at State though I am already in mourning for the D administration
TBone
Heh. Hegseth meme.
Headshot photo with liquor bottle on desk.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Chef’s kiss.
lowtechcyclist
@TBone:
Beautiful!
Jeffro
@Soprano2: good luck!!!
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: it truly is a work of art, wish I could post it but don’t have compatible link.
Jeffro
hey whoa Whoa WHOA now…
…oh wait, never mind, they’ll go back to using the presidency as the metric in four years from now. Someone set a timer (or better yet, make some sucker a bet)
Jeffro
If that comes to pass, I can see Newsom calling for all Californians to withhold their federal taxes until trumpov resigns. Heck, I can see him working with the legislature to enact that into law.
He’s not Progressive Jesus by any means, but he takes no crap.
Nelle
@danielx: Amen.
Jeffro
You’re not. ;)
Juju
@eclare: I buy eggs when I’m in the mood to bake or make some French peasant food. I had a half dozen eggs in the refrigerator that apparently expired in May. I haven’t felt like baking lately. There is too much overwhelming stuff swirling around me now. I considered baking and cooking around Christmas, butI never got around to doing that. I think I have some more eggs heading to expiration.
TBone
Mazie Hirono kicked ass again today. Took names. I’ma start calling her Kicking Ass and Taking Names Hirono!
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lfs7hiayr22a
Favorite reply:
Spanky
@Kay:
I had a Roanoke native for a roommate who twitched every time he heard my Pittsburghese. He would have a stroke if he read that.
Captain C
@Jeffro: Hopefully it’ll be more embarrassing, like going out on the shitter Elvis-style while hate-tweeting (or whatever they call the equivalent on his Lie Social network).
Kay
@Spanky:
Dont you think though? It’s like how New Orleans people have a little bit of a NYC accent.
TBone
@Captain C: Susie Wiles will drag him out of the loo and wipe his ass before he is found.
cmorenc
@Kay: Actually, Trump spending all his time golfing the next 4 years would be a success.
Captain C
@TBone: No more or less than she deserves.
TBone
@Captain C: tee hee hee NAH…LOL
I hope she has to use a used hamberder wrapper. Because the diaper is already full.
narya
@Juju: I use eggs well past the expiry date (though I might flinch at May . . .), especially in baked goods. I would not use them in anything where the freshness of the eggs is important, but there just aren’t many things that meet that criterion. They’d likely be fine for a batch of cookies or something–if you’re concerned, crack them into a separate dish, one at a time, rather than into your mixing bowl.
Ksmiami
@MomSense: tell me again why blue states should stay … I’ll wait
sab
@Juju: Eggs, if kept refrigerated, don’t expire. Eventually they just evaporate inside the shell, but that takes a very long time.
Soprano2
@narya: I learned the hard way to always crack eggs into a bowl or measuring cup one at a time before adding them to a recipe. You’ll only make that mistake once. Ugh.
If you like hard boiled eggs you could always do that with them if you feel they’re getting old.
EarthWindFire
@Matt McIrvin: I don’t know. I think we may have dispensed with the norm of having one president at a time along with all the others lost with our media’s help.
RevRick
@Ksmiami: I refuse to abandon southern Black people to the tender mercies of the neoConfederacy.
dc
Excuse me, what stimulus? Stimulus for more wealth concentration and even more $$ and power for multibillionaire nazi assholes? No thank you, I’ll take the Biden and Dem policies that brought us this better economy.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Kay:
And Larry Fucking Summers and Tim Fucking Geithner.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Jeffro:
That’s an understatement. I can’t stand him on a number of policy levels and dread when we go into the 2028 primary season with him in it.
But he did stand by Biden this past summer, said the right things at the right time. And won’t take crap from the Orange Fart Cloud. This might be a moment made for his limited skillset.
Josie
Completely OT: I had the most pleasant conversation with a woman in the social security office this morning. I called to see if I needed to reapply for my late husband’s social security money since i had been turned down due to my TRS pension (supposedly making me too wealthy to bother with). I also wanted to give them my banking information on the slight possibility of receiving any payment following the recent change in the law. Her computer was deadly slow and we wound up talking about where we live and how many grandchildren we have, etc. I don’t understand how people can complain about federal and state workers. My interactions with most of them have been great.
Trollhattan
@moonbat: Covid had one job.
Harrison is said to have made the longest inaugural address in American history at 8,445 words. It took him nearly two hours to read, although his friend and fellow Whig Daniel Webster had edited it for length.
Bog help us if Trump decides to break the record, although we know it would trail off, ending with him silently swaying to Lee Greenwood and humping the flag.
Jeffro
@Captain C: yes indeed
six of one, half dozen of the other…it’s all the same to me!
(or as one of my favorite bands put it, “it wouldn’t pain me more to bury you rich…than to bury you poor”)
K-Mo
@Kay: I personally know more than 11 trans kids and my state is smaller than yours.
Ksmiami
@RevRick: a friendly relocation then. As a native Californian, I fail to see the point of this so called national union
Jeffro
You are spot-on there.
Well, we have one at a time when it’s a Republican president *officially* in the WH, and we have two at a time when it’s a Democratic president *officially* in the WH (the Dem plus the shadow president of Real America, ie the Republican)
And at all times, the Republican president is responsible for good stuff that happens (whether through his efforts or not), while the Democratic president is responsible for bad stuff that happens (nationally, in any state, on any campus, at any workplace, or even with regards to any given voter’s personal situation)
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro: I’m actually more scared of what J. D. Vance might do than Trump. I understand that he doesn’t have the weird asshole charisma mana that Trump has, but he might be more capable of coordinated evil like throwing all opposition politicians in prison.
Geminid
@Kay: I think Americans and other Westerners look down upon Arabs generally. Even liberals, who might tenaciously defend Muslim immigrants from Republican attacks, often see the Arab nations the immigrants come from as “shithole countries,” with asshole leaders.
There is a concept called Orientalism which I never really understood until I began to study Turkiye a couple years ago. I ran into tons of anti-Turkish sentiment. Some of it was grounded in the many historical grievances people hold onto but there is a strong undercurrent of racism, a belief that Turks are inherently inferior people.
“Orientalism” is just a fancy word for this racism, and it applies to just about every nation outside of Europe, the US and the White English-speaking countries. Japan may be an exception, the sole non-white member of the club of “advanced nations.”
The Palestinians are targets of this racism, but I don’t think they are that exceptional, just more visible. The world turned a blind eye to the violent regime of Bashir Assad right next door in Syria, even though his slaughter of Syrians during the long Syrian civil war equalled in kind the destruction Israel wreaked upon Gaza, and far exceeded it in quantity and viciousness.
You can see pictures of the Yarmouk refugee camp that Assad’s forces destroyed during a siege of its 25,000 Palestinian residents. They are indistinguishable from pictures of Gaza City. The buildings and the people in them were destroyed by Russian ordinance, not American but you can’t tell. But Yarmouk was “out of sight, out of mind” for many Westerners including myself.
I’m just glad regional actors like Turkiye and the Gulf Arab states are finally taking their region’s affairs in hand. They know better what needs to be done and can be done about the region’s problems including the Israeli/Palestinian question that Western countries were content to manage, not solve.. We Americans and our government can start learning from them instead of trying to figure out what they mlneed to do.
catclub
@dc: The tax cuts provided stimulus because deficit spending is stimulus. And those tax cuts were definitely deficit spending.
TONYG
@Melancholy Jaques: Very few people will say this out loud — but 77 million people voted for Trump because they believed that a vote for Trump was a vote for the continued dominance of white men. Everything else — the price of eggs, even the so-called crisis at the border — was just an excuse. Vote for white men; vote for Trump. (And, yes, a lot of Latinos — like a lot of Italians 100 years ago — want to be considered “white”. Perhaps they will, some day.)
Jeffro
@Matt McIrvin: understandable, but I don’t think anyone inside the GOP wants to please JD like they do trumpov. He’s the abusive dad figure – JD’s more like a psycho cousin or neighbor.
I mean, obviously if something happens, he’ll be POTUS and head of the GOP for the rest of the term. But he doesn’t have anything like what trumpov offers to the GOP pols or MAGA base.
Professor Bigfoot
@Ksmiami: You’re perfectly willing to let the Black and brown and LGBTQ people in those states rot, aren’t you?
A phenomenal level of privilege.
Professor Bigfoot
@RevRick: That’s that guy’s entire schtick.
He reminds me of the white people in 1877 that said, “oh, fuck it, let those Confederates do whatever they want” and let Jim Crow take over for the next century.
White people will shake hands over dead Black bodies in the name of “comity” or “unity” or what the fuck ever.
Melancholy Jaques
@Professor Bigfoot:
That was decades ago? Fuck me running, I am getting old.
Matt McIrvin
@Professor Bigfoot: I’ve argued against this position many times myself, but I have to admit there may come a point when the political power of blue-state liberals is so annihilated that there’s nothing we can do for them anyway and can only attempt to save ourselves, and that point may have already come.
But we won’t truly know that it’s come until well after the fact. “Lifeboat ethics” is an inherently illiberal position and I’m not going to adopt it unless there is no alternative.
Melancholy Jaques
@Captain C:
This is my view exactly. There are far more of such people than I believed prior to this last election. Ignorant, hateful bigots.
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: I think that in this kind of analysis we need to separate regard for the people with regard for their rulers. I’d be willing to believe that sentiment toward Türkiye is tainted by this.
The Gulf States are weird. They’re quite illiberal, regimes predicated on resource extraction and extreme inequality, but also smart and trying to figure out some way to leverage their existing wealth to survive in a post-oil world. There’s been this big push to monumental high-tech luxury-tourism projects with, uh, really mixed success. They may be doomed at this point but it’s interesting to see them try.
rikyrah
@Soprano2:
🤗🤗🤗🤗 Congratulations
rikyrah
@Steve LaBonne:
Say it again. Absolutely ridiculous the way the MSM COMPLETELY AND DELIBERATELY IGNORED THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION 😡😡😡😡
yeah…still bitter as phuck 😡
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Newsom needs to withhold the monies CA send to the Federal Government.
Period.
Kathleen
@Miss Bianca: Naw. Their “How Dems Disappointed Me Today” brand is too lucrative and requires only copying and pasting any number of “pundits”.
Citizen Alan
@Professor Bigfoot: What can the blue states do to save those people? We are to the point that if there is a national disaster that strikes a blue state, the republicans will leave us to die.
Kathleen
@sixthdoctor: He hasn’t said anything positive about Democrats since never.
Matt McIrvin
@Citizen Alan: We fought a civil war and a civil rights movement one time each, under political conditions arguably more baleful than the present day (during the 1950s and 60s the federal situation may have been less broken but it was only at the cost of mostly ignoring civil rights in the status quo ante).
It involved more than voting, some people from up North had to be willing to die if necessary.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: So do you know much about Turkiye’s leader beyond what you’ve gleaned from Western sources? That’s the minimal state of knowledge I’ve often seen here, where people reduce Erdogan to a two-dimensional cartoon character: part oaf, part-thug.
This derisory attitude then attaches to the Turkish citizens who elected him again in 2023. They knew Erdogan’s faults better than any Westerner, but they also knew his strengths and accomplishments and I wonder if you could name one.
As for the Gulf Arab nations, are you sure your sceptism about their governments’ viability is not wishful thinking? that you don’t believe they can survive as stable governments because you don’t believe they should be able to?
pluky
@Geminid: Mace as a fellow Southerner is quite capable of parsing that idiom to know it had nothing to do with age. Rather “I’m trying to be nice here, but really?”
The “bless your heart” signaled “message received, huh”.
prostratedragon
@Juju: Kitchen testers have found eggs fine to use at 4 months, so they might last even longer.
Geminid
@pluky: I was interested to see the Oversight Committee has begun holding hearings again. I thought that might get more attention after all the controversy over who’d be the Democrats’ Ranking Member. But maybe it did and I missed it for all the Middle East news I’ve been following.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Why Americans Refrigerate Eggs and Most Countries Don’t.
evodevo
@Kay: Yes. This. The first time I was in New Orleans, I noted how much the locals sounded like they were from Brooklyn…
Geminid
@evodevo: These accents may be related to the cities’ status as ports. People from the Baltimore area can sound kind of New Yorky, and I’ve heard the same about Wilmington, North Carolina. Some social scientist has probably done a study on this.
Ksmiami
@Professor Bigfoot: No but I fail to see why POC, LGBTQ and hardworking taxpayers in Blue states should keep getting screwed over…
Ksmiami
@Matt McIrvin: a blue state alliance with Canada and Mexico will be more powerful to affect change in Red states. I don’t think the US has a promising future – more a dystopia
Nettoyeur
I have read that if Yrump had just taken the million(s) he got from his father and handed them over to a Wall St pro to invest he could have spent his life playing around and ended up richer than he is. But no , he had to screw around with various ventures and go bankrupt 5 or 6 times. He supported COVID vac development but then undermined its use hiving the US one of the highest death rates. So of course he’ll try to go for tariffs, destroy govt agencies and alliances, and undermine Ukraine’s independence. Everything Trump touches, dies.