The Dow is down 600 points (2.4%) after Trump hereby declares that we need to get out of China.
I realize it’s stupid to look at the Dow as anything but a rectal temp of people betting at the track, but goddam Trump is a genius at sticking his dick in every light socket in the building.
Open thread.
TenguPhule
TenguPhule
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
Tangentially related, downstairs there was talk about the TPP still existing in a much better form with the 11 remaining nations. Would it be possible or desirable for the US under new, saner management to join, considering it was meant to hem in China in the first place?
MattF
It’s how he connects with the Zeitgeist.
TenguPhule
rikyrah
NEW: The office of an African-American employee of the U.S. Department of Education was vandalized earlier this week. African art figurines were found beheaded, with their limbs removed, and a school desegregation poster was damaged. https://t.co/gstMZhupjI
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) August 23, 2019
JPL
Good news, he’s leaving the country for a few days.
Bad news, oh shit he’s going to the G7
Brachiator
I said it before, and say it again.
At this point it is clear that a panicky Trump deals with the economy the same way he tried to bail out his failing hotels and casinos. He gets caught in a jam, and then desperately tries a series of futile tricks to save his ass, before giving up and declaring bankruptcy.
But this time he is doing this shit to America.
His tax cuts are giveaways to the rich that are busting the deficit. Perversely, his trade wars and tariffs hurt business and dilute the value of these same corporate and business tax cuts. And Trump reacted to the folly of his own trade wars by coming up with a $12 billion corporate welfare scheme to bail out farmers, many of whom are complaining to the USDA that they are not getting enough free government money. Oh, and committing massive welfare fraud by taking more money than they should.
At the same time, the tariffs are de facto tax increases on individuals, reducing their ability to pay for goods and services, and eliminating the value of their tax cuts.
On top of all this, Trump is blaming the Fed for his own mistakes and contemplating even more budget busting tax cuts to soften the impact of his earlier bad decisions.
Don’t worry about the prospect of future recessions; worry about the economic mess that the Orange Fraudster is creating every day he continues in office.
Litlebritdifrnt
Lots of replies to his tweet were MAGATs imploring him to do something because their 401Ks were tanking “Mr. President I support you but my retirement is trashed right now, please tell me you are going to fix this” Yeah right, like he cares.
Sloane Ranger
This may already have been mentioned but just watching The Lead (without Jake Tapper) who reported that RBG has been treated for Pancreatic cancer. Apparently she’s OK but not good news.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
I knew all those how to cook wild game and forage wild plant books were going to come in handy one day.
I just didn’t think it would be this soon.
Baud
@Litlebritdifrnt:
He can call them Patriotic Tax Deferers. That should appears them.
BroD
Sorry, guys–my bad. I pulled a little cash cash out of the market this morning just to be sure I could help some Dems next year. I had no idea I’d break it.
Elizabelle
@Sloane Ranger: I am furious with RBG for not retiring earlier. She has exposed us to an unacceptable level of risk.
I wish her well, but what a horrifying lesson.
TenguPhule
@Litlebritdifrnt: Let me predict Trump’s response.
Trump: “And then, this guy, tears in his eyes, tells me “Sir, Only you were chosen to lead us and we’re willing to sacrifice our 401Ks for you to do what you have to do.”
Tom Levenson
That’s a combination of visuals that I won’t soon be able to forget.
And yeah — I’m glad I’ve still got some years to go before retirement, because I think we’re in for some seriously stormy weather for the next couple.
trollhattan
Banner in Portland’s Providence Park north stands last Saturday, in honor of the slapdick Nazis and their little street festival of dim lights.
Steve in the ATL
I’m watching a sight so confusing that it’s hurting my brain: people are getting off a flight at the Canton/Akron airport on Friday afternoon—meaning this is their final destination—and many of them are smiling.
WTF?
Baud
@Baud:
Appears = appease.
mapaghimagsik
Whee!
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Well you know he’s never said or done anything wrong in his entire life. It’s just that the world is so against him for being the smartest and sharpest. Don’t have to believe me, just ask him.
You are right of course, he literally knows one trick and has put himself in a position where that trick is unusable. MMX is right, mr dick in light sockets has pretty much run out of dick and sockets. Somehow I fail to feel in the least bit sorry for him.
dmsilev
I wonder whether any of our genius giants of commerce are starting to think that maybe those tax cuts weren’t quite worth having a septuagenarian toddler trashing the global economy.
Probably not.
patrick II
I have been reading that an important Cause of Trump’s recent Twriter and interview craziness, especially attacking the incompetent FED chairman, is that talk of an upcoming economic downturn has spooked him about his chances for re-election. So he ups the temperature on the China trade was. As stupid as Trump is, the cause and effect here should be obvious even to him. In the end I think he only has so many moves and he just plays them over and over again hoping for different results.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Steve in the ATL:
They obviously live there. And have Stockholm Syndrome ; )
Brachiator
@Steve in the ATL:
So, these people are… Cantonese?
Jay
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: i
Were the US a sane nation on issues of trade, workers rights, IP and sectors, yes to TPPII,
But the US has not been a sane nation on those issues since the early 90’s, too many Corporations and Billionaires in charge.
The US won’t join TPPII with out getting what they demanded in TPP, and the whole reason TPP dragged on is that the Nations that signed on to TPPII, would not cave on the US’s demands.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@patrick II:
Also known as a common definition for insanity. 25th amendment time please. This is literally what it’s for. Also, I heard that Powell wasn’t so bad and was much like Yellen. That basically, Trump’s idiotic trade wars and the GOP Congress have tied the Fed’s hands to use better tools
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL:
Perhaps they came from Bumfuck Idaho.
RepubAnon
@Brachiator: Agreed. Trump’s running the US like he ran his businesses: into the ground. He’s now in the “yelling at the banks for more loans” stage, and starting the scapegoating phase (I would have succeeded, too, except for Obama!)
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
One Notmax is enough, thank you.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
Instead he’s peeing on an exposed power line.
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
Yep. Trump is stupid, inflexible, incapable of admitting a mistake, and incapable of listening to good advice.
But he was able to sucker people into believing that he was a master business man who would run the country like one of his “successful” enterprises.
And now we can only watch as this shit show collapses.
Ocotillo
I keep wondering what it is going to take for his followers to have that “road to Damascus” moment, at least the 13 to 15% above the infamous 27% who are batshit insane and will never see the light, to actually wake up.
My guess is when the opinion leaders, RW radio, Breitbart, and Fox start to say he is not conservative or not conservative enough is when the fever breaks. As we all know conservatism cannot fail, it can only be failed.
All that does though is rid us of Trump. We are still stuck with nearly half the country who would rather gouge their own eyes out than see a Democrat as legitimate.
Jay
@Steve in the ATL:
They are smiling because they are off the aircraft, don’t have to deal with TSA, just baggage claim, so the worst parts of the atrocity of air travel are over.
YVR traffic was a sheer pleasure, compared to flying, even in business class.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
C’mon guys, let’s not overreact. He only tanked the market, it’s not like he wore a tan suit or put mustard on his cheeseburger.
Get a grip.
Ruckus
@Tom Levenson:
You are making me feel so gosh darn relieved that I planned to retire at 70, which has come and is receding about as fast as my hairline, have decided that I’ve got another 18 months of work in me and then it’s off to the couch. Now that couch may be sitting by the side of the road rather than inside but still I’d bet I can find a couch. Also it’s so much fun going through republican recessions one after another which get worse and worse because they never ever learn anything and seeing the assholes who made them possible ask for more on a regular basis. I’m wondering if the basic tenet of republicanism is that one must be incapable of learning or admitting mistakes, that it’s always, always someone else’s fault that bad things happen when they are being irresponsibly fucking stupid. They are always the kid that blames the cat for everything, without realizing they don’t have a cat.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
Blasphemy. You can have never have enough NotMaxs. BTW, I thought NotMax lived in Hawaii like you. Unless NotMax is originally from Canton?
Raven
@Ruckus: Fuck that, I’m outa here.
MattF
@patrick II: Yeah— Trump has a limited behavioral repertoire. It’s been true for a while.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
Ah, you’ve read their handbook.
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Same state, different islands.
I live on the overcrowded one. He lives on the one with the only Krispy Kreme store within a couple thousand miles.
MisterForkbeard
@Steve in the ATL: There was probably an in-flight wine service.
MattF
@Ruckus: In fact, the concept of a ‘mistake’ is just inconceivable.
Jay
Harbison
Remember a few weeks ago when RBG was saying she wanted to serve 10 more years on the bench? Ever wonder what prompted that?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/dc/ruth-bader-ginsburg-cancer-treatments
Just like 1/2 way through Obama’s 2nd term (when she should have retired) and her PR apparatchiks started pushing the story about her “working out with a Navy SEAL”
She is going to leave a FANTASTIC legacy!!!
NOT AT ALL SELFISH
trollhattan
Meanwhile, sane nations (plus Boris) are facing down Brazil’s very own Trump.
WH: crickets.
Cheryl Rofer
I came over here to post Donnie’s latest tweet tantrum, but I see that mistermix has beaten me to the general sentiment. I can’t improve on his last sentence.
This is seriously bad – the tweetstorm that will bring down the economy. I don’t like to link to his tweets.
Jay
Ksmiami
@patrick II: I’m ok with taking a haircut to get him out
debit
@Elizabelle: I think we’ve (the blog collective) had this conversation before and hashed it out. She was in good health in the first part of Obama’s first term. Then the GOP went crazy and broke every single rule and decided comity was for losers. It’s really hurtful to see our own side attacking her with hindsight when none of us could have known.
Cheryl Rofer
TS (the original)
I cannot remember in my lifetime (& I’m old) the financial markets being so volatile on a daily/weekly basis. The major cause appears to be trump’s financial policies – or as it should be said trump’s tweets. He obviously enjoys life when instability is ruining the lives of many other people. He uses it as a tool to force his requirements on other nations. He likes that world leaders prefer not to upset him & thus agree with his stupidity. No wonder he failed at business and in his personal life and relationships. He is creating antagonism and hate where it should not exist.
I have become the angriest of people over the past 2 years & know not whether it is the world becoming more angry or me approaching senility.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
The hypocrisy is stunning.
Doubling down on raising the import taxes, well so long and thanks for all the fish!
MattF
@Cheryl Rofer: Figuring out just how many lies are in that quote is left as an exercise for the reader.
TenguPhule
@TS (the original):
Its not you.
Brachiator
@debit:
Well said. Thanks for this.
Nora
@Elizabelle: So Mitch McConnell could have given Trump THREE Supreme Court Justices as a present?
I get nervous when I hear of RBG’s health, too, and I know she’s not a spring chicken, but she’s also a powerful justice who sees and writes clearly and I selfishly want her to stay on the court as long as she possibly can.
After all, if Rehnquist could stay on the bench even after he was visibly deteriorating, who are we to tall RBG she should leave before she’s ready?
TenguPhule
@MattF: All of em, Katie! /obligatory
Mandalay
@Elizabelle:
Of all the possible targets for outrage, you direct yours towards RBG?
FFS, get a grip.
hells littlest angel
This will create millions of American jobs! You’ll be praising Trump The Chosen One next year when you’ve got a sweet minimum-wage job making formaldehyde-tainted dog food or cheap toys contaminated with heavy metals.
Ruckus
@Raven:
I would be as well if it wasn’t for the last fucking republican recession. I lost everyfucking thing. If I hadn’t been eligible for SS……. I was down to $200 and no place to live other than my friend was putting me up. I’ve recovered but only by working and I’d like to have a bit saved up for my rainy day fund. But noooooooo…. we have another republican fucking recession on order. At least this time a lot of the farming people who voted for this fucking clown will also take it up the ass. That is the only 10 watt bulb I can see shinning this time because people who never, ever ask for this kind of punishment, nor deserve it, are always getting it good and hard.
It may be that I just hate fucking republicans too much for being too – republican. I don’t like that I do but they deserve all the hate, not because they are stupid, venial assholes with out any redeeming social qualities, but because they have to include everyone else in their bullshit.
trnc
@Brachiator:
I don’t know how hard he tried to prevent the bankruptcies. I think they were part of the money laundering scheme.
bluehill
@Cheryl Rofer: “BILLION DOLLARS” – he must have been watching Austin Powers.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
Although it certainly makes it easier.
trollhattan
@Jay:
Having thankfully forgotten all about Kim Davis I’m at least grateful that her “resurrection” is in order to be slapped with a bigass fine. Money’s the only thing they understand.
TenguPhule
I’m tempted to go long on Long Pork futures.
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
On too of the idiocy, on top of the insanity, he is admitting that he is raising taxes on people.
It’s nuts. He thinks this is all a game. Thing is, he’s playing with other people’s money, so he doesn’t have to worry about crapping out.
Ruckus
@Ksmiami:
I’m not. See my rant at #61
I’ve got nothing left to cut.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
At some point even the Secret Service is going to realize they’re not being paid enough for this shit.
TenguPhule
From the Guardian live political blog.
bluehill
@TenguPhule: As someone else pointed out, at least Trump admits it’s a tax. If this stands (i.e. his “advisors” don’t find a way to back track on Monday) companies are really going to rein in spending because they have been taking small steps up to this point. Should be an interesting market open on Monday. Wilbur will have a chance to sell his puts.
Ruckus
@TS (the original):
Don’t know if you are getting senile but if you aren’t angry at trump and the entire republican party then I’d say you are either a saint (only you know the answer to that) or have issues. That is one of the things that is so wrong right now. There are enough things to be working on and we are having to focus on one stinking asshole.
Baud
@TenguPhule:
But Dems are uncivil.
TenguPhule
@Baud: Hey, its a start. Apparently some of the media can be taught!
Chris T.
@Tom Levenson: Before Glass-Steagall, there was a market panic every ten to twenty years.
In the early 1990s, they finished poking enough holes in Glass-Steagall, and we’re back on the cycle. Trump is making things worse, but he’s more a symptom than the problem. This was predictable—and in fact, I predicted it in the 1990s. Hasn’t Warren said something about this numerous times by now too?
Jager
My younger bro is a stockbroker, we seldom talk politics, but he brought trump up the other day. He handles the retirement account of a large law firm, he was telling me what a right-wing asshole the senior partner is. A month or so ago the senior partner was railing on immigrants and praising trump’s policies. Bro had a meeting with the guy a couple of days ago and they are remodeling their offices. All the workers are brown guys and the senior partner was bragging to my brother that he was “paying them cash, under the table” These RWNJs are not only assholes, but they are also fucking criminals.
Jeffro
@Elizabelle: Looks like a good time to discuss 18-year (or whatever) limits for federal judges of all levels, as well as a guaranteed up or down vote in the Senate within 60 days of nominations being made.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
I’ve always thought that if WW3 came and the world ended, with Trump being the cause, he wouldn’t live very long afterwards in whatever secure bunker US political leaders are supposed to go during the apocalypse. Either the Secret Service or somebody else would shoot the guy
Baud
@Chris T.:
C’mon. The current situation is almost all Trump. In this case, he’s not the symptom but the problem (along with his party).
Ruckus
MMX
What trump knows about business would all fit on the point of a pin.
Actually what he knows about everything might fit on the head of a pin. If you used 20 pt type.
TenguPhule
Well this is terrifying. In an attempt to make sense of Trump’s tweets, some legal analysts are speculating that Trump is going to try and issue executive orders citing NATIONAL SECURITY as justification to private businesses.
trollhattan
News? This is news!
Zombie Walter White?
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Why waste a valuable bullet when they could leave him outside the bunker to starve to death? I mean, its not like he could run to a McDonalds.
Chris T.
@Baud: He’s accelerated it. After 2008, we could have had a boom going to 2028 or so (or longer, if Congress would put back enough controls to prevent the “gambling with other people’s money” tricks). We need him removed; but we need more.
Raven
@Ruckus: 5×5
Doug R
@Steve in the ATL:
It’s Friday!
Maybe they’re going to Cedar Point?
Doug R
@Ocotillo:
AP/ORC poll has him at 36%, so 9% to go.
Jay
@debit:
It appears so far, to have be a benign tumor, so it’s the ususal still dead Briebart Ginsburg Death Watch crap,…..
BruceFromOhio
@Steve in the ATL: wait what? And why are you there?
AKC has some fun stuff and it’s cheap cheap cheap. Better there than some other places I can think of.
Jay
Cheryl Rofer
TS (the original)
@Ruckus:
My problem is, it is not just trump I am angry at. I lash out at anyone who disagrees with me on any issue. I used to be able to control the anger, now it seems this is how my world works. I so so miss no drama Obama.
BruceFromOhio
@Brachiator: Akronian.
thalarctosMaritimus
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: BTW, sorry to hear you died. You’re probably hearing that a lot today.
Captain C
@TenguPhule:
He’s in between subway cars, taking a wiz and aiming for the third rail. He heard that can be profitable.
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
You know what’s equally terrifying? Legal analysts trying to make sense of Trump’s nonsensical ravings.
More seriously, even though he is an incompetent baboon, he has consistently tried to “run the country like a business” with himself as CEO by having his staff look for every way possible for him to exploit his executive authority. The GOP Senate backs him up, and he is trying to install judges who will also back his play.
Yarrow
I really wonder who’s making money on all this volatility. I mean who in Trump’s orbit. Is he giving Jared a heads up? What about his buddy Sean Hannity? Someone should look into what those types of people are shorting.
TS (the original)
@TenguPhule: Of course they will. Trump tweets, the media investigates and finds him a legal way to implement his tweet. The one thing trump does correctly is use the media to his advantage. Despite the fake news b.s. trump uses the media to validate his actions. he has said as much.
Martin
The presidents further plunge into socialism continues. As if handing cash to farmers because he’s made the US an uncompetitive market wasn’t enough, he’s now ordering companies how to produce their goods.
Marx would approve of this one.
BruceFromOhio
I know this is hurting people, but I am also glad the rubes and marks are starting to turn on this ratfucker. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better, but it will get better. I have to believe that because the alternatives are unfathomable.
Yarrow
I’d missed this tweet from him.
That sort of thing is just so wrong on so many levels. I sort of tune out his awfulness most of the time but sometimes something breaks through. Making jokes about the market tanking. Blaming a candidate dropping out of the race for it. Insulting said candidate by suggesting no one knew him. It’s just all awful.
trollhattan
@Martin:
I am reminded of the ‘Great Leap Forward.”
To your smelters, Comrades!
patrick II
@thalarctosMaritimus:
On a thread below someone commented that they heard one of the Koch brothers had died. My immediate reaction was “God, I hope so”.
There was a time not so long ago that would never have been my first reaction. All of this hate has harmed us All.
By the way, one of the Koch brothers was worse than the other. Was that the who died?
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Sadly it seems he’s been successful on that front more often then not.
TenguPhule
@patrick II:
The slightly less evil one on account of being impaired from committing more harm by medical problems, David.
Emma
@Elizabelle: oh for god’s sake. If she had retired during Obama’s term she would not have been replaced AT ALL until a republican took over. Are we forgetting recent history?
Martin
@patrick II: David.
Someone on Twitter wished the brothers a speedy reunion, which is a lovely sentiment.
Jay
State Department says it’s okay for Rudy to engage in his Ukraine fishing trip,…….
Scary thread,…..
Citizen Alan
@Elizabelle:
And I am furious with people who expect RGB to have superhuman levels of prescience.
JPL
@thalarctosMaritimus: Geez that’s the merry christmas again David, not the other one.
Gin & Tonic
@Yarrow: I saw on Twitter that the only network covering the Moulton withdrawal at the time the DJIA was down 573 was MSNBC, which had it on at ~2:48 pm, and his tweet was at 3:01. In that time period both CNN and Fox were on different subjects.
Isn’t it nice to have a $400,000/yr job where all you do is watch TV and tweet?
Wapiti
@patrick II: The WAPO obituary had comments open. I didn’t see any positives.
JPL
@Elizabelle: this If she does have to resign, the next democrat has to add more justices………………
zhena gogolia
@TS (the original):
Me too!
JPL
@Wapiti: Just like republicans do when school children are mowed down by assholes allowed to purchase guns, they should have offered thoughts and prayers. My prayer was I hope you burn in hell.
dmsilev
@Gin & Tonic: A friend of my mother has declared that she’s the campaign manager for her pet parrot’s Presidential run, with the campaign slogan “He’ll never Tweet, but he will squawk”. I’m pretty sure some seeds and a couple of sheets of newspaper a day won’t run $400K per year, so really, I think I’m on Team Parrot.
(he is over 35, and is a naturally-hatched citizen, so that’s all covered)
Sab
@Steve in the ATL: It’s 71 degrees and sunny in Akron. What’s it like in Atlanta.
Brachiator
Amazing how many ways wealthy rats have of deserting a sinking ship:
I expect to see Trump implement a version of this program to make it easy for rich Europeans to enter the US.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-australia-visas-idUSKCN1VC0IA
Timurid
@TenguPhule:
If Trump starts a nuclear war, as soon as the bunker doors close everybody in there will take turns stomping him to death…
Elizabelle
@Emma: Cheap and easy to say, but I don’t think that’s true. It is, frankly, unknowable.
@Citizen Alan: Demographics, dude. Obviously, a heart attack, aneurysm, or accident or disease can take out the younger, too. But this was hubris.
Personally, I don’t think Trump legitimately won the Electoral College. Yet, here we are.
Jay
debbie
@TenguPhule:
Love it!
Spanky
I should have mentioned it at the time, but the quote earlier in the week where he said we had to vote for him in part because our 401ks were in the tank? THEY WERE NOT AT THAT POINT IN THE TANK.
I smelled something fishy that he might drop, but that would require forethought and planning. Nevertheless, this does seem to have been calculated to maximize damage to the markets over the last few hours of trading before a weekend. Just sayin’. And he does have associates that a) might want to tank the market and b) have Trump’s ear to the extent that they can goad him into something this damaging.
As Adam might say, we’re through the looking glass, off the table, down the basement steps, and into the sewer.
Spanky
@dmsilev: Is his name Ross?
debbie
@Brachiator:
Trump has singlehandedly destroyed American agriculture. They will never get their market share back. Countries have found new partners and made new deals. Why would they return to an older deal with an unreliable partner? Even if a sane person takes over the Oval Office, what kind of retribution will countries impose in order to make new deals with farmers?
debbie
@Sloane Ranger:
Except she said she plans on remaining on the Supreme Court for five years. I was sure Trump would rage-tweet about that.
Emma
@Elizabelle: Can you say Merrick Garland?
Jay
debbie
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
If I’m reading Marketwatch right, futures are already down 591 points. Yikes!
debbie
@debit:
Seconded.
Jay
Cheryl Rofer
debbie
@Jay:
Not just any editor. Graydon Carter.
ETA: It got him to drop a planned article on Epstein.
ETA PS: You’d think the Tweeter, with his background, would have known to add Carter’s name.
Heywood J.
@Ocotillo:
He’s becoming bad for business. That’s the only thing that would make the owner-donor class cut him loose. How that dirtbag Murdoch orders the lackeys at Fixed Noise to convey that to their idiot fan club should be interesting to watch.
TS (the original)
@debbie: Why would they trust any new deals. Bring in a GOP congress or President and the deal will be gone. It is going to take a long time for trading partners to trust the word of a US President again.
JPL
@TS (the original): Every agency has been stripped, so count me in that it will take decades to recover.
Ruckus
@TS (the original):
Is that all?
It’s the continuity. It’s like water torture, not water boarding but drip torture. You won’t drown and you’ll realize it for a few days. But then it’s the study drip after drip, after drip. And you get used to that. and then…. Example I have a damaged nerve in one ear. Being too close to an explosion was the cause and no, I didn’t cause it or have anything to do with it, other than standing too close. 16 yrs it’s the same sound, same level every second of every hour of every day. Four weeks ago it changed for a few moments and woke me up. You get used to the same thing, noise, water dripping, whatever. But any change and something is going on, what the fuck? My docs are concerned. Second appt on Monday.
But what’s different here is that it isn’t the same bullshit every day. It gets worse, every day. And it can only get better one way, trump out of office. But until that happens it’s a change every day. The end is in sight, as long as we manage to get there. But there will always be that noise in the background. Which is a livable situation, except when it fucks with us every second of every hour of every day.
Ruckus
@Captain C:
LOL.
He’s really, really not all there is he?
Heywood J.
@TS (the original):
Just the price of being rational and paying attention.
debbie
@JPL:
If they ever even do.
TS (the original)
@Ruckus: Sometimes I think, just a week without another political drama. Thought the August holidays might be the time – in my dreams. Best of wishes for the Doc appointment – I’ve had a weird throat for 25 years – and I live with it – until one day the weird is different – and back it is for more tests. So far, so good – I hope the same for you.
Ruckus
@TS (the original):
Thanks. What’s got them concerned I think is my hearing has gone downhill on the same side quite a bit. And my balance keeps getting worse.
Retirement is going to be fun. FUN I tell you.
Raoul
@JPL: The other six are going to scotch tape a “kick me” sign to his ample posterior, aren’t they?
Raoul
@Yarrow: It would have to be the NY AGs office, or similar, as Barr’s DOJ is utter bullshit now, and the financial regulatory apparatus most probably has deteriorated as much as everything else in his purview.
p.a.
@Heywood J.: Driftglass is right, the R bosses who used the pig people for electoral success since Reagan are no longer in control. If Fox actually turns against Trump, the pig people could turn against Fox. The internet will become their source; second-hand via email chains for the olds.
Gvg
@debit: I remember it differently. I remember worrying that she wouldn’t last thru Bush and angry astonishment when she refused to retire right after Obama was inaugurated. I remember fear the whole 6 years after we lost the majority in Congress, when there was nothing to be done but hope she held on.
She had serious health issues going way back and it’s been obvious that the whole Republican Party was going insane since early in Bush’s time. I consider her selfish. Sorry, we have all had several conversations about this over the years here and I don’t know that anyone has ever changed their mind, but this really really bugs me and the time line is important. Also the fact that it was very foreseeable, and we have actually been luckier than is likely.
Steve in the ATL
@BruceFromOhio: there’s no flight to Atlanta between noon and 5:41 pm, so I had to hang around until then. At least that airport has a real TSA precheck line!
Steve in the ATL
@Sab: 81 and muggy AF. I should have stayed up there!
Mary Ellen Sandahl
@Ruckus:
20 pts is big – headline or subhead size in, say, a newsletter. Even a zero wouldn’t fit, unless it was being inscribed by an angel taking a break from the dance party up on the head of said pin.
chopper
i hereby order this timeline to fucking end. can’t we use the quantum realm or something?
Ruckus
@Mary Ellen Sandahl:
Exactly.
Uncle Cosmo
@Mary Ellen Sandahl: My version of that bon mot is “could be written on the head of a pin with a paint roller.” I am a large fan of alliteration. Just FTR.
Miss Bianca
@Cheryl Rofer: Oh, my gosh…sounds like we’re getting beyond furrowed brows here!
@Martin:
Marx would not approve.
Stalin, on the other hand, would.
Procopius
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Problem with that opinion is, you’ve gotta get a majority of the Cabinet to approve. Can you imagine this collection of shclemazels, goniffs, and grifters agreeing to break their rice bowl?
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: We already have a version of this program – have you never heard of the EB-5 visa? Or is that just for wealthy Asians?
thalarctosMaritimus
@patrick II:
No argument there. If I could get my swearing back down to only 2014 levels, I’d be deliriously happy.
I’m not sure. The one who died was the more visible one, but Dog knows what that other more surreptitious ratfucker is up to under the radar.
Brachiator
@Miss Bianca:
I didn’t know the details about this program. Supposedly it’s aimed at high income people willing to come to the USA and invest a designated threshold amount in a US business. So I guess that just shows again that the wealthy get immigration breaks everywhere.
thalarctosMaritimus
@JPL: Fair enough.
Glad you’re not dead, David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch!
2liberal
i don’t think the super rich are too damaged by an economic collapse. It just lets them buy up assets at fire sale prices and wait for the next bubble.
jonas
@Ocotillo:
That’s not going to happen because those were the very outlets who *broke* with conservatism in 2016 and told their listeners “fuck it, it’s just all about pwning the libs from now on,” (aka Cleek’s Law) which gave us Trump. Unless the Murdochs are completely ousted from Fox, and Rush Limbaugh suffers a fatal heart attack and is replaced by Rick Wilson or Evan McMullin, Trump’s gonna ride that toboggan of crazy he’s got going straight to hell with 27% of the electorate hanging on and whoopin’ and hollarin’ the whole time. If they leave us much of a country in the end remains to be seen…
Matt McIrvin
@2liberal: They lose a lot of money on paper, but it gives them more power over other people, who are desperate for employment–so it’s all good for them.
Unsympathetic
Even after all the nonsense, Powell did his job.. after he talked, the market went back up to even. The entirety of the drop in the Dow was due to Trump’s tweets.. the Fed chair was directly responsible for a gain of about 200 points until Trump untied his thumbs and ran amuck.
Chad
@TS (the original): Well, join the crowd!