Not To Say "Merry Christmas", But...

Russian envoy: Evacuation deal reached for last rebel zones in Syria’s ravaged Aleppo

2016 can't end soon enough and Obama's term can't end soon enough. "Assad must go", indeed.

NO PROBLEM TOO LARGE FOR A BIT OF SCOTCH... Upon deeper reflection, "Assad must go" looks a lot like "Asshat must go", which is in fact happening.

Comments

[Stephanie despicable me]

First!

[Account Deleted]

Second :)

[Marlene]

CH,re:cost of a crown...in Maine,$1200-ish.

[Account Deleted]

$950 in Berkeley CA from soup to nuts. Cadillac.

[lyle]

I'll do your crown for $199.99, CH! ;)

[Beasts of England]

Al who?

[Captain Hate]

I like the bidding going on.

[Account Deleted]

"President Barack Obama also told Trevor Noah of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” recently that there is no evidence that Russia successfully manipulated the outcome of the election.

Still, Obama has ordered a “full review” into the allegations to be completed before he leaves office next month."

Has there ever been a bigger assclown in the White House?

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

I like how Obama and expensive and painful dental work have been conflated in this thread and the last.

Seems appropriate.

[common man]

This is what real voting fraud looks like, and it would appear the precinct workers were in on it. Michigan should go back to paper ballots if necessary, ensure this nonsense does not happen.

Voting machines in more than one-third of all Detroit precincts registered more votes than they should have during last month’s presidential election, according to Wayne County records prepared at the request of The Detroit News.

Detailed reports from the office of Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett show optical scanners at 248 of the city’s 662 precincts, or 37 percent, tabulated more ballots than the number of voters tallied by workers in the poll books. Voting irregularities in Detroit have spurred plans for an audit by Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s office, Elections Director Chris Thomas said Monday.

Thanks Dr. Jill, although I am sure you did not mean to expose prog voting fraud, you almost surely did...

[Account Deleted]

Dental and The Bath House Rat----> a race to the bottom of the Inspiration Totem Pole.

[DebinNC]

How appropriate for BOzo to extol himself on Comedy Central while the horrifying results of his narcissistic risk aversion re Syria unfold before a watching world.

[Account Deleted]

president Flinchy is reaping the whirlwind of his golf daze.

[JimNorCal]

Dang, I can't find the hunger article I'm looking for. Here's a couple.

https://mises.org/library/america-struggling-hunger
From 2009
One in eight, I thought, that's 12.5 percent — a huge proportion. That's thirty-seven million, five hundred thousand people, a huge number — incredible, really. I said to myself, how can it be that so many Americans struggle with hunger, and yet I see so little of it?

So I did what few people do: I checked. Where does that "one in eight" come from?

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/10/05/the_hunger_hoax
From 2011
Dan Rather opened a CBS Evening News broadcast in 1991 declaring, "one in eight American children is going hungry tonight." Newsweek, the Associated Press and the Boston Globe repeated this statistic, and many others joined the media chorus, with or without that unsubstantiated statistic.

When the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Agriculture examined people from a variety of income levels, however, they found no evidence of malnutrition among those in the lowest income brackets. Nor was there any significant difference in the intake of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from one income level to another.
That should have been the end of that hysteria.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

A veritable cornucopia of weirdness and scuzzballs as the execrable Glenn Thrush interviews the excrement David Brock.
Brock says Lady Macbeth was poorly served so I'm guessing that Podesta "bat shit crazy" crack is still stinging.
But then as if to prove he is incomparably BSC he also blames that darned press for being so goldurned tough on the Concrete Blonde.
Really he said that.
A little Comet Pizza red meat toward the end for our muckraker extraordinaire.

[DebinNC]

The Concrete Blonde was SoS when she called for Murbarak to go, Gaddafi to go, and presumably supported BOzo's red line to nowhere in Syria. It's impossible to be "too tough" on someone that calamitous.

[common man]

Lets have a little JOM poll, shall we?

Raise your hands everyone here that is tired of winning?

And now how about those not yet tired of winning?

I said winning but if you read whining, you may vote again, this is just like a Detroit precinct...

[JimNorCal]

But the one I'm looking for is different. Because the Hunger In America pedigree goes back a long way.
As I recall, a Socialist group (Michael Harrington?) ran some stats on an Iowa(?) farming community. Based on income(?) you would expect X number of families to be on food stamps/welfare.

But there many less than "X". Maybe they were growing their own food or perhaps there was some other reason. But the Socialists went with the theory that those families were living in hunger. Shaky, right?
Then they multiplied it out under the assumption that EVERY community in America had the same proportion of hungry families. Suddenly a huge fraction of the country went to bed hungry.

And the media ran with the slogan without any examination of underlying evidence.

Anyone else recall coming across that story?

[JimNorCal]

Not tired of winning. "Nay, the hunger grows" for more winning!

[rse]

Honestly what jim brown has to say after meeting with trump and his defense of him and refusing to take the racial bait is enough to make you tear up. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/12/13/maga-respect-jim-brown-and-ray-lewis-after-lengthy-meeting-with-president-elect-donald-trump-my-president/#more-125748

[jimmyk]

This has to be high on the schadenfreude scale:

https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/808501744242192384

I think the video cut off just before his head exploded.

[Stephanie despicable me]

Kasich vetoed the heartbeat bill.

F'er...

[Tom R]

From the previous thread:

I read that the Wikileaks number two said there was no hacking of the DNC. The data was leaked to them by someone in the DNC.

Which would explain why Seth Rich was mysteriously assassinated.

[clarice]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/ryan-zinke-interior-secretary-trump-232590

[common man]

I had so little confidence that Kasich had a moral compass, that I fully expected him to veto both abortion bills. He proved me half wrong, which I am quite sure he will try to spin this as him being a moderate. What part about a heartbeat means a living child, and you not caring enough to protect them makes you anything other than a monster?

Still I think he has crapped in his own lunchpail. Maybe he can go sit at the Democrats table and throw spitballs...

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Regarding Kanye West's visit today:

1. Trump came down and appeared with him, sort of in a protective manner. Talked about how they had been friends for a longtime. Said they had talked about "life." When leaving, Trump gave him a close handshake (some sort of thing recognizable to Millenial rap fans) and said "Take care of yourself. See you soon."

2. This was way more important to younger people and we probably would have dismissed it with just some sort of celebrity appearance. There are SEVEN separate threads on the Reddit site, all analyzing it and speculating on Kanye being red pilled, helping with inner-city outreach, possibly singing at the Inaugural, etc.

Trump has an amazing talent to gather in people from different groups and different generations. At any rate, I wanted to post this because sometimes we miss things that are important because of ignorance of events which are of cultural significance, because we are older. (I doubt I would recognize a single one of Kanye's songs.)

[henry - drunk on prog tears]

So on the thread topic, Aleppo is ready for urban renewal? Move UN HQ there. Free up some fabulous NY space and solve an unpaid parking ticket problem.

[James D.]

Hey, CH, I'm not a dentist, but somebody out in internet land thinks I am, because I keep getting emails from places like Discount Dental Supplies and USA Dental Supplies, and offers to go to dental conferences, and even offers to buy my practice.

With that in mind, I'd be happy to do your crown for free. And for that price, I'll even give you a full money-back guarantee, no questions asked!

[jimmyk]

The Jim Brown video is great, especially the second one where he's being interviewed by Brooke Baldwin on CNN. Can you believe he's 80 years old?

[henry - drunk on prog tears]

Huge crowd building up at the State Fairgrounds for Trump's visit this evening. (Per radio)

[Account Deleted]

Keith Olberman.... can we strap him and Bob Costas on a giant ACME bottle rocket as seen on Roadrunner
aimed at Palmyra?

Keith Olberman.... looks like he could be Rachel Madow's fugly seester.

Keith Olberman....

[rse]

jimmy-when he talks about not having a father and tells the interviewer that the three most important people in his life were white and it's not about race, that is so nice to hear after the obama years.

[henry - drunk on prog tears]

I met Jim Brown after he played against the Cardinals one day. Frank Ryan and my dad got PhDs at Rice about the same time, so Frank told my dad to bring my brothers to the locker room exit after the game. Frank brought Jim Brown, a huge and very nice man, to meet us and sign an autograph.

[Account Deleted]

The absolute shit Jim Brown had lived through before he made it to the pros--- and even then.

One of my role models growing up.

The rules for college lacrosse had to be reformed to end Brown's practice of holding the ball in the net of his lacrosse stick against his chest while attacking the goal.

He would absorb the body blows and checks with total abandon. He was unstoppable.

Rules were changed so players had to cradle the ball in the net but keep it extended away from their bodies and rotate it using a two handed curling motion. Allowed defensive players to check offensive players.

Lacrosse-- the little brother of war.

[Account Deleted]

Jim Brown was All-American in football at Syracuse University and played college lacrosse there too.

[Old Lurker]

So what is the low down on all those overscans in the Detroit area? Assuming it was on purpose, what are mechanics of making that happen? Anybody know?

[Stephanie despicable me]

Bathtub Boy is still a thing?

LOL Thought his head exploded years ago...

Time for an Indian Love Call.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCppUtS9vLk

[Skoot]

Rep. Zinke for Interior. Retired SEAL, 3% voting score with League of Conservation Voters. Sounds good to me.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

There's a huge crowd in West Allis, Wisxonsin waiting to see Donald Trump.

Rally doesn't start for 3 hours.

It's 11 degrees outside.

Cheesehead Trump supporters are tough!!!

[common man]

I am not up on prog logic. But if the Russians interfered with our election by having the Democrats stuff ballot boxes with votes for Hillary, how exactly did that run to the benefit of Trump?

[common man]

11 degrees for cheeseheads is warm. I know cuz they take their shirts off at the Packer games in lower temps than that!

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-13/ibm-lays-out-plans-to-hire-25-000-in-u-s-ahead-of-trump-meeting

What are we up to, now? I think we are at 80,000 plus!

[henry - drunk on prog tears]

Depends on the system alcohol antifreeze level deployed common man. But in general 11 degrees in a parking lot is warmer than normal ice fishing.

[Old Lurker]

MAGA!

Fox news: "White House petition suggests naming next Navy ship 'USS The Deplorables' "

[Truthbetold5]

For you Iggy

#Pizzagate Alex Jones Flip Flops and Features CNN CRISIS ACTOR? Comet Ping Pong Hoax!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-aTGA9HJPdo

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

henry,

We are supposed to get down to 12 degrees tonight. Very cold for here at this time of year.

Of course, on Saturday we are supposed to be at 47 degrees with rain. Then back down to cold again.

This is the explanation for the Hoosier accent. Our sinuses always are under pressure from temp changes!

[henry - drunk on prog tears]

Tonight we go below zero. Above freezing is not in the forecast the rest of the year.

[JM Hanes]

From Paul Gigot:

Somewhere in the Kremlin Vladimir Putin must be laughing. The Russian strongman almost certainly sought to undermine public confidence in American democracy this year, and as the Obama Administration leaves town it is playing into his hands.

[….]

But why wait [for an investigation]? U.S. intelligence services already know most of what they’re likely to learn. Release the evidence now. Let’s see if the Kremlin really did steal RNC emails, and let’s also hear from those who don’t share CIA Director John Brennan’s “high confidence.” The last thing Americans need is for an outgoing Administration that is still sore over losing an election to assist Vladimir Putin in poisoning the result.

Good luck with that, Paul. About that Lessons Learned report "that Mr. Obama has ordered intelligence agencies to assemble before he leaves office on Jan. 20" [Emphasis mine]:

That report is intended, in part, to create a comprehensive history of the Russian effort to influence the election, and to solidify the intelligence findings before Mr. Trump is sworn in.

Oh, yeah. Let's just call this an attempt to short circuit that well known dynamic wherein history gets written by the winners.

[Stephanie despicable me]

WTF is Erickson doing on Fox Business?

Canned by CNN?

[lyle]

Gigot is a neverTrumpite.

[Skoot]

Wapo: "So it’s understandable that the request by the president-elect’s transition team for the names of individual Energy Department employees and contractors who worked on the issue makes them worry that the trick could be on them.

“There is major concern amongst my members,” said Jeff Eagan, president of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) chapter at the department’s headquarters building in Washington. He’s also a 17-year Energy employee but was speaking in his union capacity. “I have received lots of calls, emails, messages expressing shock and dismay.”

There's your problem right there. Day one de-unionize fed gov. Watch em squirm.

[buccaneer morgan]

Foghn leghorn corker, opens his yap.

[JM Hanes]

lyle:

"Gigot is a neverTrumpite."

And?

[Donald]

Ya know Ms Marple, I remember in 2004, Kid Rock was unabashed in his support of George Bush, the troops, America, capatilism, I mean damn. He took to wrapping himself in an American flag on stage as he praised it all. The hacks that ran everything pointed out that they really didn't need his kind around.

Assholes.

[Captain Hate]

Jim Brown was a great athlete who also had major issues with women and wasn't a Cleveland block party fave compared to Paul Warfield or Bobby Mitchell.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Donald,

Yeah, I can imagine. Trump understands pop culture, which is why he lets people like the Motor City Madman Ted Nugent speak and sing at his rallies.

The world has changed from when I was young. A lot of the stuff on TV and in movies, as well as music, is not what I am used to.

What Trump is able to do is use these strange new cultural currents to move his message forward. A lot of the old GOPe do not understand this. National Review is a prime example. Sneers about celebrity, reality shows, Queens accent, etc. Meanwhile, their subscription base is shrinking.

Either use the new culture, or be relegated to the backwater for all time. I am going with Trump.

[dublindave]

"Trump has an amazing talent to gather in people from different groups and different generations"

Kanye west is mentally ill. He just got out of a psyche ward where he was being monitored for the last 2 weeks.

Taking advantage of a man with schizophrenia is not the same as gathering people from "different groups and different generations".

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Regardless of Jim Brown's faults his one short statement to that CNN babe did more good for black America than anything Barry, Rev-RUNNN Jack-SUNNN or Aloysius Sharpton have done in their entire lives.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/12/stephen-miller-senior-adviser-policy-232592

If you watched the earlier rallies, you willl recognize this guy. Great speaker, fearless, and good at promoting Trump's vision. Was Jeff Sessions' chief of staff.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Interesting diagnosis dumb shit.
Unless it's the DTs I'm guessing you're as clueless about mental illness as everything else you yap your non Irish mouth about, PajamaDave.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

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

Wisconsin rally, live steam.

Starts in about an hour or so.

[Captain Hate]

No, I'm glad Jim Brown made the statements he did. He's a very difficult person to pigeonhole and I gave the same response here that I do to all the jock sniffers who worship his on field accomplishments, which were huge.

[Truthbetold5]

Notice how they stayed away from how this interview came about. This is laughable stuff, expect a predictable show in court.

The New York Times violated ethics in reporting on Comet Ping Pong

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/310160-the-new-york-times-violated-ethics-in-reporting-on-comet-ping-pong

[Benjacko]

No diagnosis is needed for medicated borderline e personalities.

I'm not ever gonna be tired of saying:

RICK PERRY WILL BE THE GREATEST ENERGY SECRETARY EVAH!!

Woot! Drink!

[Truthbetold5]

Dozens of pizza websites share the same IP address with children daycares.

https://mobile.twitter.com/pastorbones/status/808559011134111746

[jimmyk]

Ray Lewis had some off-the-field issues as well, as I recall, but credit where credit is due.

[Benjacko]

And we need to staff a McCarthy Bund for extricating all 97% of the climate scientists.from EPA....Hip, hip hooray!

Trump is bringing us together..lol

[henry - drunk on prog tears]

Walker and Ryan should both be at tonight's rally.

[Captain Hate]

I'll say this for Jim Brown: he has honestly looked at what the bidness as usual poverty relievers have accomplished and figured out it ain't working other than to benefit their personal wealth.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

henry,

I am glad to hear that. Especially Ryan. I have seen a glimpse of him coming around, so this is good.

[henry - drunk on prog tears]

New thread batman!

[JM Hanes]

It's Reuters' "Three American Officials" vs the WaPo's "Senior U.S. Official!"

The overseers of the U.S. intelligence community have not embraced a CIA assessment that Russian cyber attacks were aimed at helping Republican President-elect Donald Trump win the 2016 election, three American officials said on Monday.

[…]

"ODNI is not arguing that the agency (CIA) is wrong, only that they can't prove intent," said one of the three U.S. officials. "Of course they can't, absent agents in on the decision-making in Moscow."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose evidentiary standards require it to make cases that can stand up in court, declined to accept the CIA's analysis - a deductive assessment of the available intelligence - for the same reason, the three officials said.

If you've been wondering, as I have, exactly how the CIA determined that Putin was trying to help Trump, Reuters has got that too:

The CIA assessed after the election that the attacks on political organizations were aimed at swaying the vote for Trump because the targeting of Republican organizations diminished toward the end of the summer and focused on Democratic groups, a senior U.S. official told Reuters on Friday.

Moreover, only materials filched from Democratic groups - such as emails stolen from John Podesta, the Clinton campaign chairman - were made public via WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization, and other outlets, U.S. officials said.

The CIA conclusion was a "judgment based on the fact that Russian entities hacked both Democrats and Republicans and only the Democratic information was leaked," one of the three officials said on Monday.

"(It was) a thin reed upon which to base an analytical judgment," the official added.

Ya think? That's it, sum total, an inference which rests on no dispositive intel whatsoever. Any one of us could come up with a dozen other possibilities, which would fit that template. Sheesh.

That's really even weaker tea than I expected, so I think I'm pretty much done with this issue. I've just been trying to prep for what will be a Christmas through New Year's sojourn as a likely lone Trump voter guesting in the belly of a liberal beast.

[JM Hanes]

New thread again??? So I guess I'll my copy/paste my last post forward, again too.

[Big red noses and floppy shoes.]

Where's the 'fact' that both parties were hacked?

What bullshit.

[Ruh roh.]

Please do, JMH; another beautifully lucid point.

[Jane]

I just had dinner with 3, liberal, old women from NH. All probably in late 60's or early 70's. All voted for Hillary.

All 3 have decided to be optimistic about Trump. They aren't crazy about his 'vulgarity' (the one thing the uninformed are aware of) and voted for HIllary because she seemed "the best of 2 bad choices". When expressing concern of Trump hiring billionaires, I asked who could be better leaders, people who know how to be successful or people who are in it to make themselves rich? They got it.

Anyway, I'm running into a lot more open minds than I ever expected - either that or they wanted to shut me up. I let them know that the entire country is pretty optimistic at this point and they ought to jump on board.

[henry - drunk on prog tears]

Nice Jane! My brother just moved down your way.... another reason I should get out of the cold soon.

[Jane]

Come visit Henry. Now we have Marlene to join us.

[PD]

"Great stamina, right?," talking about himself. Crowd cheers.

I was expecting him to follow up with, "You didn't get that with the other guy."