Patterico's Pontifications

12/20/2017

Greaaaat: Trump May Delay Signing Tax Bill — to Avoid Spending Cuts

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:30 am



Some of you may recall that I railed against the GOP tax plan in part because I believed it sent a signal that we were never going to get serious about spending cuts to reduce the debt and deficit. Always trust content from Patterico! A report says that President Trump may delay signing the tax bill to avoid spending cuts that neither side wants:

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 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 inflatable movie screen 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.

The article phrases Trump’s proposed move in terms of taking a leverage point from Democrats. That makes it a good move under the Anything That Makes Democrats Cry Is a Good Thing style of conservatism that now reigns under Donald Trump.

But under the old style of conservatism that is still observed by me and about three of you, this is a bad thing — because Trump is trying to avoid a law that makes sure tax cuts don’t add to the deficit. The debt and deficit are primarily a spending problem, and this action shows that spending will not be addressed.

They will never, ever, ever, ever, ever cut spending. Neither side will. They don’t care about it.

That we routinely vote to burden our children with crushing debt is a fundamental weak point in the structure of our republic — and absent a constitutional amendment that the public does not want (for obvious reasons), this structural flaw will be our ruin.

At least a handful of us noticed the hole in the ship’s hull before it sank. That’s something, right?

Right?

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

560 Responses to “Greaaaat: Trump May Delay Signing Tax Bill — to Avoid Spending Cuts”

  1. I think this is a better line of attack for you than your previous one: that it would raise *your* taxes. BTW, does this version of the bill raise your taxes? It did cap the SALT deduction, but still left it in place for up to $10K of state/local taxes.

    Anon Y. Mous (6cc438)

  2. If they can get the cuts waived as part of the spending bill needed this week to keep the government open, “we will sign the tax bill this year,” Cohn said.

    so they may sign it this year or next year but there was never any buy-in on the part of Republicans or Democrats in Congress for deep cuts in discretionary spending

    the good thing is they managed to put pro-growth tax reform in place

    it’s an astounding achievement for the hapless Ryan/McConnell Congress, and for President Trump as well

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  3. pro-growth tax reform

    lol

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  4. It did cap the SALT deduction

    yes yes yes Mr. Mous, and without this commonsense reform the deficit Mr. Patterico decries so passionately would be even larger!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  5. You forgot the cuts tondiscretionary soending were labeled doa, by the house.

    narciso (d1f714)

  6. Even though I have incredibly high SALT, I still save under the plan! At least according to this handy website: http://taxplancalculator.com/

    Who knew?

    A.S. (23bc66)

  7. This is a rerun of Ronaldomaximus of the eighties. The elite no Ronalds, the democrats and the media hated this president to their core.
    The opening of the ANWAR oil fields is incredible for workers. The corporate tax rate deduction is a welcome change from watching long time American companies go foreign or go under.
    Halting govt. spending starts with abolishing baseline accounting practices.

    mg (8cbc69)

  8. Trump May Delay Signing Tax Bill…

    Maybe they’re just out of Diet Coke.

    Couldn’t be his riff of frightful, micro-stroked synapse misfires sputtered out at the last Cabinet meeting this morning. A mixed tape cut by Dinsdale Piranha would make more sense.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  9. That being said, Cohn, is as useless as (redacted) on a boar. Remember though stockman made some cuts in growth in certain programs and bill Myers savaged him for it on CBS.

    narciso (d1f714)

  10. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4700896/ted-cruz-defends-tax-cuts-jobs-act-home-schoolers

    Ted Cruz’s speech starts at 11:26. Fantastic job by him explaining the partisanship involved and how this tax cut benefits families.

    NJRob (b00189)

  11. Cohn is likely talking out of his (reacted) but hypothetically which entitlements would you cut and how much.

    narciso (d1f714)

  12. @9. Woodshed time or just a piggyback ride on a buzzsaw.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  13. Back in the eighties raised taxes re tefra via a via democrats promises to cut spending.
    Mindale then upped the ante promising to raise further taxes.

    narciso (d1f714)

  14. Please take the trouble to look at what actually happens to the economy when prior tax cuts were enacted. “The Statistical Abstract of the United States” shows what actually has happened not what many people believe happened. The difference between facts and belief is very great.

    Michael Keohane (947544)

  15. You write that neither party will ever cut spending. That’s certainly true so long as politicians can give people tax cuts and continue to spend by borrowing money, because the “debt” and “deficit” are abstractions that people don’t really feel.

    If you’re serious about reducing spending, the only way to do it is to tax the people to pay for everything that they’re getting. That way people will feel in their wallet how much it takes to pay for everything they get, and then we can have a real debate over what’s necessary and what’s not.

    In short, “cutting taxes” is never going to lead to reduced spending. Raising taxes might.

    Just some guy (278d73)

  16. I hope this helps a lot of taxpayers but the more it helps, the harder it would be to find out it doesn’t help you.

    DRJ (d18ca6)

  17. “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.

    He has ten days, excluding Sundays.

    If it is sent to him today, Wednesday, December 20, 2017, a week from now, December 27, is 6 days.

    Dec 28 is 7. Friday Dec 29 is 8. Dec 30 is 9. Dec 31 is Sunday. Voila! He can sign it on January 1 which is Day 10 (actually day 12 minus 2 Sundays) He has to sign it, or it will be a pocket veto, since Congress won’t be in session.

    Congressional leadership could also hold the bill for while, but it’s already late enough so it can spill into the new year.

    This is how Congress works these days. First it makes budget rules, and then it finds gimmicks that create a way around them. It’s not just now. It was like thsi in 2001.

    Of course it is the budget rules that are bad, not avoiding them.

    Sammy Finkelman (19c914)

  18. Excellent speech by Cruz!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  19. 13. narciso (d1f714) — 12/20/2017 @ 11:24 am

    Mindale then upped the ante promising to raise further taxes.

    That wasn’t it. Mondale claimed that Reagan would raise taxes too. (but only he was telling the truth) Reagan, one way or anoher, denied it.

    Reagan was right. He didn’t raise taxes. The 1986 Act was revenue neutral.

    Sammy Finkelman (19c914)

  20. Drill Baby Drill

    mg (8cbc69)

  21. Thank God grifters clinton and the couple obozo didn’t steal or sell America’s oil fields.
    We were lucky.

    mg (8cbc69)

  22. The debt and deficit are primarily a spending problem

    Most Republicans in Congress disagree.

    It’s primarily an economic growth problem. If we had mrore economic growth, revenue would go up, and some entitlement spending would go down. And if we don’t have economic growth, it’s hopeless.

    This bill is supposed to increae economic growh (although it really won’t. Other things might, and we are accepting much too low a growth level, but the bill doesn’t really do it. Cutting taxes doesn’t really stimulate growth. There’s no one-to-one correspodence like that in the historical record.)

    Sammy Finkelman (19c914)

  23. Per Mark Levin, this past year marks the first year of what looks like Reagan’s 3rd term.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  24. This is an interesting theory. We’ll find out soon, very soon.

    AZ Bob (f60c80)

  25. But they kept them shuttered, pat of the flexibility with putin

    narciso (d1f714)

  26. Only Trump and the rodents around him could celebrate the rape of Lady Liberty with such enthusiasm and panache.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  27. Anything That Makes Democrats Cry Is a Good Thing style of conservatism that now reigns under Donald Trump.

    Cleeks Law–

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  28. Is this a middle class tax cut as Congress claims, or primarily a corporate tax cut as Trump claims?

    DRJ (d18ca6)

  29. They are truly drunk on their own hubris.

    Getting calluses from patting themselves on the beast with two backs.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  30. You’re one heck of a leader

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  31. Canada awaits all you doubters.
    gtfoh

    mg (8cbc69)

  32. It’s two… two… two cuts in one!

    Re: #s 26 and 29…

    Rear Admiral and ASPCA are so off their rockers that they should be placed in a home, preferably a home called “a different country”.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  33. (CNN)President Donald Trump’s approval rating sank to a new low in CNN polling on Tuesday, earning the approval of just 35% of Americans less than a year into his first term.

    That’s a significant drop from the 45% approval rating that Trump had in March, shortly after taking office.
    It marks the worst approval rating in a December of any elected president’s first year in the White House by a wide margin
    http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/19/politics/trump-approval-new-low-history/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  34. Am amazed Patterico missed the real reasons Trump may delay signing :

    1- He’s colluding with the Russians
    2.- He’s a white supremacist
    3- He’s a Nazi

    A surprising oversight given that all of the above have appeared in his postings this year.

    Bill Saracino (ad0096)

  35. All those nictating membranes surrounding Trump reminded me of that gelatinous scene in Alien .

    Incubus and Succubus seek your counsel.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  36. CNN is awesome!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  37. The 35%ers are beside themselves with ecstasy at the successful coup against democracy and the 65%.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  38. Trump: less awesome.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  39. 10% less awesome than last March.

    Are negative numbers here by March 2018?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  40. Consider the planned follow-up to the mere abomination. House Speaker Paul Ryan is promising a “welfare-reform” package that takes aim at Medicare and Medicaid. The tax bill will add $1.5 trillion to the deficit, yet Ryan blames Medicare, the program that keeps older Americans alive and functioning. For years, Ryan has advocated a voucher system to replace Medicare, a system likely designed to allow natural selection to take its course. Who needs weak, frail people, anyway? They’re no longer part of the machinery of production.

    Poor people, too, are marked for early death in the ideas floated for the so-called welfare reform package. Medicaid, the program through which poor people obtain health care, will have work requirements if Ryan has his way. If you work for minimum wage and become physically unable to work the three part-time jobs it requires to keep a roof over your family’s head, dispense with any expectation of a long life.

    http://prospect.org/article/on-road-kleptocracy

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  41. @28

    If it was a middle class tax cut, then the cuts for the middle class wouldn’t be set to expire. The corporate cuts, however, have no such expiration.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  42. “A surprising oversight given that all of the above have appeared in his postings this year.”

    Bill Saracino (ad0096) — 12/20/2017 @ 12:38 pm

    C’mon… to be fair, he never said Trump was any of the three, just that others were saying it, so it should be looked into. Kind of like the theories floated about the Twin Towers.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  43. Patterico,

    I have something that could control deficit spending, and the voters would LOVE it! A Debt Limit Referendum (DLR).

    Congress could vote to increase the debt limit, but it would not take affect until the voters approve the increase in a biennial election. We could use the same rules that apply for the election of the President, using electoral votes instead of a popular vote. You would want to set a cap on the maximum percentage increase that Congress could propose over the exisiting outstanding level of debt held by the public (say 15%), so that Congress could not propose a doubling of the national debt and not be forced to vote on it again in the near term.

    This way, the deficit is forced into the discussion every 2 years. Let politicians make their case why the burden should be increased, instead of avoidance of this important question.

    El Gipper (f1f816)

  44. Bonus Bonus Bonus

    mg (8cbc69)

  45. No comments on whether Rosie O’Donnell is going to get frog-marched in cuffs off to a federal prison??

    In case you missed it, Rosie offered $2 million cash to both Jeff Flake and Susan Collins to vote “No” on the tax bill.

    Just so there’s no mistaking her intent, she said if it wasn’t enough, they should DM her to negotiate.

    I think the FBI might want to speak with her.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  46. Yes. Offering cash explicitly is taboo.

    Be sneakier. You know, do your oppo research then snake something under the radar.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  47. Remember when Republicans used to (say they) care about deficits?

    Remember when Democrats didn’t?

    Mitch (341ca0)

  48. Ben Carson’s Cabinet Meeting Prayer: ‘End The Debt, Jesus’

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  49. Her son, Thomas, needs EpiPens for his nut allergies and they aren’t cheap. Without insurance, the pens cost $1,500. Her husband Parker, the family’s sole breadwinner, is the pastor of the local First Presbyterian Church. The family was spending roughly $800 a month for insurance before her daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was born.

    They soon got a break though. The Johnsons enrolled both their children in All Kids, a program that covers some 84,000 children in Alabama through the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). And, like that, Thomas’ EpiPens were free, minus the $13 copay they have to put down every time they go to the doctor.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/states-christmas-letter-to-kids-no-health-care-for-you

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  50. I guess you douchebags aren’t totally bereft of conscience or you’d be here crowing like the mushroom spores in Congress.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  51. 45 — and you know why Ken Pope is wrong?

    Because its standard practice among federal prosecutors to take the position that if “I didn’t mean it” is your defense, then you can explain that to a jury.

    “I didn’t mean it” isn’t a basis to decline prosecution. The act is the actus reus. If the mens rea is lacking, and its a circumstantial case in terms of proving intent — it always is — then its up to the jury to render a decision on what conclusion the circumstances point to.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  52. Give it a rest, Rear Admiral. You’re growing more tedious by the day.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  53. “Investigators say McCabe recounted to the panel how hard the FBI had worked to verify the contents of the anti-Trump “dossier” and stood by its credibility. But when pressed to identify what in the salacious document the bureau had actually corroborated, the sources said, McCabe cited only the fact that Trump campaign adviser Carter Page had traveled to Moscow. Beyond that, investigators said, McCabe could not even say that the bureau had verified the dossier’s allegations about the specific meetings Page supposedly held in Moscow.

    The sources said that when asked when he learned that the dossier had been funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, McCabe claimed he could not recall – despite the reported existence of documents with McCabe’s own signature on them establishing his knowledge of the dossier’s financing and provenance.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/20/mccabe-draws-blank-on-democrats-funding-trump-dossier-new-subpoenas-planned.html

    harkin (c60926)

  54. DOJ and FBI say they have cooperated extensively with Nunes and his team, including the provision of several hundred pages of classified documents relating to the dossier. The DOJ has also made McCabe available to the House Judiciary Committee for a closed-door interview on Thursday.

    Nunes is as desperate as Rohrabacher to distance themselves from Russia. Natch!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  55. Chart giving new brackets and how various thinsg change or do not change, although it was under consideration.

    https://www.npr.org/2017/12/15/571258698/chart-how-the-new-version-of-the-republican-tax-bill-would-affect-you

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  56. Well wells Fargo ad 5th 3rd bank, are giving their employees raises, the bill affects those affluent nonprofits like brick and steer helm.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-18/obama-s-alternative-facts-on-the-iran-nuclear-deal?utm_content=buffer40e70&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

    narciso (d1f714)

  57. Tax bill calculator from Maxim Lott, (executive producer for John Stoessel)

    Same one mentioned upthread.

    http://taxplancalculator.com

    This also let’s you see what the original House and Senate bills did.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  58. Sammy:

    You are the Master of minutiae.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  59. LOL — I know why McCabe won’t resign — his FBI pension is not vested.

    FBI pensions for Special Agents vest 100% when they turn 50 — or when they have 25 years service if that happens before the turn 50.

    But if you are under 50, and you don’t have 25 years of service, you get ZIPPO if you quit or retire. There is no partial vesting of FBI pensions.

    McCabe was born in March 1968 — he’s 49.

    He joined the FBI in 1996 — so he has only 21 years of service.

    If he gets fired tomorrow, he gets nothing.

    The IG’s report that is supposed to be out in January will be very interesting.

    If McCabe has enough annual leave built up, he should take three months of annual leave to get him past his birthday, and then retire.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  60. Oh those precious babies, those Syrian babies..

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-celebrates-a-tax-win-but-a-child-healthcare-crisis-looms

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  61. In a short period of time, five staffers have departed The Wall Street Journal editorial page. The general cause of their departures, willing and otherwise, is known: the Journal editorial line has increasingly conformed with the pro-Trump dictates of the rest of the Murdoch media empire. (Most recently, Journal editorials, which once presented Ken Starr as the last hope to preserve the rule of law, have fomented various right-wing conspiracy theories about Robert Mueller and called for his firing.)

    Sam Tanenhaus, deep into his excellent story on the dwindling band of anti-Trump conservative intellectuals, reports more specifically on the circumstances surrounding their departure. As Trump’s chances of winning the nomination grew, the paper buried an editorial highlighting his underworld connections:

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/wall-street-journal-killed-editorial-on-trumps-mob-ties.html

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  62. The WSJ has for decades been a conservative Romper Room. It’s high time these donkeyasses got theirs.
    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/wall-street-journal-killed-editorial-on-trumps-mob-ties.html

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  63. “Sam Tanenhaus’s essay “Conservatism Is Dead” prompted intense discussion and debate when it was published in The New Republic in the first days of Barack Obama’s presidency.”

    Now it is mentioned as an example of how writers… “journalists”… can often get things very, very wrong.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  64. “DOJ and FBI say they have cooperated extensively with Nunes and his team, including the provision of several hundred pages of classified documents relating to the dossier.”

    That is highlarious. Drop the crack pipe.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  65. The Gormers in the tank for Trump should apply for amnesty now. The Dreamers will process applications

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  66. @52

    I don’t see how your post shows that popehat is wrong. His tweet chain is basically saying that, should it reach a jury, it’s extremely unlikely that she would be convicted.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  67. I beg to differ, Col. Let him hit that pipe till his eyeballs pop.

    mg (8cbc69)

  68. I’m reaching peak Ben so feel sorry for your own pathetic peckerheads. You’ll need mercy at some point.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  69. I sure would like to hear a definitive take down of this class warfare Tuxedo Bill.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  70. Yes that WA as pathetic as Dr. Krauthammers and George wills emperors new clothe routine.

    narciso (d1f714)

  71. From Patterico, that is. Be decisive.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  72. At least a handful of us noticed the hole in the ship’s hull before it sank. That’s something, right?

    Right?

    I’m tired of paying for the Chinese navy.

    Because that’s what all this borrowing and spending is doing.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  73. The interest payments alone will shortly allow the Chinese to build as many weaponized artificial islands in the South China Sea as they want.

    I’m having trouble getting used to fact I wasted twenty years of my life for this.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  74. @45.Today’s Fox New comedy classic came from airhead Dana ‘what Cuban Missile Crisis’ Perino who said with a straight face to camera: “It’s illegal to bribe a member of Congress.”

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  75. @75. Seems nobody told McConnell and Ryan 2017 isn’t 1981. Calendars make nice Christmas gifts.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  76. “The Gormers in the tank for Trump should apply for amnesty now. The Dreamers will process applications”

    With “Americans” like Rear Admiral Bunzbeenburning, who needs enemies?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  77. 69 — that’s not what he is saying. He’s saying that her tweet likely was not a crime, i.e., there is no real basis to call for her arrest and prosecution.

    And I’m saying — with a great deal of practical authority behind my point — that he’s wrong on that.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  78. 79… Heh, lefties… always so concerned about debt and the deficit, until they aren’t.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  79. No comments on whether Rosie O’Donnell is going to get frog-marched in cuffs off to a federal prison??

    In case you missed it, Rosie offered $2 million cash to both Jeff Flake and Susan Collins to vote “No” on the tax bill.

    Just so there’s no mistaking her intent, she said if it wasn’t enough, they should DM her to negotiate.

    I think the FBI might want to speak with her.

    It’s obvious to me that she was not serious. And I’m not a fan of hers.

    If you want to say that U.S. Attorneys would prosecute her because they don’t consider obvious evidence of insincerity to be something they take into account in a filing decision, I’d say that speaks poorly of them.

    This is a silly argument that partisans are using to club someone who irritates all of us.

    If any of these Senators had DM’d her, she would have gone screaming to the press, Twitter, and anyone else who would listen. And all intellectually honest people know this.

    Patterico (2e1e5e)

  80. I mean, honestly, how could anyone watch that cult gathering at the White House to celebrate the passage of the godawful tax bill on Wednesday and feel secure handing any of these people a water pistol, let alone deadly pathogens? It was one of the most truly bizarre spectacles in the history of democratic government, which I use in only the loosest sense of the term. The president* blithers and blathers and congratulates himself, all the while lying and being really ignorant. (He still doesn’t understand the Affordable Care Act even as he and his crowd are shredding it.) After he finishes, he calls on the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for a prayer.

    We thank you for the president and for Cabinet members who are courageous, who are willing to face the winds of controversy in order to provide a better future for those who come behind us. We’re thankful for the unity in Congress, that presented an opportunity for our economy to expand, so we can fight the corrosive debt that has been destroying our future.
    (This is an invitation to the Almighty to share in the supply-side fantasies that cutting taxes will increase revenues. God is not mocked. Neither is She that stupid.)

    http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14473203/trump-tax-celebration/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  81. Also, I’m with family. I have very little time to blog and tossed off a post while people were taking showers and birdwatching and such.

    So it’s the wrong time of year to make “how come you didn’t blog about x” comments.

    Patterico (2e1e5e)

  82. O’dinnrl is a figment of someone imagination like vogon bureaucrats, sure shot schemer and norma desmond who have authority ate more significant.

    narciso (d1f714)

  83. And I think Trump’s silence is an indication that MAYBE DOJ is looking at this today.

    Remember, Trump has been fairly criticized for taking to Twitter to make comments about other criminal matters, including the court martial and sentencing of Beau Bergdahl. So the WH Counsel and Sessions are likely to have told him that any public comment he makes about what she did being a crime will make and investigation of what she did more problematic.

    So Rosie should be worried about the fact that he hasn’t said a thing.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  84. Yep, she deserves the benefit of the doubt… she has both oars in the water…

    http://www.newsweek.com/rosie-odonnell-calls-donald-trump-child-rapist-726784

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  85. @81

    Are we reading the same tweets? Here’s what he said:

    But note the statutory language. It’s a crime when you “CORRUPTLY” give or offer to give something to a public official to influence an official act.
    Courts have found that “corruptly” means you must intend actually to influence or induce the public official to do something. Hence the standard jury instructions for the offense.

    So, for Rosie to be guilty, you’d have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the was not joking or trolling but actually intending to influence the senators.

    Weighing heavily against that would be the low credibility of statements on Twitter, Rosie’s general goofy behavior on Twitter, and the extreme unlikeliness that anyone would think that a senator would accept and be influenced by a publicly announced direct bribe.

    A joke/troll/performance art offer doesn’t meet the elements of the crime. No rational jury would think this was anything but a joke/troll. No crime.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  86. 83 — I wasn’t referring to you. Just the lack of any mention in the comments in general.

    And I’m not so sure she wasn’t serious. If I was assigned that case, i would want to see some basis to believe she would not have paid the money if a vote had changed unexpectedly at the last minute.

    When some crackpot makes a similar post, but doesn’t have $20 in the bank, then you can pass is off as bloviating.

    So, if Rosie doesn’t have $2 million, then that would support the view that it was just hyperbole.

    But if she’s got the cash… she can convince the jury she was joking.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  87. I will never worry about what Trump says or doesn’t say

    same smell

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  88. Gawd. More minutiae distractions.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  89. On MSNBC, Nicolle Wallace — communications director for George W. Bush and senior campaign adviser .

    WALLACE: Let me put this to you one more time: are Republicans dead inside? What is wrong with — why don’t Republicans care that a Republican-led Justice Department, a Republican-led FBI, led by men appointed by Donald Trump, is being smeared and the character of the men leading those agencies assassinated by people associated with the Republican Party, not the Democratic Party?

    https://shareblue.com/are-republicans-dead-inside-gop-host-slams-her-own-party-in-disgust/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  90. 82 — my view on investigating her is informed by the manner in which “threats against POTUS” get handled. How many people that make death threats against POTUS — Trump or any of his predecessors — are really serious about carrying them out? Very very few.

    But everyone gets investigated — at least perfunctorily — and many get prosecuted even when its clear then had not actual means or intent.

    Its prophylactic. It has to be discouraged — just as efforts to bribe federal legislators to vote in a particular way have to be discouraged. And investigation/prosecution is the tool that DOJ has.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  91. And for future reference — I try to be careful in making distinctions when I refer to “comments” and “posts”. Posts are what you and your guest posters put up. Comments are what I see from the readers. I try to not use them interchangeably to avoid confusion.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  92. @95

    I don’t want to accuse you of moving goalposts, but I took your argument to be that she would be charged. I wouldn’t be surprised if the FBI “pays her a visit” in the same way that POTUS threats are treated.

    I think that there’s a 0% chance that she’s charged, much less goes to trial.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  93. Expectations are that the number of patchouli oil overdoses will skyrocket in the coming months.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  94. Cthulhu!!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  95. Normal desmond, is trapped in the parcel mareaux puzzle box.

    narciso (d1f714)

  96. @99

    Hello Haiku. I really enjoyed your post @82, because I’m confident that it applies to you as well.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  97. swc,

    I understand taking a zero tolerance approach to threats against the President.

    I don’t see any benefit (and I see a lot of downside) from taking a zero tolerance approach to speech directed at politicians that aren’t threatening.

    DRJ (15874d)

  98. Grammar fail. Isn’t threatening.

    DRJ (15874d)

  99. I don’t see any benefit (and I see a lot of downside) from taking a zero tolerance approach to speech directed at politicians that [isn’t] threatening.

    Indeed.

    Patterico (2e1e5e)

  100. And you would be wrong. But you are still squidtastic!

    Republicans need to pass legislation and continue doing away with regulations that hurt the economy and private property owners. And they need to avoid issues that will be demagogued by Dimocrats and the Dimocrat Operatives With Bylines, aka the Media, in the run-up to the mid-terms. Grow the economy… which they’ve been helping with, work to reduce waste and redundancy in government, along with spending reductions.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  101. What did Madonna offer to any man who voted for Hillary? http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/madonna-withdraws-oral-sex-promise-hillary-voters-article-1.2864602 It should be “reneges” not “withdraws” according to the body of the article, but I shudder to think what people take “renege” to mean these days.

    nk (dbc370)

  102. There was that candidatevfor the five star movement if memory served, who was successful.

    narciso (d1f714)

  103. @105

    Nah, I’m sure you were a deficit hawk while Obama was president, and now you’re fine with a tax cut that’ll blow up the deficit even more. Even worse, if you actually believe that this cut will actually be revenue positive, after what we saw with the Bush tax cuts and more recently with Kansas, then you’re a fool.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  104. This is a more interesting case. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/judge-declares-mistrial-in-case-against-rancher-cliven-bundy-sons-and-militiaman/2017/12/20/49d91c24-e5c8-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html?utm_term=.9a4382cf71fb

    Mistrial because of prosecutorial misconduct and also because the government was losing. Jeopardy had certainly attached, there’s no question about that. Let’s see if the government has the chutzpah to demand a retrial.

    nk (dbc370)

  105. Time will tell, Cthulhu. I’m confident your hopes and wishes will be dashed on the rocks, just like your dreams for a normal, upright life were.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  106. Our host asserts:

    They will never, ever, ever, ever, ever cut spending. Neither side will. They don’t care about it.

    Where does the Budget Control Act of 2011 (aka the Sequester) fit in your categorical statement?

    Our host also says:

    But under the old style of conservatism that is still observed by me and about three of you, this is a bad thing ….

    ….

    At least a handful of us noticed the hole in the ship’s hull before it sank….

    Who are the three, or the handful, that you have in mind? Are any of them public figures or politicians? Or is this another instance of the man without a party being without anyone for whom he can cast a vote?

    Beldar (fa637a)

  107. Yes and what purpose did the sequester really serve Beldam, it cut defense even more heavily than other discretionary spending.

    narciso (d1f714)

  108. That is a sad Christmas story… I hope he at least gets something in his stocking.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  109. @110

    It’s not a matter of hopes and dreams, just an honest observation on the failures of trickle down economics.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  110. Points of legal semantics are interesting but ultimately flaccid cul-de-sacs for the Big Picture.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  111. And before any of you hit teh Amazon link, I think he already has a robe and slippers.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  112. Rear Admiral knows flaccid.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  113. A charging decision would only be made after an investigation.

    But my view is that if the defense offered is “I didn’t mean it”, that a perfectly appropriate charging decision is “Tell that to the jury.”

    How is that different than an offer to buy/sell controlled substances that never comes to fruition?

    Do you decline to charge a conspiracy when one of the participants says “I was only joking about robbing that bank.”

    Whether someone is sincere or not sincere in the proposal to commit a federal defense is a fact question left to a jury to decide.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  114. Nk — federal law provides that if the defense requests a mistrial, and its granted, then double jeopardy does not apply.

    However, the Judge can opt to dismiss the case as a sanction for prosecutorial misconduct.

    Such a decision will come after the defense files a motion for dismissal on that basis.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  115. Bullonious lawyerisms…
    ====//))

    Consider that in 2003, Republicans passed a tax bill whose centerpiece was a cut in rich people’s capital gains and dividend taxes. But in 2010, Democrats folded into the Affordable Care Act a special 3.8 percent Medicare surtax on rich people’s non-payroll income — including dividends and capital gains taxes. And in the winter of 2012-’13 those 2003 tax cuts expired, so 10 years after passing the tax cut, it turned out that taxes on rich people’s investment income were higher than they were at the end of Bill Clinton’s term in office.

    https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/20/16801584/tax-cut-expectations-game

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  116. Number 1 on the Democrats’ priority list for the country is giving amnesty to illegal immigrants, so that they can gain their votes. That way they don’t need good policies, or know how to efficiently govern, or foster economic growth. That’s how they roll.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  117. Legalese is the primary disease.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  118. I think in this case it’s just another big, fat, stupid leftist opening her pie hole to get on the news. Everybody including leftists know they are all idiots so it’s not a crime to be stupid. We are talking about people who believe man can change the climate, people can change their sex and if anyone’s taxes are lowered it’s a “tax break for the rich”. That’s their fall-back line when “raaaacist” won’t fit.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  119. I could just kill shipwreckedcrew.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  120. Import poorly educated, low-skilled workers, that is a Democrat priority. If you disagree and think that is not what our high tech economy needs, they’ll call you a bigot. Because that is how they roll.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  121. shipwreckedcrew, I know that, ordinarily, if the mistrial is on the defendant’s motion, double jeopardy does not apply. However, there have been cases (I can’t say federal cases) where it has been held to apply if the prosecution provoked the motion for mistrial.

    But, yes, that is the motion I would have brought, instead of a motion for mistrial. A motion to dismiss for irremediable prosecutorial misconduct, with prejudice because it was through no fault of the defendant or other exigent circumstances such as juror misconduct.

    nk (dbc370)

  122. Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/20/2017 @ 2:42 pm

    You are the Master of minutiae.

    That’s not minutiae.

    But I really have alotmore on the tax bill. I will get around to it later when I have time.

    1. It turns out that you can, after all prepay property taxes. It’s income taxes that they can’t. And waht else you might be able to prepay or pay early anyway (estimated taxes due Jan 15.)

    2. What important provisions have effective dates other than January 1, 2018.

    3. What the Senate Parliamentarian ruled violated the bdget reconciliation process rules. It included the title of the bill. I don’t know if that means the bill now has no name or they had to use the original House name.

    4. The child tax credit jumps a year.

    5. Some miscellaneous deductions that were removed. (moving expenses, tax preparation)

    6. Withholding may go own but taxes may go up for some people.

    Sammy Finkelman (d7b491)

  123. A new analysis by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families found that if Congress does not act soon to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), an estimated 1.9 million children in separate CHIP programs could lose coverage in January. An additional 1 million children would also be at risk of losing coverage by the end of February.

    https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2017/12/20/new-report-on-chip-funding-delay-shows-2-million-kids-may-lose-coverage-in-january/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  124. Bastards gotta be bastards.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  125. Most of the guilty parties like harf (well she’s too clueless but credentualed) are yelling squiffel

    http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/12/20/eli-lake-obama-reportedly-went-soft-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-save-iran-deal

    narciso (d1f714)

  126. Minutia for procrastination. Why are you in the weeds with the bugs? This is not decisivenin any meaningful sense. You have already gone public about this Tax travesty. Come on dude!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  127. But you’ve got time for Rosie.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  128. As for Rosie-get-on-board, the answer, my friends, lies in the pattern jury instructions for Bribery. Here are the Fifth Circuit’s. (A great circuit; a tremendous circuit; the best circuit.) Page 114 of the pdf. Whether a joke or not, the government will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that what Rosie was trying to buy was an act or omission in violation of the Senators’s lawful duty. That’s the meat of the case. Violation of lawful duty. It differs from the common law definition of bribery, in which the public official demands a mordida to perform his lawful duty.

    nk (dbc370)

  129. *Senators’s*

    nk (dbc370)

  130. Demos is where red squaws daughter works:
    http://www.wyssfoundation.org/grants

    narciso (d1f714)

  131. Now lets compete and contrast, two kangaroo courts against American dissidents vs dropping the principals in a major investigation into drugs and arms smuggling

    narciso (d1f714)

  132. “LAS VEGAS — A federal judge has declared a mistrial in the case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, saying U.S. prosecutors willfully withheld critical and “potentially exculpatory” evidence from the defense.”

    https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2017/12/20/cliven-bundy-nevada-ranch-cattle-grazing-blm-standoff-trial/965402001/

    Sure takes a while for the feds to let enough info out to properly judge a situation.

    harkin (c60926)

  133. It was a land grab worthy of the late powers boothes character in sin city.

    narciso (d1f714)

  134. Beldar, when P said 3 people, I took it as meaning 3 people here. That was probably intended to be an exaggeration but not by much. My guess is you, me and Dustin.

    DRJ (15874d)

  135. So who will be the brave one and say which entitlement to cut, prescription drugs, so ail security, Medicaid (were already curtailing that)

    narciso (d1f714)

  136. I will, narciso. We have to raise the age people qualify for SS. We may also have to means-test.

    I’d prefer to reform health care in competitive ways that help lower costs for everyone, including Medicaid and Medicare, but the past year suggests there are not enough politicians who believe in conservatism or capitalism to make that happen — now. Maybe someday.

    DRJ (15874d)

  137. Hey, I’d like every federal budget to be 5% less than the previous year’s federal budget, excluding payments of principal on the federal debt which I would like to be 5% more. And after that, I’d like a Lamborghini with Scarlett Johansson in the passenger seat.

    nk (dbc370)

  138. No, actually cut, by how much, nk, is more on point, on what’s required.

    narciso (d1f714)

  139. Yeah, everybody has their sacred cows. Would you cut an Army corporal’s base salary of $27,000 (median) which is all discretionary income for him since the Army pays for all his living expenses?

    nk (dbc370)

  140. What is mislabeled as austerity in European circles, more often than not the IMF stabilization plan most recently applied to Greece, is contractionary taxation with government cuts, leeches with fasting.

    narciso (d1f714)

  141. DRJ, raising the age has already been done (under Reagan, I think) and is being phased in now. I was born in March 1959, so I would need to wait until I’m 66 years 10 months old (January’s 2026) to reach “full retirement”. People born in 1960 or layer will need to wait until 67 years old.
    https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/retirechart.html

    kishnevi (c2a547)

  142. I know a little bit of the Greek plan. The austerity mainly hit civil service pensions and those pensions were ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as Illinois’s. But it was not enough.

    nk (dbc370)

  143. I’m talking about delaying actual eligibility, kish. Not just the incentive bonus for waiting.

    DRJ (15874d)

  144. And delaying it even longer because people live longer. The original dates were such that most people died before becoming eligible. Now most people live much longer.

    DRJ (15874d)

  145. The downside is that people will work longer, and that will impact our unemployment rate. But capitalism should provide enough jobs if we let it. They may not be the jobs everyone wants or in the places they want to live, but Americans need to find the willingness to change that they used to ave.

    DRJ (15874d)

  146. In other words, making 65 the new 62 or similar. I see the logic of that but I doubt it will fly with businesses. Companies want to shed older workers, not keep them longer, so they can be replaced with younger workers who won’t get as much in benefits.

    (I will admit that, being one of those recently shed older workers, I may not be impartial.)

    kishnevi (c2a547)

  147. 151

    Do remember that changing locales can be a lot harder for 55yo than it is for a 35 or 45 yo. And harder for a 45yo than a 25 or 35 yo.

    kishnevi (c2a547)

  148. That is a sad Christmas story… I hope he at least gets something in his stocking.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/20/2017 @ 5:13 pm

    We’re all going to have a sad Christmas. We just don’t know it. Yet.

    Also, if I buy a mid-engined four cylinder sports car it will be an MR2.

    Because I’m not a traditionalist.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  149. I am so happy I bought the 2.7L Tacoma. I may just save enough on gas to buy that MR2. Plus with the electronic traction control I can go anywhere. Especially with the black ice spray-on tire chains.

    https://www.amazon.com/Tyre-Grip-Spray-enhance-tire-traction/dp/B00308ZIOM

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  150. Those are all reasonable concerns, kishnevi, but Americans are more rigid than they once were. I don’t think that’s good.

    DRJ (15874d)

  151. Those are all reasonable concerns, kishnevi, but Americans are more rigid than they once were. I don’t think that’s good.
    DRJ (15874d) — 12/20/2017 @ 7:58 pm

    I don’t think that’s correct. But then I haven’t lived long enough to know how flexible Americans used to be.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  152. Exwife sold the 06 Highlander tonight. My own damn damn damn moment. Cant really get riled up about this bill until early 2019.

    urbanleftbehind (9240ed)

  153. I hope I didn’t give any offense, DRJ. None was intended. It’s just that the unofficial motto of the Navy that I was in was Semper Gumbi. Always flexible.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  154. That how new Mexico was decided in 2000, ulb

    narciso (d1f714)

  155. Exwife sold the 06 Highlander tonight. My own damn damn damn moment. Cant really get riled up about this bill until early 2019.
    urbanleftbehind (9240ed) — 12/20/2017 @ 8:07 pm

    A Toyota should be good for half a million miles. It’s why I bought the 2.7L Tacoma. For one, the engine was designed by Toyota’s commercial truck division. For use in the Asian market. If you know anything about urban Asian markets that’s about as much abuse you can heap on an engine. It’s not much for speed but it’s tough. For two, it uses a lot less gas than the v6. I would have gotten the v6 if I did any amount of towing but I don’t.

    I’ll probably have this truck until 2030.

    How many miles were on the highlander?

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  156. There was a tied local race decided by coin flip up near your neck of the woods a few years ago, too, ulb. It’s not uncommon.

    nk (dbc370)

  157. 110k, Steve57. Since 6.24.06, so a solid 11 y, 6 mos.

    urbanleftbehind (847a06)

  158. Decide the election by duel.

    mg (8cbc69)

  159. 231,648 on our ‘01 Highlander. It’s really just our grocery/Home Depot runner at this point. Needs new struts all the way around and that’s about it. Front passenger seat looks almost new and rear bench (all are done in light beige leather) looks brand new.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  160. @23 = Haiku!= Gesundheit! ‘…this past year marks the first year of what looks like Reagan’s 3rd term.’

    Which would be about the time the appearence of Ronnie’s dementia became apparent to the public.

    Strawberries are back on the menu, Captain, sir!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  161. It’s more like the third year of Reagan’s first term. But let’s not forget that Reagan was shot less than three months after taking office.

    nk (dbc370)

  162. I think you are teasing me, Steve57. I would know if I could see your face but I have problems deciding on the internet. In case you are serious (and Semper Gumbi tells me you aren’t), I was thinking about how people used to move to find jobs or if their job requires it. I know my family moved a lot when I was young. It wasn’t fun but we did it, and there were benefits.

    I know people still move for jobs but I don’t think many people accept that it’s part of life/employment. Many people see it as unfair, unjust, and even inhumane to expect them to move for a job. It’s not, and I bet you know that better than I do because you move a lot in the military.

    DRJ (0280d9)

  163. You can stuff those berries, ASPCA.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  164. @168. Not quite- Reagan’s approval rating in his 3rd year was roughly 35%, similar to Trump’s now, but unemployment was nearly at 11%. Yet Ronnie still was capable of communicating with Mommie in complete, coherent sentences then; no covfefe, tweets or Google yet. Two outta three ain’t bad.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  165. “Also, if I buy a mid-engined four cylinder sports car it will be an MR2.”

    MR2 is a very good, reliable car. Acquaintances who have owned both prefer the X, almost to a man. They say it has more “personality”. The MR2 has more power, but isn’t quite as balanced.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  166. Different DC back then, too. Sandra Day O’Connor was confirmed 99-0. Scalia was confirmed 98-0. Scalia, 98-0! Scalia! But the Reagan tax reforms were not until 1986.

    nk (dbc370)

  167. @173. Yes and they managed to ‘work across the aisle’ over the months w/multiple hearings to hammer out an agreement both sides were willing to vote for given te make-up of Congress then. Today that would be nearly impossible. Them days are long gone, along w/the fax machine and the Betamax.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  168. Scalia was confirmed on September 17, 1986, and the 1986 tax bill was signed into law on October 23, 1986.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  169. @175. And now, Sammy, Scalia is dead along with the ’86 tax bill.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  170. That we routinely vote to burden our children with crushing debt is a fundamental weak point in the structure of our republic — and absent a constitutional amendment that the public does not want (for obvious reasons), this structural flaw will be our ruin.

    Our ruin is more likely to come from our unwise immigration policy which will impose much greater long term costs.

    At least a handful of us noticed the hole in the ship’s hull before it sank. That’s something, right?

    That’s not the hole that will sink the ship so it is just a distraction.

    James B. Shearer (951d11)

  171. Maybe I am teasing you, DRJ. But I respect you and from what I can tell on the internet I have a great deal of affection for you. I hope you don’t take my expression of affection in any fashion other than how it is intended. I don’t mean any offense. I hope you have a Very Merry Christmas.

    Semper Gumbi. Aeternum.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  172. Therein lies the mystery we are finally recovering from this melange we aren’t In a war of attrition like Iraq was in 2004-6, it doesn’t make any sense.

    narciso (930f8e)

  173. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uva6tcUC3eo

    From Tehran With Love (iranian people love israeli)

    I so do not want to kill these people.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  174. 118

    Whether someone is sincere or not sincere in the proposal to commit a federal defense is a fact question left to a jury to decide.

    No, prosecutors have a duty not to prosecute someone they believe is factually innocent even if they think they have a shot at getting a conviction.

    James B. Shearer (951d11)

  175. I joined the Navy just after Operation Praying Mantis (sic). Practically my whole adult life has been involved in training to kill Iranians and Koreans. The thing is, I like them both.

    I don’t know what I would have done without the KATUSA kitchens. Actually, I was going to say it beats Army food. But you know what? The Army types do a good job. The Navy chefs work in embassies, whipping up four star cuisine.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  176. Beans, beans, beans!
    The Navy gets the gravy,
    But the Army gets the beans!
    Beans, beans, beans!

    nk (dbc370)

  177. It’s not really a paradox, north Koreans like iranians,are trapped in a paradigm.

    http://amp.dailycaller.com/2017/12/19/house-panel-interviews-mccain-associate-who-handled-the-trump-dossier/

    narciso (930f8e)

  178. Still if the small boats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps gets in my way I will run them down.

    And don’t get me started about the NORKs and the Pueblo.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  179. It would seem custolo and Dorsey haven’t lost enough:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/sfrantzman/status3/943603936954642434

    narciso (930f8e)

  180. This is why were being almost pressganged in the last year of the administration. But how effective is the north Koreans army, you think. They are well equipped but and sizable cpmplement.

    narciso (930f8e)

  181. And a sizable force but are they battle tested inn the same way say the Iraqis were for 8 years.

    narciso (930f8e)

  182. It’s not really a paradox, north Koreans like iranians,are trapped in a paradigm.

    http://amp.dailycaller.com/2017/12/19/house-panel-interviews-mccain-associate-who-handled-the-trump-dossier/

    narciso (930f8e) — 12/20/2017 @ 9:33 pm

    True. True. My opinion of Iran was largely formed by the expats I went to school with and served with. Who couldn’t stand to watch a news broadcast from Iran. “Those b@st@rds” they would say and walk out.

    And, again, don’t get me started on the Koreans. I missed my chance for love in Seoul.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  183. I would like to say the same about the Vietnamese. But she was already married.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  184. You would be surprised how many folks from the gulf and the red sea you find up here, and they seem ok chaps,

    narciso (930f8e)

  185. Where’s ,”Up here?”

    Not looking for an address. Just a state and county. I’m in Texas. As far as America goes just about everything is “up here.”

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  186. And no I wouldn’t be surprised.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  187. Central Florida, it’s not like Oklahoma or Texas but there is a big draw (no not disney world)

    narciso (930f8e)

  188. 149 I’m talking about delaying actual eligibility, kish. Not just the incentive bonus for waiting.

    This doesn’t save any additional money. When the full retirement age goes up the amount you get if you retire early (at or after age 62) goes down so that it doesn’t cost the government any more (on average) than if you waited to full retirement age.

    James Shearer (951d11)

  189. I’ll probably have this truck until 2030.

    Steve57 (0b1dac) — 12/20/2017 @ 8:19 pm

    I’m at about 260k on my 2005 Tundra. I had to start over on “Lifetime” brake pads. You only get two free pairs, actually.

    I’m seriously considering buying a hay spear to discourage tailgating. Hay Spear

    Pinandpuller (0b6e73)

  190. Yeah, everybody has their sacred cows. Would you cut an Army corporal’s base salary of $27,000 (median) which is all discretionary income for him since the Army pays for all his living expenses?
    nk (dbc370) — 12/20/2017 @ 6:39 pm

    Repeal the Third Amendment.

    Pinandpuller (0b6e73)

  191. Two guys with big f*** off beards mow down Christmas shoppers in Australia.

    How did their government vote on the Capital of Israel resolution?

    Pinandpuller (0b6e73)

  192. The only reason Mcabe testified behind closed doors and not under oath is because the republicans are in on this coup.
    Time for some head lopping.

    mg (8cbc69)

  193. Sessions will be the one person deserving blame for allowing the FBI and DOJ to run amok and decrease the trust in Govt.
    Sessions is a dink with treasonous tendencies.

    mg (8cbc69)

  194. James, I’m saying raise the retirement age and the early retirement age to 70 or above. People live a lot longer now than they did when SS started.

    DRJ (15874d)

  195. As Francis W. Porretto at Liberty’s Torch wrote:

    Via Power Line, we learn that German economic forecasters are able to perceive what American Democrats deny:

    German investment in the US is expected to rise by €39 billion because of lower US corporate taxes.
    While Americans are anxiously awaiting full details of the tax bill now being finalized in Congress, German economists are warning that the changes sought by President Donald Trump mean that significant amounts of new investment and jobs will shift from Europe to the United States.

    “The tax competition will have a new dimension,” said Christoph Spengel, chairman of the corporate tax department at the University of Mannheim. Mr. Spengel, who is also a research associate at the Center for European Economic Research, and a group of tax experts at the university have done a detailed comparison of the two countries’ tax systems and published a report under the heading, “Germany loses out in US tax reform.”

    Clemens Fuest, who heads the Ifo economic think tank, also said he believed German business would suffer. “Investments and jobs will migrate to the US,” he said.

    Why yes, they will. The U.S. corporate environment of the Trump Era is appreciably friendlier than it was a year ago. Greatly reduced taxation and regulation will render American enterprises better able to compete with their foreign counterparts. But be not afraid, Germany. It’s not as bad as all that, really: the net increase in American economic activity will make possible increased consumption of goods no matter where they’re made. Atop that, Americans with a little more cash in their wallets might just find it worthwhile to invest in foreign firms. That, of course remains to be seen.

    But of two things we may be quite sure:
    1.There will be accelerated economic growth in these United States;
    2.It’s making the Left absolutely furious.

    (Giggle cackle snort!)

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  196. Yeah, everybody has their sacred cows. Would you cut an Army corporal’s base salary of $27,000 (median) which is all discretionary income for him since the Army pays for all his living expenses?

    Jaysus H..

    Salaries is your bus stop?

    MILSPEC IDIOCY with equipment and supplies from crony contractors never enters the conservative hive mind.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  197. And soldiers pay for nearly everything including 3 bucks per meal for DFAC slop.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  198. If our crispy critters continue to fiddle the Opioid crisis they won’t have to increase SS age eligibility.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/fueled-by-drug-crisis-us-life-expectancy-declines-for-a-second-straight-year/2017/12/20/2e3f8dea-e596-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  199. ABBB – the Karnac the Magnificent (or Jeff Sessions on a side job) solution offered by one of the more frequent commenters on the blog – – “pull the needle out of your arm!” i actually agree with this simple summary.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  200. I think it’s a little more complicated than that, urban.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  201. As for military waste..an example.

    Son #1 was in Marine Intelligence training in SC..with $60k in electronics which had to be replaced every six months because no one would air condition the shed. Just one example.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  202. Well l it, somewhat the rules that the last administration introduced to streamline pain management, (bitter clingers after all) facilitated the sacklers work.

    narciso (d1f714)

  203. 196 your toy truck made it to 240?

    Howz your ball joints?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  204. Raising the age for retirement makes sense, but “means testing”? Fuhgeddaboudit!

    Democrats grow more socialistic every day…

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454801/democrats-republican-tax-bill-theft

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  205. Ryan’s state-of-the-art steam locomotive is coming with plenty of noise.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-21/trump-pushed-by-ryan-to-follow-tax-win-with-u-s-welfare-revamp

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  206. Yes … Democrats have tried to weaken work requirements and any other reasonable requirements so that they can add to the welfare rolls. It’s how they roll.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  207. Here’s where it stands as of Thursday morning.

    House leaders released a plan late Wednesday that would maintain funding for government operations through Jan. 19 and delay cuts to defense and non-defense spending known as sequestration. It includes extra funds for some Pentagon expenses and health programs, as well as $2.85 billion to keep the Children’s Health Insurance Program running through March, with some conditions.[…]
    The last provision of the bill would waive the automatic cuts to some mandatory federal programs, which would kick in because of the deficit impact of the tax overhaul passed this week. That spending cut trigger is known as PAYGO, for pay-as-you-go, and waiving it would make it easier for President Donald Trump to sign the tax legislation passed this week before the start of 2018. […]

    House Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders acted after objections from conservative Republicans to earlier plans by Senate leaders to use the spending bill also for reauthorizing the children’s health insurance and surveillance programs, providing money for the opioid crisis and legislation to stabilize Obamacare insurance markets. There also weren’t enough votes in the Senate for full-year funding for the Pentagon, which conservatives wanted, without lifting caps on domestic funding.

    https://m.dailykos.com/stories/1726529

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  208. KosKids… Yay!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  209. The newspapers today, afterthe bill passes are writing details about the newlegislation, butthere is still much information missing.

    For instance what happens to the increased standard deduction for people who can claim extra personal exemptioons under current law (over age 65 or legallyblind) and the reduced standard deduction for poeople can be climed as a dependent on somebody else’s return (the operative phrase is can be claimed, even if they in fact, aren’t, although that would be very hard to audit. the standard deduction for dependents in 2016 was either, $1,050, or $350 plus earned income, until earned income reaches the regular standard deduction. That might have been left alone, but the extra standard deduction for the first category couldn’t have been left alone.

    Each added box checked on Line 39a added $1,250 (for married individuals) or $1,550 (for unmarried individuals) to the standard deduction. But now I don’t think there’ll be any boxes on Line 39a or Line 6, unless it is maybe relabeled.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  210. Rhodes issued the inflammatory tweet in response to fellow Obama White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer, who joked that he hopes President Donald Trump’s Instagram photo celebrating the passage of the GOP tax reform bill appears on the front page of The New York Times when Trump is indicted. Pfeiffer didn’t specify what Trump would be indicted for.

    Now that’s funny Kernel

    Go buy yourself a little humor.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  211. Seeing as rhodes,is perfectly sympatico with the mullahs and the Castro bros, it makes sense coming from him.

    narciso (930f8e)

  212. Just last week it was so important to vote against that racist, rapist, Christian, child molesting, black hating, white supremacist Roy Moore. Has he been arrested yet? I mean if he did all that sh!t I figure he’d be arrested.

    BTW, has Al Franken resigned yet? I guess we should wait for his announcement that he wants “a full Senate investigation” before he resigns. IOW, screw you.

    So all the neverTrumpers in alliance with their friends the Dems, commies and the sort managed to turn over a Republican seat to a baby killing leftist because Moore dated a chick 40 years ago you all felt was just too young for your Yankee sensitivities. But putting a leftist pro abortion pig in his place is okey-dokey. It remains the Stupid Party.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  213. Don’t try to change the subject hoagie..

    You were celebrating with Charlie Sheen..WINNING!

    That is all…carry on.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  214. Yes Stuart mill confirmed it, and Trollope cast it in fiction,

    narciso (930f8e)

  215. Join your fellow nancyboyz, Rear Admiral. Seems only fitting.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  216. 175. 176. Scalia was confirmed on September 17, 1986, and the 1986 tax bill was signed into law on October 23, 1986.

    And now, Sammy, Scalia is dead along with the ’86 tax bill.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/20/2017 @ 9:12 pm

    That tax bill was dead long ago – at least the low marginal rates. It was gone by 1993. Capital gains went up and went down. Bush passed new tax cuts in 2001, you might remember.

    But some of the “loophole closing” provisions remained, like the elimination of itemized deductions for interest, except for some mortgage interest. (which has now been further limited, and itemized deductions themselves have been rendered valueless for 80% of the people who itemize, starting in 2018.)

    The personal exemptions are now probably gone for good, although they may be replaced with tax credits, which Democrats, as a a rule, will want to make refundable and Republicans will not.

    Another change in the future may be a carbon tax (which Republicans will describe as a good consumption tax) with a rebate for all, or at least all people who claim it, and it may require a Social Security number to do so. The rebate might be adjusted based on a number of factors. If taxes are raised it’ll probably be that one almost first.

    The corporate tax rate could also creep upward and the WTO may have some complaints about he new terrotirial system.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  217. Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 12/21/2017 @ 8:51 am 222.

    BTW, has Al Franken resigned yet?

    Yesterday, he announced he would resign on January 2.

    His successor, the Lt. Gov of Minnesota, had already been decided on, in fact maybe was decided even by the time he first announced it, and now she’s gettingready to move into her new offices, so i was kind of late to back down.

    And Schumer et al must have found Al Franken a job.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  218. Yes, narciso, the Obama administration’s version of foreign policy deserves a thorough investigation. What other displays of “flexibility” are yet to rise to the surface like scum.

    The Awan Bros. debacle and Debbie Poodleman Schultz also deserve to have some disinfectant sunlight. Given the last 8 years of pre-pubescent leadership, it’s a wonder there’s anything left to save.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  219. That would be very stupid sammeh, then we’d have to go all alive from resident evil on them.

    narciso (930f8e)

  220. Doesn’t it, but we’ve been a huge hedgehog for the better part of a year instead, his name is doing norman

    narciso (930f8e)

  221. Spiny, yes I have to resort to python tropes , don’t force me to go Princess bride.

    narciso (930f8e)

  222. Rosei O’Donnell didn’t actually offer to give $2 million (whatever that means) to Senators Susan Collins and Jeff Flake if they wold vote NO.

    She tweeted:

    So how about this. I promise…

    She was saying cash. It is way more than can be contributed it any campaign, which is more like $2 thousand Dollars.

    She said she would give it in cash. In 20’s?

    She indicated apaprently that if any Senator was interested in her offer they should DM her. It can’t be aaid to be an actual offer, or even a serious proposal, even though she say it is. It is prefaced by “How about this.”

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  223. That is,in reference to a carbon tax. Who gives a,farthing about Rosie summon the sentinels, will they complete dark Phoenix before the mailers come for Bryan singer

    narciso (930f8e)

  224. The Mormon Wall on Trump has collapsed thanks to Tuxedo Bill.

    They were holding out for the Shekels.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  225. Mister Presidunce Bring down that Wall

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  226. narciso @229 What would be very stupid? What is go alive mean, and who is resident evil?

    Republicans could favor a carbon tax (the Wall Street Journal editorial board seems to think is its favorite tax) not because it’s going to do anything about climate change, which it won’t, but because it is a broad based consumption tax, which is preferable to an income tax, and doesn’t involve the possibility of owing money you can’t pay.

    A tax like that, of course, should be leveled at the wholesale level, as high a wholesal level as you can get.

    The amount would be modest, at first.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  227. Moroni weeps with joy.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  228. arciso @233. I’m no good at cryptic crossword puzzles.

    What is dark Phoenix? What are the mailers? Who is Bryan Singer? Why would they come for him?

    And I’m not even sure what summon the sentinels means.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  229. Fergit it Sammy. It’s narcisolese from brain slugs.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  230. Yesterday, in the Wall Street Journal Paul Ryan had an op-ed piece which incuded this sentence:

    The bill significantly increases the standard deduction, nearly doubling the amount you can earn completely tax free.

    He seems to have ignored the abolishment of the personal exemption.

    They’re overselling it. Like they do too many other things.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  231. it seems almost too obvious a thing to point out that the Republican Party has handed itself over to this president* as his personal chew-toy.

    http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14478536/republican-party-trump-russia/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  232. A carbon tax affects everything you buy every you do. Alice is the heroine from the resident evil series. The sentinels are the robot enforcers from x men, which Brian singer has helmed despite many accusation of sexual misconduct he also have Kevin spacey his big film break in usual suspects

    narciso (930f8e)

  233. Normally, our crises are from SHUTDOWN!.

    That’s background noise now as we await SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACREE 2.0 and then the INDICTMENTS! What a cluster fock.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  234. Jailers but they are rehiring Glenn ‘hack’ thrush at the times, so this is just a game.

    narciso (930f8e)

  235. And we have Trump and Tea-baggers to thank for the demise of democratic veneers.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  236. DRJ @169. People used to move to cut commuting, even to be within walking distance of their job, evenif it took three or four years to do so. That is so no longer. Hosuing csts also affect that

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  237. Put down the ergot and stop being charlie pierces fan club.

    narciso (930f8e)

  238. See Sammy? Brain sluggery.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  239. 244. Bret Stephens had a column about what’s going on today.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/20/opinion/metoo-damon-too-far.html

    GT will stay in his job, but will no longer be assigned to the White House.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  240. 248. It’s code. We’re supposed to understand it.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  241. I issue a new decoder ring every year

    https://mobile.twitter.com/JoshMeyerDC/status/943606274733826053

    narciso (930f8e)

  242. If Trumpublicans wanted to save SS this would be their strategery. But since they don’t it’s just apathy.
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/12/21/u-s-life-expectancy-drops-second-year-drug-deaths-spike-cdc/970283001/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  243. Ergot is, of course, a drug that causes hallucinations, like LSD, so put down the ergot means stop hallucinating = imagining things. And I suppose I should research who Charlie Pierce is.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Pierce

    Charles Patrick Pierce (born December 28, 1953) is an American sportswriter, political blogger, liberal pundit author, and game show panelist.

    So I suppose that measns we should not agree with something he is saying.

    What it is that narciso said that we shouldn’t agree with, I don’t know. Does he say something about a carbon tax?

    He is not the Charles Sanders Peirce (September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) the American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist.

    narciso is good at condesning things, if you can figure it out.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  244. Rich Galen I think has a decoder ring every two or three days.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  245. He is a jackass sammeh employed at national public radio and Esquire he’s the one who came up with the line about Mary jo kopechne, I guess a similar thing could be said about Lisa klausitis Scarborough secretary

    narciso (930f8e)

  246. All you need to know is narciso, the Contra Sammy.

    Ask him how he murdered those nuns in El Salvador.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  247. Seeing I was in elementary school in Miami that would be unlikely, but I knew people whose parents were in la causa,

    narciso (930f8e)

  248. A likely story, lol.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  249. Ben rhodes is the ed woods of foreign policy, I’m not saying he’s a cross dressing freak but I’m not ruling it out either.

    narciso (930f8e)

  250. Does anyone else find Rear Admiral’s dependence on Esquire amusing? It is to laugh!!!!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  251. Change it up a little maybe a little from Jacobin, they are big nutz as well but their writing flows betterm

    narciso (930f8e)

  252. Conservative tree House?

    Yuge Nitwit?

    Bwaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaa!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  253. We go to Esquire for the pinups not the commentary.

    narciso (930f8e)

  254. The former FBI director hasn’t uttered a single word in public since he was appointed in May to lead the probe into Russian meddling in the U.S. election despite increasingly combative attacks by Republicans and their allies on the FBI, the Justice Department and the integrity of his probe.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-21/mueller-avoids-pitfalls-by-giving-trump-the-silent-treatment

    President Trenchmouth…if he could be teachable.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  255. Lessons from VDH…

    “Fix premodern problems before dreaming about postmodern solutions. Loudly virtue-signaling about addressing misdemeanors does not excuse quietly ignoring felonies.

    Learn how an entire culture is fed, housed, and fueled before faulting those who address such needs.

    Adopt a little humility in admitting that most of the state is an artificial construct of affluent millions living in a delicate ecosystem where nature never intended them to cluster — impossible without constant multibillion-dollar investments in water, agriculture, housing, and transportation.

    Remember that voting progressively in the abstract does not automatically translate into living progressively in the concrete.”

    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454812/california-wildfires-water-troubles-progressive-mismanagement

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  256. @226. Lest ye forget, Sammy: GE paid no corporate taxes a few years ago.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  257. Legal Insurrection?

    Fox?

    Bwaaaaa

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  258. At the end of the day, if germany runs the show did they really lose the war.

    narciso (930f8e)

  259. Breitbart?

    Alex Jones?

    Pence, the Gardener?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  260. Pence, the Gardener

    http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0078841/quotes

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  261. Small countries like small states don’t count to the leviathan

    narciso (930f8e)

  262. Señor Huences, per favor…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  263. 255. You mean Charlie Pierce? What line about Mary Jo Kopechne?

    Is that the thing we should not be his fans? But what does that have to do with anything said in this comment thread? Or was there something else you had in mind @247?

    “Lisa klausitis Scarborough secretary”

    OK, that’s the person that Donald Trump, in a tweet, hinted there was a great mystery about.

    She died unseen at age 28 or so and it was attributed to natural causes, and maybe there is something in her medical history that backed that up. In any case, why should Joe Scarborough, in particular, be blamed?

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  264. I blame automistake plus grade inflation,

    narciso (930f8e)

  265. Davud Brinkley, the original host of ABC’s This week (and earlier one of the two network evening news anchors at NBC) used to complain about Congress constantly tinkering with the tax code.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  266. Rear Admiral subscribes to Esquire and GQ for the man candy political commentary… lol 😂

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  267. She died in his office, the medical examiner was subsequently convicted of fraud, but it isn’t pointed out because he is a barking seal at all the right times.

    narciso (930f8e)

  268. And why did GE pay no tax? What does it mean to say they paid no tax?

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  269. Rear Admiral blows seals on a daily basis…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  270. narciso @275. For what is “automistake” to blame?

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  271. 279… do teh homework, Sammeh!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  272. 278. There should be some contemporary news articles (which may be read with more understanding, given things that were learned later.)

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  273. 282. Well, Admiral Ben brought it up. Shouldn’t he do the homework?

    This is just an incomprehensible talking point. It doesn’t even suggst what, if anything, should be changed about the tax code.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  274. Promoting Sr. Huences, there are other puppets that come to mind.

    Those publications are lurching like the Costa Concordia and they don’t ask why.

    narciso (930f8e)

  275. Because ge can get away with paying no tax, Lately they have no profits either their dividend is carp because they forgot what put them on the map

    narciso (930f8e)

  276. So vanity fair pretend they were unaware of what Weinstein was doing without him they have half their business. So gabe Sherman who didn’t know anything about him but knew enough to hound roger ailes to death, now follows the same path.

    narciso (930f8e)

  277. See the proper thing for Ben Rhodes would have been to apologize for being such a jackalope but this is really how they think

    narciso (930f8e)

  278. So another drone car on a rampage in Melbourne, must be bad diesel.

    narciso (930f8e)

  279. This is just an incomprehensible talking point. It doesn’t even suggst what, if anything, should be changed about the tax code.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1) — 12/21/2017 @ 10:12 am

    Expecting coherent, well thought out comments from Rear Admiral is a fool’s errand.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  280. I just note they found 50 pigeons for Cosby, all the while no one would speak out about Weinstein because he had a,full person of interest thing going with ex? Mossad and sayaret metkal opetatives.

    narciso (930f8e)

  281. Off topic, but noteworthy this December 21st.

    49 years ago this morning, the United States launched Apollo 8. And for the first time in the history of everything, men left the Earth and headed out into ‘deep space’ to the Moon.

    If you weren’t alive at the time it was quite a sight to behold as the first manned Saturn V ‘left town.’ Take at look, at just ‘the way it was’ with CBS News correspondent Walter Cronkite:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddNf8Wuahd4

    It’s hard to describe to people today just how uplifting this triumph was. Apollo 8 was a magnificent Christmas present shared with the world; a gift at the end of 1968- one of the most wretched years in American history. TIME magazine had had planned to name ‘The Dissenter’ for their Man of the Year’ cover– but quickly shelved it and selected the Apollo 8 crew instead. We are fortunate they are still with us today, too. Frank Borman, now 89, Jim Lovell, 89 as well and Bill Anders, a younger 84.

    So an eggnog toast on the 49th to the courageous crew, to NASA and ‘that other America that did things differently.’ Be there or be square for the 50th, fellas.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  282. The dissenters really didn’t amount to much either.

    narciso (d1f714)

  283. I remember it well DCSCA. Within a fortnight I’d be in Vietnam but that day I was proud as could be for America.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  284. As for military waste..an example.

    Son #1 was in Marine Intelligence training in SC..with $60k in electronics which had to be replaced every six months because no one would air condition the shed. Just one example.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/21/2017

    Sounds like a job for Austin Flake. I alluded to this before:

    Deputies from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office were called to the kennel in Gilbert on June 21, where they found 20 dead dogs piled into a shed on the property. The investigators found that the canines had been crammed in a poorly ventilated 9-by-12-foot room for hours on end. The “slumber room” was cooled separately from the rest of the home. The animals died of heat exhaustion and suffocation, the New York Times reported.

    “Owners claim the air conditioning was cut off after a dog chewed through some electrical wiring,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio said in a statement two days later.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  285. 196 your toy truck made it to 240?
    Howz your ball joints?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/21/2017 @ 8:30 am

    Well mine look like the Tootsie Roll Pop after the owl gets frustrated and bites the rest of the way thru. I may need an acetabulum rasa at some point. But thanks for asking.

    My truck is in pretty great shape performance wise. I get the bearings repacked occasionally. Got new struts at one pont. I had the timing belt changed at around 100k when I was stuck for a week in Greenville, TN for a conference. All you need to know about that place is MLK Blvd is five miles outside of town and the only black people I ever saw were the ones we brought with us.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  286. What did Trump do?
    He donated control of certain “critical features” at Mar-a-Lago such as art objects and even vegetation to a nonprofit to assure the town that neither he nor a future owner could change them. But he got something in return.

    http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/trump-mar-lago-tax-deal-veiled-from-irs-review/pYex7aWWSm6Zz4qQRU5twI/

    He’s a grifter..

    He’s a shifter

    He’s an A-1 lister

    Shining like an Orange Julius Sun.

    He’s a Boner w/ hair toner

    A toad-stool stealer and an open-wound squealer he past down his launch to decorate his raunch…words fail.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  287. I ask because my 2005 Ram needed them @185k. Trucks age kinda like we do. Repairs/maint is just more frequent and less satisfying.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  288. Just as likely could be rodents that chewed through; it is actually a thing up here not to cover the wiring box on the side of A.C. units up here so as not to be favored as a warm place by field mice.

    urbanleftbehind (0ab16d)

  289. “DID PRESIDENT OBAMA READ THE ‘STEELE DOSSIER’ IN THE WHITE HOUSE LAST AUGUST?
    A Tablet investigation using public sources to trace the evolution of the now-famous dossier suggests that central elements of the Russiagate scandal emerged not from the British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s top-secret “sources” in the Russian government—which are unlikely to exist separate from Russian government control—but from a series of stories that Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and his wife Mary Jacoby co-wrote for TheWall Street Journal well before Fusion GPS existed, and Donald Trump was simply another loud-mouthed Manhattan real estate millionaire. Understanding the origins of the “Steele dossier” is especially important because of what it tells us about the nature and the workings of what its supporters would hopefully describe as an ongoing campaign to remove the elected president of the United States. Yet the involvement of sitting intelligence officials—and a sitting president—in such a campaign should be a frightening thought even to people who despise Trump and oppose every single one of his policies, especially in an age where the possibilities for such abuses have been multiplied by the power of secret courts, wide-spectrum surveillance, and the centralized creation and control of story-lines that live on social media while being fed from inside protected nodes of the federal bureaucracy.”

    https://pjmedia.com/blog/liveblogevent/thursdays-hot-mic-37/entry-219713/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  290. Sure to get a squee out of ASPCA…

    Rand Paul>>> Obama administration collusion against Trump might be ‘worse than Watergate.’

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/rand-paul-obama-administration-against-trump-might-be-worse-than-watergate/article/2644139

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  291. D-Bagger Sean Penn could not be reached for comment…

    “The young men had already been tortured at an army base when soldiers piled them into two jeeps and transported them to a wooded area just outside the Venezuelan capital.

    Stumbling in the dark, with T-shirts pulled over their faces and hands tied behind their backs, they were steered to an open pit. Soldiers then used machetes to deliver blow after blow to the base of their necks. Most suffered gaping wounds that killed them before they hit the ground.

    Others, bleeding profusely but still alive, crumpled into the shallow grave as their killers piled dirt over their bodies to hide the crime.

    “We think they were alive a good while as they died from asphyxia,” said Zair Mundaray, a veteran prosecutor who led the exhumation and investigation that pieced together how the killings unfolded. “It had to be a terrible thing.”

    For Mr. Mundaray and his team of investigators, the massacre in this area east of Caracas in October 2016 was the most bloodthirsty of killings by security forces in a country riven by unspeakable violence.

    Prosecutors, criminologists and human-rights groups say it was only one of many recurring and escalating lethal attacks carried out by police or soldiers.

    The full scope of the alleged atrocities is beginning to surface publicly now.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/283971/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  292. Kernel:

    I, and many I believe, appreciate your first attempts into the theory of conservative sentience. It’s been awaited by evolutionists for centuries.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  293. But Uncle Rev.Hoagie went to the Denny Crane school of submission:
    https://youtu.be/Cw6jDrshgEw?list=PLMNaPH-oNxOfFUPl7yfQ9Pjam4BgsbXb-

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  294. ’ve had a couple assassination plots,” Bannon told me, “I got it from an intelligence source.” They were trailed by a short, barrel-chested ex-SEAL in a knit beanie cap, by a videographer named Dan Fleuette who co-wrote Bannon’s documentary Clinton Cash, and a redheaded body man, Bannon’s 26-year-old nephew, Sean. In moments we were escorted through a V.I.P. immigration lane and into an elevator that descends to an underground garage, where a motorcade awaited. Bannon climbed into the back seat of a black BMW 7 Series and sped off towards the Peninsula hotel to catch a few hours of sleep. The rest of the staff followed in a pair of minivans.
    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/12/bannon-for-president-trump-kushner-ivanka

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  295. I have fading memories of Walter Mondale in 1984 railing against the Reagan tax cuts and insisting that given a big enough credit card he could artificially perk up the economy too. Hah! I also remember Mondale losing forty-nine states. A wave of blue swept the nation (on NBC anyway) because this was before Bush-Gore 2000 and everything after when Republicans became Forever Red.

    Tom Maguire

    Scion of History..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  296. Tea Party Black Plague of the Neo Medieval Trumpublican Party.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  297. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  298. The only disapproval for Mueller is the 35%.

    56% of Americans think Trump’s public statements on the Russia probe have been mostly or completely false
    47% of Americans approve of Mueller’s handling of the Russia probe vs. 34% who disapprove
    (CNN)More Americans say they approve of how special counsel Robert Mueller is handling the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election than say they disapprove, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS has found, while most Americans say President Donald Trump’s public statements on the probe have not been truthful.

    Nearly half of Americans, 47%, say they approve of Mueller’s handling of the probe into Russia’s involvement in the presidential race and the possibility of collusion with the Trump campaign, which recently struck a plea deal with former national security adviser Michael Flynn. One third of Americans, 34%, say they disapprove. Nearly 1 in 5 people, 19%, are undecided on Mueller’s work so far.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  299. There is no question, coronello they were laundering fsb agitprop into an intelligence document, and using it to secure a,fisa earrant.

    narciso (930f8e)

  300. OK. I admit I quote Pierce a lot. I admire the few who can wield pen like a sabre. Taibbi does some good HST wordcraft as does…er we’ll, it’s gotta be a short list do close to Idiocratic end times.

    ctimology is baked so deeply into the American Right that you might as well try to take the yeast out of a store-bought loaf of rye bread as pry the phantom oppression out of the modern conservative mind. This was illustrated full-on Thursday when Nikki Haley, ambassador to the U.N. and long-lost Piranha sister, told the rest of the world that Uncle Sucker has left the building, pally.

    http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14479968/nikki-haley-un-jerusalem/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  301. Victimology..whine

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  302. And yet these pen-knife wielding mooks are often silent at the strangest times… http://thefederalist.com/2017/02/17/president-obamas-national-security-advisor-deceived-people-media-laughed/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  303. CNN… teh most distrusted name in news…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  304. I an getting more pissed by the day at my Congresscritter Cook. Not only is he dragging my tired bones back into the maelstrom, I have to surrender my beloved anonymity and I’m gonna stomp that SOB one way or another.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  305. Isn’t Pierce that female impersonator before he found a rag that would humor him? Gotta be.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  306. Col Haiku

    Are you familiar with the Nashville Telecaster? I just looked at one in a pawn shop. Guy said this particular model was made in Japan. They want $600 for it. Looks like this but the pickguard is different

    Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  307. This is brilliant tactical politics.

    (a) it takes some of the cuts off the table for discussion in 2018, making it more likely that they retain the House.

    (b) in the event that they lose the House, it allows them to blame the Democrats for the cuts.

    aphrael (3f0569)

  308. Remember when the Obama Paramilitary Forces raided Gibson Guitars?

    Time to revisit an old abuse-of-power scandal from President Obama’s first term: the utterly bizarre raid on Gibson Guitars by a paramilitary unit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nothing about this caper ever smelled right: a raid coming from out of nowhere, without warning, to kick Gibson’s doors down, ostensibly because they violated some vaporous provision of import laws when bringing hardwood into the country. It wasn’t even American law they were supposedly violating, but an American law that said they were in hot water for violating the laws of India and Madagascar, which came as something of a surprise to authorities in India and Madagascar. In a delightful inversion of American legal principle, the folks at Gibson were never allowed to see the sealed warrant that supposedly authorized the raid. Guilty until proven innocent! We’ll get back to you later on what you’re allegedly guilty of.

    Human Events Remembers

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  309. As he explains, the Feds routinely take advantage of the vagueness of many of our laws by starting from the target and working backwards, selectively prosecuting people they want to go after by charging them with crimes they often don’t even know exist.

    Smells Like Russian Collusion

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  310. No, i’m not PandP, but it sounds pretty sweet. My oldest son is pretty good on the guitar – good enough on EVH’s stuff that it’s hard to tell the difference – and he is up on this, I’ll check with him.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  311. Amadou, derived from a Northern French dialect, meaning “amorous”, or “inflames life”. This meaning is exemplified in the mushrooms historical use as tinder. This word also translates to the english word, spunk, meaning courage, bravery or determination, originally meant spark. (Spunk is a combination of spark and funk).

    The name, Fomes fomentarius means, “to use as tinder”. It is extremely flammable, but has a nice slow burn, perfect for long travels through the mountains. Additionally, and a perk for the insect-loved traveler, the smoke produced by the burning of this mushroom works as an excellent insect repellent. In addition to flame and insect deterrent, this mushroom is a powerful hemostat.

    There is documentation of Hippocrates using F. fomentarius as a styptic in the fifth century BC. Also used as a styptic by surgeons, barbers and dentists, giving it the name “agaric of the surgeons”.

    How to Make Amadou Mushroom Felt

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  312. “JORGE RAMOS MAKES HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE 2020 TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Jorge Ramos Says He’s Now Having the ‘Worst Time’ of His Life in U.S. And note this:

    Nearly a year into the Trump presidency, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos says he’s experiencing “the worst moment I’ve had in the 34 years I’ve been living in the United States.”

    “With Donald Trump there, I have never been treated so badly. I have never been insulted so much. We’ve never been attacked so much, nor have they tried to run us out as much as now,” Ramos vented in an interview with the Spanish radio network Cadena SER.

    Ramos, who proclaimed himself “if not an enemy, an opponent” of Trump in the interview, complained about the massive blowback he has received since deciding to use his media platforms to openly oppose the choice of over 62 million American voters in last year’s U.S. presidential election.

    “Now the social media networks are terrible,” Ramos told his Spanish radio interviewer, Javier del Pino. “Before if someone wanted to insult you, they had to do it in person or by sending you an anonymous letter. Now they do it through the social media networks and the daily insults – you can enter my Facebook or Twitter and they are there all the time,” lamented Ramos.

    How dare you peons speak with me – I’m a reporter!

    Flashback: Stelter, Tur clash with Jorge Ramos on being ‘Stand-Ins for Democrats:’

    At a recent National Press Club panel on the current state of the U.S. news media, the fireworks really erupted when Ramos objected to a statement made by Tur, in which she basically exhorted journalists to uphold core journalistic standards.

    KATY TUR, CORRESPONDENT, NBC NEWS: Continue to report on the facts. Be as fair as you possibly can be. Be partial to the truth, and don’t be alarmist when it’s unnecessary.

    JORGE RAMOS, SENIOR NEWS ANCHOR, UNIVISION: May I, uh, disagree?

    After interrupting Tur for apparently advocating a much too orthodox approach to the practice of the profession, Ramos proceeded to urge the attendees at the National Press Club event to favor instead his ‘holy war’ approach to covering Trump.

    JORGE RAMOS, SENIOR NEWS ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Our position, I think, has to be much more aggressive. And we should not expect the Democrats to do that job. It is our job. If we don’t question the president, if we don’t question his lies, if we don’t do it, who is gonna do it? It’s an uncomfortable position…

    BRIAN STELTER, HOST, CNN’S RELIABLE SOURCES: You’re almost saying we’re a stand-in for the Democrats.

    “Almost.” Just think of them as Democrat operatives with bylines (and in Ramos’ case, a daughter who was employed by the Hillary campaign) and it all makes sense.

    Who want to aggressively “question the president…question his lies,” but dive for the fainting couch when their viewers return the favor.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/284013/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  313. Pence, the Gardener, Constant edition.

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/21/politics/pence-makes-surprise-trip-to-afghanistan/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  314. Pence model

    Simple-minded Chance (Peter Sellers), a gardener who has resided in the Washington, D.C., townhouse of his wealthy employer for his entire life and been educated only by television, is forced to vacate his home when his boss dies. While wandering the streets, he encounters business mogul Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas), who assumes Chance to be a fellow upper-class gentleman. Soon Chance is ushered into high society, and his unaffected gardening wisdom makes him the talk of the town.

    They’re not talking. They’re laughing.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  315. Imagine the country governed by Moe Fine who passes the baton to Larry.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  316. With Curley standing in for actual Congressmen..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  317. Nikki Trumps Sour Grapes..

    We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world’s largest contribution to the United Nations. And we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit.”

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  318. A likely story, lol.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/21/2017 @ 9:41 am

    I’m guessing you didn’t see him do that.

    #metoo

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  319. Teh smell of desperation wafting off of teh Rear Admiral is nearly palpable

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  320. I ask because my 2005 Ram needed them @185k. Trucks age kinda like we do. Repairs/maint is just more frequent and less satisfying.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/21/2017 @ 12:09 pm

    Yeah it could also be those CA roads. VDH doesn’t sound like a big fan of them.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  321. You lefties may not be a big fan of toll roads but I drove through OK on their turnpikes like a mad man. Hardly saw a cop in the whole state.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  322. Just as likely could be rodents that chewed through; it is actually a thing up here not to cover the wiring box on the side of A.C. units up here so as not to be favored as a warm place by field mice.

    urbanleftbehind (0ab16d) — 12/21/2017 @ 12:11 pm

    My grandparents lived for many years in Carefree, AZ. They had a water feature made of volcanic rocks and every time I came to visit I’d hit the switch and pack rats would go streaming out like someone screamed,”La Migra!”

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  323. Yeah it could also be those CA roads. VDH doesn’t sound like a big fan of them.

    He’s an off-roader?

    https://www.google.com/search?q=rat+fink+images&oq=rat+fink&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0j5j0.5900j0j4&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=yaZafusGtF7NgM:

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  324. I used to have an 8-ball shifter on the column of my powerglide 55 chebby.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  325. Two-barrel passing gear was awesome…noise.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  326. Col H @301, Lee Smith’s discovery of Simpson’s wife’s (Mary Jacoby) 24 Jun 17 Facebook post that her husband isn’t getting “the lion’s share of the credit for Russiagate” is an interesting development as well as his connecting the dots between Brennan’s couriered eyes-only package to Obama + 3 senior WH aides in August of the Steele reports. That is indeed a fascinating story you linked.

    narcison @311, you’re right but don’t overlook the possibility that Brennan was spying on Trump and others the administration wanted dirt on using section 702’s collection authorities and the unmasking and following them and the tossing tips to the FBI at the same time Fusion/DNC were producing the Steele stuff. It’s all one big abusive mess.

    crazy (d99a88)

  327. 338

    S’funny how all this surveillance stuff suddenly concerns y’all.

    You have my insincere condolences.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  328. Nothing sudden about. You’re too busy mouthing off to pay attention, I guess.

    crazy (d99a88)

  329. After the salon of scranton, the village idiot has reached his apotheosis,

    Bow baltazar garzon as attacked by three masked men, as part of arranges defense team

    narciso (d1f714)

  330. S’funny how all this surveillance stuff suddenly concerns y’all.

    I don’t know who you’re referring to with your “y’all” but if you mean conservatives there is nothing sudden about protecting our Constitutional rights.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  331. So say you now..so say you now.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  332. Rich Galen’s Secret Decoder ring:

    https://www.mullings.com/dr_12-21-17.htm

    •”… Prime Numbers …”: Here’s a supposedly simple discussion of prime numbers.

    •”… Winter Solstice …”: Here is everything you ever wanted to know about the Winter Solstice.

    •”… Bali …”: Here’s the Wikipedia entry for Bali.

    This is the column it helps decode.

    https://www.mullings.com/12-21-17.htm

    This will always get you the latest issue:

    https://www.mullings.com/

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  333. 316. My Congressman just got named ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

    And he sent two emails about it yesterday, the second one asking for money.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  334. Bremnan showing his loyalty to Al quds as he enabled the ‘moderate elements’ of hezbollah, and the ‘mostly secular’ moslem brotherhood

    narciso (d1f714)

  335. Send it to me sammy.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  336. The ghost of Daniel Patrick moynihan haunts turtle bay.

    narciso (d1f714)

  337. The freeways and those toll roads were smooth, at least back in 2013 (I 10, SR 91, SR 57, the 605, and the 5 and some SD freeways) It’s the lower classufication roads and sidewalks that are ass.

    urbanleftbehind (0ab16d)

  338. 201
    James, I’m saying raise the retirement age and the early retirement age to 70 or above. People live a lot longer now than they did when SS started.

    What’s the point to raising the early retirement age if it doesn’t save the government any money?

    James B. Shearer (951d11)

  339. Speaking of beside the point:
    dailycaller.com/2017/12/21/buzzfeeds-trump-dossier-source-gets-closer-to-being-identified

    narciso (d1f714)

  340. No, i’m not PandP, but it sounds pretty sweet. My oldest son is pretty good on the guitar – good enough on EVH’s stuff that it’s hard to tell the difference – and he is up on this, I’ll check with him.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/21/2017 @ 2:44 pm

    I did buy an Ibanez electric/acoustic mandolin. Essentially like the hollowbody electric guitars. Like I don’t have enough to do.

    The Four Seasons Antonio Vivaldi

    Winter

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  341. And he sent two emails about it yesterday, the second one asking for money.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 12/21/2017 @ 4:27 pm

    I hear Rosie O’Donnell is shopping for a good congressman or two. I think you can trade four congressman for one senator like in Monopoly.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  342. I, and many I believe, appreciate your first attempts into the theory of conservative sentience. It’s been awaited by evolutionists for centuries.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/21/2017 @ 1:02 pm

    Hey I found you some great seats for The 1812 Overture. They need an FO in the orchestra pit. Fire for effect.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  343. 286, narciso (930f8e) — 12/21/2017 @ 10:17 am Because ge can get away with paying no tax, Lately they have no profits either their dividend is carp because they forgot what put them on the map Light bulbs? Appliances? Generators?

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  344. 345.

    316. My Congressman just got named ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. 316. My Congressman just got named ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

    And he sent two emails about it yesterday, the second one asking for money.

    347. Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c) — 12/21/2017 @ 4:30 pm

    Send it to me sammy.

    how? By email? I don’t have it. Or post it here?

    Or post it somewhere on the Internet? Where? It is two different emails.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  345. Don’t waste your time with Bun Burn, Sammy. He is a troll, nothing more.

    nk (dbc370)

  346. Havevyou had a case like this in the windy city:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/MaxAbrahms/status/944010429726187525?p=v

    Nate hellee would be ticked

    narciso (d1f714)

  347. ABBB

    If you were seriously going to run for congress run against Maxine Waters. Neither one of you live in that district.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  348. sleazy CIA trash-slut Evan McMullin was deeply invested in the emoluments angles

    sad panda Christmas for Evan 🙁

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  349. ABBB

    I found an engineering job you might be suited for:

    The yellow slime mold Physarum polycephalum grows as a single cell that is big enough to be seen with the naked eye. When it encounters numerous food sources separated in space, the slime mold cell surrounds the food and creates tunnels to distribute the nutrients [Science News]. To test how efficient the mold could be, Toshiyuki Nakagaki’s team duplicated the layout of the area around Tokyo: They placed the slime mold in the position of the city, and dispersed bits of oat around the “map” in the locations of 36 surrounding towns.

    The mold explored slowly at first, but like any good transportation engineer it began to figure out traffic patterns. To continue growing and exploring, the slime mold transforms its Byzantine pattern of thin tendrils into a simpler, more-efficient network of tubes: Those carrying a high volume of nutrients gradually expand, while those that are little used slowly contract and eventually disappear [ScienceNOW Daily News]. When the mold got its system settled, researchers say, it looked rather similar to the actual Tokyo subway system, as you can see in the illustration.

    Brainless Slime Mold

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  350. Abtw entertaunmen t weekly is going all out promoting dark phoenix. Side stepping any questions s about Bryan singer,

    narciso (d1f714)

  351. Don’t waste your time with Bun Burn, Sammy. He is a troll, nothing more.

    nk (dbc370) — 12/21/2017 @ 6:08 pm

    I submitted some of his comments to the FDA and they classified him Schedule 1.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  352. You gonna larf! Netflix has made something called “Bright”, with a black cop, orcs, elves, and fairies in Los Angeles. Like that’s not every “cop in LA” Hollywood production already.

    nk (dbc370)

  353. I do appreciate that moving up from Ben burn to Bun[sen] Burn[er], he is getting closer to accepting his affliction.

    nk (dbc370)

  354. if I can’t get through the second Guardians how can i tackle this Bright thing

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  355. 370 Human Torch Song Trilogy?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  356. dark phoenix is very misunderstood in a lot of ways and Bryan Singer’s a pooper and I heard the Google CEO raped Matt Damon at a party for Harvey Weinstein while Ashley Judd played piano in the next room and sang Ode to Billy Joe while Meryl Streep fed everybody jello shots off her boobs true story

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  357. Not an implausible story, at least more than x men apocalypse.

    narciso (d1f714)

  358. Didn’t they have one, a couple or three decades back, with an alien cop who looked a lot like an orc?

    nk (dbc370)

  359. The continued existence of Netflix is a bigger mystery to me than the continued existence of Las Vegas.

    nk (dbc370)

  360. You didnr answer the question about Greta scacchi.

    Yes there was such show, it was on at odd hours.

    narciso (d1f714)

  361. I watched Warcraft and it wasn’t too bad even though I never played. Travis Fimmel and Ben Foster as well as Paula Patton are usually good in whatever.

    I must say Hell or High Water was a little meh, haven’t we done the evil banker a million times?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  362. I’d go for a 20 year old Scacchi.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  363. this is what you’re thinking of Mr. nk it’s from the same tedious pooper what wrote that book I gave up on recently

    on the plus side he did not rape Matt Damon as far as we know

    at least not yet

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  364. I find it hilarious that “conservatives” think the SALT deduction should go away to punish states that have high local taxes. If you believe, like conservatives used to believe, that government is best when it is local, you would realize this is exactly the WORST policy to propose.

    What this will do is squeeze state and local governments and get them to lobby for federalizing things they currently do locally, or to get federal funds to pay for them (and federal strings as well).

    A true small-government type wants as much government as possible as local as possible, where s/he can see it and have a say in how it is done. Making local taxes subject to double-taxation pushes them federal.

    So when you find that the city is having to apply to DC to fund that stop light near your house, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  365. I do appreciate that moving up from Ben burn to Bun[sen] Burn[er], he is getting closer to accepting his affliction.

    Happily, the bowdlerizing widget takes regular expressions.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  366. As in Ben.bur.*

    Kevin M (752a26)

  367. Greta Scacchi? What is there to ask about her?

    nk (dbc370)

  368. He wee behind everything from incredible hulk to alien nation, yes its amiss.

    narciso (d1f714)

  369. Presumed innocent anyone like her character in the windy city.

    narciso (d1f714)

  370. Not that I can remember offhand. But Scott Turow did serve as an ASA in Chicago for the major part of his legal career.

    nk (dbc370)

  371. Now that thing with framing her husband with the stuff he deposited in her diaphragm … there was something similar. A lady doctor wanted a man doctor’s baby so she saved the stuff he deposited in her mouth and, unbeknownst to him, impregnated herself with it. He sued her, she sued him, big scandal in the courts.

    nk (dbc370)

  372. Netflix… I’ve got a bad cold, so. I don’t feel like doing much of anything… except I just binge-watched all 6 episodes of season 4 of teh Peaky Blinders.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  373. @376

    You might be thinking of Alien Nation

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Nation_(film)
    Alien Nation (TV series)

    Davethulhu (99cc74)

  374. So when you find that the city is having to apply to DC to fund that stop light near your house, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

    Kevin M (752a26) — 12/21/2017 @ 7:43 pm

    They need to pave the road first. Maybe Elon Musk can solve some of those problems with drone traffic lights that go where they are needed during peak hours.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  375. Colonel Haiku

    Turkey Tail Mushroom Benefits: Prevents and Treats the Common Cold and Flu

    The turkey tail mushroom has long been known to stave off any infection, including those associated with the common cold or flu. It helps your immune system become more resilient to ill-causing germs. When flu season approaches, you may want to include turkey tail as a supplement in your dietary routine.

    The turkey tail mushroom has been shown to modulate the immune system, helping fight infections, illness and diseases.

    Turkey Tail Mushroom

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  376. Thanks for the Alien Nation answers, everybody.

    The most effective remedy for a Chicago cold is two aspirin with a glass of orange juice … on an airplane to Florida. I don’t know what advice to give for a California cold. Cabo San Lucas?

    nk (dbc370)

  377. I gave up after season 3

    narciso (d1f714)

  378. You’re going to have to be in shape to beat these men.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZOt13_ic5w

    “The Pahlevani and Zoorkhanei rituals”

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  379. I have the advantage. I already do Indian club exercises. And I can swim like a fish. And I can shake it off if you hit me in the belly with a ten pound sledge.

    Well OK the last part was an exaggeration. I can’t shrug off a Ford Fiesta blowing around in a tornado. But I can take a pretty good hit to the stomach.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  380. R.I.P. Dick Enberg, longtime NBC sportscaster

    Icy (1fc769)

  381. @398. Ditto.

    … Oh my.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  382. They are heavy. But Persian Meels arent as heavy as they look

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  383. Body weight exercises are all you need.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  384. No, I do Indian clubs also.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  385. If you think you are all that, and you go against a guy who has been training with Persian Meels, Good f*&ck$ng luck because you are going to need more luck than the good put into me at the factory.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  386. The good Lord.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  387. You’re going to have to fight some one who has bee walking on his hands for twenty years. I don’t know what else I can do to impress you.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  388. RIP
    Dick Enberg

    mg (8cbc69)

  389. Hezbollah and the no trumpers are in trouble, their man obama is hung up on a drug charge. Rhodes needs a rope swing.

    mg (8cbc69)

  390. Jorge Ramos has to be the most pitiful wetback in America.
    GTFOH, azzhole.

    mg (8cbc69)

  391. OH, and Jorge take the no trumpers with you. thanks.

    mg (8cbc69)

  392. Does Cazador Esteban have any opinions about Turkish Get-ups?

    Pinandpuller (2a67e4)

  393. Fond memories of Enberg calling the UCLA Bruins games backin the Wooden Years… Alcindor, Wilkes, Walton, Wicks, Rowe, Marques Johnson, Kiki VanDeWeghe…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  394. Yes ain’t it a shame, now you have sports announcers that don’t know the game, or much of anything else ftm

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nationaql-security/fbis-top-lawyer-said-to-be-reassigned/2017/12/21/2ac76640-e6b5-11e7-833f-155031558ff4_story.html?utm_term=.362bf96a9569

    narciso (930f8e)

  395. nk has a problem with Ben and the message to conservative downers who lack a sense of humor but have an excess of myopia.

    He coulda been your slime engineer Pin. But the narrow optics inherent in an engineers psych is not limited to slime management. It’s excellent for the stingy, hobbled semi-conscious state so conducive to conservative politics.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  396. He’s also full of fear his worldview is verklempt and covers his eyes and ears a lot. Funny thing is I think he believes he is the Sage of this blog as Beldar, but lacking even his level of acumen.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  397. THIS!

    Tennessee lawmakers to allow guns but prohibit ‘hand-carried signs’ in new building…

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  398. Sammy…

    I hope to create website soon for donations to campaign. Have to get all my political/ fiscal FEC integrity lined up like little Donald Ducks.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  399. Arguing that “the bill sells itself,” Moore said the committee intends to focus its efforts on selling the advantages of the tax bill to average Americans.

    bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

    https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/21/gop-tax-plan-marketing-push-313231

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  400. sleazy fbi sluts lump of coal lump of coal

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  401. Kneepads and lubricants aren’t enough?

    The Post reports that Lewandowski told Trump the Republican National Committee (RNC) was not doing enough to support the president’s agenda and was not raising enough money.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/366141-trump-advisers-express-midterm-concerns-in-tense-meeting-report

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  402. Pence, the Gardener sews his kneepads.

    Here’s the full list:

    “Thank you for seeing, through the course of this year, an agenda that truly is restoring this country.
    “You described it very well, Mr. President.”
    “You’ve restored American credibility on the world stage.”
    “You’ve signed more bills rolling back federal red tape than any president in American history.”
    “You’ve unleashed American energy.”
    “You’ve spurred an optimism in this country that’s setting records.”
    “You promised the American people in that campaign a year ago that you would deliver historic tax cuts, and it would be a ‘middle-class miracle.’ And in just a short period of time, that promise will be fulfilled.”
    “I’m deeply humbled, as your vice president, to be able to be here.”
    “Because of your leadership, Mr. President, and because of the strong support of the leadership in the Congress of the United States, you’re delivering on that middle-class miracle.”
    “You’ve actually got the Congress to do, as you said, what they couldn’t do with [the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska] for 40 years.”
    “You got the Congress to do, with tax cuts for working families and American businesses, what they haven’t been able to do for 31 years.”
    “And you got Congress to do what they couldn’t do for seven years, in repealing the individual mandate in Obamacare.”
    “Mostly, Mr. President, I’ll end where I began and just tell you, I want to thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank you for speaking on behalf of and fighting every day for the forgotten men and women of America.”
    “Because of your determination, because of your leadership, the forgotten men and women of America are forgotten no more. And we are making America great again.”

    https://skydancingblog.com

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  403. Enberg was great on the underated NBC/AFC half of the NFL broadcast package of the 1980s and on Wimbledon.There’s a lot of knowledgeable talent for both play by play and analysis/color. It’s those studio shows that are poison.

    urbanleftbehind (0ab16d)

  404. Right like the verification software that was deactivated so foreign monies from as far as Gaza could come in.

    narciso (930f8e)

  405. WhenAmerican workers start seeing more money in their paychecks next year, they will realize they’ve been subjected to another disinformation campaign by the Dimmies and the Dimmie Operatives with bylines.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  406. After eight years of the twitchy solon, pence earnestness is refreshing

    narciso (930f8e)

  407. You’ve got Trumpublican Tuxedo narrative, kernel

    You’re ready for the Dick and Jane books.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  408. Republican meh says it’s a feature, not bed-bugs.

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/55-ways-donald-trump-structurally-changed-america-in-2017.html

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  409. His effort has a minty aftertaste.

    narciso (930f8e)

  410. There are two kinds of “impeachment insurance” Vice-Presidents. The Biden kind because, say what you want about Obama (really, go ahead, it’s ok), Biden would be way worse; and the Pence kind because he has no vulnerabilities for the opposition to exploit; will carry out his policies without distractions; and build up popular support for himself and his party.

    nk (dbc370)

  411. the Pence kind because he has no vulnerabilities for the opposition to exploit;

    So he is a legend in your mind.

    I thought so..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  412. He is sterile squeaky clean except that vanilla Evangelical look is really the whitewashed grave of Jesus’s cautionary tales.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  413. He’s one of those Jesus bots with bad code and buggy entries.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  414. Jesus is having a birthday soon Mr. Burner tidings of comfort and joy (comfort and joy)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  415. Happy Saturnalia..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  416. Hypocrites make life easier for themselves..harder for unbelievers.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  417. Stumbling blocks

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  418. Dam, son, you are one bitter, bitter person.

    Steve Malynn (296daf)

  419. Am I clingy too?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  420. This should cheer you up comrade.

    https://youtu.be/LpUzD2GNr6Q

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  421. Trump signs tax cut bill

    so this post didn’t age very well huh

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  422. The concern was chimerical. With 25 Democrat Senators up for re-election, 12 seats not safe, and at least 5 tossups, the Democrats were not going to shut down the government no matter what Rosie O’Donnell or Madonna promised them.

    nk (dbc370)

  423. yeah do we see a revision or update or just keep Trump looking ___________ with more negativity?

    Trump has done more good in less than a year than all the POTUSs since Reagan. Seriously, he’s not perfect (in fact, FAR FROM PERFECT) but the guy is lapping the field. Everyone is so scared to do anything in government, hollywood and the media (all of the media, not just the left wing) and yet here we are. And he is doing it will 95% negative news stories against him (essentially a government propaganda machine under the disguise of “free speech” yet with ties to anti-Trump political parties and anti-USA global donors, and a republican party that is fractured & sometimes clueless.

    some people follow thru and others only talk about it and leave it for the next guy to take care of it.

    cheers have a great friday.

    Where Eagles Dare (30c9de)

  424. NK is having trouble diddling his relationship with other Rumpublicans with Trumpian lust but lock-step conservative priorities.

    Patterico doesn’t understand their ilk.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  425. Man with 12 lb sledgehammer enters China Shop: successfully destroys capital and inventory. Leaves business infrastructure in ruins.

    Winning!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  426. That is the story of Obama.

    narciso (d1f714)

  427. In my young and foolish days, I read philosophy. As one side-effect, for the longest time I thought “chimerical” meant what Nietzsche used it as to describe Socrates’s philosophy: Like the creature, a composite of many widely differing parts. I was in my late forties when I learned the colloquial meaning: Imaginary, improbable.

    nk (dbc370)

  428. Once a disgrace, always a disgrace. Mika’s squeeze, I mean.

    Nikki is absolutely right. This was a special resolution to criticize the United States for moving our embassy to Israel. There was no move for the UN to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or in any other way affect the UN position.

    nk (dbc370)

  429. … President May Delay Signing Tax Bill — To Avoid Spending Cuts

    President Trump has just signed the Tax Bill in the White House — December 22, 2017.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  430. Happyfeet says what nk really feels but what no self respecting stone greaser would be allowed to say in public

    urbanleftbehind (0ab16d)

  431. @441. Our Captain is always thinking of others Mr. Feet; said he wanted to gift the TeeVee networks for Christmas.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  432. The tax cut was signed into law today (rRush Limbaugh said in passing – I haven’t double xhecked this)

    So all this about the tax bill not being signed until January 1 or later in order to avoid an awkward vote on spending cuts that would be mandated under pay-as-you-go law turns out to be fake news. Thre was never was any echo of this anywhere else.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  433. thanks for that link Mr. leftbehind

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  434. So Haley is hosting a reception for the countries that support America’s stand. She is a class act.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  435. Rear Admiral Bunzbeenburning. That is all.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  436. Thecreamer gang got away even with the evidence o Keefe provided, have another pouch.

    narciso (d1f714)

  437. Many tight-fisted metaphors for conservatives who are slow to recognize progress outside a ledger sheet, that is.

    Remember how they railed against cfl light bulbs? I know their hate for anything Obama was in there but it was also fear of change.

    Oh, and Freedumb fries too. They hate to be told what to do.

    Mr pig farmer I can get your hogs to market faster and cheaper on this Henry Ford truck than you can with your oxen cart.

    Farmer: meh.gubmint.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  438. 443… all of that is true, WED. Hopefully you haven’t P’d off the host enough to put you on his mean girl list, he reads it and it sinks in.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  439. 449. nk (dbc370) — 12/22/2017 @ 9:18 am

    This was a special resolution to criticize the United States for moving our embassy to Israel. There was no move for the UN to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or in any other way affect the UN position.

    It didn’t preclude anything been done later, and doesn’t affect anybody else’s position. You could more easily criticize a country for recognizing a rebel government somewhere, and that’s never been done by the United Nations General Assembly as far as I know.

    But it does in some ways, recognize at least part of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It recoognizes it as part of Israel. But what’s the problem with that? Everyone says that the starting point for negotiations should be the 1967 borders. And West Jerusalem, the plac where the Knesset sits, and the Prime Minister has a residence, and the U.S. intends to locate its embassy, was included in Israel in 1967.

    The first thing Sadat did, when he got serious about peace was recognize Jerualem as part of Israel, and the capital. When Sadat addressed the Knesset, that’s where he went.

    Nobody supposes that in any possible negotiations, Israel will compltely abandon Jerusalem. Every ordinary person understands that’s within the 1967 borders. Nobody proposes that there be an international regime, except maybe for the Vatican, and the original scheme in 1947 was on;y supposed to be for ten years, after which there was supposed to be a referendum and the Jewish state was expected to win.

    Israel has an interest in East Jerusalem too, especially because of its historical importance, and the holy sites which were not respected under Jordanian rule.

    If West Jerusalem is not included within the 1967 borders, there are some pieces of territory that were not included in the Jewish sate in the original partition plan (which never was law, and you are talking about the 1947 borders. Nw the argument is that Jerualem was supposed to be an independent territory, and by recognizing it as something distinct, and your be-all and end-all is the old borders, you justify better an Israeli interest in the old city. So that’s sort of the basis for not acknowledging the inclusion of West Jerusalem in Israel.

    But there are some other sites that were notwithin the 1967 borders, and not within Jerusalem,the most important of which is the tomb of the patriacrhcs in Hebron that, Israel (or Jews) have an interest in. That’s the reason UNESCO decided to classify this as something that had no Jewish heritage. That’s why theytry to deny any Jewish connection to anything in Jerusalem.

    All of this is not to prevent peace – that’s already done, that’s the status quo – but…

    Make no mistake about it: This is to double lock the road to any final peace agreement and throw the key away.

    And that only helps Iran and other troublemakers.

    What the U.S. deciding (in principle) to move its embassy to Jerusalem does do, is put some pressure on Arab intransigence.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  440. And teh smell of desperation wafts off the Rear Admiral…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  441. Pence Haley February 2021.

    urbanleftbehind (0ab16d)

  442. Haley/Pence

    She wears the pants.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  443. Angie Harmon/John Slattery if one must start casting.

    urbanleftbehind (0ab16d)

  444. Trump has flipped the script. Look for an increase in hysterical behavior from Democrats and teh entrenched Deep State bureacracy.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  445. Kernel thinks this is bad. Wait til he fires Mueller and full coup is foisted on the 65%.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  446. Teh Rear Admiral Squee® combined with his frantic mincing is truly amusing.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  447. I find it hilarious that “conservatives” think the SALT deduction should go away to punish states that have high local taxes. If you believe, like conservatives used to believe, that government is best when it is local, you would realize this is exactly the WORST policy to propose.

    What this will do is squeeze state and local governments and get them to lobby for federalizing things they currently do locally, or to get federal funds to pay for them (and federal strings as well).

    A true small-government type wants as much government as possible as local as possible, where s/he can see it and have a say in how it is done. Making local taxes subject to double-taxation pushes them federal.

    So when you find that the city is having to apply to DC to fund that stop light near your house, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

    Kevin M (752a26) — 12/21/2017 @ 7:43 pm

    You may find it counterintuitive, but to me it’s perfectly logical. People need to feel the pain of their actions. When they keep pushing big government and higher taxes, they need to feel those actions rather than pushing them off on the rest of society.

    It’s the same reason why we feel everyone should pay something in taxes. They must have skin in the game otherwise it’s just stealing.

    If you remove the SALT deductions, people will start deciding how much government they really need. Because they’ll be paying that much more for it. Or at least, that’s the goal.

    NJRob (b00189)

  448. Over 100 spam posts from Burnie boy on this thread alone. Get help.

    NJRob (b00189)

  449. @466. =Haiku! Gesundheit!=

    Ferret Mueller never takes a day off.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  450. some people follow thru and others only talk about it and leave it for the next guy to take care of it.

    It would be better to say that all these good things that got done were done because Trump didn’t interfere, and did what his underlings told him to do.

    It’s when Trump gives something personal attention that things get dicey.

    And also remember that much of it was done by regulation, and what Trump has unregulated can be just as easily reregulated by the next Democratic or GOPe President. It’s only the things which have gotten through Congress that are not so transient–and only that so long as the GOP maintains control of Congress.

    On the negative side, Trump and the Left between them have made some foreign policy issues far more partisan. For instance, the Democrats can be expected to become far more stridently anti-Israel, even more so that Obama’s wink wink nudge nudge hello Iran policy,.

    kishnevi (aaa345)

  451. BTW, the layers and layers of editors and proofreaders at the NYT are at it again.
    http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2017/12/bad-job-new-york-times.html

    (What makes this more laughable is that the blogger who caught it is an ultraleftie.)

    kishnevi (aaa345)

  452. that is a silly argument about SALT Mr. M i abjure your argument merry christmas

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  453. I would think Pence understands AntiChrist is available for rent.

    “This sort of slavish hero worship offends me on a couple of levels. First, it strikes me as patently un-American. We don’t have a king in this country—because we overthrew one. Our aversion to strongmen is so visceral that criticizing a president—any president—almost feels like one’s patriotic duty. In this regard, one wonders if feeding Trump’s authoritarian tendencies satiates these tendencies or encourages them. This deference to authority also feels a bit antiquated. Granted, the position of Potus deserves respect. But the saying goes that one salutes the rank and not the man. This feels like they are saluting the man.”

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/my-theory-on-why-mike-pence-kisses-donald-trumps-uh-ring-so-fulsomely

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  454. Ferret Mueller never takes a day off.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 12/22/2017 @ 10:33 am

    He’s more weasel than ferret…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  455. Pence got scurred when his plane almost got crashed and his limo got smashed.

    urbanleftbehind (0ab16d)

  456. Roger Simon says..

    At first they too thought Trump was an ineffectual blowhard who would shoot himself in the foot, ultimately redounding to their advantage

    Yes. The Left apologizes for their wrongheadedness.

    Woot!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  457. Pantloaded Pjs and conservative tree House eh, kernel?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  458. You’ll go blind if you don’t stop choking it to your favorite porn.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  459. stop saying that

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  460. The signal-to-noise ratio here is pretty poor.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  461. I want to know what Esquire and the cross-dresser Charles Pierce have to say, lol.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  462. “The signal-to-noise ratio here is pretty poor.”

    – Kevin M

    Extremely poor. I would support a permanent ban for crimes against the ethics of discourse.

    Leviticus (c7071a)

  463. It wasn’t fake news.

    http://www.newser.com/story/253201/trump-signs-tax-overhaul-into-law.html

    ” The president said he was going to wait to sign it until after Jan. 1 but changed his mind.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  464. What this will do is squeeze state and local governments and get them to lobby for federalizing things they currently do locally, or to get federal funds to pay for them (and federal strings as well).

    how will it do squeeze on state and local governments?

    at worst they’ll feel some pressure not to exacerbate their already parlous finances by raising spendings that would necessitate tax increases

    but that is not the point

    i love federalism more than chestnuts roasting on an open fire let there be no mistake about that

    but if conservative thinkings on economic fiscal policies involving budgets are to be given a fair shake, they deserve a fair shake

    think about kansas

    socialist trash like meryl streep and jennifer “daddy issues” lawrence like to criticize kansas cause of how Kansas cut taxes and did not see the state economy do more gooder

    well hello

    that was in the context of a corrupt skank-ridden federal government (Sally Yates) with poop-lick obama at the head (plus corrupt FBI sluts and the EPA) what did everything they could to thwart good governance at the local level with regulation and taxation and anti-growth policies in every respect

    And now that we have a magnificent president what hearts america, the socialist trash seek to invert this situation and how?

    as the federal government deregulates and pursues pro-growth policies, trash like Jerry Brown try to thwart these policies… and in large part he tries to do this by off-setting good governance at the federal level with tax increases, regulation, and anti-growth policies at the state level, and remember, one of 8 failmericans wake up and lick Jerry Brown’s toes every morning (poor hygiene)

    therefore it’s wise, just, and good for the R congress to take steps to thwart the blue fascist states’ ability to thwart fiscal prudence at the federal level

    and this is why God sent his only son for to grace that manger so many years ago

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  465. What this will do is squeeze state and local governments and get them to lobby for federalizing things they currently do locally, or to get federal funds to pay for them (and federal strings as well).

    how will it do squeeze on state and local governments?

    at worst they’ll feel some pressure not to exacerbate their already parlous finances by raising spendings that would necessitate tax increases

    but that is not the point

    i love federalism more than chestnuts roasting on an open fire let there be no mistake about that

    but if conservative thinkings on economic fiscal policies involving budgets are to be given a fair shake, they deserve a fair shake

    think about kansas

    socialist trash like meryl streep and jennifer “daddy issues” lawrence like to criticize kansas cause of how Kansas cut taxes and did not see the state economy do more gooder

    well hello

    that was in the context of a corrupt skank-ridden federal government (Sally Yates) with trash like barack obama at the head (plus corrupt FBI sluts and the EPA) what did everything they could to thwart good governance at the local level with regulation and taxation and anti-growth policies in every respect

    And now that we have a magnificent president what hearts america, the socialist trash seek to invert this situation and how?

    as the federal government deregulates and pursues pro-growth policies, trash like Jerry Brown try to thwart these policies… and in large part he tries to do this by off-setting good governance at the federal level with tax increases, regulation, and anti-growth policies at the state level, and remember, one of 8 failmericans wake up and lick Jerry Brown’s toes every morning (poor hygiene)

    therefore it’s wise, just, and good for the R congress to take steps to thwart the blue fascist states’ ability to thwart fiscal prudence at the federal level

    and this is why God sent his only son for to grace that manger so many years ago

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  466. I think one problem here is that not enough people were interested or knew enough about the tax bill.

    But that is surprising.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  467. i still wanna know more about this rumored bit where they tax the endowments of the trashy racist ivy league schools like Harvard and Yale

    is that a for reals thing?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  468. happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/22/2017 @ 12:04 pm

    at worst they’ll feel some pressure not to exacerbate their already parlous finances by raising spendings that would necessitate tax increases

    The increase spending is baked in:

    1. Rising pension costs.

    2. Debt service.

    3. Badly designed Medicaid programs that can’t be redesigned on the fly.

    a) Too many people in nursing homes.

    b) Stupid expeditures like for ambulances or ambulettes to make sure people get to doctor’s appointments. Too many doctor’s appointments! A

    c) Assembly line doctoring in places like dental. Some of it fradulant only because patients get kickbacks.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  469. 489/

    Yes it is for real:

    https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/12/20/endowment-tax-passed/

    Harvard to Pay ‘Unprecedented’ Endowment Tax ..
    UPDATED: December 21 at 11:22 a.m.

    Harvard will likely pay tens of millions annually in added federal taxes after congressional Republicans passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill Wednesday that included a tax on returns from large university endowments.

    University President Drew G. Faust called the new endowment tax “unprecedented” in an emailed statement to The Crimson Wednesday, adding it will constrain the University’s finances and limit its capacity to fund certain programs

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  470. @414

    This is not the conservative you are looking for. And you’re more bitter than clingy. Must be the fabric softener.

    Pinandpuller (d475f7)

  471. Oh the comity

    If only leftist discourse wasn’t so coarse and mean

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  472. I hope you’re not an engineer or worse, Professor of Engineering.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  473. The increase spending is baked in

    yes yes yes

    and the kick the can status quo is no good

    SALT reform helps clarify this

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  474. Things with an effective date other than January 1, 2018.

    1. Repeal of the Obamacare mandate tax. Takes effect with the 2019 tax year, not 2018.

    2. Alimony changes with the payer paying tax on the income and the receiver getting money tax free, instead of the reverse. Effects divorces entered into after January 1, 2019. Not Jan. 1, 2018 as originally proposed.

    3. Restoration of 7.5% threshold for deductions of medical exopsnes on Schedule A. Restored for 2017 and 2018 only. (Obamacare raised it to 10%) I expect this is based on the idea or the hope they’ll reform health insurance by next year.

    4. Mortgage inetesr changes Last I heard took effect with debt incurred after November 2, 2017,. But I don’t know.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  475. 495. What Kevin said would seem to be something tried first. It may change the tax mix in a state. In New York City, it makes congestion pricing more likely.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  476. You don’t exactly need a mixologist to figure out a little Ben goes a long way.

    We’ll call you at Passover, ok?

    Pinandpuller (d475f7)

  477. Without lighting candles?

    Adoring the Shekina Light?

    May YWWH bless you.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  478. YHWH sans vowels.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  479. Drill Baby Drill
    If they won’t cut spending then make me some cash

    mg (8cbc69)

  480. Yes, par for the coarse BB. Good thing you have strong self esteem. There are many kind and gentle conservatives here. I don’t know if you have seen Witness but I’m the cousin from Ohio.

    Pinandpuller (d475f7)

  481. Watching Mueller stroke it in a potted plant is degrading the democrat cabal against Trump.

    mg (8cbc69)

  482. “Everybody has a plan till they get punched in the face.” Mike Tyson

    Pinandpuller (d475f7)

  483. We should troll for oil off the eastern seaboard.

    mg (8cbc69)

  484. You sure it wasn’t Tyson’s wife who said that?

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  485. Will the Mustang Ranch get a raise or a tax cut?

    mg (8cbc69)

  486. 503, and he didnt need a wookie to back him up, although I always have to suppress the urge to do the growl after any non-SW H. Ford line.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  487. That’s a pretty bold signature. Joh n Hancock is jealous.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  488. My fellow Americans, Merry Christmas. You’re welcome.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  489. @416

    I was walking into the Tennessee Lottery building while a guy was walking out. He almost hit me in the face it’s a $50,000 Happy Gilmore check. It was harrowing.

    Pinandpuller (d475f7)

  490. The last time JB came to town as VP the SS ran dogs around my work truck looking for explosives. On the flatbed was 96 33# aluminum forklift cylinders. Mostly full. Forest. Trees.

    Pinandpuller (4eb2c6)

  491. “The signal-to-noise ratio here is pretty poor.”

    – Kevin M

    Extremely poor. I would support a permanent ban for crimes against the ethics of discourse.

    Leviticus

    Capital idea…..reminds me of something that happened recently, can’t really recall, let’s see……ah yes!

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/14/illinois-suspect-va-shooting-raged-against-trump-republicans/102846780/

    Which causes me to worry about our host.

    Lenny (5ea732)

  492. THIS is CNN…

    BLESS THEIR HEARTS: CNN Labels ‘Thomas the Tank Engine,’ ‘Paw Patrol’ as ‘Fascist’ Cartoons.

    “Why kids love ‘fascist’ cartoons like ‘Paw Patrol’ and ‘Thomas,’” wrote parenting writer Elissa Strauss, a regular contributor to CNN.

    Strauss noted that “Thomas the Tank Engine” has been labeled “a ‘premodern corporate-totalitarian dystopia‘ in the New Yorker, imperialist and sinister in Slate, and classist, sexist, and anti-environmentalist in the Guardian.”

    “And yet people—presumably parents—spend $1 billion on ‘Thomas’ merchandise every year,” she marveled.

    “Paw Patrol,” Strauss wrote, is “equally polarizing,” with outlets like BuzzFeed complaining about “instances of gender and social inequality that go unchecked on the show.”

    “Nevertheless, ‘Paw Patrol’ is ubiquitous,” she added. “Branded merchandise featuring Ryder and the gang outsells most other television shows, according to recent data from the Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association.”

    “It’s tempting as a parent—especially those of us who are aghast at contemporary politics—to be disturbed by the notion of our children tuning in for a regular dose of primary-colored authoritarianism,” she wrote.

    Great – the first time anyone at CNN rails against “primary-colored authoritarianism,” and it’s concerning a show about a toy train.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/284108/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  493. @507 Rev Hoagie

    We need to look at the deposition lol.

    Pinandpuller (0c5d54)

  494. Considering the minion of a lefty bomber targeted our host

    narciso (d1f714)

  495. Day ending in y:
    abc7news.com/fbi-man-planned-christmas-terror-attack-for-sfs-pier-39/2812473

    narciso (d1f714)

  496. Mr mg

    I just found some Atlantic salmon at Aldi I’m pretty excited to try. Do they swim in the opposite direction?

    Pinandpuller (13e405)

  497. upside down

    mg (8cbc69)

  498. Unless someone poached that salmon, it was farmed raised. These Danes to a good job. I eat it raw.

    http://salmon-from-the-faroe-islands.com

    mg (8cbc69)

  499. Its a mixed up electoral system, the most popular party citizens gets the lower number of seats,

    narciso (d1f714)

  500. Yeah, but they picked a squishy wiboy for this task who knows how far it would have gotten…how do you think Hodgkinson got up all close and personal?

    urbanleftbehind (0ab16d)

  501. dailycaller.com/2017/12/21/former-govt-officials-warned-about-hezbollah-story-months-ago

    narciso (d1f714)

  502. @521. ‘… I eat it raw.’

    No surprise.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  503. I strongly object to Lenny 514’s comment. I urge someone to moderate his comments from this point forward.

    DRJ (0280d9)

  504. Huh? Why? I am in agreement with Leviticus.

    Lenny (5ea732)

  505. Corker went from having an estimate net worth of zero when he entered the Senate in 2007, to being (as of 2015) the fourth-wealthiest man in the Senate, worth $69 million.

    How do you increase your net worth by 69 million dollars while you’re working full-time as a Senator? That is not an easy story to explain.

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-bob-corker-corrupt-what-a-surprise-w514493

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  506. It gets better, though (or worse, if you’re Corker). That probe is also reportedly focusing on insider trading allegations involving Corker and the millions of dollars he failed to disclose.

    https://www.fitsnews.com/2016/05/25/bob-corker-under-investigation/

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  507. This is why the incapacity gambit seemed nongenuine.

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  508. @510. Less a signature; more a strip chart off a seismograph.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  509. Yes he can be a jackalope, admiral hux by contrast only insults departed friends on other blogs therein lies the difference.

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  510. There was a friend who knew all of Harrison’s lines from the first film

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  511. R.I.P. Bruce McCandless, astronaut.

    Remembered as the Capcom for the Apollo 11 moonwalk and becoming the first human to fly free, untethered, in space in the MMU from the space shuttle.

    “Thank you, Bruce.” – Ad Astra.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  512. He’s actually a general in the film, but he is most the object of ridicule by dameron.

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  513. DCSA
    Salmon tastes fishy when you cook it.

    mg (8cbc69)

  514. Actually not as much as tuna.

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  515. My favorite is raw Nantucket Bay Scallops cured in lime juice, red onion and capers for 15 minutes.
    Unless Oysters are on the table.

    mg (8cbc69)

  516. @539. Swell, mg.

    Family is bringing up some cooked salmon for part of the Christmas Eve feast. Only the cat seemed thrilled. Told them we’d provide the air freshener.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  517. If you remove the SALT deductions, people will start deciding how much government they really need. Because they’ll be paying that much more for it. Or at least, that’s the goal.

    Making income gone to pay SALT taxable yet again will get people to get the state to stop doing so much. That does NOT mean they will want the GOVERNMENT to stop doing it.

    The easy way to have my programs and pay less state tax is to federalize what the state is doing now. We’ve seen this for years, from education to roads to welfare. More of the same. Probably faster as state and local governments find creative ways to fund their pension obligations, which is REALLY IMPORTANT to the people in state and government. Already they are shifting general fund expenditures to new-tax-funded regimes. LA City did this with “the homeless” and will likely spend the money on policing and other indirect “homeless” costs, while moving the former general funds into pension service.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  518. Using the apparatus of government to pay off the people who keep you in power is pretty much the whole point of oligarchy. This explains why Republicans must say one thing to their constituents but actually do something very different in their legislation, and why they must disregard the judgment of economists and budget analysts about what the tax bill actually does and will do. The public justification of the bill has–and indeed, must have–relatively little connection to the point of the bill, which is to please the relatively small class of powerful and wealthy people who keep the Republican Party in power. These people support Republicans because they want something in return; what they want in return is cash on the barrel head. The public would not support a bill designed on these terms; hence Republicans had to rush the bill through with no hearings, and dissemble publicly about the nature and effects of their legislation.

    https://balkin.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-tax-bill-and-constitutional-rot.html?m=1

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (4b3a7c)

  519. Is that why businesses spent 1.2 billions on red queen’s campaign

    narciso (dfd8f2)

  520. @544

    Garbage article

    1. Government isn’t “worried”. The conservative party is latching onto the Trump tax cuts to push it’s own ongoing attempt at tax cuts.
    2. No mention of US “taking jobs”. They’re claiming a 1% hit to GDP will be averted.
    3. It’s also just one person, the Australian equivalent of the Secretary of the Treasury. And his credibility is probably as weak as Mnuchin’s

    Davethulhu (99cc74)

  521. Sr huences was more subtle
    http//dailycaller.com/2017/12/21/obama-echo-chamber-manufactures-media-narrative-ahead-of-investigations-into-hezbollah-scandal/?utm_source=site-shareQa

    narciso (d1f714)

  522. Making income gone to pay SALT taxable yet again will get people to get the state to stop doing so much. That does NOT mean they will want the GOVERNMENT to stop doing it.

    The easy way to have my programs and pay less state tax is to federalize what the state is doing now. We’ve seen this for years, from education to roads to welfare. More of the same. Probably faster as state and local governments find creative ways to fund their pension obligations, which is REALLY IMPORTANT to the people in state and government. Already they are shifting general fund expenditures to new-tax-funded regimes. LA City did this with “the homeless” and will likely spend the money on policing and other indirect “homeless” costs, while moving the former general funds into pension service.

    Kevin M (752a26) — 12/22/2017 @ 6:44 pm

    They try to do that anyway. Look at Detroit, Chicago and California pensions as you mentioned for example.

    I’d also have removed payroll deductions and made people write a lump sum check every April, but that’s wishful thinking.

    NJRob (b00189)

  523. I strongly object to Lenny 514’s comment. I urge someone to moderate his comments from this point forward.

    DRJ (0280d9) — 12/22/2017 @ 3:49 pm

    Huh? Why? I am in agreement with Leviticus.

    Lenny (5ea732) — 12/22/2017 @ 4:26 pm

    You yelled “FIRE!!!!!”, in a crowded theater.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  524. 548… I’d love to read about the success the 0bama administration had in growing the economy, but he was all about managing the decline, this is the new normal, get used to it people. Let’s hear it, Cthulhu.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  525. How’s the Labor Participation Rate looking, Haiku?

    Davethulhu (99cc74)

  526. Corrections to 497.

    2. Alimony changes with the payer paying tax on the income and the receiver getting money tax free, instead of the reverse. Effects divorces entered into after January 1, 2019. Not Jan. 1, 2018 as originally proposed.

    In addition, any divorce decree entered into before January 1, 2019 can be amended to have he giver pay the tax and the recipient get income tax free. I;m not sure why anybody would do that,, except maybe to make the recipient for certain kinds of means tested benefits.

    4. Mortgage interest changes. Last I heard took effect with debt incurred after November 2, 2017. But I don’t know.

    This is effective with housing purchased December 15, 2017.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)

  527. * I’m not sure why anybody would do that, except maybe to make the recipient qualify for certain kinds of means tested benefits. But alimony, or tax free income, is explicitly included in many of them. It may simplify life for the recipient though.

    Sammy Finkelman (83cfe1)

  528. I would say very good

    https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000

    narciso (d1f714)

  529. The 3 things he Senate PArlimentarian rule violated the Byrd rule were:

    1. The name of the bill.

    2. Being able to use 529 plans for home school expenses. (but it is OK for K-12 education. The bill puts acap of $10,000 on tax free withdrawals)

    3. (Some of) “the criteria used to determine whether colleges and universities are subject to an excise tax on their investment income.” (The New York Times article by Thomas Kaplan and Alan Rappeport on page A15 of the Wednesday, December, 20, 2017 was not more specific.)

    It doesn’t even say if say those were ruled on because there was an objection from the Democrats.

    Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a)

  530. I think to prepay real estate taxes, you need to get a bill. I’m not sure,. When it comes to income taxes, someone of course could increase theer;s withholding but there’s not enough time probably to get that taken out of the last last paycheck of the year. Estimated taxes for the fourth quarter can be paid befoee Jan 15.

    Charitable contributions can be increased.

    To tell people not to pay what they owe you would not pass an audit, but no one has a requirement to bill. That depends on whether they are using cash accounting. The tax rate will probably be about 3% less next year, although itaxable income may start lower forpeople who have high itemized deductions. SALT almost doesn’t matter for many people because the standard deduction will be so high, but they won’t have personal exemptions. The child tax credit will be double, but cut off at age 16 instead of 17. Any dependent not eligible for the chidl tax credit will rsult in a $500 tax credit but I still don’t know if the signers of the return get any credit. The personal exemption I think used to be around $650 – very low.

    I remember Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal in 1992 to give an exemption equal to the rent or mortgage payment. He seems to have totally forgotten that. If it was a good idea then, it’s agood idea now and forever or as long as hosuing costs are so variable..

    Sammy Finkelman (c95a5a)


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