Patterico's Pontifications

12/22/2017

Trump Lies About Why He Signed the Tax Bill This Year

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:00 pm



Trump signed the tax bill yesterday evening. There had been reports that he was going to hold off until January to sign it — but he claimed that he changed his mind simply to keep a promise. CNN:

“I was going to wait for a formal signing some time in early January, but then I watched the news this morning and they were all saying, ‘Will he keep his promise, will he sign it by Christmas?'” Trump said. “And I called downstairs and said get it ready, we have to sign it now.”

Trump might be clueless enough that he believes this, but it’s not the real reason he signed the bill this year. I explained recently that Trump was considering delaying the signing of the bill until the beginining of the year, because a pay-as-you-go provision was going to trigger some inconvenient spending cuts:

President Trump may not sign the tax bill until January even after congressional Republicans passed it in a rush to get it to the White House before Christmas, his top economic adviser said Tuesday.

Rather, the administration may hold off east inflatables reviews on signing the bill into law in order to avoid an awkward vote on spending cuts that would be mandated under pay-as-you-go law. If Trump signs the bill in 2018 rather than 2017, he would avoid that vote for another year and take a leverage point away from Democrats.

“There’s a technical issue on something called PAYGO,” National Economic Council director Gary Cohn said Wednesday morning at a public interview with the publication Axios.

PAYGO requires that tax cuts added to the deficit be offset [with] mandatory spending cuts to certain government programs. Congress wouldn’t have control over those cuts, and they would cut deeply into Medicare, farm subsidies, and other government programs. Neither Democrats nor Republicans would favor those cuts.

GOP leaders have reassured lawmakers that the automatic cuts will be waived.

But guess what? The law mandating automatic cuts was waived in a recent spending measure:

The bill also includes language to waive certain pay-as-you-go rules that the GOP tax bill would trigger because of the new debt in their tax bill, which won’t be signed into law until these so-called Paygo rules are nullified with this legislation.

So Trump lied about why he passed up a January signing. It was no longer necessary, because Republicans managed to get a waiver of the law mandating fiscal responsibility.

He didn’t nix the January signing to keep a promise. He nixed it because there was no longer any reason for the delay.

Hey, he’s a showman — and being a showman often means dishonesty. We’re supposed to cheer that, right?

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

802 Responses to “Trump Lies About Why He Signed the Tax Bill This Year”

  1. No, he told the truth, just not all the details underlying his decision.. He signed it to honor a pledge, since the countervailing problem was addressed.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  2. It probably went something like this:

    T: “I wanna sign it now. I said I would!”

    Staff: “But Mr Presidnet it causes all kinds of other issues if you don’t wait.”

    T: “Fix it!”

    Staff: “Fixed, sir.”

    T: “Where’s my pen?”

    Kevin M (752a26)

  3. Or are you saying that Trump is aware of the details?

    Kevin M (752a26)

  4. Christmas — Christmas 2018 that is — came early for county treasurers all over Illinois this year, too. A lot of people are prepaying their real estate taxes. Cook County was accepting the “First Installment” due in March which is one-half of the previous year’s total tax; while other counties are accepting any amount not exceeding the previous year’s total tax.

    It’s easy if you pay your taxes yourself and not through a tax escrow with your mortgage lender. And some New York tax expert’s averments to the contrary, all the Illinois counties have rules in place for prepayment. Like any taxman wouldn’t want you to pay your taxes early.

    nk (dbc370)

  5. I’ll take this so called liar in chief over any president in my lifetime. He has accomplished more than the porn family booshes combined. The booshes were the worst republicans of all time. President Trump is well on his way – becoming the greatest of all time. The silent majority is here to kick you no trumpers azzes.

    mg (8cbc69)

  6. Hard to imagine intelligent no trumpers berating the president on a daily basis, when Hilary has received the HG Special from the DOJ and FBI. Would love to read 500 comments on the Headquarter Special given to grifter Clinton.

    mg (8cbc69)

  7. I wanted to go to town but I can’t because there is a roadblock. The roadblock is gone so I’m going to town. I am now a liar according to Patter-ee-koh.

    bud (b48f3e)

  8. Roughly figured my wife and I will save $1600.00 in taxes. Trump/Pence 2020

    mg (8cbc69)

  9. Read somewhere that Al Sharpton walked into a appliance store and complained about racism because all the appliances were white. The salesmen quickly opened the machines and told Al – Look inside all the agitators are black.

    mg (8cbc69)

  10. but then I watched the news this morning and they were all saying, ‘Will he keep his promise, will he sign it by Christmas?’ Trump said

    he’s absolutely correct

    the CNN fake news Jake Tapper propaganda sluts would’ve framed the holiday narrative as President Trump breaking his promise to sign the bill by Christmas

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  11. Roughly figured my wife and I will save $1600.00 in taxes. Trump/Pence 2020

    Enjoy your crumbs from the rich man’s table at the expense of your children and grandchildren.

    (I won’t mention your doctor or your contractor or your local storekeepers or your neighbors — who told them to make more money than you and less than the Trump/Kushner family?)

    nk (dbc370)

  12. $ 1600.00 only seems like crumbs, wow. You no trumpers live in a secluded void from the working silent majority. I’ll use the $1600.00 in upgrading my property as with Trump in office real estate is about to reach new highs. nk, you must have reaped large sums of money in your past if $1600.00 seems like crumbs. Must be nice.

    mg (8cbc69)

  13. My kids will be A-OK, nk. They have plenty of land and know how to survive, unlike people who just buy their way out of everything.

    mg (8cbc69)

  14. If axios (which is politico 2.0) told me it was sunny, I’d double check,

    https://nypost.com/2017/12/21/a-deafening-media-silence-on-the-obama-hezbollah-scandal/

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  15. What we need is a lengthy, nuanced piece on the Bundy prosecution where the judge threw out the trial. Seems the feds–sans peur et sans reproche–withheld half a dozen extremely exculpatory pieces of evidence.
    We need to know why this was a good idea until the interfering judge messed it up.
    As somebody said, when you have moral authority and guns, you are doing okay.
    When all you have are guns….

    Richard Aubrey (10ef71)

  16. speaking of crumbs

    this year chicago stooped to taxing the soda consumption of poor and middle class families by the ounce for so they could slop the sleazy pension piggies (but exempted starbucks frappucinos)

    toni preckwinkle’s surely the nastiest skank to ever grace Illinois, second only to barack obama perhaps

    this is why I love tax cuts so much

    it sets a tone, and it’s a tone of justice

    of mercy

    of fairness

    and of an ethos of shared prosperity

    it salts the earth to where fascist skanks like toni preckwinkle wither and fade from relevance

    I love you President Trump and I hope this Christmas finds you in good health and and continued stalwart determination to do right by our little country

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  17. The much derided trehouse was mostly on point, the west is much the way you saw it in the spaghetti western when the badges like Lee van kleefs characters were the biggest crooks

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  18. Prosecutors are more like our state atty back home who learned the game from Reno and client no 9 than our host who speaks truth to power, and was confronted by a lawless faction, who seems unaccountable to this very day

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  19. and

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  20. 2016 nk is back!

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  21. Another day ending in Y

    Even if you’re a Nihilist you acknowledge the existence of truth because if there were none, that fact would be true.

    The physics of Trumps lies means he must sometime tell truth.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  22. For the 35% lies and truth don’t matter, nevermind.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  23. So Trump signed the bill you said he wouldn’t sign this year and then…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  24. The President’s Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, maintained that his department had run the numbers and had shown that the tax bill would pay for itself. It appears that he lied, not so much about the result of the Treasury’s study but about the existence of the study itself: the Times reported last month that the analysis had not been done.
    This was a Trumpian lie,

    https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-most-frightening-aspect-of-trumps-tax-triumph

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  25. “The members of Barack Obama’s administration in exile have become conspicuously noisy of late—even more so than usual. Former CIA Director John Brennan accused Donald Trump and his administration of engaging in “outrageous,” “narcissistic” behavior typical of “vengeful autocrats” by threatening proportionate retaliation against countries that voted to condemn the United States in the United Nations, as though that were unprecedented. It is not. James Clapper, Obama’s director of national intelligence, all but alleged that the president is a Russian “asset.” Perhaps the most acerbic and incendiary series of accusations from the former Democratic president’s foreign-policy professionals were placed in the New York Times by Obama’s national security advisor, Susan Rice. In her estimation, America has abdicated its role as a “force for good.”

    It’s no coincidence that these overheated condemnations accompany abundant evidence that the Trump administration is finding its legs. As the last administration’s undeserved reputation as sober-minded foreign policy rationalists is dismantled one retrospective report at a time, its jilted members are lashing out. . . .

    Barack Obama was inarguably the least Atlanticist president since the end of World War II. Within a year of Russia’s brazen invasion and dismemberment of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, Obama scrapped George W. Bush-era agreements to move radar and missile interceptor installations to Central Europe. In 2013, the last of America’s armored combat units left Europe, ending a 69-year footprint on the Continent. By 2014, there were just two U.S. Army brigades stationed in Europe. The folly of this demobilization became abundantly clear when Vladimir Putin became the first Russian leader since Stalin to invade and annex territory in neighboring Ukraine.

    A year later, Putin intervened militarily in Syria, where U.S. forces were already operating, resulting in the most dangerous escalation of tensions between the two nuclear powers since the end of the Cold War. Putin’s move in Syria should not have come as a surprise; Barack Obama outsourced the resolution of the Syrian conflict to Moscow in 2013, if only to avoid making good on his self-set “red line” for intervention in that conflict despite the norm-shattering use of WMDs on civilians. Even Rice’s chief complaint about Trump, his failure to condemn Putin’s brazen intervention in the 2016 election, didn’t elicit a reaction from Barack Obama until the final month of his presidency.

    By contrast, and to the surprise of just about everyone, the Trump administration has been tough on Russia. Trump has ordered harsh sanctions on Moscow’s Iranian allies for violating United Nations resolutions—a course the Obama administration declined to take even if it allowed Hezbollah terrorists with direct links to Putin to operate with impunity.”

    https://www.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/the-death-rattle-of-obamas-foreign-policy-record-susan-rice/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  26. Meanwhile Prince talal looks like he’s going to need 6 billion to get out of stur

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  27. I’m faced with a moral conundrum after reading this post. During the year my wife and I agreed not to exchange gifts this Christmas. Basically, other than jewelry she hates everything I buy her and am at that point in life where if I want something I just go buy it. Well, I was at a close friend’s jewelry store for a repair when I saw a gorgeous diamond necklace that I knew my wife would love (Ornamentals love diamonds and 24K gold). The tag read $11,995 but my buddy always gives me stuff for his cost+$100. He’s crazy, always has been. Anyway, that meant I could get this work of art for only $5,200. How could I say no to that? My conundrum is, if I give June this necklace for Christmas just because I got a great piece of jewelry that she’ll love at a fantastic price from my friend will that make me a liar? And if so, in a case like this is the lie “acceptable”?

    P.S. she also has a propensity to walk away from the stove and burn up pots full of Korean delicacies. Therefore, I bought her a Calphalon 8.5 qt. pot to replace one she cremated and I wrapped the necklace and hid it in the pot under some paper just to see if see looks or figures it’s just a pot. Technically that would make me a double liar.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  28. Patterico:

    These red-meat posts seem to be an attempt to reason with the 35% in the hopes an epiphany is possible.

    It ain’t…

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  29. You may not like the new president, but that may say more about you than him.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  30. 28… Hoagie? I like your style.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  31. The point is that it is a tax cut for some and a tax increase for others. The tax increase is for the best others. The successful working middle class who work alongside their employees. The so-called petite bourgeois who are the mainstay of any sustainable democracy.

    The other point is the f***ing debt. But I don’t have Patterico’s stamina to argue it with people whose motto is “Trump hates Muslims and Mexicans, so everything he does is good”.

    nk (dbc370)

  32. Ornamentals lol

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  33. In 1856, when the push to make Christmas a public holiday in the Commonwealth (God save it!) was nearing the finish line, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote that the ice-encrusted personality of the old colony had melted away for good.

    “We are in a transition state about Christmas here in New England. The old Puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so.”
    And that process goes merrily along, despite the modern heirs to Cotton Mather, and despite the best efforts of public events and public people to snuff out the light of the candle in the window, not only here at the shebeen, but in a thousand other places. In the homes of the Dreamers, who wonder what the next knock on the door will bring. In the places where the opioid crisis has clear-cut a generation, and in the cold places of the north, where the ice is no more, and in all the places where parents look on the happy faces of their children and pray that the year will not bring catastrophic illness or crippling debt

    http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14487873/christmas-charity-concern-for-others/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  34. I love Mexicans but dislike Muslims like the shooter who was targeting police they snared last night in Pennsylvania.

    “As a public service, I put together a list of predictions that various people made about Trump that you can use to evaluate your own predictive powers. Count the number of items on the list that you once predicted would be true.”

    http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/12/22/determine-talk-politics-public/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  35. The Antihumans are gooder than ANTIFASCISTS

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-hollywoods-conservative-street-artists-troll-industry-1070091

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  36. Tom Selleck and Kelsey Grammar indeed..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  37. cowardpig john mccain’s tranny-trash US Navy continues to exceed expectations

    This is the second time in two years that the Navy has given PFA amnesty to sailors with failures on the books. The Navy reworked its PFA program in 2015 to ease the body fat percent rules and tighten the failure consequences.

    that’s just pathetic

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  38. “Maybe you think the bad news for Trump — such as the alleged Russia problems — will sink Trump eventually. We can revisit this list next year. But if you are wrong for three years straight — about almost everything Trump-related — please adjust your confidence in your predictive powers accordingly.”

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  39. Trump Tax Plan has no shot of passing in 2017, Obama official says…

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-19/trump-tax-plan-passing-in-2017-has-no-shot-obama-official-says

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  40. Heh. Even Bloomingbirds didn’t anticipate how corrupt Corker/Collins treasurers were. Some things aren’t imaginable.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  41. Sailors should be on the chubby side. The more fat they have, the more buoyancy they have, and the better chance to survive if they fall overboard.

    nk (dbc370)

  42. So does Chuck Jones want to pan opoids entirely that might work, but it might be considered cruel.

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  43. This post by Warden over at Ace is as cogent an explanation I’ve read for the Never-Trump phenomenon. Having a background in construction in NYC, I’ve heard several anecdotes regarding Trump that are consistent with Warden’s take and directly contradict what we’re bombarded with daily in MSM.

    It includes footage of David Letterman dropping in on, then interviewing Trump 30 years ago that destroys the Never Trump narrative. It also features Jimmy the Greek’s assessment of Trump’s chances if he were to run for president in ’88. Fascinating glimpse into the genesis of Trump’s political worldview.

    http://ace.mu.nu/archives/373071.php

    Lenny (5ea732)

  44. Speaking of dishonesty……

    “Let’s just say, for those of us who have been demeaned by some NeverTrumpers, and who have called out their harsh rhetoric and destructive agenda, it was gratifying to watch this play out. Not only is it time for anti-Trump conservatives to acknowledge this president’s bold and conservative-friendly presidency so far, it is time to call bulls*** on those who refuse to do so.

    Admitting you were wrong—or at least mistaken in your assessment of both the electorate and a president—is never easy. But holding on to a dishonest narrative that a president—who is now doing things that alleged “conservatives” once proclaimed to be among their objectives—is somehow working to undermine those goals, is not being conservative. In fact, it’s just lying.”

    https://amgreatness.com/2017/12/22/a-great-week-for-the-president-and-a-nevertrump-crack-up/

    harkin (8256c3)

  45. Party of LIARS condemns themselves while attempting to delude the 65 percent into joining their Revisionism.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  46. Yes, there is a new party even worse than Whigs…the 35 percenter S

    What should they name themselves?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  47. That’s a good one, Lenny.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  48. They vote in a block like SEIU thugs.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  49. If the 65 percent got organized, the 35% would be a termite threat…nothing more.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  50. “Admitting you were wrong—or at least mistaken in your assessment of both the electorate and a president—is never easy. But holding on to a dishonest narrative that a president—who is now doing things that alleged “conservatives” once proclaimed to be among their objectives—is somehow working to undermine those goals, is not being conservative. In fact, it’s just lying.”

    BINGO!!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  51. $1600.00 will allow me to put new rafters, plywood and shingles on my 1860 farm house that has not been replaced.
    I love me some $1600.00 crumbs, nk.

    mg (8cbc69)

  52. What is this supposed 35% and 65% comrade Ben! keeps referring to? Is this another leftist rich/poor thing or a white/minority thing or leftist/conservative or what?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  53. mg:

    We should get some canned goods together so you can eat something.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  54. Merry Christmas, Rear Admiral Corksoaker!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  55. Pay attention Hoagie.

    You are a small part of the 35%

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  56. Mg, Did you already spend the $2,500 Obama promised you when they passed Obamacare?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  57. That, as usual, is not an answer.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  58. The company relied on his future wife villa espin to vouch for Fidel:

    https://babalublog.com/2017/12/22/reports-from-cuba-raul-castro-extends-his-presidency-beyond-february-2018/

    narciso (d1f714)

  59. Hoagie lies to his wife. What do you expect?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  60. I don’t begrudge you the $1,600, mg. I wish everyone had gotten it. Even the Trump/Kushners.

    nk (dbc370)

  61. …and may the new year energize teh management of your own personal decline

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  62. I love it when you play dumb. Hoagie.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  63. 60.Hoagie lies to his wife. What do you expect?

    I take it then changing my mind and giving her a necklace constitutes a lie in your book. I don’t think she’ll see it that way but we’ll see. Meanwhile, who or what are the 35% vs. 65% and how am I ” a small part of the 35%” of something I never joined to my knowledge?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  64. When did it become conservative to pile long-term debt on future generations so we can have our candy now, harkin?

    Oh, right. When Trump was elected.

    DRJ (15874d)

  65. Aspillaga told latell their network was crawling with double agents

    narciso (d1f714)

  66. I’m not playing dumb, comrade. I really do not know what you’re talking about. I am ignorant of what the 35% and 65% constitute. Just tell me already, or is it an inside secret?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  67. It’s hard to tell how devoted you are to Trump but in certain you poll with the THIRTY-FIVE PERCENT OF AMERICANS WHO SUCK TRUMPS KNEECAPS which makes you a minority, son.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  68. Check the polling, or don’t you pay attention to weather?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  69. Hoagie,

    Your wife will be happy to get an unexpected gift because she believes you can afford it. She might feel different about that necklace if she found out you were spending all the money you had saved for a rainy day or for your future needs.

    DRJ (15874d)

  70. It’s cold here so I put on a coat. It’s not fake NEWS, is it?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  71. It’s not stupidity that dismisses reality. You’re lying about what you do or do not see.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  72. Piling up debt is not conservative and the conservatives don’t control anything. If they did America would not continue on a leftist slide regardless who is president. And Trump is a NY Democrat who ran, and won, on the R ticket. Now we could be discussing why the debt doubled again under Hillary but we’re not.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  73. You didn’t answer which programs you would cut adjusting the charts is just dancing on angels, now which committee chair would allow a cut in subsidies, we know corker has an honorary place setting at foggy bottom, the o lay way not to spend money is to leave the post vacant.

    narciso (d1f714)

  74. Hoagie?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  75. 73

    Nice slide into the pitchers mound.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  76. I’m happy with many things Trump has done, but I don’t think he’s doing them because it is part of a conservative ideology. His ideology is getting even and winning.

    Right now the path to winning is doing conservative things so I’m happy, but it’s important to keep pressuring him to do conservative things. The good news is that most Americans seem to like conservative ideas.

    DRJ (15874d)

  77. DRJ,
    ?
    are you saying our money belongs to the government and we only deserve to keep what they let us?

    NJRob (b00189)

  78. We don’t have conservative leader, Hoagie.

    DRJ (15874d)

  79. No, I did not say that, NJRob.

    DRJ (15874d)

  80. I guess you’d have been happier with a more pompous signing ceremony in January. Good to know.

    crazy (d99a88)

  81. Not all conservatives are LIARS.

    65% smell coffee brewing and it’s actually coffee

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  82. I would like Trump to pursue tax cuts and spending, NJRob. He likes handing out the candy but a real conservative would address the long-term issue of spending, too. Trump can’t do that. He loves spending.

    DRJ (15874d)

  83. 70… go for it, Hoagie… go for some joy in life!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  84. @68, thank you comrade Ben!. Even with your sarcasm and insults I now understand the 35% is the poll number of the people who think Trump is doing a good job. Then yes, I’m in. Here’s why:

    Jobs and the economy
    •Passage of the tax reform bill providing $5.5 billion in cuts and repealing the Obamacare mandate.
    •Increase of the GDP above 3 percent.
    •Creation of 1.7 million new jobs, cutting unemployment to 4.1 percent.
    •Saw the Dow Jones reach record highs.
    •A rebound in economic confidence to a 17-year high.
    •A new executive order to boost apprenticeships.
    •A move to boost computer sciences in Education Department programs.
    •Prioritizing women-owned businesses for some $500 million in SBA loans.

    Killing job-stifling regulations
    •Signed an Executive Order demanding that two regulations be killed for every new one creates. He beat that big and cut 16 rules and regulations for every one created, saving $8.1 billion.
    •Signed 15 congressional regulatory cuts.
    •Withdrew from the Obama-era Paris Climate Agreement, ending the threat of environmental regulations.
    •Signed an Executive Order cutting the time for infrastructure permit approvals.
    •Eliminated an Obama rule on streams that Trump felt unfairly targeted the coal industry.

    Fair trade
    •Made good on his campaign promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
    •Opened up the North American Free Trade Agreement for talks to better the deal for the U.S.
    •Worked to bring companies back to the U.S., and companies like Toyota, Mazda, Broadcom Limited, and Foxconn announced plans to open U.S. plants.
    •Worked to promote the sale of U.S products abroad.
    •Made enforcement of U.S. trade laws, especially those that involve national security, a priority.
    •Ended Obama’s deal with Cuba.

    Boosting U.S. energy dominance
    •The Department of Interior, which has led the way in cutting regulations, opened plans to lease 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling.
    •Trump traveled the world to promote the sale and use of U.S. energy.
    •Expanded energy infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline snubbed by Obama.
    •Ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to kill Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
    •EPA is reconsidering Obama rules on methane emissions.

    Protecting the U.S. homeland
    •Laid out new principles for reforming immigration and announced plan to end “chain migration,” which lets one legal immigrant to bring in dozens of family members.
    •Made progress to build the border wall with Mexico.
    •Ended the Obama-era “catch and release” of illegal immigrants.
    •Boosted the arrests of illegals inside the U.S.
    •Doubled the number of counties participating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement charged with deporting illegals.
    •Removed 36 percent more criminal gang members than in fiscal 2016.
    •Started the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program.
    •Ditto for other amnesty programs like Deferred Action for Parents of Americans.
    •Cracking down on some 300 sanctuary cities that defy ICE but still get federal dollars.
    •Added some 100 new immigration judges.

    Protecting communities
    •Justice announced grants of $98 million to fund 802 new cops.
    •Justice worked with Central American nations to arrest and charge 4,000 MS-13 members.
    •Homeland rounded up nearly 800 MS-13 members, an 83 percent one-year increase.
    •Signed three executive orders aimed at cracking down on international criminal organizations.
    •Attorney General Jeff Sessions created new National Public Safety Partnership, a cooperative initiative with cities to reduce violent crimes.

    Accountability
    •Trump has nominated 73 federal judges and won his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
    •Ordered ethical standards including a lobbying ban.
    •Called for a comprehensive plan to reorganize the executive branch.
    •Ordered an overhaul to modernize the digital government.
    •Called for a full audit of the Pentagon and its spending.

    Combatting opioids
    •First, the president declared a Nationwide Public Health Emergency on opioids.
    •His Council of Economic Advisors played a role in determining that overdoses are underreported by as much as 24 percent.
    •The Department of Health and Human Services laid out a new five-point strategy to fight the crisis.
    •Justice announced it was scheduling fentanyl substances as a drug class under the Controlled Substances Act.
    •Justice started a fraud crackdown, arresting more than 400.
    •The administration added $500 million to fight the crisis.
    •On National Drug Take Back Day, the Drug Enforcement Agency collected 456 tons.

    Protecting life
    •In his first week, Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy that blocks some $9 billion in foreign aid being used for abortions.
    •Worked with Congress on a bill overturning an Obama regulation that blocked states from defunding abortion providers.
    •Published guidance to block Obamacare money from supporting abortion.

    Helping veterans
    •Signed the Veterans Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act to allow senior officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire failing employees and establish safeguards to protect whistleblowers.
    •Signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act.
    •Signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, to provide support.
    •Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 to authorize $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program.
    •Created a VA hotline.
    •Had the VA launch an online “Access and Quality Tool,” providing veterans with a way to access wait time and quality of care data.
    •With VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin, announced three initiatives to expand access to healthcare for veterans using telehealth technology.

    Promoting peace through strength
    •Directed the rebuilding of the military and ordered a new national strategy and nuclear posture review.
    •Worked to increase defense spending.
    •Empowered military leaders to “seize the initiative and win,” reducing the need for a White House sign off on every mission.
    •Directed the revival of the National Space Council to develop space war strategies.
    •Elevated U.S. Cyber Command into a major warfighting command.
    •Withdrew from the U.N. Global Compact on Migration, which Trump saw as a threat to borders.
    •Imposed a travel ban on nations that lack border and anti-terrorism security.
    •Saw ISIS lose virtually all of its territory.
    •Pushed for strong action against global outlaw North Korea and its development of nuclear weapons.
    •Announced a new Afghanistan strategy that strengthens support for U.S. forces at war with terrorism.
    •NATO increased support for the war in Afghanistan.
    •Approved a new Iran strategy plan focused on neutralizing the country’s influence in the region.
    •Ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airbase used in a chemical weapons attack.
    •Prevented subsequent chemical attacks by announcing a plan to detect them better and warned of future strikes if they were used.
    •Ordered new sanctions on the dictatorship in Venezuela.

    Restoring confidence in and respect for America
    •Trump won the release of Americans held abroad, often using his personal relationships with world leaders.
    •Made good on a campaign promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
    •Conducted a historic 12-day trip through Asia, winning new cooperative deals. On the trip, he attended three regional summits to promote American interests.
    •He traveled to the Middle East and Europe to build new relationships with leaders.
    •Traveled to Poland for the annual. G-20 meeting where he pushed again for funding of women entrepreneurs.

    Compiled by Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist.

    We can add the recent victory over the UN with the Jerusalem kerfuffle and the daily bricks sh!t by leftists everywhere that Trump is President of the United States. Winning!

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  85. Roy Moore was sacrificed so a) you could have a male Wendy Davis from Alabama, and so a body who not long ago had John ensign had among its members.

    narciso (d1f714)

  86. Most Conservative President maybe since 1900 …. Never Trumpers complain not enough.

    He won’t sign bill in 2017 cuz some arcane spending cut triggers, he signs in 2017 … now he is a liar.

    …. SMH. When you personalize politics you join the mentally unstable.

    Clown Car (c587a1)

  87. “When did it become conservative to pile long-term debt on future generations so we can have our candy now, harkin?

    Oh, right. When Trump was elected.”

    “Conservatives” haven’t done a GD thing but talk since 1988.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  88. 85

    You got it hoagie. Lubricate that whole flounder you gulp without embarrassment but at least you understand your minority status.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  89. Never Trumpers who roast Trump for not cutting spending at the same time call him delusional.

    Have these Folks ever evaluated the chance a Republican Majority in both Houses would be able to get the votes to so?

    Again, only delusional ones are those manufacturing lies to spread hatred.

    We got cuts (slow down in spending) and the Republitards gave it all back to Obola for political reasons … not Trumps fault.

    Clown Car (c587a1)

  90. Apparently you can’t even talk, Haiku.

    DRJ (15874d)

  91. Except that respect for America thingy.

    I don’t think someone who swallows fish with scales understands respect, especially self-respect.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  92. # 88 Reagan never really did his Conservative Schlick either.

    Never cut spending
    Never got rid of the Agencies he promised
    Never reformed SS
    Never cut welfare programs

    ….. please go on about Reagan and Conservatives.

    Clown Car (c587a1)

  93. 85… but the #NeverTrump crowd will say that Trump isn’t responsible for any of this, it’s been done by the people he’s brought on board.

    Just taking back control of who is running this federal government will be a major accomplishment.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  94. Whatever happened to the myth of compassionate conservatism?

    Is that any oxymoron? Why don’t they use the term anyway? Hypocrisy is a feature…

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  95. 93

    It’s not like he didn’t try. It worked out with Bill Clinton.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  96. 91… I know BS when I see it, DRJ. Talk Is Cheap.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  97. He likes handing out the candy but a real conservative would address the long-term issue of spending, too.

    Can you name one who did that? If so, can you name any now who are doing that? You realize Trump didn’t wright the bill, he just signed off on it. If it adds to the debt, blame Congress.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  98. *write* Sorry.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  99. Loved Reagan … point is to cut Govt requires lots of legislators willing to kill their careers.

    And as Bob Corker proves … you can go from $0 to $65,000,000 in net worth serving the people in the Senate.

    Trump, by comparison, to the vile crooks in Government is a paragon of decency and virtue.

    Clown Car (c587a1)

  100. As its pointed out, it was haskell and mcturtle that made the assurance, even though they are unnamed.

    narciso (d1f714)

  101. I would like Trump to pursue tax cuts and spending, NJRob. He likes handing out the candy but a real conservative would address the long-term issue of spending, too. Trump can’t do that. He loves spending.

    DRJ (15874d) — 12/23/2017 @ 8:33 am

    He’s not a conservative. You know that. You know the solution is to push him towards conservative policies. Enacting tax cuts is a step towards that.

    Insulting him and saying that we shouldn’t do tax cuts won’t get him towards enacting a conservative agenda.

    NJRob (b00189)

  102. Reading the comments over at Red State, it doesn’t appear that this post has many supporters.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  103. Republican Party supports the worker bee.

    Today the Trump administration took their first major step towards allowing employers to legally take tips earned by the workers they employ.

    http://www.epi.org/press/proposed-rule-would-protect-employers-who-steal-workers-hard-earned-tips/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  104. Trump is already getting things done. “Conservatives” are doing what they’ve done best for the last 30 years… putting on their robes and slippers and nestling down in their recliners for a good b*tch and moan.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  105. You didn’t answer which programs you would cut adjusting the charts is just dancing on angels,

    Across the board, no sacred cows. Even personnel. Even military personnel. Reduce their number or reduce their salaries and benefits. Make them raise their own chickens for their Sunday dinner.

    nk (dbc370)

  106. If only Hillary hadn’t been cheated out of her victory what a different country we’d be living in…

    crazy (d99a88)

  107. how many spending cut bills has President Trump vetoed again?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  108. Make them raise their own chickens for their Sunday dinner.

    a lot of these tatters should be replaced by robots

    they’re smarter and not prone to cutting off their peckers and taking hormones so they can feel pretty

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  109. plus they don’t cry like chubby little girls when they get captured

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  110. LOL — we have exposed corruption at the top of DOJ and FBI, with the FBI General Counsel, who formerly directed all US FISA operations at DOJ, and who was made FBI General Counsel by Comey — reassigned yesterday because of his prior contacts with Mother Jones reporter David Corn which are likely to have involved leaking of classified information — yet our host sees nothing more important about commenting upon that a POTUS statement about the timing of the tax bill, which the host hates.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  111. 110.plus they don’t cry like chubby little girls when they get captured

    Or raped by fifty camel jockeys.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  112. 107.If only Hillary hadn’t been cheated out of her victory what a different country we’d be living in…
    crazy (d99a88)

    Yeah…..
    https://twitter.com/GilesUdy/status/940977269132201985/photo/1

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  113. Rev – that $2500 heading my way went towards funding cash for clunkers.

    mg (8cbc69)

  114. Yes the delian league derided Athens:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/omriceren/status/944359837030236160

    narciso (d1f714)

  115. From my reading Bob Corker made a lt of money buiding new single family homes. Whole community developments from the sewer pipes on up. Eventually he farmed out all of the construction and just handled the real estate sales.

    So he was a millionare well before running for office. He’s got a zillion dollars in a blind trust that the Democrats are trying to make a hey over, how blind it is, how often he calls the home office and such. But that’s not a mandatory. He just did that as a selling feature to his state.

    Could Bah Humbug be talking about a different Bob Corker?

    papertiger (c8116c)

  116. If we’re going to have killer robots, I want a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.

    nk (dbc370)

  117. Republicans:

    “We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.”

    Also Republicans:

    “The law mandating automatic cuts was waived in a recent spending measure”

    Davethulhu (99cc74)

  118. Help me Rhonda!

    The much maligned, mindlessively, and excessively, often reflexively criticized, President Donald J Trump signs enormously transformative Tax Cuts legislation into law which dramatically reduces both personal and business taxes, but also kills Obama’s illegal and unAmerican ‘individual mandate,’ and additionally opens up responsible oil exploration in parts of the NE Alaska’s Arctic Preserve – – – yet the same #NeverTrumpers here piss-n-moan trying to outdo each other in ever escalating insults and nit-picky complaints for the man with the funny haircut, the man who is already well on his way to establishing an unparalleled record of outstanding accomplishment, our leader, our Commander-in-Chief, the man of the hour, the President of these United States!

    ropelight (1c392a)

  119. Pre-love child Corker

    Some of the transactions in question involved CBL, but they were not the only firm with long ties to Corker where he appears to have hidden the degree of his involvement. Corker also invested in two Chattanooga hedge funds called Pointer Management and TSWII, which like CBL were founded by longtime donors and friends of Corker. As with CBL, there is concern—and at least some circumstantial evidence—that privileged information that Corker obtains as a Senator could be used to influence the funds’ investment positions.
    Corker’s investments in Pointer were the subject of a recent Yahoo Finance article, which revealed that the fund had made tens of millions of dollars in profit, if not more, shorting the housing market in 2007. Corker was joined in his Pointer investment by fellow Senator Mark Warner. Beyond the unseemliness of Senators making exorbitant profits off of the collapse of the US financial system, the article also noted that Corker and Warner sought to radically reshape the housing finance market in a landmark bill they proposed in 2013. The Corker-Warner bill did not pass, but it has become a blueprint for subsequent proposals to eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
    Corker’s controversial relationships with business leaders from his hometown include another key example: Henry Luken. Best known as a communications magnate, Luken acquired the lion’s share of Corker’s failing real estate empire from him in 2006, while Corker was running for Congress and just before the credit crunch sparked by the financial crisis. As a result of the sale of the highly leveraged assets, Corker not only avoided the subsequent calamity, but he was given the liquidity he urgently needed to fund his own campaign

    https://www.infowars.com/the-truth-about-sen-corkers-resignation/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  120. Now they realize this, so it turns out the big rosneft deal ha nothing to do with trump or carter page ftm, but march rich’s old firm glencore which was in partnership with gertlers dgi in the new round of magnitsky sanctions. Qatars investment at\hority and an Italian bank intapaulo

    narciso (d1f714)

  121. For obvious reasons you would never trust such a deal to those parties as the streetwise prof noted

    narciso (d1f714)

  122. @4 nk

    Unlike pre-payment of child support which the government defines as a gift to your baby mama.

    Pinandpuller (a05e05)

  123. @4 mg

    Trump checked the special prosecutor off his bucket list year one. Ain’t nothing gonna break his stride now.

    Pinandpuller (a05e05)

  124. Trump checked the special prosecutor off his bucket list year one.

    Isn’t he magical ?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  125. Long-in-tooth Ambassador threatens fellow members, invites them to party.

    CERTIFIABLE

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  126. Trump exposing the rotten media, rotten republican no trumpers and corrupt democrats is one great xmas present.
    Winning silently with numbers growing.

    mg (8cbc69)

  127. 129, which male delegate will get to ride around with her in an SUV after last call?

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  128. numbers growing

    Sildenafil?

    That’s a chap-stick in his pocket.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  129. Urban

    A foursome but not for golf.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  130. chapstick’s good for when the wind blows cold plus also vegas i think but i never got in the habit

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  131. fixed media whorish pole data is believable.
    cry me a flood, rabbb.

    mg (8cbc69)

  132. Drill Baby Drill and make some money
    Build The Wall keeping the crimaliens at home
    Lock her up and all who conspired
    Demolish the NEA
    My list for Santa 2018

    mg (8cbc69)

  133. @85. And don’t forget Hoagie:

    A chicken in ever pot. – Herbert Hoover, 1928

    A pussy in every palm. – Donald Trump, 2017

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  134. DRJ is entitled to her opinion, and respectful disagreement. There is no national debt, something thst has been missing. An act of congress, supported by the administration, authorizes any payments on it. Giving people their own money back to me is yhe first conservative principle

    EPWJ (4dc563)

  135. Kickin’ back with a head full of DayQuil®, a cup of coffee n’ Kahlua and teh “Robot Holocaust” on teh tube.

    Some movies are so bad, they’re good. Some are so very, very, very BAD, they are mustseeTV

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  136. How come some of these poor clowns what get accused of sexual harassment don’t go with the “I was identifying as a woman when I touched her, why do you hate lesbians?” defense?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  137. I wanted to go to town but I can’t because there is a roadblock. The roadblock is gone so I’m going to town. I am now a liar according to Patter-ee-koh.

    bud (b48f3e) — 12/23/2017 @ 4:51 am

    If you live in CA they just pave over the roadblock.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  138. I really have to say the 35cent Trumpublicans have jumped the shark of shamefullness. They seem invulnerable, even exultant in their rhino-hides ability to deflect and obfuscate, as though guided divinely.

    WHEW!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  139. looks like sleazy corrupt fbi slut Andy McCabe’s tapping out

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  140. It’s like y’all mind-melded with Trump.

    That is not logical

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  141. Roughly figured my wife and I will save $1600.00 in taxes. Trump/Pence 2020

    mg (8cbc69) — 12/23/2017 @ 4:52 am

    How much are we saving by not going to the movies? I might go out and support Kevin Sorbo if one of his movies comes to town. He’s like the new Mel Gibson but he doesn’t drink and drive.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  142. Enjoy your crumbs from the rich man’s table at the expense of your children and grandchildren.

    nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2017 @ 5:29 am

    That’s why the kids have the combination to daddy’s gun safe.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  143. movies are dirty you can get hepatitis at the movies

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  144. you must have reaped large sums of money in your past if $1600.00 seems like crumbs. Must be nice.

    mg (8cbc69) — 12/23/2017 @ 5:42 am

    You can get a nice track saw for about $400. I don’t know how I ever lived without one. 4×8 sheets of Siberian-Collusion Birch are $55 each. Add pocket hole and dove tail jigs and you can definitely redo a lot of your house.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  145. so in other words you can get 4 track saws thanks to President Trump!

    but John McCain couldn’t even be bothered to vote (useless)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  146. 142.I really have to say the 35cent Trumpublicans have jumped the shark of shamefullness. They seem invulnerable, even exultant in their rhino-hides ability to deflect and obfuscate, as though guided divinely.

    WHEW!
    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner

    For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
    For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

    You can’t understand because you have not the capacity to do so. As you pointed out you are in that 65% majority and as is well known the majority are a bunch of idiots. It’s why pure democracy destroys itself.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  147. For the 35% lies and truth don’t matter, nevermind.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/23/2017 @ 6:48 am

    People can believe you and Chuck U Schumer or their 2018 1040’s and 401k’s

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  148. 137… “A moron by any other name is still a moron” – Leo Gorcey as Kid Quiffe in “Days of Lines and Noses” from Freakstone Pictures

    Fresh dingleberries for you, mein Kapitan

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  149. “SWAMP SELF-DRAINS: Facing Republican attacks, FBI’s deputy director plans to retire early next year. I like the way the Post spins it, with facing Republican attacks taking the place of amid damning revelations.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/284174/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  150. “Trump hates Muslims and Mexicans, so everything he does is good”.

    nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2017 @ 7:04 am

    Was it W who said Islam hates us for our tax cuts?

    The future does not belong to those who disparage the Profit.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  151. Hoagie: who are you talking to?

    Who isbyou?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  152. Joe Scarborough, who proposed bill to leave the UN, blasts Nikki Haley for criticizing teh UN…

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/12/22/joe-scarborough-proposed-bill-leave-un-blasts-nikki-haley-un-speech/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  153. Just hours after the FBI’s top lawyer, James Baker, was reassigned, WaPo reports that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe will retire in a few months – once he becomes fully eligible for pension benefits.

    oh my goodness could trashy corrupt fbi slut Andy McCabe do anything *more* to further degrade the already rock-bottom reputation of the fetid and diseased fbi brothel?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  154. 150… He’s managing his private decline, hoagie, you must cut the fellow some slack.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  155. Hmmm…

    “We will start,” Obama said back in 2008, “by reducing premiums by as much as $2,500 per family.”

    For “people who already have insurance, and the employers who are providing it,” he said at one campaign event, “we will work to lower your premiums by up to $2,500 per family.”

    Before Obama care, I paid ~$250-$400 a month for my own health insurance (with 2x ~$2,500 deductibles) for a family of 4 (no health issues).

    Now, I am paying >$2,400 per month with 2x >$9,000 deductible per year. And I have to pay taxes if I did not get an Obama compliant health insurance plan.

    You want to harp on process of signing bills between now and 2 weeks from now (and the lies politicians of all strips appear to tell themselves, or on something that really matters? Like spending something like a trillion dollars a year of money the government does not even have. Or how about the massive federal surveillance state?

    BfC (5517e8)

  156. Paul Ryan dreamed of this day because Paul Ryan dreams of plutocracy. And now, with this bill, he has successfully arranged the first piece of his career-long effort to turn the clock of the American economy back to the 1890s. When he comes for what he calls “entitlement reform”—which he will, as soon as this idiot bill explodes the deficit—that will be the second piece. The Supreme Court (through Citizens United, McCutcheon, and Shelby County) already has cooperated in this great project. The president* is on board because he’s basically made of greed and ignorance. The large media conglomerates will go along for the ride because they are conglomerates first, and news-gathering entities second. This state of affairs could well be generational, and there’s no indication that the Second Gilded Age will be as vulnerable to progressive ideas as the first one turned out to be. The franchise is under assault. Citizenship itself is under assault.

    http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14470051/paul-ryan-tax-bill/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  157. $1600.00 will allow me to put new rafters, plywood and shingles on my 1860 farm house that has not been replaced.
    I love me some $1600.00 crumbs, nk.

    mg (8cbc69) — 12/23/2017 @ 8:04 am

    You need to get on the PBS This Old House gravy train man, or start a church:

    I’m glad some people already added church to this list. They demand that you give 10% of your gross income, plus expect money in the collection plate at every service for general and love offering, plus expect you to support every fundraiser . . . let’s not forget the “roof or building” fundraisers that never result in a repaired roof or improved building.

    Source Caution Pop Ups

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  158. I’m so excited that the president isn’t afraid to mention the name of Jesus Christ and that he boldly stands for not only Christ but all religious freedom, and it’s refreshing to have a president who’s just not afraid and doesn’t care what all the liberals think,” Graham said on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”

    Rev. Franklin Graham

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  159. Many of those liberals of similar faith wonder what faith Graham practices.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  160. Hoagie lies to his wife. What do you expect?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/23/2017 @ 8:10 am

    I bet watching Love Actually with you is a real hoot!

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  161. Oh, right. When Trump was elected.

    DRJ (15874d) — 12/23/2017 @ 8:17 am

    You spelled Bush wrong.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  162. Rear Admiral Coal Burner… paid by teh keystroke.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  163. It’s hard to tell how devoted you are to Trump but in certain you poll with the THIRTY-FIVE PERCENT OF AMERICANS WHO SUCK TRUMPS KNEECAPS which makes you a minority, son.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/23/2017 @ 8:19 am

    The first time I lived in TN phen fen was in full bloom across the nation. Legal in every state but TN, IIRC. People were clamoring for TN to legalize it. Then it turned out it was bad for everybody but lawyers. Imagine that.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  164. 65% smell coffee brewing and it’s actually coffee

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/23/2017 @ 8:30 am

    Do you smell burning rubber?

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  165. Minority status apparently doesn’t mean much in the face of antidemocracy…except for the shrinkage in white dominence.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  166. The 35cent smell coffee when tires burn.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  167. 163.Many of those liberals of similar faith wonder what faith Graham practices.

    There are no liberal Christians. Believing in the divinity of Jesus Christ and believing in the divinity of the State are mutually exclusive. That explains why those “liberals of similar faith wonder what faith Graham practices”. “Similar faith” being the operative words.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  168. Roy Moore was sacrificed so a) you could have a male Wendy Davis from Alabama, and so a body who not long ago had John ensign had among its members.

    narciso (d1f714) — 12/23/2017 @ 8:37 am

    If new Senator Smith hooked up with new Senator Jones they could do all kinds of abortions!

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  169. 169.Minority status apparently doesn’t mean much in the face of antidemocracy…except for the shrinkage in white dominence.


    So you’re an anti-white racist too? And anti-Western Civilization? Is there anything about your country, race or culture you are for? Why is it the only places where racial dominance is bad or even considered is where white is dominant? Is Asian dominance bad in Japan? Black in Senegal? Who do only white countries need to be diversified? BTW, if you wish to live where “white dominance” doesn’t exist my I suggest Africa or Asia. You’d love it there.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  170. If we’re going to have killer robots, I want a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.

    nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2017 @ 9:40 am

    .45 Long Slide with laser sights.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  171. coffee’s in my christmas morning toddy this year it’s very easy what you do is you get a dainty coffee cup

    it has to be dainty not some brutalist goddamn reindeer mug cause that’s not dainty is it no it’s not

    ok so it’s all about simplicity and being able to knock them out for anybody what wants one or two or three

    splash about an inch of a dry red wine in your precious little coffee cup

    add 1 tsp of instant coffee

    add a bar spoon of turmeric, perhaps a little less

    stir it up and then add boiling hot water from a whistling kettle, and stir just a little more

    and that’s it really

    it’s a pleasant cuppa for winter mornings, especially if you’ve ventured outside

    snow bells ring are you listenin?

    later on we can talk about this year’s christmas evening toddy would you like that?

    i bet you would

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  172. You’re getting all heated up hoagie. Before I answer those questions…who is you?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  173. Long-in-tooth Ambassador threatens fellow members, invites them to party.

    CERTIFIABLE

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/23/2017 @ 10:54 am
    The Red Wedding is a massacre at the wedding feast of Edmure Tully, Lord of Riverrun, and Roslin Frey at the Twins in 299 AC during the War of the Five Kings. The King in the North, Robb Stark, his mother Catelyn, and most of his three thousand five hundred soldiers are slaughtered. The event is orchestrated by its host, Lord Walder Frey, as revenge for Robb’s breaking of a marriage pact he made with House Frey, and Walder’s conspirator, Lord Roose Bolton. However, Walder would never have gone along with the massacre which violated all the sacred laws of hospitality without the promise of protection from Lord Tywin Lannister, the Hand of the King to Joffrey I Baratheon.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  174. Liberals can’t be Christian? Hoagie: you’re jumping your own shark.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  175. That is not logical

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/23/2017 @ 11:58 am

    kal-if-fee.

    Pinandpuller (f55209)

  176. 169… Translation for teh People of Earth: dominance/submission… radios appear.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  177. Pin: I appreciate the set-up but I’m on a thematic journey.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  178. The first time I lived in TN phen fen was in full bloom across the nation. Legal in every state but TN, IIRC. People were clamoring for TN to legalize it. Then it turned out it was bad for everybody but lawyers. Imagine that.

    SOME lawyers.

    Cletus 11:17 Teh shysters will always be among you…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  179. Attack of TEH Buck Dharma…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  180. 147, has it always been that way or is hep way more prevalent because of the pleather recliners becoming the default seating?

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  181. Neo Whigs? Not so Grand New Party?

    Mumbly Pegs? These are a few to start. Any ideas for re-branding Conservative Dreamers?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  182. I’m concerned that Trump taint will be more powerful and with greater longevity than Nixon. You shouldn’t all suffer.

    Go on. Reinvent yourself.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  183. Ima gonna rebrand you… Rear Admiral Bottomsley Wellridden

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  184. Philip Morris fared well when they changed to Altria. No one remembers the dastardly behaviors and advanced avarice.

    You could benefit from their example.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  185. You could even allow conservatives to keep their names intact. Altria kept Marlboro. You could keep your mame.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  186. oh my goodness joy villa really likes attention huh

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  187. oh. Duh. She’s running for congress so she wants people’s attention focused on her ass not how she’s a huge loser what worships scientology jesus.

    Appearing again on Fox & Friends on December 13, 2017, Villa clarified that she intends to run for Congress in the state of Florida.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  188. Not a single tweet, presser, press release..not a word from Mueller.

    It must be grave circumstances for him to be so quiet. The gravitas gains.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  189. At least your Trumplove isn’t a novelty act/craven career move, hf.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  190. sleazy slutty fbi boi Andy McCabe’s retiring at 49 with a full pension

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  191. yes yes my love for President Trump is deep and abiding Mr. leftbehind

    we have a real connection cause our relationship is based on trust and mutual respect

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  192. Lewandowski is an ex-cop. Roughing up women is what he does when he doesn’t think he can get away with shooting them.

    nk (dbc370)

  193. Mueller is not flippant about his responsibilities like he who shall remain nameless and he is more about being good instead of just looking good.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  194. The gravitas gains. Teh bullsh*t deepens

    FIFY

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  195. Cletus 11:17 Teh shysters will always be among you…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/23/2017 @ 1:31 pm

    I think the THP was set up at the KY line to catch people bringing phen fen and lottery tickets back. Corrupt as the FBI.

    Pinandpuller (62e341)

  196. 194… yes, he did. When the going gets tough, when he is held accountable for his actions, McCabe wusses out like the Low-T democrat he is

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  197. What was that stuff… an “appetite suppressant”, a fat melter, or two-mints-in-one?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  198. Lewandowski is an ex-cop. Roughing up women is what he does when he doesn’t think he can get away with shooting them.

    nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2017 @ 2:20 pm

    Maybe her panties were in a twist.

    Pinandpuller (62e341)

  199. But holding on to a dishonest narrative that a president—who is now doing things that alleged “conservatives” once proclaimed to be among their objectives—is somehow working to undermine those goals, is not being conservative.

    This is an interesting sentence. But I’m not sure why it’s in these comments. Is this supposed to be descriptive of our host, and/or perhaps others who continue to believe Trump to be an unfit POTUS?

    I don’t think this accurately describes any narrative I’m trying to push, but I continue to believe Trump to be an unfit POTUS.

    Instead, specifically regarding whether he’s “working to undermine ‘conservative goals,'” i would say that’s not accurate, but some of what he’s done and is still doing certainly has that effect.

    Regarding his intentions: I continue to believe that to the extent Trump has any personal political philosophy, it’s that of a New York limousine liberal. But to the extent that concerned me before the election, that concern is now substantially allayed — for the past year has reassured me that ideology rarely has anything to do with Trump’s actions.

    In other words, his historic personal political philosophy — the kind of political philosophy that would impel him to assert that “We’re going to give health care to everyone and the government is going to pay for it” — has mostly been suppressed since his inauguration. Since then, for the most part, that personal political philosophy has only leaked out around the edges of what he’s done as POTUS, and mostly in the form of inconsistent statements when he’s off-prompter.

    The significant exception to that: His early fall meeting with Chuck & Nancy, done explicitly and expressly to undercut the GOP attempts to present a unified budgetary front against the Dems on the Hill. That was stupid and childish: It gave the Dems a series of timing advantages that they have used to force this series of continuing resolutions, meaning constant drama, which continues to play out weekly, to their own advantage and definitely not to the GOP’s or to his own. That’s the most consequential occasion in which he’s gone “off-script” and actually acted on his instincts rather than following the advice of his senior staff. I hope the gratification he’s gotten for being able to take credit with the GOP leadership on the Hill over the tax bill will persuaded him not to repeat stunts like that. Certainly Ryan and McConnell have been effusive in their praise of the emperor’s new clothes and how they were absolutely crucial to getting the deal done.

    His senior staff has improved over the course of the past year, mostly by jettisoning mediocrities like Priebus and moving Gen. Kelly into a genuinely effective chief-of-staff role — and now that senior staff seems to be functioning reasonably well. That’s a source of great hope to me for the rest of his term. I continue to believe that the smartest thing Trump ever did was to not only hire, but start listening to and following the advice of, Kellianne Conway (and through her, her husband George), who had originally supported Ted Cruz for all of the best reasons. That is to say, with the above-noted exception, Trump’s senior staff is now keeping him relatively closely on an acceptably, generally commendably conservative script with his actions (sign here, sign here, read this on the ‘prompter); and they’re also doing adequate damage control to keep his verbal self-contradictions and departures from his script relatively free of actual consequences. “Take him seriously, not literally.” If you ever take him literally, the volume of untruths will make you gag, so this is the best-intentioned advice a Trump supporter can give to conservatives who still think he’s an unfit POTUS.

    Trump doesn’t write the script. He doesn’t care what the script is, or whether it’s a conservative script. All he cares about is the ratings. He’s playing the part of a successful businessman turned successful POTUS, and the part calls for him to lead one of the major political parties — but as he himself has said, historically he was philosophically more inclined with the Democrats, and if they’d been in the mood for a white male businessman as a presidential nominee (obviously they weren’t), he could have quite happily have played that script too, as long as he got the part.

    What astonishes me actually is not some sort of hypocrisy among conservatives who still believe Trump is, and always will be, unfit to be POTUS, but the rose-colored glasses of those who are now pretending that he’s the greatest president in history.

    Friends and neighbors, the stock market would have soared, a SCOTUS justice like Gorsuch would have been appointed, a forest of regulations would have been cut, and a tax bill would have been signed if any of the other sixteen GOP nominees had been elected instead. Now, could Jim Gilmore have beaten Hillary, the worst candidate fielded by a major political party in history, with the possible exception (depending on who you ask) of Trump himself? Maybe not. Could at least three or four of the best among those seventeen, though? I think so, but no one can ever know.

    I give Trump full credit for being “not-Obama” and “not-Hillary.” But that’s no great feat.

    And the problem is, he’s also still Trump — the same coarse bully, the same spectacular egotist, the same down-puncher. The same hand grenade with its pin at least half-out, in other words.

    His major vulnerability continues to be from self-generated problems, like the impulsive and extremely naive and unwise timing and spin of the Comey firing. And he may yet have his Henry II moment, asking “Who will rid me of this meddlesome special counsel?”

    So no: I emphatically decline to join the Trump personality cult. I still believe he’s unfit to be the POTUS. If the GOP presidential primary were being re-run tomorrow, I’d still vote against him, and I expect to vote against him in 2020 if he’s on the ballot then. (What does Steve Bannon know that the rest of us don’t?)

    Beldar (fa637a)

  200. What was that stuff… an “appetite suppressant”, a fat melter, or two-mints-in-one?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/23/2017 @ 2:27 pm

    It gave you the coronary vessels of Jim Fixx.

    Pinandpuller (62e341)

  201. 194… yes, he did. When the going gets tough, when he is held accountable for his actions, McCabe wusses out like the Low-T democrat he is

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/23/2017 @ 2:25 pm

    Suppose he gets fired one day before he’s eligible for retirement? And indicted?

    Pinandpuller (62e341)

  202. Lol. Chuck and Nancy garnered so much from that meeting they’ve not had time for the next meet- ups.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  203. It will be interesting to see, a couple years from now, when corporations that had been squirreling their profits in low-tax countries discover just how much better it would be if they could reinvest in a country like America.

    The classic take on tax cuts is that they never pay for themselves. Even when they eventually break even, the debt incurred will never be paid off. But those analyses are all based on closed-system domestic tax cuts of the Keynesian sort. They have utterly no application to a cut designed to bring taxable profits and investment from the outside world.

    The current tax on Apple’s “foreign” profits (largely foreign due to accounting games) is ZERO. Apple has accumulated tens of billions of dollars of money it can only invest overseas. We actually ENCOURAGE companies to ship jobs overseas and give them a 100% tax break when they do so. Trump The Administration is attempting to encourage them to invest in the US where there are laws and schools and other stuff they like. It’s a long-term GOP reform that has been talked about for decades. Now it’s happening.

    These tax cuts might well pay for themselves, and a lot sooner than anyone thinks.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  204. Said the tortoise to the scorpion.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  205. @152. =Haiku= Gesundheit!

    Berry, berry covfefe.

    “You palmed it.” – Sam Spade [Humphrey Bogart] ‘The Maltese Falcon’ 1941

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  206. Mueller is not flippant about his responsibilities like he who shall remain nameless and he is more about being good instead of just looking good.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/23/2017 @ 2:20 pm

    You must be that Mustard Seed I’ve been reading about all of my life.

    Pinandpuller (62e341)

  207. Yeah. It’s the old whitewashed graves routine..

    Ho hum. We’re hypocrites. So sorry.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  208. @207. Fossils tell a story.

    “Welcome… to Jurassic Park!” – John Hammond [Richard Attenborough] ‘Jurassic Park’ 1993

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  209. @212. Ben… Ferret Mueller’s Day Off: December 25.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  210. So the Military Industrial Complex is licensing sniper rifles for export to Ukraine. Merry Christmas Ronnie Barrett of Murfreesboro, TN.

    He went pretty far with a HS education and a love of photography Ronnie Barrett

    Pinandpuller (62e341)

  211. More like Peter Graves

    You like movies about gladiators?

    Pinandpuller (62e341)

  212. Roasted a christmas blend of Ethiopian and Costa Rican beans.
    hints of dark chocolate, some citrus and a little blueberry
    Roasted till just past 1st crack, medium body

    mg (8cbc69)

  213. Never mind. Scroll down this NSFW tweet to see the kind of person Joy Villa is. The accusation is BS.

    #TwoDollarW**resReclaimingTheirVirtue

    nk (dbc370)

  214. ‘Trump might be clueless enough that he believes this, but it’s not the real reason he signed the bill this year…’

    LOLOLOLOLOLOL. THIS is the real reason:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PSJsl0LQ

    ‘Hey, he’s a showman…’ And a New Yorker. Just like George Costanza.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  215. Politicians bend the truth! What a shock!

    What’s the next post about, Patterico? You saw a dog bark? A cat meow? A bird chirp?

    Bored Lawyer (fe5e63)

  216. She mos def be kinky!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  217. 220… Hey, wait a minute! I thought you were all about the green bean.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  218. 217… weezul S ripped yer flesh, ASPCA.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  219. ‘Hey, he’s a showman…’ And a New Yorker. Just like George Costanza.

    Many think I’m extra grrangry now but I’m into Festivus and Hoagie lied to his wife.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  220. Frank Costanza: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.

    Kramer: Is there a tree?
    Frank Costanza: No. Instead, there’s a pole. It requires not decoration. I find tinsel distracting.

    Frank Costanza: It’s made from aluminum. Very high strength-to-weight ratio.
    Kruger: I find your belief system fascinating.

    Frank Costanza: Welcome, new comers. The tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances. I got a lot of problems with you people! And now you’re gonna hear about it!

    Gwen: Jerry!
    Jerry: Gwen! How’d you know I was here?
    Gwen: Kramer told me.
    Kramer: Another Festivus miracle!

    Frank Costanza: It’s Festivus… for the rest of us!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  221. Next up..Feats of Strength for Festivus!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  222. all green until you roast

    mg (8cbc69)

  223. So wossup with Twitter? I don’t have it. But I just saw that Trump is being trolled on his, just like Joy-Girl Villa on hers. You can’t delete others’ tweets from your feed?

    nk (dbc370)

  224. So joy is as annoying a Scott nelson and aj delgado?

    narciso (d1f714)

  225. So how does one get past this fusilade of corrupt bureaucrats not only mccabe but strzok page zebley rybicki prietap baker…

    narciso (d1f714)

  226. How did they miss 15 different plots but were focused on Oregon and Nevada like laser beam

    narciso (d1f714)

  227. Why did they take three weeks to get to Benghazi, by which time most evidence had been contaminated or destroyed.

    narciso (d1f714)

  228. I think you have to block people on twitter Mr nk.

    Pinandpuller (f18be1)

  229. The answer to how does twitter even make money is probably well it doesn’t make money. Even so, how do they keep the lights on there?

    Pinandpuller (f18be1)

  230. Why did they allow Hillary to pimp kids from a pizza parlor?

    Why did we allow a Kenyan in the WH?

    The questions never end..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  231. Russkies ads, Pin.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  232. Rear Admiral Bottomsley Wellridden, *GCB

    * Order of teh Severely Needed Bath

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  233. Russkie $49k ad buy… impressive!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  234. I expect Patterico is a long way from this blog. Can’t blame him for calling it in during the Holidays. Talking to y’all would spoil it.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  235. Yup. It was like buying gold bars from a blind man, Pin. Dumb-ass Americans..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  236. 35cent dumbasses, that is..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  237. 241… yes they do, but answers may be found in 0bama’s college records, his passport application, his immigration status as a student, the source of funding for his college education, and his Selective Service registration…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  238. His lips are movingdailycaller.com/2017/12/23/mother-jones-reporter-addresses-links-to-fbis-top-lawyer

    narciso (d1f714)

  239. That concerns David corn,

    narciso (d1f714)

  240. Andy McCarthy’s latest take on the Trump-Russia investigation and the FBI’s use of the Fusion/DNC dirty dossier to justify spying on the Trump campaign has evolved considerably towards malfeasance and coverup.

    There were layers of insulation between the Clinton campaign and Steele — the campaign and the Democratic party retained a law firm, which contracted with Fusion GPS, which in turn hired the former spy. At some point, though, perhaps early on, the FBI and DOJ learned that the dossier was actually a partisan opposition-research product. By then, they were dug in. No one, after all, would be any the wiser: Hillary would coast to victory, so Democrats would continue running the government; FISA materials are highly classified, so they’d be kept under wraps. Just as it had been with the Obama-era’s Fast and Furious and IRS scandals, any malfeasance would remain hidden.

    The best laid schemes . . . gang aft agley.

    crazy (d99a88)

  241. How longed is it take Mccarthy to figure this out, when we knew it for monthes

    narciso (d1f714)

  242. He remembers when DOJ used to be a professional organization not a political one. It’s hard to see your old friends and allies become hacks when you remember them as pros.

    crazy (d99a88)

  243. It seems the entire DOJ has ceased being a government department and has become a campaign arm of the DNC. That ain’t right regardless which party is in charge but when the party closest to the commies who have a known propensity for work camps and death camps is in charge it’s particularly concerning.

    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/–_GfCLqIJH0/Wj7R7pACbVI/AAAAAAABTng/jWV9s7oMTOYSsijauraAWgZZuiwxgpAawCLcBGAs/s1600/1%2B1%2B1%2Bmccabe-meme-620.jpg

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  244. “I was going to wait for a formal signing some time in early January, but then I watched the news this morning and they were all saying, ‘Will he keep his promise, will he sign it by Christmas?’” Trump said. “And I called downstairs and said get it ready, we have to sign it now.”

    When President Trump said the above, there was no practical or fiscal reason he *couldn’t* wait until January. The tax reform triumph news cycle had passed without a de facto signature, and all was good in America.

    The reason the tax reform triumph news cycle had passed without a de facto signature is because President Trump had decided a signature could wait until early January.

    No big deal.

    Then he saw how the CNN Jake Tapper fake news propaganda sluts were spinning it.

    He said you know what? Let’s go ahead and sign this.

    There’s no lie at all.

    This post is not good logics!

    Did President Trump say too much?

    There was likely nothing else he could think of to say to you.

    But all you have to do is look at him to know

    that every word is true.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  245. I guess pillaging and burning is what democrc@y looks like

    https://theintercept.com/2017/12/21/j20-trial-acquitted-inauguration-day-protest/

    narciso (d1f714)

  246. “There will never be a President Donald Trump, that’s not gonna happen.’

    —- Movie Head-tiltin’ tough guy George Clooney

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  247. Wasn’t that dipsh!t supposed to move to Toronto, Colonel?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  248. I wonder how things are going for Anthony “Tony Kneecaps” Weiner this holiday season?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  249. @259

    I agree that the charges were pretty anti-democratic, but I doubt that is what you meant.

    from your own article:

    The government eventually charged hundreds of people in connection with a small amount of property damage committed by a few individuals. Prosecutors sought to use a novel approach to group liability in the case to charge the defendants with an array of crimes — a tactic critics of the prosecution have said runs the risk of criminalizing dissent and poses a threat to the First Amendment.

    Although the jury had lots of careful discussion over the past three days, a juror who only gave his name as Steve told the media collective Unicorn Riot it was not ultimately a close call. “The prosecution admitted the morning of day one that they would present no evidence that any of the defendants committed any acts of violence or vandalism,” Steve said. “From that point, before the defense ever uttered a sound, it was clear to me that ultimately we would find everyone not guilty.”

    Davethulhu (99cc74)

  250. Can’t be good for a “short-eyes” kinda guy.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  251. Hate trumps love, Cthulhu🐙 !!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  252. Group liability is not novel. All members of a criminal enterprise are liable for the acts of any member committed during the course of the criminal enterprise. However, the prosecution has to prove the existence of the criminal enterprise first. In this case, a planned riot.

    nk (dbc370)

  253. Speaking of The Intercept, Edward Snowden has developed an app that he wants you to install on your laptop. He says it will protect you from something or other. https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/23/16812834/edward-snowden-haven-guardian-project-laptop-phone

    nk (dbc370)

  254. It’s worth a shot, right? I mean the NSA — the NSA!!1! — was stupid enough to hire him</e.

    nk (dbc370)

  255. Apologies only the independent run by a respectable Russian oligarch lyubimov, mentioned the verdict

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  256. And reality winner, maybe this a esb plot

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  257. So refreshing to have the guy out of the Oval Office who had crucifixes removed before speaking at Georgetown and did his best to hose the Sisters of the Poor before being rebuked by SCOTUS… many other examples to be found. That is a BLESSING!!!

    Happy Holidays, el Presidente Momjeans!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  258. 261… well, you know how well they meet their commitments, Hoagie!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  259. Ernst stavro blofeld, for short.

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  260. He’s a magnificence and compassionate soul, a true christmas angel.

    President Trump people call him, and he’s loved by the people he serves.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  261. Of course they would sell the coal to russia

    http://michaelpramirez.com/st-nikkis-list.html

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  262. @267

    I guess the novel thing in this case was that the prosecution asserted asserted that a group existed, but apparently made no effort to prove it.

    Davethulhu (99cc74)

  263. I just find it ironic that narciso, who loves to toss around the term “lawfare”, apparently finds these trials meritorious.

    Davethulhu (99cc74)

  264. Because those were made up charges:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/944765929988096000

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  265. I appreciate the drummer’s enthusiasm! https://youtu.be/ItZyaOlrb7E

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  266. They know it was planned in advance, they have the evidence, why they chose to go about it this way may only be explained by the political tenor of DC.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  267. 278… I find it amusing that you seem to think you can assume the role of dispassionate observer, Cthulhu.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  268. 🦑 all the way down…
    🦑
    🦑
    🦑
    🦑
    🦑
    🦑
    🐳

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  269. It’s the tentacles isn’t it, this wasn’t like the Berrigans which was hypothetical.

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  270. Rest of the band is playing local Elks Lodge and that drummer brings thunder and theatrics like Live at the Hammersmith Odeon!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  271. That ad with Danny McBride is nearing abba, level of annoyance

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  272. oops and *a* compassionate soul i mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  273. Wl the ublicayion is called vice, like crooked liars it’s self descriptive:

    https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a3ea757e4b025f99e178025?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  274. [Photo of Trump, Ryan, Pence and McConnell]

    Dan Pfeiffer
    @DanPfeiffer
    I hope this is the photo they use on the front page of the Times on the day Trump is indicted.

    ————
    Ben Rhodes
    @brhodes
    And alongside the obits for Ryan, McConnell, and Pence

    ————-
    Rep. Steve Scalise
    @SteveScalise
    You may want to reconsider your rhetoric

    harkin (27092c)

  275. And reality winner, maybe this a esb plot

    Well, Snowden is an SFB agent, so ….

    nk (dbc370)

  276. *FSB*

    nk (dbc370)

  277. McCabe should be fired now. Before his pension kicks in. No more Lois Lerner retirement plan. JCA why should we pay for these ingrated pukes pensions?

    mg (8cbc69)

  278. The millions tax-payers are paying to have Mueller run opposition research for the democrats 20/20 campaign is insulting.
    Fire that SOB now.

    mg (8cbc69)

  279. The mention of Hammersmith Odeon made me think instead of The Clash’ White Man in Hammersmith Palais. Watching the video made in 1978 fortells Narcisos link.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  280. They will have to resort to an assassin who can disappear right after the deed like Yaphet Kotto in Live and Let Die.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  281. Trump might not be worth6 of POTUS but doing a great job on what matter.

    So spare me the Uber alles and find me a doer.

    Trump is not a blow hard, never done much lawyer.

    Clown Car (c587a1)

  282. Baker served 25 years hiding his contempt for the law. So thats what they teach you in law school. nk?

    mg (8cbc69)

  283. 296… i’ve been feeling very Adam Sandler Concert Guy (snl when it was funny) lately, all nostalgic about how fortunate my generation was in this area… so much talent.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  284. Never mind. Scroll down this NSFW tweet to see the kind of person Joy Villa is. The accusation is BS.

    #TwoDollarW**resReclaimingTheirVirtue

    nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2017 @ 3:05 pm

    She’s a vegan. He might have been holding her up.

    Pinandpuller (f18be1)

  285. Why did we allow a Kenyan in the WH?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/23/2017 @ 4:50 pm

    Muslims take their shoes off at the door.

    Pinandpuller (f18be1)

  286. “She’s a vegan. He might have been holding her up.”

    Pinandpuller (f18be1) — 12/23/2017 @ 9:22 pm

    One question… Where is his thumb in that pic?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  287. I expect Patterico is a long way from this blog. Can’t blame him for calling it in during the Holidays. Talking to y’all would spoil it.

    Said the %^&*ing sack of &%^! troll. I remind you he has you on the expunge list.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  288. I seriously doubt that she’s strictly vegan. IYKWIMAITYD

    Yes, I am slut-shaming and proud of it.

    nk (dbc370)

  289. Russkies ads, Pin.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/23/2017 @ 4:51 pm

    They must be subliminal.

    Pinandpuller (f18be1)

  290. That old girl is as big as Brienne of Tarth.

    Pinandpuller (f18be1)

  291. Wasn’t that dipsh!t supposed to move to Toronto, Colonel?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 12/23/2017 @ 6:42 pm

    Lake Como is being overrun with undocumented Italians.

    Pinandpuller (f18be1)

  292. Bannon should tell those hacks if they want testimony – subpoena my azz and put it on record.

    mg (8cbc69)

  293. Bannon should address these clowns as ladies and gentlemen of the banana republic.

    mg (8cbc69)

  294. Perhaps the CIA or FBI could wire Bannon so we could all know what was said. Huh, the FBI and CIA are run by the grifter Clinton. Never mind.

    mg (8cbc69)

  295. Patrick you are tiresome. Does it get tiring being a bitter old man?

    SD Harms (84960b)

  296. When does Bill Priestap get a subpoena? This hack knows all.
    If this is how investigations work, blow it up.

    mg (8cbc69)

  297. Because our culture is enhanced by lovely immigrants who lovingly diversify our social construct.

    PARIS (AP) — France’s government is deploying nearly 100,000 police and soldiers for the holiday season as fears of extremist attacks remain high.
    The additional security will focus on Christmas markets, shopping centres, religious buildings, public transport and tourist sites.

    Citing “the context of a still-elevated terrorist threat,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement that 97,000 security force personnel are mobilized for protection Sunday and Monday.

    In addition to the Christmas security, the ministry said extra policing was ordered around religious sites during Hanukkah earlier this month, and for Orthodox Christmas in January, “to allow the celebration of these festivities in good conditions.”

    Today Paris, Cologne and Amsterdam. Tomorrow New York, LA and DC.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3dedfa4c7b6d8c1f32d9a46555a3583e8362395b1993f7b410e6447f8195adca.jpg?w=600&h=500

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  298. Well, France’s defensive capability suffered a crippling blow, recently, when the factory that makes white flags burned down.

    nk (dbc370)

  299. Hey, Hoagie. France’s flag is the Tricolor. But do you know what its battle flag is?

    nk (dbc370)

  300. . I remind you he has you on the expunge list.

    Kevin M (752a26) — 12/23/2017 @ 9:57 pm

    I remind you he’s no longer Trumpublican

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  301. The officer corps would not fight for france, they subsequently deployed for 16 years in Indochina and Algerie,

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  302. Breaking!!!

    A package filled with manure and addressed to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin prompted a check from the bomb squad in Bel Air Saturday.

    Authorities said a call came in around 7:30 p.m. regarding a suspicious package labeled to Mnuchin that was left in a neighbor’s driveway in the 900 block of Bel Air Road.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  303. Merry Xmas Eve Day Trumpublicans.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  304. It’s very unlikely Trump could tell you what thoughts were in his head. He’s not given to insight, especially about his own actions. So attributing motive to anything he does is futile…

    macleod (bd8bb2)

  305. Does this idiot Ben have a life outside this website?

    Clown Car (c587a1)

  306. “The Trump tax cuts are a YUGE hit with corporations all across the fruited plains, bringing cash bonuses and raises to countless Americans just in time for Christmas. It’s an unbelievably exciting time to be alive and the winning just won’t stop. The corporations joining the celebration so far are AT&T, Boeing, Comcast, Fifth Third Bank, Sinclair—and the list is growing. Reddit is littered with personal stories of bonuses being handed out at companies that never gave bonuses before.

    Not only did Comcast give bonuses, but an employee called Rush Limbaugh to report that his whole office got a $1.50 an hour raise. Who could be upset about working Americans being gifted cash money? Never Trumpers, Democrats and their cohorts in the media, of course.

    CALLER: Yeah. I had a quick comment about Comcast. It’s not just bonuses that they’re giving out. I received $1.50 an hour raise yesterday as well as 10 other folks in my office. So if they’re saying it’s just bonuses, it’s not. I mean, this is fantastic.
    RUSH: Are you suspicious of it?

    CALLER: Am I suspicious?

    RUSH: Let me take you out of the equation. Let me just ask you this. Were there people in your office after the bonuses and raises were announced, were there people in your office who ran around saying, “This isn’t real. They’re just doing this to suck up to Trump. They’re just doing this for PR. They don’t really mean it.” Did you have anybody who reacted to it that way?

    CALLER: Not in my office.

    RUSH: Really? Really? Good, good. ‘Cause I would guess in your office, based on percentages, there’d be some leftist in there who would want to diminish this and try to cast it as something unreal. I mean, it’s real, but they want to tell you that Comcast really doesn’t mean it, they don’t really mean it, they’re just doing it to please Trump or whatever, you know, capitalize PR-wise.

    Let me share this with you. Speaking of conservative intellectuals. I’m not gonna mention a name. It’s not the point. But this is a well-known, previously thought of as dynamic leader of the intellectual conservative so-called movement. Here’s the tweet. “Isn’t there something creepy about corporations giving cash bonuses to employees explicitly because of the passage of certain legislation or because of specific regulatory actions? Doesn’t it have something of a road to corporatist serfdom feel about it?” Did you have any reaction like that? Are you suspicious of this? Do you feel this is creepy?

    CALLER: This isn’t creepy at all. It’s why we come to work.”

    https://pjmedia.com/trending/merry-trumpmas-america-good-news-everywhere-look/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  307. Same as it ever was… WSJ: The Democratic Party Is Rooting Against The American Worker And Our Country’s Success.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/12/22/wsj-the-democratic-party-is-rooting-against-the-american-worker-and-our-countrys-success-n2426254

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  308. As usual Trumpublicans celebrate the coal in their stockings, unless your Mnuchin and his whore.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  309. As usual Trumpublicans celebrate the coal in their stockings, unless your Mnuchin and his trollop.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  310. All this suggests the need for a certain realism and vigilance about the rising volume of attacks by Trump and his allies on Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation into possible Russian interference in the election and (increasingly) related issues, and on the F.B.I., whose agents carry out much of the investigative work. Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton all denigrated the counsels who investigated them. Nixon went so far as to fire some of those he saw as his tormentors, in the infamous Saturday Night Massacre. Judging by the indictments of certain Trump associates, such as his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and the coöperation agreements by others, notably Michael Flynn, his former national-security adviser, it is conceivable that during the next year Trump will face a choice between radical action—issuing preëmptive pardons, firing Mueller or the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein—and allowing someone close to him, perhaps even a family member, to face criminal charges. It is hard to imagine him reacting to that dilemma with care or caution.
    https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-distrust-that-trump-relies-upon

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  311. The people at the New Yorker, all effete, Demi-Marxist swine, can take their swill and FOAD.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  312. Trillion Dollah infrastructure coming up.

    Add another candle to the debt birthday cake. Bake sale?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  313. How many cakes can you bake to balance the deficit, kernel popcorn?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  314. What done got baked into you, son?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  315. I can see you selling apples on main street, kernel.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  316. You keep hopin’ and prayin’ Mueller can creat the coup d’état you socialists thirst for. I put my money on Trump.

    Here are seven amazing facts about Trump’s economy the media do not want you to know:
    1.Latino Unemployment Hits Record Low

    What that means is that the unemployment rate for Latinos is the lowest … ever … in the 45-year history of government tracking.

    What that means is the Latino unemployment rate is a measly 4.7 percent.
    2.Black Unemployment Rate Hits 17-Year Low

    At 7.3 percent, the black unemployment rate still needs to improve, but not since hitting 7 percent in 2000 have things looked this good, most especially after nearly two decades of double-digit unemployment.

    3.Real Economic Growth

    After an unexpectedly high growth rate of 3.3 percent in the third quarter of 2017 (and that is with two devastating hurricanes), projections for the fourth quarter have edged into the magic number of 4 percent.
    4.Soaring Economic Optimism

    Optimism in the American economy breeds investor confidence and consumer spending, which, in turn, drives all the creation and manufacturing and shipping of products needed to fill those needs, which, in turn, gives us Boom Times. For the first time in more than a decade, a majority of Americans see our economy as “good or excellent.” A near record of 41 percent believe 2018 will see an even better economy and their home values rise; 42 percent believe their wages will increase.

    Perception is reality.
    5.Booming Stock Market

    With millions of working and middle-class Americans invested in the stock market through various retirement accounts, every announcement of a new record rings like a cash register ringing in their hardworking ears.

    While pushing long overdue corporate (and income) taxes through Congress, using whatever authority he can to unilaterally cut red tape, and the power of the bully pulpit to sell America and the American worker to the world, Trump’s tide is lifting all boats in ways the “experts” warned us was not possible.
    6.Unemployment Rate Hits 17-Year Low

    America now enjoys an unemployment rate of just 4.1 percent, the lowest since 2000.
    7.Manufacturing Jobs Boom

    In the final year of the Obama presidency, America lost a net of 16,000 manufacturing jobs. While still president and speaking of Trump, this is how President Obama responded:

    When somebody says like the person you just mentioned who I’m not going to advertise for, that he’s going to bring all these jobs back. Well how exactly are you going to do that? What are you going to do? There’s uh-uh no answer to it. He just says. “I’m going to negotiate a better deal.” Well, how? How exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have? And usually the answer is, he doesn’t have an answer.

    So far in 2017, a full 171,000 manufacturing jobs have been created. Moreover, the manufacturing unemployment rate is just 2.6 percent, the lowest ever recorded.

    —

    With massive tax cuts expected to become law this week, maybe even as early as Tuesday, this should make for a very bright 2018 and relieve fears of the stock market gains becoming a bubble.

    Additionally, these tax cuts also finally kill off the onerous Obamacare mandate, a massive tax increase that brutalizes those making less than $50,000 a year. Other goodies include incentives for corporations to repatriate trillions stashed overseas to avoid America’s unnecessarily high tax rates.

    Moreover, finally, after decades of being blocked for no good reason, this tax bill ends the dumb ban on oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which will create any number of solid manufacturing jobs in an area in desperate of them.

    Hopefully, everything mentioned above will turn into the kind of job growth this country should have seen after coming out of 2008’s Great Recession (had Obama’s affection for socialism, wealth distribution, and central government control not smothered it).

    And a jobs boom could not come at a better time for the American worker. With unemployment at just 4.1 percent, something close to full employment, wage increases will surely follow.

    https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-feSx04mmlP8/WjK2vsgibUI/AAAAAAABnYM/4xjc0wx8T0EaeGs6a0Hfp2pjU-b4jGTxQCLcBGAs/s1600/pJDYqTt.jpg

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  317. Keep smoking that stogie, hoagie.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  318. The lack of diversity in the Republican Party are the sounds of a dying party

    Jeff the Flake.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  319. They’re all just bullies and cowards. Wharf Rats leaving a derelict freighter

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  320. Charlie Dent: I believe this bill will pay for part of itself.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  321. Comrade Ben!, when you do those desperate, crazy-azzed troll comments you stink of fear. Why don’t you want to make America great again? How does the success of others threaten you? BTW, in unity there is strength in diversity there is defeat-E Pluribus Unum.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  322. Another crew member jumping ship..leaving passengers to fend off disaster.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  323. I know it’s annoying having it thrust in your face hoagie, but that’s winning for ya!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  324. “stink of fear”

    True, very true. The Democrats are like cornered rats.

    I’m especially enjoying the DACA/DREAM drama. They can appease their Latinos at the cost of losing half their swing votes, or …. Wait! They have no “or”. Mooahahaha!

    nk (dbc370)

  325. I think a “What I Got Wrong” post would be a splendid way to cap 2017.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  326. Politicians bend the truth! What a shock!

    What’s the next post about, Patterico? You saw a dog bark? A cat meow? A bird chirp?

    Not a complaint I got when I showed how Obama bent the truth. Weird, that.

    I think a “What I Got Wrong” post would be a splendid way to cap 2017.

    Refused to ban you?

    Patterico (266a25)

  327. Patrick you are tiresome. Does it get tiring being a bitter old man?

    Occasionally but mostly it’s fun.

    I enjoy making people like you sad by pointing out the lies of people you like to pretend are flawless.

    Patterico (266a25)

  328. Hoagie,

    Your wife will be happy to get an unexpected gift because she believes you can afford it. She might feel different about that necklace if she found out you were spending all the money you had saved for a rainy day or for your future needs.

    This. Thanks to DRJ for refuting the argument so I don’t have to.

    Patterico (266a25)

  329. 334… that’s funny, Rear Admiral Bottomsley Wellridden! I picture me turning your old, flakey, tired ass out on that same street corner. They be pitchin’, you be catchin’.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  330. Thin-skinned is not a feature.

    I suspect it would be tough for you to do, but it would potentially help some better understand how you think, your priorities, your take on the big picture, your opinion of the current state of federal law enforcement in this country, all of the things that have been laid bare by the November 2016 election.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  331. In other words, things are stink-rotten in Denmark, and you seem to have lost your sense of smell.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  332. @ nk: What impresses me is the very first result you get when you Google the phrase “French Battle Flag.” Kinda harsh for a search engine, especially one run by lefties, but there it is.

    The French actually had the best battle tanks at the beginning of WW2. Very powerful engines, fitted to an exquisite 21-gear transmission (three forward speeds, eighteen reverse).

    Beldar (fa637a)

  333. In Maryland… if ever a name… It is no longer legal to use undercover officers in law enforcement. Why, one would almost think Democrats want to help the nation’s criminal element.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  334. Yes it’s an unmerited slur, consider how the revolutionary armies conquered 3/4 of Europe, the generation spent of the battlefields of the Somme and verdun

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  335. Good one, Beldar!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  336. Re #314 above, which said:

    Patrick you are tiresome. Does it get tiring being a bitter old man?

    SD Harms (84960b) — 12/24/2017 @ 2:26 am

    This is among the most amusing sort of comment a blogger can receive — a content-free drive-by insult from someone saying, in effect, “You’re so boring I continue navigating to your blog, out of all the content on the internet, so I can see how boring you’re still being.” Merry Christmas, Mr. or Ms. Harms, and thank you for the chuckle.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  337. @ Col. H: The joke is even funnier in its original German.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  338. I wish you never-Trumpers could somehow live a relatively short time [say 2 or 3 months – I mean, I’m not that vindictive] in the dystopian reality that would have resulted from the election of Hillary. Allegedly lying about why she signed a tax-cut in December instead of January would have been the noblest accomplishment of her first year in office.
    Yes, it was a binary choice.

    Frederick Whatley (f48cd5)

  339. Los Angeles police got a whiff of horse manure intended for Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin at his Bel-Air home Saturday night.

    A neighbor discovered the Christmas-themed package on the driveway of the Trump cabinet member around 5:30 p.m. local time and called police, a Los Angeles Police Department official said.

    The bomb squad opened the gift-wrapped surprise and found a “pretty good quantity” of horse manure inside, LAPD Sgt. Briggs said.

    “May I have some more, Sir?”

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  340. Yes. Very good, Beldar.

    Napoleon was a Spartan (Maniote, narciso. Or a Maniote, which is even better. Besides Napoleon, they are credited with bringing the vendetta to Corsica.

    nk (dbc370)

  341. We are cognizant of his flaws but a little more than a passing recognition of his achievemts against overwhelming odds is probably due,

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  342. I want to take this opportunity to beg that you send your tax relief to me.
    I may make more than you, but sending it to me may make your conscience feel better .. so c’est la vie.

    Neo (d1c681)

  343. I wasn’t speaking about him, but what his forces even his successors tournament in mexico was no small thing.

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  344. Re #357 above, which said (bracketed portion in original):

    I wish you never-Trumpers could somehow live a relatively short time [say 2 or 3 months – I mean, I’m not that vindictive] in the dystopian reality that would have resulted from the election of Hillary. Allegedly lying about why she signed a tax-cut in December instead of January would have been the noblest accomplishment of her first year in office.

    Yes, it was a binary choice.

    Frederick Whatley (f48cd5) — 12/24/2017 @ 9:35 am

    Working backwards: Yes, it was a binary choice if one assumes one must vote, and that one must vote for a major-party candidate. I don’t share those assumptions. Rather, I believe my vote is meaningful even when withheld or cast against a candidate or used as a protest for a write-in candidate. And I have minimum standards for anyone for whom I cast my presidential ballot. They are quite modest ones; they’ve allowed me to vote for some genuinely lousy GOP candidates in my lifetime (especially Dole & McCain) who had minimal chances of ever winning. This entire topic was discussed extensively here & elsewhere before the election. So what you write is clear, but not new or profound, and not a universal truth, but rather the product of assumptions you’ve made that I and others don’t share.

    As for living in the dystopian reality: I’m pretty sure that after living under the previous eight of Obama’s presidency, I had a clear picture of the prospects for a Hillary Clinton presidency. They wouldn’t have been exactly alike, but close enough for the differences not to matter.

    Finally: I assume your criticisms and constructive wishes extend to those, like me, who’ve never self-identified as “Never-Trump,” but who do indeed have well-informed and clearly defined opinions of him, including an opinion that he’s unfit to be POTUS. I don’t think it’s ever been a useful label, but if it ever were, that usefulness ended with the election. Merry Christmas.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  345. I also did not vote for Trump and considered him unfit for office.

    But it’s amazing how much more fit for office he is than Obama or Hillary.

    Richard N. Haass
    @RichardHaass
    What makes Trump admin think it can act unilaterally on Jerusalem and threaten other governments and UN when US criticized for it-and then expect others to work with the US at the UN to pressure N Korea or Iran? Is nobody thinking strategically about relationships or priorities?
    ———

    Omri Ceren
    @omriceren
    I just can’t get over this tweet. LITERALLY as @RichardHaass was tweeting it – saying Trump/Haley stance would prevent UN members from working with us on North Korea – admin was shepherding resolution on North Korea through Security Council. It passed 15-0.

    harkin (8789d3)

  346. SNL wishes they were that clever Beldar.
    my wife and I had a good laugh.

    mg (8cbc69)

  347. Re #363 above:

    As for living in the dystopian reality: I’m pretty sure that after living under the previous eight of Obama’s presidency, I had a clear picture of the prospects for a Hillary Clinton presidency. They wouldn’t have been exactly alike, but close enough for the differences not to matter.

    Merely slowing down the weaponization of the federal bureaucracy, let alone stopping it, was worth my vote. To say that you’d rather waste your vote and see Hillary elected than hold your nose and vote for Trump is quite an admission – sort of valuing virtue signaling over the country we live in.

    I assume your criticisms and constructive wishes extend to those, like me, who’ve never self-identified as “Never-Trump,” but who do indeed have well-informed and clearly defined opinions of him, including an opinion that he’s unfit to be POTUS.

    As one who also has a “well-informed and clearly defined opinions of him” and who more than once described Trump as a cross between Mussolini and Foghorn-Leghorn, I will not debate Trump’s fitness for office. His policies and various appointments to date, however, vindicate, for the most part, my vote.
    While “Never-Trump” may not, in your estimation, be a useful label since the election, it serves well as identifying those on the right who refuse to give him credit for what he’s done or provide any sort of perspective when criticizing him. Merry Christmas to you, as well.

    Frederick Whatley (f48cd5)

  348. god save us from fit-for-the-office trash like cowardpig John McCain and perv-slut Mitt Romney and filthy profligate soldier-slaughtering George W. Bush and his sick lecherous war hero pig-daddy

    and also our soros-fellating friend barack obama and his corrupt trashy fbi

    and greasy welfare queen Marco Rubio

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  349. While “Never-Trump” may not, in your estimation, be a useful label since the election, it serves well as identifying those on the right who refuse to give him credit for what he’s done or provide any sort of perspective when criticizing him. Merry Christmas to you, as well.”

    Hear hear – well said.

    That was also my point in my link way above (45). Some Never-Trumpers, or whatever you want to call conservatives who refuse to give him any credit whatever, have now decided that conservatism can now be defined as anything a person who calls them self a conservative chooses to say, especially if it’s anti-trump. Watching David Frum cast all logic out the window is a wonder to behold.

    As Kelly said:

    “Frum then weirdly writes: “Conservatism is what conservatives think, say, and do. As conservatives change—as much through the harsh fact of death and birth as by the fluctuations of opinion—so does what it means to be a conservative.” It is fine to acknowledge that conservatism may take a different shape based on the prevailing political climate (though Frum and his crew seemed to have had quite a hard time doing that in 2016), but it does not mean you abandon key principles—less intrusive federal government, a non-punitive tax code, strong national defense, a compassionate but not graft-ridden social safety net—just because your candidate lost and you are embarrassed.”

    harkin (8789d3)

  350. 367 – there’s a lot of truth here that Never-Trumpers don’t acknowledge.

    Trump represents not only a break from the previous 8 years, but with a GOP Congress he is the basis for a roll-back of much of what Obama sought to create by EO and executive fiat.

    Clinton would have faced a hostile GOP Congress, and would not have accomplished much legislatively, the same as Obama’s lost 6 years.

    But the Dem party would have put even MORE reliance in the Admin. State that answers only to political masters, AND appointed someone to the SC who would have accepted and expanded the Chevron doctrine which makes agency decision-making almost bullet-proof from challenges through the courts.

    So its not just the rollback of the Admin state and undoing a series of Obama Admin rulemaking and EOs, but MORE IMPORTANTLY Trump and the GOP are able to halt the forward-advance of the Admin state which was on the verge of subsuming the elected government by virtue of its growing size and increasing autonomy.

    Never-Trumpers would have been complicit in that devolution of US democracy had Clinton won, and you should all own up to your shame in that regard.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  351. The method and means of sabotage are important

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/944766931533361152.html

    narciso (d1f714)

  352. 371

    What’s an amazing accomplishment is the hijacking of the 65 percent by the 35cent.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  353. @366. They are, mg:

    “The Coneheads started out as the Pinhead Lawyers of France.” – Dan Aykroyd, ‘Live From New York- An Uncensored History of SNL’ by Tom Shales & J.A. Miller, 2002

    Bonsoir, Beldar.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  354. Flake, Collins and Corker- These three sell out screwed the country and for what? Corker and Flake are leaving so they have no reason to toe the party line and Collins is still in office. But Corker got a kickback that will make him richer, while Flake is just a moron I guess. Both he and Collins got assurance form leadership that projects to stabilize the insurance industry or protecting DACA people would appear in bills before the end of the year. Neither happened. Shocker. Collins was the dumbest here, going from national hero to goat in just a few months. I can tell you if I see her at an airport I won;t be showering her praise but vicious vitriol calling her every bad name I can think of. Other are going to follow suit when their taxes start to rise. She is so done come 2020.

    http://thewarmongerreport.blogspot.com/2017/12/douchebag-of-year-republicans.html?m=1

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  355. What’s amazing is the attempted hijacking of an election by the Deep State.

    FYP

    harkin (8789d3)

  356. What’s an amazing accomplishment is the hijacking of the 65 percent by the 35cent.

    Not when one considers exactly who the 65% are.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ea45b3b4b5dc03eb7a4dc720c4f0c0bc092faf49be26c218074ab0173095fad7.png?w=600&h=560&w=600&h=521

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  357. So that’s how we end 2017: on the one hand, a declining movement of the right, increasingly unpopular with the voters, trying to claim a long-term hold on power through the least democratic branch of government.

    On the other hand, a rising movement of women and the left, trying to topple ancient and middle-aged injustices, one nasty man at a time.

    http://crookedtimber.org/2017/12/23/trump-everlasting/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  358. They’re uh, well err voters hoagie.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  359. 375 – “I can tell you if I see her at an airport I won;t be showering her praise but vicious vitriol calling her every bad name I can think of. Other are going to follow suit when their taxes start to rise.”

    Lol liberals spewing vitriol over rising taxes.

    That’s some link – Hannity & Ingram are Goebbels?

    Read the whole thing folks, it’s the most amazing piece of TDS delusional ranting I’ve seen in quite a while.

    Second thoughts as the #metoo movement has started to eviscerate the liberal brand is bad enough but going out of your way to defend Woody Allen and Michael Jackson??

    Look what happened to Micheal Jackson who got the same attacks to his rep. Everyone calls him a child molester even though there is no truth to that to be found.

    Making excuses for a pop star who had an alarm if someone over 75 lbs approached his bedroom is the opposite of woke Bro.

    harkin (8789d3)

  360. It’s sad for you Harkin as you suffer the same fate as Trumpets. So much for half- measures.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  361. Although you have the advantage..

    I told you so…

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  362. TDS?

    TOTAL DONALD SYCOPHANT?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  363. Pies out of the oven. Crudites done.

    You have me the rest of the day.

    Merry Christmas!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  364. “Never-Trumpers would have been complicit in that devolution of US democracy had Clinton won, and you should all own up to your shame in that regard.”

    Own. It.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  365. Pies out of the oven. Crudites done.

    You have me the rest of the day.

    Merry Christmas!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/24/2017 @ 12:19 pm

    That is soooo gay. NTTAWWT

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  366. They bake pies at the gulag?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  367. Kernel You’re a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!

    Real men cook. Haikoo washes the dishes.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  368. I made my macaroons with marzipan instead if almond paste.

    Turned out good.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  369. Don’t tell me… mince pies?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  370. Cognac and merlot gravy from that primo 7 ribs. Fantastique!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  371. Your children are belong to us… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjczwQOnMqg

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  372. Derp

    papertiger (c8116c)

  373. Re: 379:
    Quoting from a Guardian columnist to disparage Trump? Have you no shame, not a shred of decency? The least you could do is quote a country club Republican like Will or Brooks.
    Do you really think, like the author you quote, that the following is a bad thing?

    …If I had a chance to revise my January list of Trump’s expected successes, I’d have added one item: appointing judges. Since the spring, it’s been clear that Trump is stacking the judiciary at a record rate….
    Yet long after he’s gone, what we’ll be hearing from Trump won’t be his nasty tweets or vicious speeches. The voice we’ll be hearing – the signal act that will most preserve his legacy, that will most impose his present will on future prospects – will be that of the judges he’s now appointing.

    Frederick Whatley (f48cd5)

  374. if you need tips on creative crudite platters just log on to choosemyplate.gov

    and the fascist failmerican government will help you eat a state-approved diet!

    be sure to click on MyPlate MyState to make sure you’re making appropriate choices for your state and/or region!

    Merry and also Christmas all up in it!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  375. unless you’re jewish

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  376. I just had farfale with parmesan cheese and Italian sausages (three) (hot). Which state is that?

    nk (dbc370)

  377. oh dear

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  378. i’m afraid you’re non-compliant Mr. nk

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  379. Is this our Frederick?

    Merry Christmas sandbag!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  380. It’s so comforting to be sexually mature beyond the pre-pubescent republicans who didn’t breast feed.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  381. What’s an amazing accomplishment is the hijacking of the 65 percent by the 35cent.

    Very well. Alone. [jpg]

    papertiger (c8116c)

  382. It’s Gay for men to cook crowd don’t embrace their grown children out of fear of their covert sexuality. Sad.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  383. This one applies too [jpg]

    papertiger (c8116c)

  384. It’s a law of physics one must counter each Trump liar with 10x the counterintel to move one lurker.

    Mathematical certainties are everywhere.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  385. crudites is not cooking let’s be clear

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  386. Robin , is a lefty poly sci professor, he tires of the designated newspeak bulletin

    narciso (d1f714)

  387. Tiger:

    Where was the Republican Bund when FDR wanted to help Churchill during his siege?

    Counting gold.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  388. They wanted the Third Reich to reach that 1000 year Reign if Christ.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  389. It’s smelling the seven kinds of cook breath, rather than the mystery meat results.

    http://78.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lh15s71E2U1qz89f8o1_400.jpg

    papertiger (c8116c)

  390. Where were the Democrats in the South up through the early 1960s when lynching black folks was all the rage?

    Wearing hoods and holding the ropes.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  391. I just had farfale with parmesan cheese and Italian sausages (three) (hot). Which state is that?

    nk (dbc370) — 12/24/2017 @ 12:36 pm

    Bliss?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  392. the HHS official in question even asserted the authority to decide it is in the best interest of a 17-year-old rape victim to carry her pregnancy to term–and to physically restrain her from exercising her own judgment to the contrary–where that victim was 23 weeks pregnant (in a state where abortion is only lawful until 24 weeks); where the abortion would be lawful without any parental or judicial involvement; where she had expressed a desire to kill herself rather than to bear the child; and where Congress had, in the Hyde Amendment, actually provided that the federal government could subsidize the abortion because the pregnancy was the result of a rape. Even in those circumstances, the Director of the agency purported to exercise an authority, not found in any law, to physically restrain the minor from obtaining the abortion, based upon his own assessment that it would be better for the minor to continue the pregnancy because, in his considered view, it is “perhaps likely . . . that this young woman would go on to experience an abortion as an additional trauma on top of the trauma she experiences as a result of her sexual assault,” because the abortion would not “undo or erase the memory of the violence committed against her,” and because the notion that “it is possible to cure violence with further violence, and that the destruction of an unborn child’s life can in some instances be acceptable as a means to an end,” is “dubious,” even if the young woman in question does not appreciate it.

    https://balkin.blogspot.com/2017/12/lawless-and-cruel-hhs-abortion-scandal.html?m=1

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  393. Republicans and Liberty!

    HAH!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  394. Heck if it weren’t for the Supreme Court FDR would have beat Hitler to the punch, making America a fascist state that the Euro’s would have been obligated to invade in the name of free democracy.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  395. That’s some conservative Deadwood results, Tiger.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  396. FDR wasn’t socialist enuf?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  397. It’s Gay for men to cook crowd don’t embrace their grown children out of fear of their covert sexuality. Sad.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/24/2017 @ 12:42 pm

    LOL… to be clear, it was what you wrote and the way you expressed it that was a hoot! I had an image of you dressed as Julia Child. And you never answered the question. Were you or were you not baking mince pies?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  398. Hitler was devoutly religious.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  399. Kernel

    Should women enjoy sexuality? Is your mother like the virgin Mary?

    Your answer is critical to my response.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  400. LOL… fish on !!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  401. That’s what I thought.

    Kernel has outed himself.

    nipple denial

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  402. You should stick to baking pies and your knitting, dearie…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  403. “The President spoke truly when he boasted… ‘We have built up new instruments of public power.’ He spoke truly when he said these instruments could provide ‘shackles for the liberties of the people… and… enslavement for the public.’ These powers were granted with the understanding that they were only temporary. But after the powers had been obtained, and after the emergency was clearly over, we were told that another emergency would be created if the power was given up. In other words, the concentration of power in the hands of the President was not a question of temporary emergency. It was a question of permanent national policy. In my opinion the emergency of 1933 was a mere excuse…. National economic planning—the term used by this Administration to describe its policy—violates the basic ideals of the American system…. The price of economic planning is the loss of economic freedom. And economic freedom and personal liberty go hand in hand.”[11]

    _-_- Alfred Landon {Republican nominee in the 1936 presidential election} comments on FDR domestic policies.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  404. GET a pacifier dude. No transgender for you.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  405. CNN:

    “I was going to wait for a formal signing some time in early January, but then I watched the news this morning and they were all saying, ‘Will he keep his promise, will he sign it by Christmas?’” Trump said. “And I called downstairs and said get it ready, we have to sign it now.”

    Patterico:

    He didn’t nix the January signing to keep a promise. He nixed it because there was no longer any reason for the delay.

    This is very good information. The CBS, or maybe it was NBC, Evening news on Saturday night didn’t have it. It had Trump basically saying it was done to spite reporters – a la Lyndon Johnson – and he pointed to one of them, and he said you said it too.

    So it looked like Trump said to himself: “The h-ll with it: I’ll sign it now. It looks better, and we’ll worry about that vote later.”

    But it wasn’t so. He wasn’t so chimerical.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)

  406. Jeez. You are a paper-tiger.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  407. Patterico:

    The law mandating automatic cuts was waived in a recent spending measure:

    The bill you are talking about is the continuing resolution, which was passed by Congress on Deceber 21, and maybe signed into law that day. The vote was avoided basically by consensus.

    But Trump isn’t lying that he did it to keep a promise, (which wasn’t rewlly quite a promise, but still it was an expression of intent, and here he was deliberatly avoiding doing that)

    He may be lying as to the reason he decided to keep that promise/hope.

    The reason for postponing it was gone.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)

  408. There was no isolationist movement till hiss as part of the NYSE committee, leaked world war era documents, re the circumstancing of financing the delivery of arms to the uk

    narciso (d1f714)

  409. A cowards words ring hollow and s Judas goat eats tin cans.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/366359-flake-on-chaos-of-trump-campaign-was-that-campaign-even-capable-of-colluding

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  410. so we talked about our christmas morning toddy already (and I feel I should have been rather more clear that one uses a *level* tspn of instant coffee for that)

    but we stand now on the cusp of a glorious afternoon, one that will soon succumb to the entrancing soft glow of moonlight on snow

    and do the delights of the evening toddy not beckon?

    perhaps not just yet, but we would be remiss not to prepare

    again, simplicity is our watchword

    you’ll want whole milk for this and go ahead – set it on the counter now

    room temp is better for to start the heating from

    unlike the morning toddy, made by the cup, the evening toddy is made by the batch

    so once we enter the sacred realm of toddy vespers what you’ll want to do is heat that milk gently in a saucepan

    slowly slowly gently does it

    once it’s threatening to make a bit of cooked film atop we’re almost done – add a goodly bit of vodka (tito’s preferred) and let that hot back up and then what?

    we’ll not be adding cinnamon this isn’t horchata

    and nutmeg’s already amply featured in other festive holiday treats and imbibements

    so how to invoke the season what to do what to do?

    1. if you’ve used a conventionally-sized saucepan add a goodly tablespoon of sugar

    2. now add a splish of cardamom extract [Amazon Widget Keywords: Cardamom Alcohol-FREE Liquid Extract, Organic Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum)]

    3. and it’s up to you to come up with a clever garnish: drizzle some cranberry sauce atop or perhaps a thin slice of slightly singed pear (don’t get crazy: just use whatever you light candles with to give it a bit of scorch and aroma)

    done and done

    hippity hoppity santa’s on his way!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  411. The best thing about Trump is his willingness to do conservative things. The worst thing is how eager his supporters are to redefine conservativism. For example, Trump doesn’t care about the Constitution or the U.S. debt and apparently neither do most of his supporters, especially when he promises to give back money through tax cuts.

    Tax cuts are great, especially if it helps rein in spending, but not if it means ignoring spending and debt. What if all that money taxpayers are getting back is borrowed money?

    DRJ (15874d)

  412. Cardamom pods go a long way and only enhance traditional pumpkin spices.

    Cheaper and greater shelf life.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  413. Here’s a newsreel of the Nazis denying the Christian God three times…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncbOEoQbOg

    … at the national socialist convention.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  414. This is very good information. The CBS, or maybe it was NBC, Evening news on Saturday night didn’t have it. It had Trump basically saying it was done to spite reporters – a la Lyndon Johnson – and he pointed t

    The press is often incompetent. They totally fell for this because it stroked their egos.

    Patterico (7255b8)

  415. yes yes good call on the pods if you can get them

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  416. A great garlic lover shortcut is Toom

    3 garlic heads paper removed and blended with a light oil (canola) in blender adding oil slowly to absorb. Keeps in fridge for weeks. Simply add a teaspoon to any dish.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  417. Amazon..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  418. It’s kind of like winning the showcase on The Price Is Right, then busting Drew Carry’s balls because you don’t like the color of your new car.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  419. Okay. You wanted metalic green instead of gun metal grey. We heard you. Enough already.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  420. Wrong spelling

    https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/garlic-paste-toum

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  421. Yes it was a pagan enterprise and the founder,drexler, was fond of nationalization of industry.

    narciso (d1f714)

  422. btw it kinda goes without saying but a parsimonious splash of rose water would be a most congenial complement to the christmas evening toddy (it’s not necessary, but if you bought it for something and it’s just been sitting there, now’s as good a time as any to get a little bit of value out of it)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  423. Canadian Govt decides to fearmonger people who believe in both CAGW and Santa Claus:

    http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/23/govt-website-claims-santa-will-move-to-the-south-pole-to-escape-global-warming/

    For people over eight years old, that’s a lot of crossover.

    harkin (8789d3)

  424. Okay, let me start… one thing I was wrong about is that I didn’t predict – wouldn’t have in a million years – that I would be reading cooking tips and Hints from Heloise from teh Rear Admiral on Christmas Eve.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  425. 441

    “You didn’t order the Metallic Pea?”

    harkin (8789d3)

  426. What if all that money taxpayers are getting back is borrowed money?

    DRJ (15874d) — 12/24/2017 @ 1:20 pm

    Point taken. Let’s take it one step beyond: what if all the money being used to fund government employee pensions is borrowed money?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  427. you know who gets a big fat fbi slut-pension?

    corrupt fbi slut-boi Andy McCabe

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  428. It should be astonishing for you to know the depths of your ignorance kernel.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  429. Happy feet

    Do you bond to people or just Trump and cuisine?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  430. I’m afraid my 10:1 ratio of counterintel is woefully inadequate to stave off the infection.

    I resolve in 2018 to redouble my efforts.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  431. Fav Christmas song

    https://g.co/kgs/i5Hp2K

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  432. Every Christmas Eve night we make sure to play this one:

    https://youtu.be/4YQ1-siiTg8

    harkin (8789d3)

  433. To be sure – as I understand it and knowing employees do contribute to their retirement – taxpayers ultimately fund government employee retirement pensions, in exchange, they get a workforce of public servants who carry out the business of government. But if there is no effort to restrain growth of these agencies through the use of efficiencies facilitated by new technologies, to demand performance standards be used, to eliminate the protections given that make it nearly impossible to fire people, to eliminate the spend what was fully budgeted or lose it next year mentality, I ask who is getting the dirty end of the stick on that?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  434. if prosperity and freedom were a cuisine the maestro chef would be President Trump

    and people would come from all over to sup at his table

    but alas

    prosperity and freedom aren’t a cuisine they’re the spoils of hard-won street fights

    did you know steven r. mcqueen (steve mcqueen’s grandson) and enrique inglesias (son of julio) are second cousins?

    it’s true

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  435. Nice Harkin

    I love it.

    Try Little Drummer Boy

    https://youtu.be/b_ReMi7tVWA

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  436. yes yes

    Mitt Romney LURVS little drummer boys

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  437. Well said happyfeet.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  438. Uh. Rescinding that.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  439. mg,

    I don’t think Bush had much choice in 2008 but I understand others may disagree. However, don’t you think that if (for instance) a group of influential libertarians had pressured Bush not to intervene, it might have made Bush think twice?

    Now the internet has more opportunities to influence than ever before. IMO, pressuring a President to at least consider another point of view is important.

    DRJ (0280d9)

  440. May you reminisce as though the past were superior .

    But live in the here-and-now.

    Be here now. Cheers.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  441. 455 Col Haiku

    The Union/Democratic Party cycle of corruption is bad enough, but using defined benefits instead of defined contributions fund pensions to pay off the civil servants for their political support makes the debt s**t sandwich much much larger. It’s one more reason they were screaming blooody murder about removing the state tax deduction.

    harkin (8789d3)

  442. That was quite lovely, harkin… taking it a bit off the rails, I always have to hear Bowie and der Bingle doing their version of drummer boy (even though Bowie was anti-religious back then) and this one… just because they were a tight little band and their funny and cute lead singer knew what boys want and had her own life end much too soon:

    https://youtu.be/ARq6uYSsUq0

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  443. http://www.newsweek.com/how-trump-nazis-stole-christmas-promote-white-nationalism-755991

    Many of Trump’s Christian supporters argue that the president is ending the alleged “war on Christmas,” which has been presented by evangelicals and Fox news anchors as a threat to America’s Christian culture. Trump supporters say Americans have become too politically correct when they wish people happy holidays, a neutral term that can be used for people who celebrate Hanukkah, Eid, or any other religious holiday that takes place around the same time as Christmas.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  444. Kernel

    Still sucking that pacifier like Mommies teat?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  445. 463… excellent point, harkin.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  446. The War on Saturnalia needs help from the Gods.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  447. You wouldn’t recognize a thought kernel.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  448. Christian principles on display and it’s not quite even Christmas yet.

    Exemplary examples on display.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  449. Pillsbury Peanut Butter Cookie ( https://www.pillsbury.com/-/media/pb/images/products/cookies/refrigerated-cookies/peanut-butter.ashx?w=600 ) [jpg].

    The official cookie of the Papertiger Holiday season.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  450. Christmas spirit! Mariah Carey dons sky-high black leather booties to visit marijuana dispensary with boyfriend Bryan Tanaka on holiday in Aspen

    best. christmas. ever.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  451. oops

    link!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  452. God created and loves marijuana, especially during Saturnalia.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  453. …if you got a warm place to go,
    get her stoned!
    get her stoned!
    get her stoned!

    https://youtu.be/WK7YT4wqQxo?t=28s {musical accompaniment}

    papertiger (c8116c)

  454. 436. Patterico (7255b8) — 12/24/2017 @ 1:21 pm

    Yhe press is often incompetent. They totally fell for this because it stroked their egos.

    I don’t think they even had, or most of them didn’t, and they didn’t report, why it was supposed to take place in January in the first place.

    They didn’t catch anything thrown into he continuing resolution…

    And for the tax bill they relied greatly on what the sponsors of the bill (the Congressional leadership) told them. They may be still catching up on what is in it, and there’s still great confusion on what taxes can be pre-paid this year and still deducted..

    Property taxes can be provided the jurisdiction accepts them. The provision limiting it, whatever it was, was taken out of the bill, Income taxes are more limited, but estimated taxes paid for the fourth quarter of 2017 can be paid before their due date and be deducted.

    And they are slow in catching on to all the tax law changes.I haven;t read recently what I am virtually sure was still was in the final bill – the abolishment of the tax free fringe benefit that pays for parking or commuting (if the bicycle deduction is gone, surely that is.)

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)

  455. Then afterwards enjoy some delicious,

    Pillsbury Peanut Butter Cookie
    ( https://www.pillsbury.com/-/media/pb/images/products/cookies/refrigerated-cookies/peanut-butter.ashx?w=600 ) [jpg].

    The official cookie of the Papertiger Holiday Season.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  456. The argumentative disputes over minutiae is highly overrated except as propaganda.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  457. distract, distract, distract

    Rue Brittania!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  458. If i fed my daughters mangy cat, I should also feed….
    This year’s first nominee for the Carrier award is AT&T: https://www.yahoo.com/news/t-announces-thousands-layoffs-firings-205347737.html

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  459. http://www.newsweek.com/how-trump-nazis-stole-christmas-promote-white-nationalism-755991

    But critics counter that Trump is promoting a version of the holidays that excludes members of other religions, and that his crusade to bring back Christmas is part of a larger attempt by the president to define America as a country for white Christians alone.

    Wishing people “merry Christmas” instead of “happy holidays,” is thus in line with Trump’s decision to ban citizens of Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, critics say. It fits neatly with his refusal to condemn white supremacists when they march against diversity, and with his condemnation of athletes who protest police brutality against black men.

    With this in mind, the fight to end the war on Christmas is exclusionary politics at its most flagrant.

    “I see such invocations of Christmas as a kind of cypher, what some would call a dog whistle. It does not appear to be intolerant or extreme, but to attentive audiences it speaks volumes about identity and belonging—who and what are fully American,” Richard King, a professor at Washington State University who studies how white supremacists exploit culture, told Newsweek.

    “Much like ‘Make America Great Again,’ panics over the protests by NFL players, and the defense of Confederate memory, Christmas is a way to talk about peril, to assert a soft or hard .

    Trump isn’t the first political figure in history to co-opt Christmas. In fact, some see parallels between Trump’s speeches in front of Christmas trees and attempts by authoritarian regimes like the Nazis to manipulate popular celebrations to promote a political ideology. But by weaponizing Christmas in this way, Trump is bringing a dangerous tradition of politicizing religious holidays into the United States, experts say.

    “Because Americans have enjoyed a relatively stable political system, Christmas in the U.S. has been relatively immune to the overt politicization of the holiday,” Joe Perry, author of the book Christmas in Germany: A Cultural History, which examines the way Nazis used Christmas to spread fascism, told Newsweek.

    “But not completely immune. The far right’s engagement in the ‘war on Christmas’ explicitly posits that there is one single true or correct Christmas. The holiday’s true nature is somehow under threat from outsiders and liberals who act as forces of degradation, multiculturalism and secularization,” Perry continued.

    In this context, Trump has been using the so-called war on Christmas to wage a culture war that pits multicultural liberals against Christian conservatives. He began doing this long before Christmas. Meanwhile, members of the religious right support Trump’s most nationalist, race-baiting form of political rhetoric, including his re-claiming of Christmas.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  460. https://youtu.be/PW1ap6WR81w (Geico commercial – the one where the guy’s Xmas lights are glaring in the Space Station astronaut’s eyes)

    papertiger (c8116c)

  461. Upon hearing someone say Merry Christmas the guy at the swapmeet today commented;

    “It’s legal to say again!”

    His tone sounded pleased, verging on jovial.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  462. Newsweek better watch it’s step. I’ve got enough money to buy them.

    Twice!

    And then they’ll be in the running for the Carrier Award, along with AT&T.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  463. Oooh, paper got hood cred. Any live animals or Santa Muerte statuary like at Seven Mile Fair (Racine WI) or Montana Charlie’s (Bolingbrook il)?

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  464. Money can’t buybculture but even Mnuchin can hail a cab of Trollops.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  465. Paper money has the cash but does he have gravitas ?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  466. Re #367 above, which said in part:

    To say that you’d rather waste your vote and see Hillary elected than hold your nose and vote for Trump is quite an admission – sort of valuing virtue signaling over the country we live in….

    Frederick Whatley (f48cd5) — 12/24/2017 @ 10:17 am

    Almost nothing is capable of confirming a person’s fundamental bad faith in argument as when he actively misrepresents what someone else has said. I know you know what I said because you took the trouble to block-quote it before ignoring it. Nowhere did I agree that I wasted my vote or that I preferred Hillary’s election. Those are gross distortions of anything I wrote, and you’ve made no counterargument at all to what I actually did write.

    I have no interest in debating anyone who must — as you just did — re-write and change what I’ve said in order to get purchase for his arguments. It’s shoddy and cheap and chickensh*t; worst of all, it’s boring.

    This, therefore, ends our conversation here, permanently. Don’t be offended when I no longer respond to anything you might right to me, because I’m not reading it, Mr. Whatley.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  467. Or anything that you might *write* to me, for that matter. 😀

    Beldar (fa637a)

  468. I’ve never avoided saying Merry Christmas. Is that war on Xmas like the failed Intel on yellowcake/Iraq?

    Ok. Now I see your misdirection.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  469. 480… sounds like the majority will have job options. Since Verizon owns Yahoo, I think this is hyping the story in a self-serving way. I remember how Verizon totally screwed over their wireline workers a few years back and it wasn’t pretty.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  470. swc, I’m not remotely ashamed of my decision not to vote for Trump, nor would I have been had Clinton been elected. Your logic contains gaps, your presumptions are not ones I share, and you’re on the border of losing my respect.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  471. gravitas is the force that makes it hard to get off the couch.

    The TV remote — example of an invention directly resulting from the discovery of gravitas.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  472. The people who stayed home because of Hillary outnumbered the people giving the stink eye to Trump.

    3:1 ratio {conservatively}

    papertiger (c8116c)

  473. Gravitas means import or authority, odd how no left politico is deemed to be lacking gravitaa

    narciso (d1f714)

  474. I wouldn’t worry over the Dems fielding someone electable in 2020. In order for them to get a palatable candidate they’ll have to grow one.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  475. Alas paper tiger you cannot buy class except the lower level of your origin.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  476. Like Mnuchin, you can’t aspire without trollops for hire.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  477. Like John Kerry, who we are told served in Vietnam, married the Luftwaffe scion turned Heinz heir

    narciso (d1f714)

  478. Only Pence shunts the moral.preening. he may be clean but with anatomicals of Ken dolls.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  479. An alright guy in my book, except for that staged huffy exit at the Colts game.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  480. Okay. I’ll bite. Who pray tell will the Weinstein party send out to quarterback if not a Ken doll anatomical?

    You all grew morals. Your politicians haven’t.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  481. Beginning this coming new year, let there be no more James Baker of any political persuation.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  482. Ben was an actual John Edwards fan, even more than marcotte

    narciso (d1f714)

  483. Narcisos commander in chief

    https://g.co/kgs/J5Cvje

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  484. Morals is too strong a word. I’d rate it no higher than situational ethics.

    With a miniscule scope.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  485. Too bad for Baker. He’s leaving a lot of that global worming money on the table.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  486. King Andrew” and the Whigs
    John Quincy Adams lost his quest for re-election in 1828, to Democratic candidate Andrew Jackson. Jackson’s Democratic Party championed itself as a party of the common people, even using popular campaign songs for the first time in history. For the first half of Jackson’s presidency, opponents of the president were largely disorganized. By the mid-1830s, however, Jackson’s opponents formed the Whig Party, named after its English anti-monarchy counterpart. They named themselves the Whigs because they believed Jackson had become a “King Andrew,” and that he was creating an office of the president that was too powerful. They also opposed his policies, which they said were anti-commerce and anti-business.
    The Second Party System
    By the 1840s, the Whigs were as established a political party as the Democrats. Until the mid-1850s, the Whig-Democrat party system dominated American government. Democrats tended to represent rural regions, while the Whigs were a more urban party. The Whigs were also the more attractive party to opponents of slavery, though the party as a whole was not exclusively anti-slavery. Nationally, the Democrats survived after the breakout of the Civil War — and continue as a national party today — while the Whigs were consumed by the growing Republican Party.

    http://education.seattlepi.com/caused-rise-democrats-whigs-7035.html

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  487. Sincere question for Trumpers: We now have documentary evidence that senior members who remain in their jobs at the FBI and DOJ actively worked to subvert the election of DJT. Their actions dwarf Watergate by a factor of approximately 3.3 gazillion.

    This is as genuine a constitutional crisis as I have ever seen.

    Where is DJT? He is fully empowered to remove any and all of the bad actors and he is fully and well within his rights to order the highest-priority investigation of all of this by the DOJ. He also has it completely within his rights to order a full and public disclosure, nevermind to Congress, of the intra-agency communications related to these. With a stroke of his pen, he can declassify any and all data.

    If he is the man who is so outside and devoted to the public interest, politics as usual be damned, why the sclerosis from DJT?

    I say that in the answers to this lay somecore deficiencies of DJT – the same things that Pat, Beldar, myself, and many others believe make him unfit for the office he now holds.

    Ed from SFV (3400a5)

  488. don’t be a big silly he’s not firing anybody tonight it’s christmas eve

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  489. @513. Ferret Mueller’s Day Off is December 25, Mr. Feet.

    Ed desperately seeks the role of Ziggy The Spin in this history rhyme. But ‘happy’ days are here again: seven more years, Mr. Feet!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  490. Shirley you can’t be serious, they’ve been flogging that ridiculous grushenko nonsense for the better at of a year and you blame trump not the criminal camafilla that comey confected.

    narciso (d1f714)

  491. Sorry DC.

    I don’t get Ferris Mueller and I think others could benefit from understanding..did I say that?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  492. i like how President Trump does it all up in it Mr. DCSCA

    it’s good for america as you can see

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  493. “In 1974, KFC took the marketing plan national, calling it Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii, or Kentucky for Christmas. It took off quickly, and so did the Harvard-educated Okawara, who climbed through the company ranks and served as president and CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan from 1984 to 2002.

    The Party Barrel for Christmas became almost immediately a national phenomenon, says Joonas Rokka, associate professor of marketing at Emlyon Business School in France. He has studied the KFC Christmas in Japan as a model promotions campaign.
    “It filled a void,” Rokka says. “There was no tradition of Christmas in Japan, and so KFC came in and said, this is what you should do on Christmas.”“

    http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161216-why-japan-celebrates-christmas-with-kfc

    Finger ‘rickin good!

    harkin (8789d3)

  494. Holidays will be bittersweet, in jiddah
    :
    http.newsweek.com/saudi-arabian-billionaire-princes-bin-talals-freedom-priced-6-billion-757910

    narciso (d1f714)

  495. The biggest boost for the former Kentucky Fried Chicken was when they changed to KFC cuz fried ya know.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  496. @ Col. H, who wrote, regarding shame that ought to be felt by those who opposed Trump, “Own. It.”

    I have a two-word response to anyone who tells me that I ought to be ashamed. Address that sentiment to me in particular and I’ll share my two-word response with you. The first word I’ll have to take some care to avoid the moderation filter, and the entire comment will be quite rude.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  497. No, but Grilled was a thing for about a year and then it went away, so I think it made less of a difference than you think.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  498. My franchisee won’t maintain the grill so he’s always out. Can’t blame franchisees for rebellion. Contract requires them to buy equip. direct and every new item has a special unit they must buy.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  499. KFC name change was a quarter century ago.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  500. Heh

    Clarice and American Spelunker.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  501. It’s National “You forgot the eggnog” Day.

    To be closely followed by National “Get off your gravitas before the store closes” Day.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  502. The thing I like best about Mr. President right this minute is that he is not in the White House.

    Do you Not-Never-Trumpers know how they make snake venom antitoxin? From snakes. They milk their venom and make the antitoxin from it. Now that you know this, do you like snakes better? Do you think I should like snakes better? The thing about snakes is, they’ll bite you, even when you think they’re fulfilling your purposes.

    nk (dbc370)

  503. So rotten egg Mcguffin, how should we regard him,

    narciso (d1f714)

  504. In a way, nk’s missive is aimed as much at the Dems of both the radical and dlc’ish vein who seem to have learned the hard way about Flake and Corker. Give those 2 as well as lesser lights like Miss Lindsey who could just as easily vied to be king of he’ll as opposed to serving in the low cloud part of heaven.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  505. 461- DRJ
    Agree – proper influence can make a difference
    I wondered if Wolfowitz was a Taliban agent.
    Paulson couldn’t run a corner lemonade stand.
    Roberts is a supreme failure.

    mg (8cbc69)

  506. Very unlikely mg, if so why would they have sent a Moroccan attendee of the Milan mosque to try to take him out

    narciso (d1f714)

  507. 28, Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 12/23/2017 @ 6:58 am

    My conundrum is, if I give June this necklace for Christmas just because I got a great piece of jewelry that she’ll love at a fantastic price from my friend will that make me a liar?

    Don’t call it a Christmas gift. Wait until February 14 if you must, but you can find some excuse probaby earlier. Just don’t gove it to her before December 26, or maybe January 6.

    But isn’t that rather expensive?

    She may see that as a last wishes gift.

    I bought her a Calphalon 8.5 qt. pot to replace one she cremated and I wrapped the necklace and hid it in the pot under some paper just to see if see looks or figures it’s just a pot.

    Aren’t you afraid she might burn the diamond. Well, it’s under the pot. And there no danger maybe absent an acetylene torch.

    https://www.gemsociety.org/article/can-diamonds-burn/

    Diamonds burn, but the temperature at which they burn depends on whether or not the diamonds are in contact with air. The temperature of diamond ignition in pure oxygen is 690º C to 840º C. In a stream of oxygen gas, diamonds burn at a low red heat initially. They will gradually rise in temperature and reach a white heat. Then, the diamonds will burn uninterruptedly with a pale blue flame, even after the oxygen heat source is removed. The diamond crystals will gradually decrease in size and finally disappear. The flame at the last moment will flicker brightly and then disappear, leaving not a trace of ash or residue.

    For this to take place in an air mixture, the heat must be kept directly applied on the diamonds at all times. If removed, the diamonds will not continue to burn, due to oxygen being diluted with nitrogen that does not support combustion.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)

  508. W was smart not to pick a banker, the first two times for treasury, O’neill and snow, paulson like con fellow Goldman management were mostly useless

    narciso (d1f714)

  509. @ Belfast, #522:

    Why bother? They won’t own the 2018 election, or the 2020 election, if/when Republicans do badly. Those will be your fault, for failing to sufficiently support Trump. Or if Republicans actually do well, you won’t get any part of the credit even if you voted straight R down the ballot. It will be Trump’s praise, for being so epically awesome that the voters couldn’t resist his epic awesomeness…even in the face of the worst the #DeepState could do.

    Trump can do no wrong in their eyes. Not admitting his magnificence means you can do no right. Even if you give him credit for the good he HAS done, or say (as I do) that he’s done a far better job than you thought he would, it won’t be enough. You’ll still be an apostate, and you’ll still be blamed when he fails. Thus will it ever be.

    Demosthenes (09f714)

  510. Gaack. Sorry, BELDAR. I hate autocorrect.

    Demosthenes (09f714)

  511. “Never-Trumpers would have been complicit in that devolution of US democracy had Clinton won, and you should all own up to your shame in that regard.”

    Own. It.

    There’s the full comment. It’s an opinion I share. If you still feel fully justified in taking that stand – well within your rights as a citizen – own it. Merry Christmas!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  512. The nag is supposed to have some egg in it, like the orangevjuice in the mimosas

    narciso (d1f714)

  513. Have a brandy on me, Demosthenes. If the 2018 or 2020 election results are less than satisfactory, I will step up and take responsibility if it’s the honest consensus – certainly not determined by the media – that the fault rests with Trump.

    Merry Christmas!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  514. I didn’t vote for Trump. I’m not ashamed of it. And I wouldn’t own any of the consequences had Clinton won, because I didn’t vote for her either.

    It wasn’t a binary choice. It still isn’t.

    Merry Christmas to you as well.

    Demosthenes (09f714)

  515. Have you seen any further filmscsince hacksaw ridge you recommended, it had a very strong message in kerpong with the season.

    narciso (d1f714)

  516. Well consider the write in vote that helped put Doug Jones in the senate, over a fiction.

    narciso (d1f714)

  517. Just lighten up and savor the good things that have happened in a year of turmoil despite unprecedented pushback from the Administrative State, the Democrat Operatives with bylines and the Republican establishment.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  518. Personally, i’ll be anticipating hearing from professionals in the legal system, what their thoughts are on the sad state of the DOJ, the FBI and federal law enforcement, in general.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  519. As Levin has said, 2017 was the first year of Reagan’s third term.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  520. Narciso… although I seldom – like maybe twice a year at most – drink orange juice, reading your comment made me have a sudden hankering for an Orange Julius! Do they even exist anymore!?!?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  521. Ditto, cironello, it seems some have forgotten how nit merely biased but inimitable to outsiders the press has become from the journolost to the rizzotto press. Which got so much wrong last year, they should have gained some perspective.

    narciso (d1f714)

  522. Nearby dairy queen, too much sugar or you don’t like the taste. I remembered because a ceruisr i took some years ago offered that beverage in lieu of disembarking on the island that had been designated

    narciso (d1f714)

  523. SF:

    He wasn’t so chimerical.

    That’s thw wrong word, and I thought it was very probably the wrong word, but I am not sure what the right word is. I meant changing his mind or decision for light or arbitrary reasons. Chameleonic? That’s probably not the right word, wither, but there is a word.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)

  524. The one who signed ofcon this exercise in libel tourism rrcused herself from two fusion related cases:
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2017/08/01/nigerian-tycoon-gilbert-chagoury-u-s-government-settle-suit-over-leaks/#41721e39c748

    narciso (d1f714)

  525. 111.

    he FBI General Counsel, who formerly directed all US FISA operations at DOJ, and who was made FBI General Counsel by Comey — reassigned yesterday because of his prior contacts with Mother Jones reporter David Corn which are likely to have involved leaking of classified information

    That was this story?

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump/

    But a senior US government official not involved in this case but familiar with the former spy tells Mother Jones that he [Christopher Steele] has been a credible source with a proven record of providing reliable, sensitive, and important information to the US government.

    By the way, it was wrong. Steele was never hired with money Fusion GPS was being paid by a Republican client = the Washington Free Beacon. That was a public information search. hey never paid for any private detectives.

    And the “client allied with Democrats” turns out to be the Hillary Clinton campaign for president and the Democratic National Committee, which they (Fusion GPS) were very loath to reveal and only did so to protect other secrets that would have told us more about the underside of American politics. And Fusion GPS was hired back when it was still being also paid by the Washington free Beacon – they overlapped.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)

  526. So who did singers money hire, sammeh, there were no reports that were produced with that money.

    narciso (d1f714)

  527. “Mercurial” is the word you’re looking for, Sammy.

    nk (dbc370)

  528. I remember URL fan Bo Michael scheuer wanted to throw India and the bus as well:
    https://legalinsurrection.com/2017/12/how-india-threw-ally-israel-under-the-bus-at-un/

    narciso (d1f714)

  529. So are their dreamer/dacans getting the golden ticket?

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  530. 4. nk (dbc370) — 12/23/2017 @ 2:24 am

    some New York tax expert’s averments to the contrary, all the Illinois counties have rules in place for prepayment. Like any taxman wouldn’t want you to pay your taxes early.

    The New York Post reported today (Sunday):

    Governor Cuomo signed an emergency order…[that]…allows New Yorkers to pay at least some of their 2018 property taxes before the start of the new year….Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop said Friday that residents can pre-pay their entire 2018 estimated tax bills this year if they want to take advantage of the deduction. [is that property tax?]

    It’s estimated that currently about 30% of all tax returns itemize deductions, and that will go to 6%; and 44% of all homeowners itemize deductions and that will go to 14%.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)

  531. Its an intriguing question, they aren’t welcome in Mexico either for the mist part.

    narciso (d1f714)

  532. They suffer depredation of their northern and southern neighbors for their comparative lack of criminal and paramilitary pluck.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  533. “Sincere question for Trumpers: We now have documentary evidence that senior members who remain in their jobs at the FBI and DOJ actively worked to subvert the election of DJT. Their actions dwarf Watergate by a factor of approximately 3.3 gazillion.”

    Well… I would also – and have in my own way, earlier today – posed the same question to our legal professionals: what is their opinion of the current state of federal law enforcement? I now ask what do they propose should happen? I’ve read a lot about how Trump wasn’t going to get anything done, how losing the SALT write-off was a non-starter for them personally, and that Trump probably wouldn’t sign it this year and then when he did sign it, how he lied about the reasons for signing it. I kid you not.

    Although I think it would be righteous action if taken, I doubt he could get away with it given this resistance, the Administrative State and behind-the-lines backbiters. If he were to try that today, the Dems with their accomplices across the aisle would do all they could to bring this administration down.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  534. If i fed my daughters mangy cat, I should also feed….

    50 Ways to Skin a Cat

    Link.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  535. The ones from Guatemala, someone was making an argument there were a certain number Tim India.

    narciso (d1f714)

  536. Re #489 above:
    You’re correct, I misspoke, or mistyped. I should have written: “When a reasonably foreseeable consequence of your actions, based on what you have said, would be a wasted vote and the election of Hillary, you seem to value virtue signalling over your country.”

    And no worries. I won’t be offended by you may, or may not, write, right, or rite to me.

    Frederick Whatley (f48cd5)

  537. @564 Colonel – I believe you misread the polity. If DJT acts on evidence that he makes available, the new plurality he cobbled together would bond together in a fashion rarely seen outside of a call to war. The ju jitsu performed on the MSM by DJT would prove decisive. They would have no recourse but to report on the evidence and the powers invoked.

    I also believe that CJ Roberts, despite his corruptions, would rise to the occasion and support the president acting on explicit powers granted him by the Constitution.

    Ed from SFV (3400a5)

  538. Col. Haiku, I ask you again, straightforwardly, as someone who “owns” every word he writes: Are you saying I need to be ashamed for not voting for Trump?

    Don’t dodge my question, please.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  539. @ Demosthenes: I’m just trying to figure out tonight whether a couple of people I’ve respected in the past have gone “full Trumpkin,” to the point of gratuitously insulting everyone who hasn’t joined the Trump personality cult, specifically including me (since I was the author of the comment that provoked the “own your shame” meme). I do so in the interest of saving myself time and annoyance later if so. I’d like to visit Belfast someday, actually, and never take offense at anyone’s autocorrect.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  540. Hypothetically the show is a cipher:

    https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2017/12/23/cnns-brinkley-slams-trump-climate-change-desecrating-public-lands

    Tell me one policy mistake trump has made, not a question of timing or perception

    narciso (d1f714)

  541. What if the collussion didn’t involve Russia at all:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/944973987523604481?p=v

    narciso (d1f714)

  542. Beldar which Belfast

    kishnevi (d097a6)

  543. Have a blessed Christmas all. He is born!.

    NJRob (b00189)

  544. Sorry, hit submit by mistake
    https://us.geotargit.com/called.php?qcity=Belfast

    kishnevi (d097a6)

  545. Any of them, kish! 😉 I’d love to go to Northern Ireland (and the rest of that island, having in the past driven from the southernmost to northernmost significant towns on Great Britain). But prompted by your comment I’ve learned that there are also Belfasts in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and at least nine American states, including, apparently, three in Ohio. So yes, any of them would be interesting, I’m sure.

    By the way, if there’s anyone else here in addition to, possibly, swc and Col. H who believes one ought to be ashamed for not voting for Trump, speak up. Own your insults.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  546. you seem to value virtue signalling over your country

    Virtue signalling is of course a term used to deride the idea that principles are important, and that some things are more important than tribe or faction.

    kishnevi (d097a6)

  547. Col. Haiku, I ask you again, straightforwardly, as someone who “owns” every word he writes: Are you saying I need to be ashamed for not voting for Trump?

    Don’t dodge my question, please.

    Beldar… You read the quote I had posted a second time. If you feel absolutely justified in going in the direction you went, then feel proud. I think it was and is very much misguided, even foolish, especially given what we have witnessed ever since November 2016. It’s up to you to feel a sense of shame, I won’t be any more judgemental than what’s been stated.

    I’ll ask you again, as a professional, what do you have to say about the excremental actions of the DOJ and the FBI, both in the run-up to the election and every excremental action – couched as noble and valiant efforts to uphold the Constitution – ever since, including Mueller. These are the sleazy SOBs who should feel ashamed. They have gone a long way toward undermining trust in our justice system. I am curious what you think of all this.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  548. I’ve read a lot about how Trump wasn’t going to get anything done, how losing the SALT write-off was a non-starter for them personally, and that Trump probably wouldn’t sign it this year and then when he did sign it, how he lied about the reasons for signing it. I kid you not.

    I wrote a post citing a news story that said if he didn’t get a waiver of spending cuts this year, he was going to wait until January to sign the bill. Then he got the waiver, and I wrote a post (this very post!) explaining that he got the waiver, which is why he signed it this year. I also explained that, although the waiver was obviously the reason he signed it this year, he dissembled about the reason.

    Now you’re acting like there is some contradiction between my previous post and this one. There quite clearly is not. Anyone following the details can see that. Anyone who is a mindless Trumpkin can’t. Guess which one you are, Haiku?

    Beldar, I quite categorically advise ignoring Haiku. He has indeed gone full mindless Trumpkin. Until the craze blows over, ignoring him and his ilk is the best course.

    Patterico (266a25)

  549. Merry Christmas Beldar, DRJ, and everyone else here at Rancho Patterico!

    kishnevi (d097a6)

  550. Beldar banging the tray still. [gif]

    And everybody standing next to Haiku who he just gratuitously insulted. [gif]

    papertiger (c8116c)

  551. Virtue signalling is of course a term used to deride the idea that principles are important, and that some things are more important than tribe or faction.

    Yup. The rise in the use of that phrase as a derogatory is one of the many cons of Trumpism.

    Patterico (266a25)

  552. Merry Christmas Beldar, DRJ, and everyone else here at Rancho Patterico!

    Merry Christmas to all, those whom I still respect and even to those who kiss Trump’s ass with gusto. Let’s take a day to set aside our differences. Just keep your lips away from me, please.

    Patterico (266a25)

  553. virtue signaling used to indicate the tenuous and ephemeral presence of awesome clean spanky spanky squicky squick-squick clean CLEAN eunuch men of GREAT standing in society (doctors comma lawyers even) (with emphasis on fiscal prudence)

    but now it’s jovial and fun!

    the otters of the universe as they say (Richard Bach)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  554. full disclosure: I love President Trump more than carbs – he’s so goddamn tasty!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  555. swc, I’m not remotely ashamed of my decision not to vote for Trump, nor would I have been had Clinton been elected. Your logic contains gaps, your presumptions are not ones I share, and you’re on the border of losing my respect.

    My only question is what took so long?

    Patterico (266a25)

  556. Lines were drawn and you chose wrong. You call it ass-kissing, I call it supporting a far-from-perfect president who was duly elected and has found himself under unprecedented attack ever since. That you refuse to see that, more’s the pity.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  557. And the questions around the outrageous activities by the rogue DOJ, FBI Administrative State will remain unaddressed, until they can be avoided no longer.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  558. Beldar, here is my current block list, which I commend to you (although I often forget to use it):

    happyfeet|BuDuh|shipwreckedcrew|Harcourt Fenton Mudd|CFarleigh|Fred Z|GUS|Ben burn|Sammy Finkelman|fred-2|harkin|Colonel Haiku|KRS One|Mike K|Poor Biggie

    It serves me well when I remember to hit it.

    Patterico (266a25)

  559. Merry Christmas, everybody!

    And I really mean it. I’m not virtue signalling.

    nk (dbc370)

  560. Mr. swc was an actual us attorney with actual integrity

    (srsly)

    he’s a for reals historical artifact of no small noteworthiness and me i’ll evince respect and admiration (cause i choose to)

    and i’ll make him a festive toddy to boot!

    cause of merry christmas

    and happy new year

    2017 was exhausting and that’s what we can all bond over

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  561. Sissie Boi

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  562. Yes, I always find shipwreckedcrew’s comments worth reading.

    nk (dbc370)

  563. |Sammy Finkelman|

    that’s just messed up

    Sammy adds value, and he’s a sweet soul to boot

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  564. (!)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  565. Yes, I always find shipwreckedcrew’s comments worth reading

    What’s frustrating is that some are. Others are Full Trumpkin Breast Beating “Own Your Shame” nonsense.

    I got tired of wading through the latter to read the former.

    Patterico (7a5a02)

  566. Merry Christmas to all, even those who bow to kiss the ring of the Administrative State.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  567. i got so tired of wading

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  568. And the reality there are precious few congressman (mine probably, mcclintock, a few others ) would voter for those cuts, we shouldn’t deal in self deception, but that figleaf would have kept the tax cuts from going intomeffecr until next year.

    The men and women (I think of one in particular) who would do you harm, who are unaccountable to justice, are not on that list,

    narciso (d1f714)

  569. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUS_NDZe9II

    Never Trumper at the airport.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  570. The otters of your own fat, seriously only flagellates like bethanys albino are allowed. I don’t even bother with right scoop, a I long gave up joyners place.

    narciso (d1f714)

  571. Ok, this is annoying. Trump: “I’m proud to have led the charge on Merry Christmas.” That is purely a lie on so many f’king levels, it makes me want it to be November 8, 2016 so I can not vote for him again.

    nk (dbc370)

  572. As for the senate, they kept it Wolfe and mcdaniel even gillespie fir a reason. The nirthrrn tier of Virginia keeps it azure blue, something surprising even a decade ago.

    narciso (d1f714)

  573. He led the charge on Merry Christmas the way he led the counter-attack on the Tet Offensive.

    nk (dbc370)

  574. I think we’d be doing sacrifices to baal or is it dagon these levant deities are nearly the same.

    narciso (d1f714)

  575. http://www.newsweek.com/how-trump-nazis-stole-christmas-promote-white-nationalism-755991

    Trump: “I’m proud to have led the charge on Merry Christmas.” in context.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  576. That seems a perfectly normal reaction, if you are starkraving mad, who this Perry person is.

    narciso (d1f714)

  577. He got behind a phony issue and milked it for all it was worth with the one-tooths.

    nk (dbc370)

  578. If the fake news media wants to make Trump the face of Father Christmas, might as well ride on the people mover in the right direction is my thinking.

    That’s good politics.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  579. Col. H, the very last thing I needed for Christmas was your judgment that I should be ashamed for not voting for Trump. I’m not. You have told me now repeatedly to “own” my position. I can’t imagine what you mean by that. I assure you, sir, that I do own, as in stand behind without dodging or apologizing, all of my positions. I don’t comment anonymously; anyone can find me with about three seconds of Googling. My moral code tells me that I would have been ashamed had I voted for Trump, but it doesn’t tell me to judge everyone else according to my own lights. And the notion that you have standing to tell me, or anyone else, to be ashamed for not supporting Trump is the most preposterously offensive notion I’ve ever heard from you — and it will be the last. I regret that, having had many friendly exchanges with you in the past, but you overstep. I just wish you’d picked some other day for your attack, because I previously had thought well enough of you that it’s genuinely harshed my Christmas mellow.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  580. Trump has been awesome and the no trumpers can suck on a lump of coal.

    mg (8cbc69)

  581. How is it possible that a Catholic Pope knows less about Mary, Joseph and Jesus and the reason for their trip to Bethlehem than Pail Krugman knows about economics?

    Pope Francis celebrated late evening Christmas vigil Mass in the splendor of St. Peter’s Basilica, telling the faithful that the “simple story” of Jesus’ birth in a manger changed “our history forever. Everything that night became a source of hope.”

    Noting that Mary and Joseph arrived in a land “where there was no place for them,” Francis drew parallels to contemporary time.

    “So many other footsteps are hidden in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary,” he said in his homily. “We see the tracks of entire families forced to set out in our own day. We see the tracks of millions of persons who do not choose to go away but,

    driven from their land, leave behind their dear ones.

    The Catholics really need to get rid of this guy. When the head of their church deliberately lies about the Holy Family travelling to pay their taxes and be part of the Roman oppressors census to make leftist points on immigration we should realize how weak the proponents are and how insidious the infiltration of the left is. The Holy Family weren’t immigrants. They were citizens being taxed and counted.

    Merry Christmas folks. Peace on earth, Beldar. To all the leftists out there, Happy Festivus.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  582. Well they were hiding from herd, but still he seems to have crammed poorly. Hes like an advertising repwho forgets his own pitch.

    narciso (d1f714)

  583. But there is evidence that suggests benedictory wee nudged out of the way.

    narciso (d1f714)

  584. And this is who I think in part, is really driving the Mueller mirage

    narciso (d1f714)

  585. It applies to Dreamers, refugees and displaced persons who have no home to return to, no matter what the records in some government office say.

    If you want to keep it to Bethlehem, Palestinians whose centuries’ old family homes, and patches of garden and fig and olive tree groves, were taken by the Israeli government to build housing for Jewish “settlers”.

    If you want to bring it home, just about all the American Indians.

    nk (dbc370)

  586. And the Jews driven out of Cairo Baghdad et al, yes as fellow settler states we are very hypocritical.

    narciso (d1f714)

  587. The open border policy the American Indians used was a failure.

    mg (8cbc69)

  588. So it’s before 1964, and David Goldstein is admitted to Harvard Medical School. Mama Goldstein is so proud she could bust until she gets a telegram: “Mama, I’m here in Boston, but nobody will rent me an apartment because I’m Jewish.”

    With blood in her eye, Mrs. Goldstein takes the bus to Boston where her son is waiting at the depot. Hand in hand, they go to an apartment building where the landlady turned David away. Mrs. Goldstein gets right to the point.

    “Why won’t you rent my son an apartment”, she demands.”

    “Because he’s Jewish”, says Mrs. O’Leary who is an honest, God-fearing woman and knows lying will cost her five Our Fathers and Five Hail Marys from Father Flanagan at confession.

    “But we’re not Jewish. We’re Christian just like you.”

    “Oh, is that right? Tell me, then. Who is our Lord and Savior?”

    “Jesus Christ.”

    “And who were his mother and father?”

    “Joseph and Mary.”

    “And where was Jesus born?”

    “In a manger.”

    “And why was he born in a manger?”

    “Because sonsab!tches like you wouldn’t rent them an apartment!”

    nk (dbc370)

  589. iBIZzUV lLUF TNeW EelWSwEB TIMdA OT eVAH UOY

    narciso (d1f714)

  590. Apparently we ran out of Christmas wrapping paper, so my son used some leftover Happy Birthday wrap for his present to me…..to which he added:

    , Jesus.

    Who says millennials aren’t resourceful?

    Lenny (5ea732)

  591. Oh, for the love of Christ, Beldar…

    “When candidate Trump first set about the job of redefining politics (and reality) back in 2015, people had lots of predictions about how things would turn out. One year isn’t long enough to know everything we need to know about his presidency, but it’s long enough to to check some of our predictions. As a public service, I put together a list of predictions that various people made about Trump that you can use to evaluate your own predictive powers. Count the number of items on the list that you once predicted would be true. I’ll tell you how to evaluate your score at the end.

    Did you once believe…

    Trump will never win the GOP nomination.

    Trump will never win the presidency.

    Stocks will drop if Trump is elected.

    President Trump will deport ten million illegal immigrants.

    Trump will be gone (impeached, jailed, or quit) by end of 2017.

    Trump’s immigration ban on several Muslim countries will be found unconstitutional.

    Trump colluded with Russia, and that’s a crime.

    Trump obstructed justice (a crime) by firing Comey.

    Trump’s skills as a “con man” might get him elected but it won’t transfer into doing the job of president.

    Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will cause huge problems.

    Trump’s tweeting will cause huge problems.

    GOP will never embrace Trump.

    Trump will get nothing important done.

    Trump will not work effectively with leaders of other countries.

    GOP senators will vote against GOP priorities because of President Trump’s mean tweets.

    Trump will not nominate qualified judges to the Supreme Court.

    Trump is incompetent.

    Presidential approval polls are a good predictor of how a president will perform.

    The military won’t follow Trump’s orders.

    GDP will never stay above 3%.”

    http://blog.dilbert.com/2017/12/22/determine-talk-politics-public/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  592. Ok, I’ve almost decoded 627, except for who went full Vizzini. Who is BEwSWleE?

    I’ll deal with the meaning of full Vizzini, afterwards.

    nk (dbc370)

  593. Did you once believe…

    Trump will never win the GOP nomination.

    Yes.

    Trump will never win the presidency.

    Yes.

    Stocks will drop if Trump is elected.

    No.

    President Trump will deport ten million illegal immigrants.

    No.

    Trump will be gone (impeached, jailed, or quit) by end of 2017.

    No.

    Trump’s immigration ban on several Muslim countries will be found unconstitutional.

    Possibly. And so far it has been.

    Trump colluded with Russia, and that’s a crime.

    Doubtful.

    Trump obstructed justice (a crime) by firing Comey.

    Possibly.

    Trump’s skills as a “con man” might get him elected but it won’t transfer into doing the job of president.

    You betcha.

    Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will cause huge problems.

    Trump’s tweeting will cause huge problems.

    Will cause problems? Yes. Huge? Remains to be seen.

    GOP will never embrace Trump.

    Never for one second. I always knew they would. It’s why I left.

    Trump will get nothing important done.

    Nope.

    Trump will not work effectively with leaders of other countries.

    Some, yes.

    GOP senators will vote against GOP priorities because of President Trump’s mean tweets.

    Not really.

    Trump will not nominate qualified judges to the Supreme Court.

    Never.

    Trump is incompetent.

    Yup.

    Presidential approval polls are a good predictor of how a president will perform.

    Nope.

    The military won’t follow Trump’s orders.

    Nope.

    GDP will never stay above 3%.”

    Had no opinion.

    Looking back on the list, I was wrong about the nomination and election. I have not revised my opinions as to much else.

    Patterico (266a25)

  594. I’m probably alone in this — I bet Beldar and DRJ disagree — but I like having a special counsel around on general principles. It’s another check on executive power. To me, anything that weakens the presidency is likely a good thing. I would have thought that no matter who was in office. The institution has grown too strong.

    Patterico (266a25)

  595. Ain’t it wonderful to have someone around to remind us of the thoughts of Scott Adams and Ace (forthcoming)?

    I’ve decided not to employ the blocker today, and will try to refrain from nasty comments. If that seems like surrender and someone tries to take advantage, I’ll just moderate them for a day.

    Patterico (266a25)

  596. Salon? The twit at newsweak, keyboard went backwardmasking so you’re fine with the fraud presented by fusion as predicate for this rodeo.

    narciso (d1f714)

  597. THAT reminds me.

    https://youtu.be/LpUzD2GNr6Q

    Daily Caller’s Twelve Days Of Christmas.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  598. What did you get wrong in 2017, Big Chief Talksmackalot?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  599. What has the elected fellow helped to make happen that surprised you, good and bad?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  600. Merry Christmas, racists!

    Icy (310f79)

  601. Merry Christmas, Icy!

    Patterico (266a25)

  602. What did you get wrong in 2017, Big Chief Talksmackalot?

    Take a Christmas Day vacation from my comment section. I’ll help by moderating you for the day.

    Patterico (266a25)

  603. Just keep your lips away from Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner as well. Hepatitis ain’t a gift.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  604. The Pope

    Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Christmas!

    In Bethlehem, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. He was born, not by the will of man, but by the gift of the love of God our Father, who “so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

    This event is renewed today in the Church, a pilgrim in time. For the faith of the Christian people relives in the Christmas liturgy the mystery of the God who comes, who assumes our mortal human flesh, and who becomes lowly and poor in order to save us. And this moves us deeply, for great is the tenderness of our Father.

    The first people to see the humble glory of the Savior, after Mary and Joseph, were the shepherds of Bethlehem. They recognized the sign proclaimed to them by the angels and adored the Child. Those humble and watchful men are an example for believers of every age who, before the mystery of Jesus, are not scandalized by his poverty. Rather, like Mary, they trust in God’s word and contemplate his glory with simple eyes. Before the mystery of the Word made flesh, Christians in every place confess with the words of the Evangelist John: “We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14).

    Today, as the winds of war are blowing in our world and an outdated model of development continues to produce human, societal and environmental decline, Christmas invites us to focus on the sign of the Child and to recognize him in the faces of little children, especially those for whom, like Jesus, “there is no place in the inn” (Lk 2:7).

    We see Jesus in the children of the Middle East who continue to suffer because of growing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. On this festive day, let us ask the Lord for peace for Jerusalem and for all the Holy Land. Let us pray that the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached, one that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two States within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders. May the Lord also sustain the efforts of all those in the international community inspired by goodwill to help that afflicted land to find, despite grave obstacles, the harmony, justice and security that it has long awaited.

    We see Jesus in the faces of Syrian children still marked by the war that, in these years, has caused such bloodshed in that country. May beloved Syria at last recover respect for the dignity of every person through a shared commitment to rebuild the fabric of society, without regard for ethnic and religious membership. We see Jesus in the children of Iraq, wounded and torn by the conflicts that country has experienced in the last 15 years, and in the children of Yemen, where there is an ongoing conflict that has been largely forgotten, with serious humanitarian implications for its people, who suffer from hunger and the spread of diseases.

    We see Jesus in the children of Africa, especially those who are suffering in South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Nigeria.

    We see Jesus in the children worldwide wherever peace and security are threatened by the danger of tensions and new conflicts. Let us pray that confrontation may be overcome on the Korean peninsula and that mutual trust may increase in the interest of the world as a whole. To the Baby Jesus we entrust Venezuela that it may resume a serene dialogue among the various elements of society for the benefit of all the beloved Venezuelan people. We see Jesus in children who, together with their families, suffer from the violence of the conflict in Ukraine and its grave humanitarian repercussions; we pray that the Lord may soon grant peace to this dear country.

    We see Jesus in the children of unemployed parents who struggle to offer their children a secure and peaceful future. And in those whose childhood has been robbed and who, from a very young age, have been forced to work or to be enrolled as soldiers by unscrupulous mercenaries.

    We see Jesus in the many children forced to leave their countries to travel alone in inhuman conditions and who become an easy target for human traffickers. Through their eyes we see the drama of all those forced to emigrate and risk their lives to face exhausting journeys that end at times in tragedy. I see Jesus again in the children I met during my recent visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh, and it is my hope that the international community will not cease to work to ensure that the dignity of the minority groups present in the region is adequately protected. Jesus knows well the pain of not being welcomed and how hard it is not to have a place to lay one’s head. May our hearts not be closed as they were in the homes of Bethlehem.

    Dear Brothers and Sisters,

    The sign of Christmas has also been revealed to us: “a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes” (Lk 2:12). Like the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, like the shepherds of Bethlehem, may we welcome in the Baby Jesus the love of God made man for us. And may we commit ourselves, with the help of his grace, to making our world more human and more worthy for the children of today and of the future.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  605. 555. 556 (used to be 557) narciso (d1f714) — 12/24/2017 @ 7:38 pm

    So who did singers money hire, sammeh, there were no reports that were produced with that money.

    hey hired Fusion GPS. Fusion GPS was supposed to look through public records (mayb court records) and published material about Donald Trump. I don’t know what they got back, maybe nobody but the Washington free Beacon knows. They denied that they ever paid for Christopher Steele or any private detectives.

    Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyer (using money both fro the campaign and the Democratic national Committee – the money was laundered through the DNC because campaign contributions to the DNC could be larger) hired Fusion GPS in March and began paying them in April, and Steele’s reports probably go back to April, 2016. not June, which we can know because the of the numbering which stats at 79 in June. So, in no way was Steele’s investigation a continuation of anything any Republican started. This was Democratic idea.

    The dossier is not all of what Steele produced – it’s his “greatest hits” compiled around November, 2016, after the election.

    The Democrats were interested in WHY Putin supporting Trump. They didn’t let Putin Putin and company know that the people interested were Americans, or connected with Hillary. They let them think that they were connected with MI6 or British members of the Conservative Party.

    The answers that Steele got back, at arious times, were:

    A) The Russians had “compromat” on Donald Trump because you see, in 2013, he stayed at the same hotel and in the same room where Obama had slept in previously, and he hated Obama so much that he hired prostitutes to urinate on what he considered to be Obama’s bed.

    If you didn’t like that reason, well there was:

    B) Donald Trump had long standing and YUGE business ties with Russia.

    And, in either case, they were working together on the hacking and splitting the costs. A lawyer for Trump had supposedly me someone from Russia in Prague (he never was in Prague and the official position he Russian had was incorrect)

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  606. No, narciso was at 557. Must be an old window.

    Trump will not nominate qualified judges to the Supreme Court.

    While some people might say nobody predicted that, this is something that many people initially believed, up through the point when he had mentioned his sister, but not after he named 21 possibilities.

    After that I thought he’d try once, but if the nomination was filibustered and blocked, he’d look for a compromise. Now I think it will through and through be people approved by the Federalist Society more or less, so long as there are 50 votes in the Senate to confirm.

    Where Trump has fallen down on is in naming lots of district judges. Every one has had to have cloture invoked, with 30 hours of debate. The Senate (and the president) have prioritized appeals court judges (and also the Supreme Court)

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  607. He “grew” on that one. Remember the comedy with his sister in the primary?

    nk (dbc370)

  608. Presidential approval polls are a good predictor of how a president will perform.

    They’re not even a good predictor of public opinion.

    When it is not getting very close to an election, people take that question (always framed in the present tense) as applying to what the president is most notable as having done or not done recently. Like in the last six weeks.

    Stocks dropping, the military not following orders, or 10 million illegal aliens deported, who ever predicted that?

    You’d have to search high and low to find anyone who did, even granted that different people might have predicted different things.

    What many did predict is that Mexico would not pay for “the wall.”

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  609. His sister was (and is) a pretty good (now senior) judge. as far as the consensus seems to be, but not a conservative or originalist, one.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  610. The only judge who signs bills.

    nk (dbc370)

  611. Dude was clueless. Still is, but like you said, he’s accepting good advice.

    nk (dbc370)

  612. Thanks for commenting and moderating today, P. It’s like a Christmas gift to me!

    I never thought about the desirability of a special counsel as a tool to rein in the President. I suppose you are right, given how weak Congress has become and how inconsistent the courts are, but I would be happier with traditional checks and balances. It’s odd to think that terrorism may have failed to hurt us, but it scared us so much we willingly accepted a stronger executive.

    DRJ (15874d)

  613. Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”

    Benjamin Franklin

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  614. Yes, I remember that. Trump used the same word for apiece of legislation being enacted into law and a court opinion which became law. He didn’t know what a court decision was called.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  615. I don’t think terrorism is intended to hurt us. There’s no war it can win, (in 1916 Germany committed acts of terrorism on American soil, but this was aimed at preventing munitions from getting to the
    Allies) nor are there any concession that they are looking for. Nothing half plausible has ever been demanded, anywhere, by terrorists.

    The purpose of terrorism is to prevent alliances between people whom the terrorists want to keep on their side or neutral, and the targets of terrorism.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  616. Our host guesses correctly that I would oppose having a permanent special counsel. That figure would instantly become a permanent fourth branch of government. I’m highly skeptical, in fact, that we ever need a special counsel.

    I did not support the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Trump or the Russians’ interference in the 2016 election. Even as cut back to skeletal form by the Clinton DoJ after his acquittal in the Senate, the regs only authorize appointment of a special counsel when there is a demonstrable conflict of interest of everyone within the DoJ, or else a showing that the “public interest” requires one. I don’t think either circumstance was established. The grounds on which Sessions was supposedly conflicted out were thin, but he blundered very badly by failing to anticipate that his political enemies (and more to the point, Trump’s) would pick over every word of his disclosures, and for that level of absolutely foreseeable opposition, his answers were sloppy and unlawyerlike. But there were absolutely no grounds to show that the next in line at the DoJ, Rod Rosenstein, was likewise conflicted out. He could and should have overseen whatever criminal investigations needed doing in addition to the foreign intelligence investigation, or chosen someone else within DoJ (but probably not from DoJ-Washington) to handle them. While there are individuals within DoJ and the FBI who are indeed conflicted out — certainly including those with one foot in law enforcement and one foot in partisan Washington politics, like McCabe — and who therefore ought not have been anywhere near that investigation, I have absolutely zero doubt that Rosenstein could have assembled a professional team of DoJ and FBI and other law enforcement personnel as necessary from the rest of the United States. (Having a wife running for lieutenant governor of a state surely isn’t that common among FBI employees nationwide, although it’s par for the course for the Washington crowd.)

    Rosenstein assuredly relied instead on the “public interest” prong, and I disagree with him about that. The standard he’s effectively set is that every time there is any investigation involving a POTUS and his senior staff, everyone in DoJ is conflicted out automatically — and that’s stupid overkill and a guarantee of perpetual death-match politics on the Hill.

    Recall that Congress’ powers in our tripartite system of checks and balances is not limited to merely impeaching Presidents, but also their executive officers. If an Attorney General of the United States is not serving his oath to preserve, protect, and defend, and instead is covering up for his principal, Congress can and should impeach that AG. Or if it concludes that the AG is merely following his principal’s orders when the AG is violating his oath, then Congress can and should impeach that POTUS. Those are drastic remedies intentionally made hard to accomplish: The Founders did that by requiring a two-thirds vote of the Senate (itself guaranteed to be less populist than the House by virtue of its staggered six-year terms of office) for convictions based on House impeachments, in contrast to the simple-majority impeachment threshold of the House. But those remedies are nevertheless are firmly rooted in the Constitution, which a special counsel isn’t. So the effect of the current special counsel regs, under which Mueller was appointed, is another national deception of the masses, another con job perpetuated on the public, a mere illusion of independence — the proof of which is the current national breath-holding over whether the POTUS will fire the special counsel. Constitutionally, the POTUS has to be able to do that in order for the special counsel to be a part of the Executive Branch; and if he’s not part of the Executive Branch, he can’t constitutionally prosecute anyone, no conviction obtained by such a prosecution is valid, and the pretend-prosecutor is actually just violating the defendants’ civil rights under color of law.

    Better by far to keep that principle of presidential authority over all prosecutions, including prosecutions of executive branch personnel (including even himself) clear and foremost in the public attention, for purposes of the public holding both Executive and Legislative Branches accountable at the national polls. Special counsels, independent prosecutors, or whatever label you put on them ultimately are an accommodation to stave off the riots which might occur from the frustration of mob rule in deciding whom to indict and prosecute. Better by far to use the machinery of the Constitution, rather than trying to avoid and, inevitably, subvert it around the margins.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  617. I’m still waiting to hear from shipwreckedcrew regarding the assertion that I should be ashamed for not voting for Trump. To be absolutely clear, that is an issue which turns on his moral or other authority to tell me what I should and needn’t be ashamed of, and has nothing to do with Trump. But I’m damned sure not going to waste another breath in conversation with someone who thinks he’s entitled to dictate to me what does and doesn’t, or should and shouldn’t, make me ashamed.

    I’ve certainly got my own views about when other people should and shouldn’t feel ashamed. It’s very tempting to start throwing some of those around here, in fact, as a defensive matter when someone’s telling me that I ought to be ashamed of myself. But taking that position is the utter, irremediable end of a civil conversation; there could be no more disrespectful position to take than “I am superior to you and here is what I’m telling you that you should feel about whether you’ve lived up to your own moral code.” That was Col. H’s position, and that’s now one online friendship ended. swc, unless you give me a reason to conclude otherwise, and frankly, unless you apologize for the spectacular presumption of your prescription, ours will be as well.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  618. I think the special counsel appeals to government executives from both parties because it insulates them from public opinion. That’s the opposite of what working for the government should be, but it’s par for the course now that working for the government is viewed as a lifetime career.

    DRJ (15874d)

  619. It’s a Trump tactic, Beldar. Name-calling (“Never Trump”) and Attack. It worked for Trump and it works in online and real life.

    DRJ (15874d)

  620. DRJ wrote, “I think the special counsel appeals to government executives from both parties because it insulates them from public opinion.” Yes, precisely — it confuses accountability, and diverts attention to a golem, a manufactured creature designed for the purpose of rallying one mob and providing a target for the other to villainize.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  621. Trump has stood up to the media and he loves to attack people using his Twitter account, and he’s had a year to learn the job. So it’s time to fix what’s wrong at the DOJ, FBI, etc., and to expose what Obama did in the Iran deal.

    I know most of his supporters want Trump to “get even” with the Clintons. I have no problem with investigating them, too, but hasn’t Trump been promising to do that for the entire campaign and first year of his Presidency? I don’t think he wants to.

    DRJ (15874d)

  622. Beldar,

    But if the rest of the government is happy to let the executive run everything without real oversight, what else is there?

    DRJ (15874d)

  623. Trumps problem going forward is that his travel ban was so poorly crafted that he has opened the door to having everything he does second-guessed by some court. Careful, Constitutional drafting is important in our system. It’s why Trumps ignorance of, and lack of interest in, the Constitution is unfortunate.

    DRJ (15874d)

  624. @630. For a Christmas morn’ many, many moons ago, the family wrapped every gift placed under the tree in various front pages and sports pages culled from throughout the year of The New York Times, adding only red or green ribbons for a touch of color. It read and looked quite smart.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  625. President Trump’s biggest problem is how the FBI and the DOJ and the CIA are corrupt fascist organizations, out of control and wholly unaccountable

    deeply sleazy and untrustworthy

    and it’s shockingly courageous how he calls them out on this

    forthrightly and directly

    a pompous harvardtrash poof like Ted Cruz would never have been able to stand up to this endemic corruption

    we’ve truly been blessed with the right leader at the right time

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  626. Trolling with Cruz attacks, as usual, hf? Trump would applaud.

    DRJ (15874d)

  627. @ DRJ: The public’s remedy is always at the ballot box. Every other supposed remedy is illusory.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  628. Especially the juvenile lingo. You are two peas in a pod.

    DRJ (15874d)

  629. under President Trump’s leadership Ted Cruz has grown to become a decent little senator

    there’s no shame in that

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  630. Good point, Beldar, although I submit the immediate remedy is impeachment, but Congress has given up on that since Clinton. I think the special prosecutor is Congress’ response to its own impotence. And that isn’t fair to the public.

    DRJ (15874d)

  631. Liddle senator cruz. You studied the master well, grasshopper.

    DRJ (15874d)

  632. @666. Remember Dr. Evil– errr, Mr. Feet, today is Ferret Mueller’s Day Off.

    Spike your eggnog and be in good spirits; a well timed infrastructure plan will build bipartisan support and steer our Captain through Typhoon Robert into the sunny skies of his second term– unless he scuttles himself. Nobody on either side is strong enough in the ratings to cancel this show.

    ‘Seven more years’ Mr. Feet. Then syndication!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  633. robert mueller is a corrupt and petty man Mr. DCSCA, cowardly and wholly without honor

    he’s the perfect face of the FBI

    and this can’t but help President Trump’s efforts to clean up Washington

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  634. Liddle senator cruz. You studied the master well, grasshopper.

    he’s helped us all to see things more clearly i think

    almost all of us anyway

    i want to tell him to his face one day how grateful i am

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  635. Right it followed the language of the 2016 omnibus appropriation, I thought it was a good first step subject to expansion

    narciso (29665c)

  636. I’m pleased as punch you all didn’t vote for Hillary. (You didn’t, right?)

    Good enough.

    Ode to metallic pea. Holiday Road by Lindsey Buckingham.

    https://youtu.be/_nLiQBV6A7c

    papertiger (c8116c)

  637. a pompous harvardtrash poof like Ted Cruz would never have been able to stand up to this endemic corruption

    Like Mawdie was, Tedtoo is preachy, Mr. Feet, which only enhances his oily unlikability. And the video cips of his sellouts are ready made TeeVee spots. His Canadian bacon is barrel-wrapped cooked served with Texas toast.

    robert mueller is a corrupt and petty man… cowardly and wholly without honor

    And he’s a Republican, Mr. Feet!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  638. all kinds of trash call themselves Republicans these days Mr. DCSCA

    even cowardpig war hero John McCain still pretends to be one

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  639. oh dear god what’s the pope doing to that baby

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  640. The public’s remedy is always at the ballot box. Every other supposed remedy is illusory.

    Always, eh.

    “Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn in at that hour in this office.” – The Big Dick, August 8, 1974

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  641. @679. all kinds of trash call themselves Republicans these days

    Indeed.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  642. where are Mr. Jester i have a question


    this poor man
    in NYC perished this morning and now he’s dead

    there was a fearsome fire what started in his apartment and they don’t know how yet and the firemens couldn’t get in place fast enough partly cause the building has super-crappy elevators what are slow as Christmas

    i’d never considered slow elevators as a safety issue in this respect before

    but at the end of the article we read this:

    Authorities said two smoke-eaters were injured and one was taken to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

    so smoke-eaters is slang for firemens I never heard that my whole life

    is this just a NY thing?

    nobody tells me anything I have to learn about this stuff on the internet without any supervision

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  643. btw the internet suggests most people choose to dispense with the hyphen

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  644. This is what the Swiss army knife, my shorthand for the Russia mess, what service did Obama not perform for putin, so chasing that white rabbit like burr is apt to do, is all purpose distraction

    narciso (29665c)

  645. I wasn’t necessarily advocating a permanent special counsel, but I like having one around if it was appointed through normal channels. I like having a prosecutor hassling the executive.

    Patterico (266a25)

  646. Helps keep them honest, helps the public get to the bottom of things. Helps chip away at the executive’s feeling of being untouchable.

    Anything that checks the executive seems good to me at this point.

    Patterico (266a25)

  647. I’m still waiting to hear from shipwreckedcrew regarding the assertion that I should be ashamed for not voting for Trump. To be absolutely clear, that is an issue which turns on his moral or other authority to tell me what I should and needn’t be ashamed of, and has nothing to do with Trump. But I’m damned sure not going to waste another breath in conversation with someone who thinks he’s entitled to dictate to me what does and doesn’t, or should and shouldn’t, make me ashamed.

    I’ve certainly got my own views about when other people should and shouldn’t feel ashamed. It’s very tempting to start throwing some of those around here, in fact, as a defensive matter when someone’s telling me that I ought to be ashamed of myself. But taking that position is the utter, irremediable end of a civil conversation; there could be no more disrespectful position to take than “I am superior to you and here is what I’m telling you that you should feel about whether you’ve lived up to your own moral code.” That was Col. H’s position, and that’s now one online friendship ended. swc, unless you give me a reason to conclude otherwise, and frankly, unless you apologize for the spectacular presumption of your prescription, ours will be as well.

    It’s a shame, but the attitude on both of their parts along these lines has ended any desire on my part to talk to them.

    They are weak, in my view, to let one man (Trump) affect their behavior to such an extent that they become this disagreeable and haughty. But he has affected a lot of people that way.

    Patterico (266a25)

  648. Except some people are clearly exempt why wasn’t there a special prosecutor re Bobby baker who btw passed away recemtly

    narciso (29665c)

  649. Its an opinion, the stakes being what they were, we didn’t consider how big a fix was in.

    narciso (29665c)

  650. I’ve been very kind to reluctant Trump voters on this site. I get no credit for it, but I have been.

    They are not kind to me. Many have been very high-handed.

    Patterico (266a25)

  651. i’ll be your friend

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  652. the weather forecast here says it will be impressively cold cold cold for an extended period of time

    i love that so much

    last winter was a dud but this one’s spirited and altogether serious about restoring the season to its historically fierce reputation

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  653. Never-Trumpers would have been complicit in that devolution of US democracy had Clinton won, and you should all own up to your shame in that regard.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 12/24/2017 @ 11:02 am

    As one who is at peace with the decision not to vote for Trump, I can only say that dripping condescension and name calling never begets productive dialogue. But clearly, that isn’t what you’re interested in. I find that unfortunate because your comments can be provocatively insightful. But here’s the thing: I don’t owe you or anyone an explanation, apology, sense of shame, remorse or embarrassment for my vote. Just as you don’t either.

    Merry Christmas.

    Dana (023079)

  654. @694. It’s a mistake to think Trump is actually ‘name-calling.’

    He’s sound-biting; it’s masterful media manipulation. He knows how to work the tweets and quips to create entertaining 6 to 12 second TeeVee clips, cycle after cycle to keep the brand spotlighted. Don Draper and Roger Sterling would be proud.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  655. The more I think about it, swc, the more disappointing your “shame” comment is. Who are you to dictate to anyone what and why they should be ashamed of something so personal, like their vote for president, or the potential outcome if an opponent won instead? Is there some sort of atonement, some sort of penance that must follow repentance for not voting Trump? Finally, what is this new religion you speak of? Because that is how your comments re “Never-Trumpers” are coming across.

    Dana (023079)

  656. I don’t understand why a disagreement over the president causes such grief. I’m a “reluctant Trump voter” as you call them since I was for Walker but he lost, Trump won, I then went with the hand that was dealt me. Yeah, I compromised my virtue and voted for Trump. I could have thrown out any virtue and respect for myself left and voted for Hillary or not voted at all. But I’m used to voting for crappy Republicans who aren’t really conservative so this was nothing new.

    I just figure the election was 13 months ago and Trump has been president for the last twelve and America has not ended yet. It’s time to stop beating up on each other and whether or not you “support” Trump begin supporting America and stop helping the left. When Trump does something good admit it. When he does something not good we will all be pounded incessantly 24/7 by the media so we need do nothing.

    Let’s concentrate on the prize: keeping the left out of power and filling the SC with conservatives. If that’s all we do for the next seven years then we have performed well as patriots. We are seeing what the left has done by making the Deep State a partisan arm of the left. If you want guys who think like Comrade Ben, Davechuchu and Tillman running the show then do nothing. And if you’re waiting for the perfect candidate you’ll be waiting forever.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  657. Never-Trumpers would have been complicit in that devolution of US democracy had Clinton won, and you should all own up to your shame in that regard.

    nobody is arguing Mr. swc’s very cogent observation about the horrific devolution of our democracy the food stamp instigated and which stinkypig, with the resources and complicity of the corrupt FBI, the sleazy FISA courts, and the fascist CIA at her beck and call, would have drastically furthered

    and yes yes

    there can be no more important consideration than to stand against this autoritarian devolution

    is it shameful to to be a complicit participant in the destruction of American democracy

    that’s not for me to say

    but i know cowardpig war hero John McCain certainly didn’t cover himself in glory when he delivered the phony pee pee dossier to the sleazy FBI

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  658. oopsers

    is it shameful to to be a complicit participant in the destruction of American democracy

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  659. Did you know that Andrew Jackson was the only President who paid down the national debt in anything like a substantial way? He started out in the tens of millons {$58 millions} and left office with it in the tens of thousands {$37 thousand}.
    All he had to do was kill the Federal Reserve Bank with a pipe wrench. End of debt.

    Why doesn’t he ever get the credit for that?

    Nobody remembers. Nobody cares about the debt.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  660. 562: I wrote yesterday at 7:47 pm PST (10:47 m EST)

    It’s estimated that currently about 30% of all tax returns itemize deductions, and that will go to 6%; and 44% of all homeowners itemize deductions and that will go to 14%.

    I think that works out to approximately 68% of all tax returns being filed by homeowners.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  661. If Jebby was president it would be worse, he would have already gave amnesty to 35 million wetback crimaliens.
    fi.

    mg (8cbc69)

  662. 657. Beldar (fa637a) — 12/25/2017 @ 11:21 am

    I The grounds on which Sessions was supposedly conflicted out were thin,

    Sessions recused himself from anything having to do with both campaigns, and the grounds were that he was too involved in the Trump campaign. This is very similar to what you said about McCabe “one foot in law enforcement and one foot in partisan Washington politics” He was actually on his way to recusing himself regardless of how he answered questions.

    Now the position of Attorney General is often political.

    But there were absolutely no grounds to show that the next in line at the DoJ, Rod Rosenstein, was likewise conflicted out.

    He most likely did it because he wanted an investigator who couldn’t be fired, at least not without raising a firestorm.

    Trump had just fired Comey, in part over the conduct of the Russia investigation. he had also bene used to invent a different reason (which he believed in, but it wasn’t Trump’s) – That was because Comey – really inexplicably if he was non political and not taking orders from the political level at DOJ – made a public announcement of non-prosecution and gave reasons why. That was against all regulations. The official justification for firing Comey fell apart almost right away, and it was not plausible.

    But the problem with a special prosecutor is: Who is above suspicion? It can’t be anyone from the opposite political party of the president, or aligned with them. It can’t be someone from law enforcement, when the whole FBI is under suspicion of having partisan motives.

    (Having a wife running for lieutenant governor of a state surely isn’t that common among FBI employees nationwide,

    It wasn’t Lieutenant governor, although maybe she got about as help from the Governor as a lieutenant Governor candidate might get – it was for a seat in the State Senate. McAuliffe was interested greatly in wresting control of the state legislature from the Republicans.

    The Democrats did not get a majority in the State Senate not that year and not this year, (here will now by a margin of 2 votes with one switch needed to tie)) and the State House of Delegates race that would have tied that branch of the legislature tied (with no provision for breaking a tie for Speaker or anything else) was declared a tie on final recount, and I don’t know if they have held the coin toss yet, or if it in the courts now. If the Democrat ousts the incumbent Republican the House of Delegates is tied.

    You’re right- lesser executive branch officials can be impeached, but that’s never happened.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  663. If Jebby was president it would be worse

    Yes yes. He’s unfit for the office.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  664. plus his lock on the fundraisings drove decidedly better qualified candidates out of the race

    bushes are just really bad filthy people

    bad for America

    bad for our soldiers (the kill and maim them)

    bad for the whole world

    just an incredibly nasty family

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  665. oops *they* kill and maim them i mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  666. and they don’t want the wall, happyfeet, but they want third world crimaliens to vote

    mg (8cbc69)

  667. Considering what I have called Trump voters, I am in no position to be offended by shipwreckedcrew’s assessment. I would not be in any case. It’s part of the lively give and take of a robust political discussion contemplated by George Washington when he crossed the Delaware to bring same-sex marriage to Virginia Loving and Hodges Obergefell.

    nk (dbc370)

  668. My nephew was able to come home (in the Marines) for Christmas and was able to surprise his mom with the help of his sister. Had her at a table (Christmas eve) out to eat and had him come up as a waiter to serve her. Her expression, which was caught on video, was priceless. Seemed like every table clapped.

    God bless. Merry Christmas.

    NJRob (b00189)

  669. All he had to do was kill the Federal Reserve Bank with a pipe wrench. End of debt.

    It was the Bank of the United States, and by not renewing its charter, he started the chain of consequences which led to the worst depression of the 19th century.

    But paying off the debt actually had nothing to do with that.

    Kishnevi (5cc98a)

  670. Now that is a good Christmas story, NJRob.

    nk (dbc370)

  671. Yes because central banks have really the accuracy to atop depressions, facts not in evidence.

    narciso (d1f714)

  672. bushes are just really bad filthy people

    The Bushes are exactly what I was referring to in #687 above when I wrote “But I’m used to voting for crappy Republicans who aren’t really conservative so this was nothing new.” As time goes by there is little difference between the morals of a guy like Trump and say a guy like Bush or Kennedy or even Bush the elder. That said Trump has made more conservative moves than Bush any day. And yes, the only way to undo extra-constitutional improprieties is by reversing them the same way. Or we can fight the leftists in the courts for a decade until they get the judge they want and win like they usually do. Then we can all shrug our shoulders and go home with our virtue in tact and our rights in tatters.

    First we have to undo the damage to the Constitution and the Republic they have already done. By any means necessary. Then, and only then, we need to make sure that it can’t be done again either by the left or anyone else.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  673. The worst Bush has more class in his little toe than Mr. President has in his whole family.

    nk (dbc370)

  674. they’re swamptrash Mr. Reverend

    it’s very sad

    plus those two vapid dingle-butt daughters are both filthy democrats like Laura roadkill Bush

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  675. Within the United States, there were several contributing factors. In July 1832, President Andrew Jackson vetoed the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States (BUS), the nation’s central bank and fiscal agent. As the BUS wound up its operations in the next four years, state-chartered banks in the West and South relaxed their lending standards, maintaining unsafe reserve ratios.[2] Two domestic policies, in particular, exacerbated an already volatile situation. The Specie Circular of 1836 mandated that western lands could be purchased only with gold and silver coin. The circular was an executive order issued by Andrew Jackson, and favored by Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri and other hard-money advocates. The intent was to curb speculation in public lands, but the circular set off a real estate and commodity price crash as most buyers were unable to come up with sufficient hard money or “specie” (gold or silver coins) to pay for the land. Secondly, the Deposit and Distribution Act of 1836 placed federal revenues in various local banks (derisively termed “pet banks”) across the country. Many of these banks were located in western regions. The effect of these two policies was to transfer specie away from the nation’s main commercial centers on the East Coast. With lower monetary reserves in their vaults, major banks and financial institutions on the East Coast had to scale back their loans, which was a major cause of the panic along with the real estate crash.[9]

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1837

    Kishnevi (5cc98a)

  676. But now they are welcome on the today show, w tried to break away from a family that steeped in arabism. Hence some of his appointees like wolfowitz embraced the Kurds. Others like Powell were speaking with forked tongue.

    narciso (d1f714)

  677. Short form
    Federal actions caused a credit bubble and then a credit crunch. Sound familiar?

    Kishnevi (5cc98a)

  678. It would seem the bubble was already underway before bank of the united state wee shuttered. Much like greemspans original low rates were popped by two years of subsequent interest hikes. Whose reset rates popped the bubble.

    narciso (d1f714)

  679. 721. Kishnevi (5cc98a) — 12/25/2017 @ 6:35 pm

    Federal actions caused a credit bubble and then a credit crunch. Sound familiar?

    A little like before 204 and after.

    It not only created a credit bubble, it created an economic expansion. The lesson is once you have a credit bubble, leave it alone as much you possibly can. Destroying money is very very harmful, and you don’t get back to where you would have been had the whole thing never happened. And liquidating an entire credit bubble is not a very good idea, That’s what happened in 1929-1933.

    Some cities are the result of speculation, like Chicago and Miami.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  680. Hoagie, your comment about undoing the damage to the Constitution and the Republic “by any means necessary” reminds me of this scene from a movie called Bridge of Spies.

    DRJ (15874d)

  681. how can you make a bridge out of spies

    that’s so silly

    maybe a bridge of pies would be better you could have chess and pecan and ooey-gooey butter pie and doesn’t that just make more sense

    you know it does

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  682. 562. 701.

    It’s estimated that currently about 30% of all tax returns itemize deductions, and that will go to 6%; and 44% of all homeowners itemize deductions and that will go to 14%.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1) — 12/24/2017 @ 7:47 pm

    I think that works out to approximately 68% of all tax returns being filed by homeowners.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc) — 12/25/2017 @ 2:58 pm

    I think something’s wrong with my calculations here, because, using the same equation, the second set of numbers would tell me that 42% of tax returns are filed by homeowners. The 44% doesn’t tell me what percentage of tax returns are filed by homeowners. The 30% does not represent the same number of ax returns as the 44%.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  683. The glienecke was the leading exchange point, for about 30 years sharansky was one of the most famous.

    narciso (d1f714)

  684. One row of ashlars, one good layer of mortar, a spy, another good layer of mortar, another row of ashlars. Repeat as needed.

    There’s a poem about it that most Greeks [used to?] know by heart.

    nk (dbc370)

  685. no kindle version for that but i bookmarked it

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  686. 657. Beldar (fa637a) — 12/25/2017 @ 11:21 am

    Constitutionally, the POTUS has to be able to do that in order for the special counsel to be a part of the Executive Branch; and if he’s not part of the Executive Branch, he can’t constitutionally prosecute anyone,

    Not true. Artivle 2, section 2, clause 2, says that the courts of law (federal judges) can also be vested with the power to appoint officials, and that’s how special prosecutors were appointed under the old special prosecutor law. Not Archibald Cox, Leon Jaworski or Robert Mueller, but most of those in between.

    Janet Reno appointed Robert B. Fiske Jr, and then Predident Clinton signed the revival of the special prosecutor law, with the idea that the 3 federal judges would ratify the appointment of Fiske, but they appointed Kenneth Starr instead, and so Bill Clinton’s attempt to place all possible investigations of himself * into the hands of a lawyer he could trust (the lawyer for Goldman Sachs who had saved Robert E. Rubin from Rudolph Giuliani’s investigation of insider trading) was foiled.

    Not entirely because he had his spies there, in my opinion – he nearly gave that away in his testimony about Monica Lewinsky where he was about to cite something she had said (her definition of sex) before he had a chance to know it. I think his chief informer was Samuel Dash.

    * including state investigations, which would defer to him, and also Congressional investigation, because if the Democrats controlled Congress they also would defer to him.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  687. 727. The bridge – what was it – between East Berlin and West Berlin. Scharansky wss exchanged but he wasn’t actually a spy – the soviets just pretended he was.

    The reporters now arrested in Burma for uncovering mass graves were more spies than he was.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  688. Unlike the Bank of England, the primary function of the bank [Bank of the United States] would be credit issued to government and private interests, for internal improvements and other economic development, per Hamilton’s system of Public Credit. The business it would be involved in on behalf of the federal government—a depository for collected taxes, making short term loans to the government to cover real or potential temporary income gaps

    From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Bank_of_the_United_States

    You know what that sounds like? It sounds alot like our annual debt ceiling, loan sharked by the Fed. They [the BUS] ladled out the never ending credit sugar to our profligate politicians, just like the Fed.

    Where am I wrong?

    papertiger (c8116c)

  689. A bridge over what river? There’s a river that runs through Berlin and it separated a lot of East Berlin and West Berlin. But there must also have been a land border. (besides the wall that separated West Berlin from the part of East Germany that was not Berlin.)

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  690. They were often traded for real spies, I realized this because a gayle lynd novel, opens with an aborted example of a similar trade, that puts suspicion on the manager of the exchange.

    narciso (d1f714)

  691. bridges are infrastuctures and President Trump has a soft spot for infrastuctures

    so i guess they’re ok

    you may proceed

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  692. Ismail Kadare is an acquired taste, and I liked his “The Siege” a/k/a “The Drums of Rain” better anyhow, and I read him in Greek and I don’t know how good the English translation will be, so you might want to spend the money on something else, and anyway it’s just a story about ferryboatmen about to be put out of business by a bridge, and it’s not all that uncommon in the histories of places that have water that needs to be crossed.

    nk (dbc370)

  693. 736. Infrastruxture. That reminds me, Trump tweeted after the Amtrak crash a week ago that that proved how much we needed new infrastructure..

    https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/942827072824672262?lang=en

    Donald J. Trump‏
    @realDonaldTrump

    The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly. Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!
    10:41 AM – 18 Dec 2017

    But that was new infrastructure.

    Just not done right.

    They spent all that money ad made no special protection for that curve, and a little like the Titanic, it never completed its maiden voyage, killing two train buffs and more.

    They wanted to save money, so to speak. Install all the Positive Train control at once, and also not use anything else for the time being that would be cheaper.

    Sammy Finkelman (58e1fc)

  694. From the history of central banking; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_bank#Early_history

    The use of money predates history. Government control of money is documented in the ancient Egyptian economy (2750-2150 BC).[6] The Egyptians measured the value of goods with a central unit called shat. As many other currencies, the shat was linked to gold. The value of a shat in terms of goods was defined by government administrations. Other cultures in Asia Minor later materialised their currencies in the form of gold and silver coins.

    So that’s where that word came from.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  695. I’m assuming shat is the plural form.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  696. My nephew was able to come home (in the Marines) for Christmas and was able to surprise his mom with the help of his sister. Had her at a table (Christmas eve) out to eat and had him come up as a waiter to serve her. Her expression, which was caught on video, was priceless. Seemed like every table clapped.

    NJ Rob, that is a terrific story, and I am so happy for your family! What a delightful surprise. The best kind. One of my sons spent this Christmas on the other side of the world where he on his second deployment. He is deeply missed but your story makes me so happy that I feel much better. Thanks for sharing.

    Dana (023079)

  697. 740.I’m assuming shat is the plural form.

    Nah, it’s past tense as in “Yesterday I shat twice”.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  698. Sigh. What good is currency if it’s not standardized? If it’s coin, what good is it if the weight and purity are not standardized? What good are weights and measures if they’re not standardized for that matter? Those are the things that governments should do. Or would you like your $3.00 and one gallon of gas to mean one thing at the Shell and another at the Amoco?

    nk (dbc370)

  699. someone wants way bad to install sleazy perverted pedophile Mitt Romney in the senate

    it’s as if the defeat of Mr. Roy Moore created a pedophile vacuum only Mitt can fill

    and of course the pedophile who invented obamacare is the ideal redstate choice for this

    go figure

    they’re kinda nutsy huh

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  700. bastards, they have to stick together

    support each other

    through thick and thin

    this is obvious to anyone willing to do the bastard analysis

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  701. baby it’s cold outside

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  702. I was going to say I miss the old Amoco stations (the Jewel or Walgreens of gas stations in the Chicago area due to # of outlets), but lo and behold…http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/10/amoco-gas-stations-are-coming-back.html

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  703. 743. If governments standardize coins, they can or will eventually debase it, as happened in the Roman Empire and many places besides. Only from the period before governments issued coins was there no long term debasement. Somebody else standardized it. Of course it took maybe 600 or 700 years from the time governments started issuing coins (Lydia) till they began debasing them – by that time there was no competition and people just didn’t trade bullion.

    Privately issued standard weights of silver are more insecure in the short run but more secure in the long run – if you want so much and so much silver, that is.

    In such circumstances, though there are different measures, maybe different weights that people use.

    Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a)

  704. Target has flannel-lined Wrangler cargo pants for $24.99. $6.00 shipping for one, free if you get two.

    nk (dbc370)

  705. In the United States coins minted by the U.S. mint were in competition with foreign coins until 1857.

    Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a)

  706. I never stopped calling the BPs Amocos. I worked at one when it turned from Standard to Amoco way back when, too.

    nk (dbc370)

  707. that’s a good way to end up dead Mr. nk

    shop online my friend

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  708. Thank you Dana, Nk and narciso. Family helps keep things in perspective.

    Sometimes.

    NJRob (b00189)

  709. Bush’s having class is mistaking the very evils of our elite Ivy League trash with “class”

    My never educated father and mother had more class than all the Bush’s put together.

    They are the very definition of white privilege an$ it has nothing to do with skin color.

    Harvard trash never done nothing so goo as da Jimmy and Joes do for this country daily.

    And da minute da Jimmy and Joes picked one they wanted these same classy people not only took their ball home, they launched an effort to unseat a legit POTUS with lies.

    Spare me Bush class , they are pure scum. Them and their Country Club lot.

    Clown Car (c587a1)

  710. yes yes

    i just wanted to highlight the pronounced perils (and elevated morbidity rate) of our local tranny-target

    i promised my whole family when i moved to Chicago i wouldn’t die in a Tranny Target parking lot

    and by God that’s a promise I aim to keep

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  711. nicely said Mr. Car, and a merry Christmas to you and yours

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  712. Sammy, the government debasing coinage simply turns it to fiat money. It’s not important if people still trust it as a medium of exchange. Herod knew how many 66% silver denarii he needed to buy a 99% silver platter for Salome.

    nk (dbc370)

  713. Less like whether they’re Ivy League and more like whether their women take off their clothes in public view for fun and profit, but to each his own.

    nk (dbc370)

  714. Nah, it’s past tense as in “Yesterday I shat twice”.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

    Oh yeah. Quite right.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  715. The boosh family has taught me a lesson. Never let the head of the CIA become president. And boosh women suck.

    mg (8cbc69)

  716. http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/25/the-senate-waited-until-christmas-to-reveal-how-many-harassment-settlements-were-paid-out/
    Sen. shelby is a hypocritical pig. Goes after Judge Moore for something no one can prove 35 years ago, but won’t name the names of these sexual deviant perverted govt. hacks. May your family be sodomized by democrats you pos republican fu## up, sen. shelby.

    mg (8cbc69)

  717. mg, thanks for the link to Arutz Sheva. I saw it before but couldn’t remember the web name.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  718. Vox Trumpkinorum, vox cloacarum.

    mg (dbc370)

  719. No, no, no! Thar was not mg! That was me, nk! How did I do that?

    nk (dbc370)

  720. So red state is really taking that Brock poodle, painter seriously.

    narciso (29665c)

  721. So are we really looking at the travismockasham

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/943350106153156610.html

    narciso (29665c)

  722. I don’t know how you did that but in both #762 and #763 mg has a number (8cbc69). But in #765 and 766 both nk and mg share the same number (dbc370). You tell me!

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  723. “Hey, he’s a showman — and being a showman often means dishonesty. We’re supposed to cheer that, right?”

    well what did all the so called gatekeeper “conservative pundits” do with Bush Sr and Bush Jr when they “lied”? The gatekeepers cheered right? and told everyone to vote for them in each & every election they ran in. And thats when the right lost me as much as the left. Even before Trump showed up, 2016 was all about Jeb. Jeb is about all we could/should vote for. Another Bush showman & liar.

    what the “pundits” & gatekeepers dont want to admit is that the left-right establishment and their “holy fake americana families” of the Bushs, Clintons, and Obamas, are the best “show people” in town. All of them have made generations of money off the taxpayers backs by “lying” to them. And yet their respective media cheerleaders call them “sincere and honest” as they march us into increased taxes, less jobs, increased doubt and increased war. AND YET they ALL ran for office on the exact OPPOSITE positions.

    how about putting into context that what Trump can ONLY do, can ONLY be done one thick & heavy brick at a time. One of the next “bricks” is entitlements and debt. You know, ALL of the DEBT that Bush Sr, Bush Jr and Obama & Clinton created over the last 30 years (with a sprinkle of even Reagan, who wasn’t perfect but was/is my favorite) when no one called any of them out to change the crooked & out of control system.

    “So Trump lied about why he passed up a January signing. It was no longer necessary, because Republicans managed to get a waiver of the law mandating fiscal responsibility.”

    “He didn’t nix the January signing to keep a promise. He nixed it because there was no longer any reason for the delay.”

    how do you know this? because Trump did the right thing and signed a necessary bill into law?

    oh and who is the clairvoyant who can read Trump’s mind? but all other presidents must be sincere? Trump simply “lies” and does actions that “must be suspect”?

    my gosh, Trump did at least 50-80 significant decisions in less then one year and all people can do is be upset that he is trying to change 30-50 years of federal incompetence & corruption based on a supposed signing of an important bill, that is insinuated to be “suspicious” and or “fraudulent” or “suspect of good intentions” based on what exactly?

    Is it based on the same Republicans (that Trump does not control i.e. 3 branches of govt and all) that Trump has had a hard time controlling since they are so dishonest, deceiving, & dissecting, did the following:

    “As one concession, Democrats did get a six-month supply of money for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in the CR. The program has been running out of money since October. The bill also includes language to waive certain pay-as-you-go rules that the GOP tax bill would trigger because of the new debt in their tax bill, which won’t be signed into law until these so-called Paygo rules are nullified with this legislation.”

    Why should any suspicion be placed on Trump for what the US Congress Republicans do? I guess nothing good can come out of a Trump presidency and we all just hope he puts his feet up and does nothing for the next 3years at the soonest or 5 years at the longest.

    simply sounds to me like the same old sour grapes by those who feel Trump is below the office of POTUS and is not one of the american “royal families”, hand picked by the left-right establishment. The gatekeepers give Trump a compliment when he is portrayed as incompetent, at his most “innocent”, OR “a lair” and “dishonest showman” at his most calculating & disingenuous if not (heaven forbid, dare we say) ingenious.

    again, some people will never be happy. Yet we all were told by past gatekeepers that the Bushs, or a Romney and a McCain et al were “standard bearers” of what it means to be “upright republican” and “american.”

    eh. some people who don’t want to see light and will only believe in the darkness.

    to only believe in the dark & dank status quo of the left-right establishment.

    That is why those gatekeepers who are upset that Trump beat an “american royal”, will always lose in the arena of public opinion: the public can see the gatekeepers are simply unfair with those they deem “undesirable”.

    To paraphrase & subvert Erin Morgenstern, from her The Night Circus:

    The gatekeepers pontificate, “Because we do not wish to know. We prefer to remain unenlightened, to better appreciate the dark.”

    cheers & I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. I know i sure did after 29 years of the Bushs, Clintons and Obamas being in “power”.

    Where Eagles Dare (30c9de)

  724. I, nk, typed #765. That’s what I said in #766. And I know “how” I did it. I typed in mg instead of nk in the name box. But HOW! did I do that? Because it’s almost as cold in Chicago right now as it is in Belozeria Minnesota and my brain is frozen too?

    nk (dbc370)

  725. If only the security services actually did some like preventing the likes of the Harrisburg shooter el motly instead they seem intent on chasing Russian phantoms and blocking prosecution of a Hezbollah and caracas connected drug rinv

    narciso (29665c)

  726. The Trump- thin-line of disagreement is merely their take on showmanship as a helpful quality in their demolition of democracy. St. Ronaldus of ketchup is a vegetable: Yes they’re needy, but are they truly needy? is more nuanced as Ghengis Khan in Santa suit, and therefore less controversial.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  727. The 35cents operate in the dark of night because Democratic republic

    The Cabinet members carrying out President Donald Trump’s orders to shake up the federal government are doing so under an unusual layer of secrecy — often shielding their schedules from public view, keeping their travels under wraps and refusing to identify the people and groups they’re meeting.

    A POLITICO review of the practices of 17 Cabinet heads found that at least seven routinely decline to release information on their planned schedules or travels — information that was more widely available during the Obama and George W. Bush administrations. Three other departments — Agriculture, Labor, Homeland Security and Education — provide the secretaries’ schedules only sporadically or with few details. The Treasury Department began releasing weekly schedules for Secretary Steven Mnuchin only in November.

    https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/26/trump-cabinet-agenda-secret-319046

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  728. ketchup is tasty and a great source of anti-oxidants you should try it with french fries it’s so good like that

    Mr. Mnuchin should take his wife back to the trophy ho store and exchange her for a classier one

    and then they can go get some tasty fries and try them with ketchup

    Harrisburg has an island in the middle i think it’s called City Island you can play mini golf there

    i’m kinda agnostic about mini golf but you can make a bet that the winner has to buy everybody some tasty french fries after the game, which you can complement with ketchup to great culinary effect

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  729. 774.The 35cents operate in the dark of night because Democratic republic

    No, they do that so the slack-jawed 65 IQ’ers can’t track them to a baseball field and shoot them. Do you hunt deer with stealth or beat drums?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  730. Happy Kwanzaa.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  731. Cowards die a thousand deaths, hoagie. You?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  732. #771 nk is doing his mg impression.

    Skipping past why you would do that, I guess the question is will you do Christopher Walken?
    I like seeing Chris Walken impressions.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  733. nk shopping for mutton. [classic loony toons]

    papertiger (c8116c)

  734. 777, 99.9 thats in jest, but sincerely I hope someone close to you takes that bait and can begin the deprogramming process, though most importantly comes out of immediate harm’s way.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  735. More cowbell, baby!

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  736. No, I was not sockpuppeting mg.

    nk (dbc370)

  737. Different time zones…mg is the Massachusetts rooster.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  738. How the real life equivalent of mr big managed to foist this panafrican socialist hoax is a wonder.

    narciso (29665c)

  739. Another thing Nixon forgot to snuff out…this might be the third term if Reagan, but if Stephen Miller ever got booted, it could be Ford/Dole had they caught up.

    urbanleftbehind (c29133)

  740. # 783 It’s like if I saw you in Bruce Jenner’s wardrobe trying on dresses. I don’t care.

    Just acknowledging the occurence with a perfunctory head nod.

    **{head nod}** Wassup.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  741. Haiku is unmoderated but is encouraged to try not to be a consistently negative presence. There are ways to disagree without being disagreeable.

    Patterico (266a25)

  742. 784 -Ulb
    wanna be a big island night owl by next year!

    mg (8cbc69)

  743. The New York post reported Saturday, in the small 8-paragraph article on page 9 that reported he signed the tax bill (and gave much of taht quote going “I watched the news this morning and they were all saying..” that the White House plans to hold acelebration of the signing on January 3.

    So there will still be some more pictures for members of Congress and others to be in.

    The article also reported that he also signed atemprary spending bill but ddin’t draw any connection between the two,

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  744. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/steps-for-tax-filing-season contains nothing new. It just says again that:

    ◦ By law, the IRS cannot issue refunds before mid-February for tax returns that claim the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit.

    • The IRS expects the earliest EITC/ACTC related refunds to be available in taxpayer bank accounts or on debit cards starting on Feb 27, 2018, if they chose direct deposit and there are no other issues with the tax return.

    It also advises people not to count on getting a refund by a certain date, so keep that in mind when making major purchases or paying other financial obligations, but they should file as soon as they are ready. There’s no point in waiting and there’s some advantage in filing earlier.

    It also tells people that if they use a software product for the first time they need to know their 2016 Adjusted Gross Income, or AGI, to e-file their 2017 tax return. (actually the AGI used in the earliest unamended version of their return)

    If they don’t have it, they can get it from a paid tax preparer, or from the IRS, and they can get a transcript mailed to their address by the IRS (A transcript is like a condensed version of a tax return. It tells you what is on what lines of the return without the lines being provided.)

    It doesn’t say what happens if you lost your password/5 digit PIN.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  745. I see that swc has visited the blog since my last comment addressed to him (#658 above), commenting on other posts without responding to me or to my last comment.

    Another internet friendship with a Trump supporter ended, then. I remain unashamed.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  746. Well seeing that he is deemed not to be listened to, even though he has brought significant insight on issues like immigration law and other areas,

    narciso (d1f714)

  747. …commenting on other posts without responding to me…

    The nerve!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  748. I think this decision was illconsidered:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/MaryAnastasiaOG/status/945812287989960704?p=v

    narciso (d1f714)

  749. The temerity since I expressly do not solicit comments..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  750. good lord

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  751. 793. Some people seem to think it is a citizen’s duty to vote, and to vote for either the front runner or the closest runner up. especially if the election is important. But they may not feel the same way about both candidates as you do. If they did maybe they wouuldn’t think so.

    Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a)

  752. Tghe story about prepayment of real estate taxes seems to be this:

    If you haven’t bene billed aspecific dollar amount, you can’t pay it and deduct it on your 2017 tax return It must be taxes YOU owe. Not soimeone else. And again, that is, taxes you owe . As of Dec 31, although the due date may be much later.

    People with mortgages taking care of this have other problems, and a substantial increase in the payment without achange of address might also trigger an audit or questions. Tgeer also could be a problem with some banks which report real estate taxes paid, which if theer is rprepayment is going to be wrong.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  753. Among teh deductions going away in 2018:

    Tax preparation fees.

    Investment expenses.

    Moving expoenses, except for those in the military.

    tghese are also miscellaneous deductions and I think theer’s the matter that only the amount over 2% if income can be deducted, but I am not sure if taht applies to all of tehm asdded togetehr or what.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  754. the individual mandate doesn’t go way until 2019.

    The medical expenses deduction is restord to whatever is above 7.5% of adjusted gross 7 and 2018 and can be used for other family members and not jst nuclear family.

    the standrd deduction for 2018 will be very high but not for 2017.

    The alimony changes take effect with 2019 or any time any divirced couple wants to amend their agreement that way.

    The reduced mortgage threshhold takes effect with houses bought starting December 15, 2017.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)


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