Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Perfection


Perfection is not achievible. — Anon.

Happy New Year


Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians

Today’s Poser


How can many politicians put their own self-interest ahead of those of their constitutes, their country ... and even the world they would be leaving for their children and grandchildren?

Preferred Pronouns


It has become a compulsory method of addressing someone these days. You are compelled to use their preferred pronouns when referring to the woke folks ... usually subject, object and possessive pronouns. So, Elizabeth Warren’s preferred pronouns, like when she is being addressed in a group selfie, are she, her, hers.


Some transgenders are oddly asking to be singly referred to as they, them, theirs. Funny though, I haven’t heard anyone insist on being referred to as “it.”


Headlines


Taliban council agrees to a ceasefire in Afghanistan

2019 US box office projected for $11.4 billion haul, second highest of all time

Zuckerberg’s personal wealth rose by $27 billion this year ...

Walter Williams warns Virginia about Gov. Northam’s gun registry plan

Joe Kennedy: Pelosi handling impeachment the right way

Wave of new laws to take effect in 2020: Electric cars, data privacy, pot & more

Biden leaves unclear if he would honor a Senate subpoena ...

Kennedy: If we question Hunter Biden, what about Trump’s children?

5 stabbed at rabbi’s house on Hanukkah, suspect in custody

It’s an election year, but don’t expect new fiscal stimulus, says Goldman

NYC bail reform setting suspects free after string of anti-semetic attacks ..

Suicide bomber slays at least 90 in Somalia attack

Monday, December 30, 2019

Car Spar!


Mall duel! (from “Malcolm in the Middle”)

Normal


It has become increasingly obvious that “normal” is inching much more toward the abnormal. — Anon.

Headlines


Biden reveals deep bench in campaign bundlers

Elon Musk says Boring Company’s Las Vegas will ‘hopefully’ be operational next year

Imus dead ... Shock jock spanned generations

Christian Post: Buttigieg’s ‘bible missing a lot of pages’

Did Democrats take black voters in Michigan for granted in 2016?

70% of American investors wish they’d handled money differently in 2019

Mystery drone sighting continue in Colorado, into Nebraska ... Fleet of 30?

China doubles U.S. soy purchases during phase 1 trade deal talks

Intel probe puts CIA’s Haskell in a bind

Russia claims its new hypersonic weapon is ready for war

2010s = 1984: The decade we finally understood George Orwell ...

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Today’s Poser


Why do all of the Democrat candidates for president eschew any of Trump’s populist messages? Do they hate the Orangeman so much that they would choose loosing dogma over winning pragmatism?


2020 Predictions


- Republicans retake House, expand Senate lead
- Trump re-elected, winning popular vote too
- 10%+ stock market correction in early Spring
- Clapper turns states-evidence in Durham probe
- Durham grand jury indicts 8 from Obama admin.
- Phase 2 China trade deal done in Summer
- GDP growth for year 3%+
- Pelosi never submits Impeachment to Senate
- North Korea doesn’t resume nuke testing
- Democrat ticket: Bloomberg and Yang
- Baltimore wins Super Bowl, Tom Brady retires
- RIP: Jimmy Carter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ted Turner


Yes, I know a lot of these are obvious, but I can’t help myself ...

Headlines


‘We have a huge problem’: European tech regulator despairs over lack of enforcement

Elizabeth Warren’s campaign sounds the alarm as fundraising slows about 30% in fourth quarter

Michael Moore predicts: 4 more years

Report: FBI investigating Jeffery Epstein’s alleged ‘madam’ Ghislaine Maxwell

AOC for President? The buzz has begun

Powerful storm pounds Southern California with rain, snow

Private jet sales soar ...

Russian-made fighter jets crash in Russia and Iran

Reversible decay: Confronting America’s oral health crisis

Top money manager Jack Ablin warns stocks are moving deeper into a danger zone

Wages rising fastest in decade ...

Japan approves naval group for Middle East deployment

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Obvious Truth


Fame is like a STD ... it sort of limits your circle of friends. — Anon.

Headlines


Trump warns Syria , Russia,  and Iran against killing ‘innocent civilians’ in Idtib Provence

New rule would make it possible to track and identify nearly all drones flying in the U.S.

ChinaRussinIran navy drills ... Growing alliance

IG Report shock: Steele funneled claims through John McCain after FBI dropped him as source

Democrats seize on anti-Obamacare ruling to steamroll GOP 2020

Trump stock market  rally is far outpacing past US presidents

Trump already searching for his next Secretary of State

Lisa Murkowski ‘disturbed’ by coordination vow between Senate and White House

Democrat insiders: Bernie could win the nomination

China races to build its own Tesla as economy slows and subsidies dry up

Americans retiring to Vietnam, for cheap healthcare and decent living standard.... Monthly expenses rarely exceed $2,000

Michael Moore: Trump will not debate Democrat candidate

Friday, December 27, 2019

Bloomberg

Found on Mostly Cajun blog

And $61 billion. If Trump’s billionaire businessman model worked in the presidency, won’t Bloomberg be even better?

Today’s Poser


Did classical music invent symphony orchestras or did the advent of symphony orchestras usher in classical music?

Trust


Apple just requested that I update my iPad operating system. I said “yes” because I kinda trust Apple ... to a degree. I’m not sure that I should have. Big tech is getting more and more cavalier in their abuse of their customer’s trust ... Apple included.

Apple presented me with a statement of privacy and protection that was miles long ... which I didn’t and couldn’t read ... so I have again defaulted to Apple not screwing me. Yet when the new OS was installed, it presented me with all kinds of defaults for directing me to its online AppleStore. Bah humbug! I don’t want this. Already I get an increasing number of unsolicited emails offering me AppleStore “deals.” How can I turn this spam off? I’m certain there is a convoluted way to do this ... that I have neither the time or eyesight to transverse.

So I am now a captive of Apple marketers ... and Apple is among the best of the FAANG companies. I’m also sure Google knows far more about me than I even know about myself ... my email contents, my browsing history, my locations, etc. And it might not be long before it knows all about my finances, my medical history, my DNA secrets!

Combine this with advances in artificial intelligence and big data analysis technologies ... and the entire notion of personal privacy will be an obsolete concept. This really will usher in the age of what science fiction has forewarned us of. When we are prisoners of Bug Brother ... when we are controlled like lab mice running through a maze ... to a predetermined destination ... very much like what the Chinese are doing to the Uyghurs  today.

Bottom line — St. James Comey has taught us that we can’t really trust our government ... and now, anybody who is paying attention has learned that we can’t trust big tech either ... even Apple.

If I were much younger, I might be tempted to take to the woods ...

North Pole


T’was a fat old man from the North Pole


Who lost his mojo in a Rasmussen poll.


With his clay pipe he had a smoke.


Because of same, was no longer woke.


Was brutally disparaged by an Internet troll.


Headlines


De Blasio attacks Giuliani over ‘anti-Semitic rant’

Stock markets increased $17 trillion in value in 2019

Bibi rushed off stage over rocket fears

Buttigieg proposes no jail time for possession of any drug

Vladimir Putin: Russia has edge in new weapons

China’s November imports of soybeans rise as tariff-free cargoes arrive

Christmas shock poll: 55% support removal of Trump ...

Afghan who murdered Swede teacher has sentence reduced

Pompeo gets low marks from employees who know him best

The Santa rally in stocks could lead to January selling

US spy planes fly over NKorea ...

‘Done deal’: Donald Trump says he and Xi Jinping to sign trade agreement

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Trump Cameo


Down the hall and to the left ... (Home Alone 2)

Stockings Hung

From Powerline blog

By the chimney with CAIR ...

Cursing the Darkness


“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” — William Watkinson

I have long since tired of angry social justice warriors ranting about our societal sins past and present ... by getting in my face to fix things while they sit on their skinny arses basking in their virtue.


You listening Bernie?


Headlines


Mike Lee is the quiet force to get Trump acquitted

Bloomberg campaign vendor used prison labor to make calls for 2020 presidential bid

$34.4 billion ... Biggest shopping day in history ...

Pollak: Pelosi’s delay, by itself, denies Trump a ‘fair trial’

China, Japan and South Korea meet as North Korea threat looms

Trump jokes that North Korea’s ‘Christmas gift’ may be  a ‘beautiful vase’ not a missile test

Multiple reports of object traveling ‘at 1,000mph’ over Vegas ...

88% of students agree ‘Merry Christmas’ is not offensive

House counsel suggests Trump could be impeached again

IPOs overall beat the market this year despite some ‘mega busts’

Laser-linked satellites could deliver worldwide ‘Internet from space’ ...

Private investigator claims Hunter Biden under criminal probe for Burisma-linked money laundering

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Legislative Fibrillation


A rapid irregular heartbeat is called cardiac fibrillation ... and it often precedes a heart attack or even death. The irregular and frenetic stunts emanating out of the House of Representatives of late, centering around Trump’s impeachment, put this observer in mind of legislative fibrillation.

The Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler tag team seems to be orchestrating a staccato disruption of the norms usually enjoyed on Capitol Hill ... with the clear intent of emasculating our president ... using whatever weird and twisted tactics it takes ... a solemn sinister plot.

This unconstitutional and farcical finagling might well be presaging a heart attack for this Deep State cabal ... hopefully resulting in its figurative demise.

Dichotomy

From Drudge Report

Veiled Muslim women make Santa dolls in a Gaza Strip shop ...

Why?

From daily timewaster blog


Headlines


Schumer demands new documents for impeachment trial

5G may reveal actionable data in everything — from vehicle health to storm drain efficiency

Obama talks up Warren behind closed doors

Activists plan $3 billion city to solve California’s homeless problem

Saudi sentences 5 to death for Jamal Khashoggi’s killing

Millionaires support a wealth tax — as long as they aren’t getting taxed — CNBC survey

McConnell NOT closing door on impeachment trial witnesses ...

Donald Trump approval rating surpasses Barack Obama

Corey Booker would rather defeat Trump at the polls

GM, Ford and others cut thousand of jobs and closed factories to save billions in 2019

Blind mystic predicts Russian meteorite and war for 2020 ...

Boeing CEO resigns amid MAX 737 aircraft problems

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

For Auld Lang Syne


Every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings ...


A Horseshoe

From daily timewaster blog




Where the sun don’t shine ...

Greatest Xmas Gift

Flexible Flyer

To a child in the 1940s ...

Very Interesting

From daily timewaster blog

Black sand dunes on Mars ...

Headlines


Dick Durbin: Senators have ‘gone too far’ in stating impeachment positions

Chip stocks are the top performers of the decade as the industry’s products infiltrate everything

Shock poll: 43% of evangelicals want Trump removed ...

Judicial Watch sues Adam Schiff for phone snooping records

Debbie Dingell says Trump’s remarks [about her husband] were a gut punch

Here’s why investors should shift emphasis to international opportunities

Trump has installed 187 judges to federal benches ... and counting!

President Trump signs defense bill creating Space Force

France’s Macron gives up presidential pension, asks for Christmas truce on strikes

Pete Buttigieg unveils his immigration agenda, pledging ‘path to citizenship’

Biden plays to 98 in Iowa ...

WSJ op-ed: ‘American Democracy depends on “Deep State”’

Monday, December 23, 2019

The Hammer


No, this blog post is not written to refer to Elizabeth Warren’s continual reference to “poor Americans being hammered.” It is meant to reinforce a point I have previously made about the economic competition between the United States and China. President Trump is making slow progress in his attempt to level the playing field in this economic arm-wrestling match between Xi Jinping and himself.

It appears the Phase 1 trade deal is done and now comes Phase 2, the harder one,Trump has one tool for this phase besides tariffs, a huge hammer, he has yet to use in this competition ... and that is to force Chinese companies listed on American stock exchanges to comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAPs) and to undergo annual audits by a reputable accounting firms.

Why our SEC has allowed Chinese companies to slide on these restrictions is beyond me? This has permitted its companies access to American capital that they shouldn’t have had ... and given them an unfair advantage against those American companies who have had to comply. And this capital has also indirectly funded much of China’s worldwide mischief.

At the very least, Trump should make such compliance a requirement for Xi to get a Phase 2 trade deal ... a hammer that finally would make the Chinese economic competition a far fairer match.

Starr Power


Ken Starr has a studied legal view on impeachment. Yes, he is conservative, but he also has gone through the Clinton impeachment and Senate trial process, so he knows a lot of detail about what might and might not happen when Trump’s trial opens in the Se nate. (If it opens.)

So, if you want to know what is to come, watch: Levin Interview. If need be, use the bottom slide to reset it to the beginning.

Mariah Carey

From Powerline blog

Or maybe it was Willie Nelson’s Christmas album?

Headlines


Judge delays Roger Stone’s sentencing until Feb, 20

Trump signs bills to avoid government shutdown, scrap Obamacare taxes and raise tobacco buying age

Millions sickened across America as flu season heats up ...

Franklin Graham: My father Billy Graham ‘voted for Donald Trump’

Pelosi invites Trump to deliver State of the Union on Feb. 4

Trump and Xi sparked a year-end rally that should extend into new year

EXODUS: California population growth slowest since 1900 ...

Sen. Rick Scott: If Pelosi doesn’t send articles, we won’t deal with impeachment

Gabbard lays low after voting ‘present’ on impeachment

Why we don’t have electric planes yet

Massive M-13 bust: 96 members charges in Long Island takedown ...

Harvard Law Professor: Trump not impeached until articles transferred

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Never Mind


I have previously posted that Biden announced for president on Aug. 25th. Mea culpa ... it was April 25th. Another blunder due to my failing eyesight. Never mind.

Obvious Truth


Dementia is the mind shutting down first to soften the realization that the body is soon to follow. — Anon.


Headlines


‘Family Feud’: Trump still grumbling about witness-free impeachment trial

Elizabeth Warren releases $10.7 trillion plan to create 10.6 million green jobs

NOONAN: Crazy won’t beat Trump ...

Iceland’s 30 feet of snow: ‘We’ve never had on this scale’ ...

Democrat legal expert: Trump isn’t impeached until articles go to Senate

Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill passes Commons vote

Boeing Starliner fails key NASA mission as autonomous flight system malfunctions

Apple wants to bypass mobile carriers ... Beam Internet right to your iPhone ...

Federal funding bill gives Democrats $25M for gun violence research

Trump lashes out as Christian magazine calls for his removal

Trump says he had a ‘very good talk with President Xi’ about China trade deal

GDP unrevised at 2.1% ... Record 9,300 stores closed in ‘19 ...

Schumer: Pelosi withholding impeachment articles is a ‘win-win’ for Democrats

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Obama’s Piss Poor Presidency


A commenter asked on Presidential what I meant by Obama’s “piss poor” presidency. I gave it short shrift and it deserves better ... so here is more — the urine that the “chosen one” managed to spread around during his pampered eight years:

- His initial apology tour ... disparaging his country
- Gutting our military
- Significantly deepening the domestic racial divide
- Doubling our notional debt burden by $10 trillion
- Spending $1 trillion on [non] “shovel-ready jobs”
- Cash for clunkers
- Attempting to destroy our coal and oil industries
- Relying on monetary and not fiscal levers for economic recovery
- Tens of billions lost on Solyndra and other crony  “investments”
- The stupid Paris Climate Accord
- Oblivious to huge trade deficits with China, Mexico and the EU
- Frequently disrespecting Israel
- The Benghazi debacle
- Allowing Hillary’s private email server
- Politicizing our intelligence agencies
- Obamacare which is slowly being fixed by Congress and the courts
- The Iranian nuclear deal giving it $150 billion and  $1.6B in hard cash
- Giving lip service to defeating ISIS ... possibly even arming them
- Reneging US commitment to put missiles in Poland
- Colluding with the Muslim Brotherhood and Black Lives Matter
- Unconstitutional DACA executive order
- Pardoning spy Chelsea Manning
- Swapping deserter Bowe Bergdahl for five senior Taliban bad guys
- “Fast and Furious” gun running to Mexico cartels
- IRS discrimination against Tea Party groups
- Spying on political opponents and the media
- Selling 20% of US uranium to the Russians
- Russian reset including allowing them to annex Crimea
- Not arming the Ukraine with anti-tank missiles against Russia
- Not making NATO countries meet their committed military spending
- The very expensive Afghanistan “surge” producing nothing
- Not confronting North Korea’s for its bad behavior

Enough? And I’m sure I forgot quite a few!

Quotable Quote


Regrets are the fervid dreams that rationalize miscues you made while you were awake. — Anon.

Greta and Mom

From Powerline blog

The price of dystopia ...

Presidential


What does being “presidential” mean? It suggests that the person in the White House is an appealing orator, is a conservative dresser, is respectful and empathetic ... and represents America well to the rest of the world. Barack Obama was very presidential but a piss-poor president. Whereas, Donald Trump is hardly presidential but one of the best presidents we’ve had in our lifetimes.

You choose ...

Powerline Pic


You saw this Thelma and Louise idea here first! See: Thelma and Louise.

Would You?

From daily timewaster blog

Cross this bridge?

Headlines


Pelosi downplays threat to withhold impeachment articles from Senate

S&P rises to another record as investors shake off impeachment, hits 3,200

Reporters caught celebrating [impeachment]?

Pope Francis has migrant crucifix installed in Vatican

Democrats stockpile cash for state-by-state redistricting fight

Housing supply hits record low, igniting prices

Schiff claims that Trump made ‘veiled threat’ to him ...

Clyburn: I would delay transmitting articles ‘as long as it takes’

Putin says Trump won’t be removed on ‘trumped-up charges’

Investors bet on a Clinton-like rally with stocks up 7% since impeachment inquiry began

Senate trial in doubt ... McConnell threatens to cancel

Mitch McConnell: Pelosi ‘to afraid’ to send impeachment articles to Senate

Friday, December 20, 2019

Reconciliation


If Trump keeps winning ... on trade, on employment, on the economy, on immigration,  on NATO, on the climate, on Russia, on Hong Kong, on the stock market, on impeachment(?) ... then there will be an even greater divide ... between the never-Trumpers and those of sound mind.

The problem persists: How do we bring these two factions back together? I have a suggestion ... we need to have a month of reconciliation! Maybe it’ll take a year? Anyway, during this period, the progressives will be given a chance to confess their sins to AG Barr ... wire tapping, phony dossiers, cut-outs, pay-for-play foundations, voter fraud, political dirty tricks, set-ups of naive campaigners, perjury, spying on political opponents, destruction of incriminating evidence (like 33,000 emails), soliciting graft, selling 20% of US ‘s uranium to the Ruskies ... maybe some out-of-statute-of-limitations Arkancides.

Then, after all these reconciliation confessions have taken place, the DOJ can drop the hammer on all these reprobates.

Stilton’s Place

From Mostly Cajun blog

Such [what’s the word?]!

Quotable Quote


Analogies are much like robots taking the place of humans. — Anon.

Headlines


New York judge tosses state fraud charges against Manafort

The thing that freaked everyone out about a recession is now moving in the other direction

Dems ordered not to victory dance ...

Nancy Pelosi wears all black on ‘somber day’ of impeachment

Susan Collins will run for re-election in Maine

Uncertainty remains on Wall Street about China-US phase one agreement: ‘More trade truce than deal’

Secret Surveillance court demands answers from FBI for errors, omissions in campaign investigation ...

Schumer admits Trump impeached ‘without the facts coming out’

Pelosi: Unless we impeach Trump, ‘say hello to president-king’

Trump’s economic approval hits highest level in year as Americans remain split on impeachment

French strikers angry about pension reforms, cut power to homes, businesses

Lisa Page on Maddow show: ‘This is not how public servants should be treated’