Good Cop, Bad Cop, Bitterly Divided

A man of better character than I (or grammar skills than me?) would read past this headline and lede at the flailing NY Times to see if the obvious counter point is made. I cannot.

Kim Jong-un’s Overture Could Drive a Wedge Between South Korea and the U.S.

SEOUL, South Korea — Beyond a New Year’s declaration by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, that he would move to the mass-production of nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles in 2018 lies a canny new strategy to initiate direct talks with South Korea in the hope of driving a wedge into its seven-decade alliance with the United States.

Just remember - if South Korea and North Korea reach a meaningful and reassuring detente the Times will only embrace it if they can "blame" Trump.

ERRATA: NO, Trump did not invent the 'good cop/ bad cop' ploy. Nor did this LA DA.

Comments

[anonamom]

Lou Holtz:
God doesn't care who wins... but His Mother does.

cathy f, that's EXACTLY why I have Mary candles--and use them!

I rarely bother the Big Guy with my piddly things and worries. ;-)

[Jane]

I bet all of the stuff released is redacted -

[Jane]

Glas, Clarke is a big trump guy, so I'm sure they were looking for collusion with Russia - what a joke.

[Jane]

I'm going to the airport this afternoon to pick up my bestie down here. As you know her son died right before Christmas, and her brother died last week. God I hope she's okay. On a good note she is leaving -40 windchill in VT, for the coldest weather since I've lived in Florida, which hopefully will feel balmy to her.

It sure as hell doesn't to me.

[Comanche Voter]

Let's play with the New York Times fantasy. Kim Jong Un starts to talk with South Korea; he says, "I will pull all of the 12,00 artillery tubes that I have=--now pointing at Seoul. We can then be buddy buddies, and we can use my nuclear bombs to wipe out your biggest trading partner."

Yeah--like that's going to happen. Who is going to buy those Kias and Hyundais when Los Angeles is a nuclear wasteland? Who'll need an LG refrigetrator in Riverside, or a Samsung TV in Seattle?

[RattlerGator]

Well that just made my day, thank you! And since when can convicted felons profit from book deals?

Posted by: Rocco | January 02, 2018 at 12:05 PM

Rocco, the book deals have fascinated me for quite some time now. Aren't they textbook examples of hidden illegality?

I mean, these political people are getting huge advances for books that don't sell at all. And when they do sell, they're via pre-arranged bulk purchases that are devoid from any relation to the market. What's up with that?

Sounds like a target-rich environment for the right Attorney General to examine.

[RattlerGator]

RG,

If we ever meet in person I'll tell you. (It is about changing what leads me, and since most had no clue what I meant...best not to re-open that door) There were 58 more questions I wanted to ask you so I'll ask those too. You have been warned - others will attest I have a very weird mind. Thanks again for your indulgence.

Posted by: Jane | January 02, 2018 at 12:11 PM

Well if that was designed to be bait, well played! You've just guaranteed (Lord willing) a meeting sometime this year, my dear. And given your direct (or indirect) submission of bait, I will give you *no* fair warnings.

[Extraneus]

NY Times Laments Iranian Protesters Are Ignoring Government’s ‘Call for Calm’

Iranian authorities have clamped down on Tehran after demonstrators across the country ignored calls for calm https://t.co/M9G7x8lvAT

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 1, 2018

[jimmyk]

In the "what in the heck for" department..

His crime was leaving the plantation.

[Jane]

Great RG!

[JimNorCal]

h/t BJG
Pictorial history of Al Franken (humor)
https://www.spartareport.com/2018/01/al-franken-resigns-a-pictorial-history/

[RattlerGator]

Y'all have occupied too much of time already today so, off I go. But first, this. Someone yesterday, I think, said I was an optimist. Correct, correct, correct. I have found it to be one of the best tools for successfully dealing with the daily challenges in this earthly realm. Now, I just read this piece from Scott Adams:

http://blog.dilbert.com/?utm_source=dilbert.com&utm_medium=site&utm_campaign=brand-engagement&utm_content=navigation

In it, he said this about President Trump, the tax bill and our looming deficit: "The tax cuts alone won’t get us to that GDP [RG: a rate of 5%-to-6% growth that will pay for the just-passed tax cuts], but as part of a larger package of persuasion-by-optimism, it is strong sauce."

Yep, yep!

I have little use for irrational optimism. However, prudent optimism? Yeah, baby. Gimme some of dat strong sauce !!!

Of course, as quite the persuader himself, Adams knows how to close out an opinion piece:

And don’t be surprised if 2018 is the year when people all over the world shed their mental prisons and take on the “impossibles” in ways we have never seen. Thanks to President Trump, people everywhere are beginning to recognize the difference between real impossibilities and simple failures of imagination.

Welcome to The Golden Age. It starts now.

* * *

My, my, my.

Later, Gators.

[Old Lurker]

RG, RG, RG "OL, you are aware -- correct? -- that the DOJ I.G. waged a successful WAR with the Obama Admin and a new law was passed giving him and the other I.G.s significant independent power they've never had before -- right?"

Why yes, yes of course. That's why you see so many big names up on the IG Trophy Wall.

What? There are no such big names up there?

But, but, Jason Chaffitz promised that new law would provide sweeping new powers to the IG Community, and Obama signed it into law as one of his final acts, even after he knew that Clinton lost to Trump. Everybody knows that Obama wanted all of his laundry washed in public after he left office, right?

Joking aside, until I see a King's or a Prince's head on a pike, I will assume that any law produced by Chaffitz and signed by Obama, in the hands of an IG appointed by Obama who's #2 is a known DC paperhanger is just to trick the good guys into thinking "This Time Is Different".

Until then, Lucy has the football.

[Threadkiller]

"France greets the New Year with the traditional ceremonial Torching of the Citroëns"

https://www.steynonline.com/8364/welcome-to-the-new-year-same-as-the-old

[Extraneus]

They beat up a female cop, too, TK. Kicked her in the head a few times when she was on the ground.

Apparently she didn't have an armed backup???

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
33m33 minutes ago

We will not rest until all of America’s GREAT VETERANS can receive the care they so richly deserve. Tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time. Keep up the great work @SecShulkin @DeptVetAffairs! https://instagram.com/p/BddOPJfAngh/

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

This is hilarious:

Wisconservative
‏ @CarterFliptMe
1m1 minute ago

“The notion that deregulation unleashes growth is virtually impossible to find in the data,” said Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities who served as the chief economic adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr
#PointAndLaugh @TimMattox

[Threadkiller]

She was the driver for the armed cop that was apparently her boss.

He was too much of a pussy to start shooting.

They may as well have sent two chick cops.

[Captain Hate]

Paste futures must be as flat as Rachel Corrie.

[Extraneus]

Wouldn't even save his female driver from the horde. I didn't know that. Pussy is too kind. They should drop him off back there unarmed in uniform.

[Dave (in MA)]

Threadkiller | January 02, 2018 at 01:40 PM, hard to make out on a tinny iMac internal speaker but I thought I heard something about a snackbar.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Sarah Sanders press briefing scheduled to start at 2:00, although I just heard it was delayed until 2:30.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

SalenaZito‏Verified account @SalenaZito

.@RepBillShuster Long time western PA lawmaker chair of house trans retiring my exclusive interview http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/gop-rep-bill-shuster-to-retire-spend-final-year-working-with-trump-on-massive-infrastructure-bill/article/2644734 … #BREAKING

[Tom R]

Saw a conspiracy theory on The Donald subreddit that the US Customs outage last night that affected all airports around the country was somehow connected to Julian Assange's cryptic tweet yesterday where he posted a dead man's code. People were speculating that Assange was being flown to the US.

For the sake of discussion lets assume there is some truth to this conspiracy theory and that Assange is willing to help Trump destroy the Swamp & Deep State. I wonder if the reason for the trips to GITMO by Mattis & Sessions was to setup a secure place for Assange to stay where he can be given fulltime protection by the US military? in other words, Assange would not be getting treated as a prisoner but instead have something like an apartment to live in?

[henry]

Tom R, I don't understand why anyone would encourage Assange. That is even goofier than the idea Elmer Fudd might interrupt his nap to address the swamp.

[rse]

Well this link is to a remake of STEM higher ed and it calls for "representational equity in STEM Credentials". https://www.nap.edu/download/24943

This ties in perfectly to what I am working on for k-12 so it is not a shock to me, but "skills and concepts" amounts to greatly circumscribing what it will mean to "know" in the future. Effectively it amounts to the kind of control that limiting access to printing presses or restricting the Bible from being printed in the vernacular provided.

This also has not been publicized and was essentially in a footnote. Came out December 12 and I caught a reference to it in today's weekly release. It also explains why there has been such a false narrative around what 'evidence-based' means.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Tom R.,

Larry Schweikhart says he hasn't heard anything from people he knows stationed at Gitmo.

However, if this were a security situation as you describe, said insiders wouldn't talk, would they?

Did you run across a story of a container ship with children being moved in cargo containers? I haven't seen any more about that one.

I do wish people wouldln't make up stories for click bait. It's hard enough when a chunk of the government lies to us, let alone people just messing around.

[henry]

rse, remind me not to get in a "representational equality" designed airplane.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://twitter.com/ihate_everyone2/status/935735045733699584

This is funny. This Twitter user is taking quotes from reporters like Peter Dhao and making romance novel scenarios.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Fox is reporting Orrin Hatch will not run for re-election in 2018.

Oh, no.....the Mittster!!

[henry]

Egg will roll to the rescue.

[matt- deplore me if you must]

The Revolutionary Guard is now out in the streets in Iran, the Times (UK) reports.

Many of the protesters have changed their tune, calling for the dictator to be removed. One of the Qom mullahs has been quoted as being sympathetic to the protesters. Curiouser & curiouser.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/12/can-mitchonomics-fix-the-broken-higher-ed-business.html

This is about Mitch Daniels' success at Purdue, although the faculty is still whining.

[Tom R]

Tom R, I don't understand why anyone would encourage Assange. That is even goofier than the idea Elmer Fudd might interrupt his nap to address the swamp.

Here is one reason for Trump to ally with Assange. There has been a lot of speculation that murdered former DNC staffer Seth Rich was the person who gave the DNC emails to Assange. If that is true, then that means there is a strong possibility Rich was assassinated by someone connected to the DNC. It also confirms the Democrats have been lying about the Russians hacking into their servers.

Releasing that kind of factual info right before the 2018 midterms would be strategically advantageous for Trump.

[rse]

henry-might want to worry about driving over one of their bridges too.

They also demand representational diversity in STEM instructors.

Anecdotally red and I have been having an ongoing discussion about how hard it is for white UMC women to get into the same med schools or any of them despite credentials that would have welcomed them several years ago. I had guessed this was the reason from some statutory language I had seen in the ocare legislation.

This is not a template to get Equity. The legal mandate of equity is being used to impose the cybernetic vision I have spent the last 3 years thoroughly tracking down.

[rse]

orrin hatch retiring with mittens rumored as his successor.

[henry]

rse, at least The Ledge construction was based on talent rather than check boxes.

[Dave (in MA)]

I voted for Romney for Senator once. I would have voted for Janet Jeghelian, but she didn't make the cut to even get on the primary ballot.
I got Kennedy instead.
I don't think Romney would be any worse than Teddy's pal.

[Appalled]

Julian Assange is not a friend of the USA. Trusting him is stupid, at best.

[GUS]

Romney is SWAMP

[Appalled]

Let’s just say Romney would make an unlikely 51st vote for Obamacare repeal.

[Extraneus]

If he could provide evidence that Seth Rich was murdered in order to blame the hack on Russians, he's a much bigger friend to the USA than Obama, Clapper, Brenner, Lynch, Comey, and anyone who voted for Hillary.

[GUS]

Not looking for FRIENDS, looking for EVIDENCE.

[henry]

what good is evidence without chain of custody? (hint, not sure Assange qualifies there).

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

henry,

I would assume Assange had communications with Rich, if he was the source. I assume he had copies of those emails or text messages.

I also heard thet the information was received in a thumb drive. I assume Assange still has that.

Just another of those things that we don't know about, and lots of people want to speculate about.

[GUS]

Who knows what Assange has? He may have info on Seth Rich that leads somewhere. His usefulness is not as a FRIEND.

[GUS]

Some fuxstix is asking what Trump accomplished playing golf. Transparency issue. BOX TRUCK!!

ELEVENTY.

These fuckers are out of their fucking minds.
This fucker is has a PRESS CREDENTIAL.

[jimmyk]

“The notion that deregulation unleashes growth is virtually impossible to find in the data,” said Jared Bernstein

I guess he didn't get around to comparing the US and, say, Venezuela. Or even western Europe.

[henry]

jimmyk, he could have looked at Wisconsin / Indiana vs Illinois / Minnesota.

[Extraneus]

Nikki Haley: The UN 'must speak out' to support protesters in Iran

[Extraneus]

Sally Yates blasts Trump's DOJ remarks as 'abnormal,' 'dangerous'

She responds to this tweet:

"Crooked Hillary Clinton's top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents," Trump tweeted, referring to Daily Caller report about Abedin's emails. "Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others.”

With this one:

POTUS on 12/28: “I have the absolute right to do what I want with the Justice Department.” Today he slanders career DOJ professionals as “deep state,” calls for prison for a political opponent, and tries to sic DOJ on a potential witness against him. Beyond abnormal; dangerous. https://t.co/eW4MCIEOGB

— Sally Yates (@SallyQYates) January 2, 2018

[henry]

Legal fees must be eating her retirement cash.

[Old Lurker]

“The notion that deregulation unleashes growth is virtually impossible to find in the data,” said Jared Bernstein"

Jimmy, you are right that one can compare one regulated country with another more regulated country and draw meaningful conclusions.

But Bernstein might have a point insofar as finding a regulated economy that regulated past the point of diminishing returns then woke up and dialed it all back might be hard to identify. Until Kennedy and then Reagan, the same might have been said about reducing tax rates.

In the US, has there ever been a period, Post FDR, during which we dialed back regulations across the board?

[Tom R]

Who knows what Assange has? He may have info on Seth Rich that leads somewhere. His usefulness is not as a FRIEND

Agree. Trump and Assange working together to drain the Swamp and destroy the Deep State would be along the lines of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" but only as long as he is providing useful evidence against the corrupt parts of our government.

Assange publicly released the hacking tools the CIA and NSA used so that puts national cybersecurity at risk. Then again when you consider how Obama weaponized the federal government to target his political enemies exposing those hacking tools used by the Obama administration is not necessarily a bad thing.

[lyle]

Let me be first to remind everyone that the value of a college degree has been declining for years and I detest the credentialed crowd BUT...at the very least I would think that to even be slightly recognized as a reasonable commenter on economics on tee vee one might actually have an economics degree. Jared Bernstein does not possess one.

[Captain Hate]

I guess he's really gone:

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/01/02/al-franken-resigns

[GUS]

Yeah, Yates the stupid bitch isn't unbiased.

[GUS]

MANHATTAN SCHOOL of MUSIC and HUNTER COLLEGE.

Do they teach CREATIVE WRITING?????

[GUS]

He's an EXPERT based on.....

""Born to a Jewish-American family,[4] Bernstein graduated with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied double bass with Orin O'Brien. He earned a master's degree in Social Work from the Hunter College School of Social Work, and, from Columbia University, he received a master's degree in Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Social Welfare.""

[Captain Hate]

Sally Yates surely has one of those "Well Behaved Women Never Make History" bumper stickers on whatever green turdmobile she drives.

[Miss Marple]

Captain Hate,

Yes! Hahaha!

[Jim Eagle]

lyle,

My wife's cousin is an American union plumber in San Francisco. When he showed up to to a family wedding in Antwerp, he flew private jet all the way. Round trip. College degree but chose the trades. When you can make up to $300 hr. on weekends to do simple things like changing our washers or reseting the leveler in a toliet, wouldn't you?

Last year his income with his portfolio was probably over $5mill.

[jimmyk]

But Bernstein might have a point insofar as finding a regulated economy that regulated past the point of diminishing returns then woke up and dialed it all back might be hard to identify.

Lots of formerly Communist countries that 'deregulated' (i.e. 'liberalized') their economies. China, Vietnam, no doubt a bunch of eastern European countries. I think one of the Baltic states was kind of a prototype, though I haven't followed it lately.

Then there are the "Asian Tigers" that were bureaucratic despotic states before they took off.

[Jim Eagle]

guess he's really gone:

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/01/02/al-franken-resigns

CH,

Which means there is more.

[jimmyk]

at the very least I would think that to even be slightly recognized as a reasonable commenter on economics on tee vee one might actually have an economics degree.

I'd like to agree, Lyle, but I'd sooner listen to Iggy or Old Lurker than, say, Paulie Krugman on just about any economics topic. And lest they take offense at being mentioned in the same breath with Paulie, it's not a close call.

[jimmyk]

guess he's really gone

And why aren't Republicans screaming for Menendez to step down, given that he could be replaced by a Republican?

[GUS]

Sally Yates refused to defend President Trumps travel band, saying she wasn't sure it was legal.

She was wrong. She's a hack.

[Jim Eagle]

Well, I would rather listen to jimmyk on any economic topic since he is a registered professor of such. But then I remember my first economimetrics class at AFIT where the instructor reminded us that an economist's opinion is just as good as your first 3 guesses:)

[Skippy]

"“The notion that deregulation unleashes growth is virtually impossible to find in the data,” "

How about...

1) In general, does increased capital/investment spending drive growth?

2) In general, do regulations cost anything to implement (either through higher costs of production or burdensome reporting requirements)?

3) Can savings from lower costs be used to increase investments in a business or potentially drive lower prices passing savings to customers to spend elsewhere?

I guess Slow Joe Biden likes to surround himself with morons to make himself seem smarter.

[Jim Eagle]

Talk about a nerd convention.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/baker-island-ham-radio-expedition-2018?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=559cc05ac7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-559cc05ac7-66184937&ct=t()&mc_cid=559cc05ac7&mc_eid=d27e03f7b2

I was once a HAM operator but it gets very old very fast.

[Old Lurker]

Jimmy, point accepted about the former Communist countries. Still, his point was about a country like ours where regulation has been dialed from, say 10, to say 50, not from one which was at 100 for several generations. Of course my "50" does not count the effective self regulation caused by run away litigation and the fear of it.

TomR "Assange publicly released the hacking tools the CIA and NSA used so that puts national cybersecurity at risk. Then again when you consider how Obama weaponized the federal government to target his political enemies exposing those hacking tools used by the Obama administration is not necessarily a bad thing."

Therein lies the point. Nobody inside the Military - Intel community likes what Assange did. But the guy in the street is probably more fed up with what his government can see and read and track and know instinctively to fear such things, though many were lulled into unawareness about our instincts to fear snakes. Now that Obama-Clinton have demonstrated in real time what can be (was in fact) done with those powers and the nature of the guards who guard them (a brown shirt is still brown), a lot more people are probably grateful to Assange for proving it. We have gone from a constitutional basis in which "all (government) powers not directly vested in the Federal Government shall remain at the State level...to one in which "All freedoms which cannot be defended by an individual are in fact owned by the Government(s) to be passed out and taken back as it wishes."

So Femall.

[Jim Eagle]

Bravo OL,

I have a lot of issues with our Military and Intelligence community especially when it focuses on US citiizens regardless of their threat profile. That is the job of the FBI and local LEO. Now that the FBI and their executives in DoJ are exposed I am even more concerned.

I am becoming more convinced, day by day, because of our instantaeous information soceity that we are at a watershed moment. Even Ridley Scott could envince such a scenario. If Trump doesn't pull the trigger on this invasive IC into domestic private lives then none of us is safe.

Have any wealth? Just think how they can manipulate you and that wealth to their pockets. Need someone, DJT? to shut it all down, NOW!

[lyle]

If Ig or OL or any other of the many smart people on this board get on tee vee to chat economics, I would very much tune in, jimmyk. And I thank everyone in advance to not point out that I have a music degree, myself. 😎

[Old Lurker]

Jack, we went to Darkest Hour and enjoyed it immensely; at home we were watching the second season of The Crown.

One sub-sub plot concerned the role of King Edward before and after his abdication working hand in glove with Hitler. Turns out there was a clear paper trail of such behavior, but the Brits locked it up tight to avoid embarrassing the Monarchy...to the distress of its own historians. But at the end of the war, the Americans got copies of all seized German papers that the Brits got too. So the British historians, denied in their request to publish the King Edward stuff, asked their American counterparts to "suggest" they might publish it and in the face of the, the Brits agreed to release it so they could control the story.

As I watched that, I was thinking that that is just how Brennan and Clapper et al used the Brits to get Trump since for them to do it "would be wrong".

[Beasts of England]

'...Torching of the Citroëns'

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Jim Eagle]

Think its confusing?

Its not. Draw your own curve. Its what guys like Krugman do.

[Old Lurker]

Oh Lyle...you know darn well that serious musicians use the same chunks of brain that serious mathematicians use.

Key word is "serious". That's where we part ways with the nut who opined about the value of regulation and the opposite.

[jimmyk]

his point was about a country like ours where regulation has been dialed from, say 10, to say 50, not from one which was at 100 for several generations.

Understood, but there are always confounding factors in more modest comparisons, which allows dishonest types to excuse away any results that don't conform to their prior beliefs. Communism is just the logical extension of the regulatory state run amok.

[Old Lurker]

Tru dat, Jimmy. Tru dat.

Not to mention the image of a child sick from lead paint, a miner with Black Lung, or a Polar Bear stranded on a chunk of ice. Once "benefits" can be delinked from "costs", all hell can break loose. Micro quickly becomes Macro.

[Old Lurker]

Bout that Swamp:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/02/mapping-swamp-report-finds-30000-feds-earn-more-than-any-governor.html

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

I do not understand why anyone would question deregulation contributing to more profitability.

Regulations cost businesses money, through time spent enforcing them, employees to fill out forms, paper and computers space used to keep track of what the government wants, and fines if there is a mistake. Why is this even disputable?

[Old Lurker]

MM "why anyone would question deregulation contributing to more profitability."

The guy was claiming no link proving an economy will grow if regulations are reduced. As he used the word, "growth" is good for people therefore not being able to prove the positive suggests the opposite is true thus Trump is hurting regular people.

Got it?

[Old Lurker]

Of course "profit" = bad.

[exdemocrat]

i have an economics degree but because it was so long ago i'm only expert in woolly-mammoth futures and fire-sharing.

[Jim Eagle]

MM,

I some ways they save lives as long as the businesses enforce them. I give you OSHA standards on construction practices. My old firm was a Safety First company who never needed OSHA since we were way ahead of them. We made money big time on Safety. (il.e. insurance and workmen's comp).

Trump knows that to and makes money having safe jobsites.

[Old Lurker]

Exdem, right at the end of the wooly mammoth and fire sharing chapter in your major, they explained the Tragedy of the Commons.

I got to that part, said "screw this common good stuff, I want to make money" and switched to Finance. When I graduated I saw that I had nonetheless passed enough Economics classes to qualify for that major too...but had any of my upper level course profs thought I was actually an Econ Major, they would have run me out of the building.

[Clarice Feldman]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5229189/Witness-says-Mueller-grand-jury-looks-like-Sanders-rally.html

[Old Lurker]

HNY, Clarice. You back from NYC?

Boy was it cold up there!

[lyle]

More of that "straight shootin'," from Mueller, Clarice...

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Jack,

I understand about OSHA and such, but those regulations are the types which save money and time, since accidents are costly.

I am talking about the regulations which require you to document how many males/females/transgenders you have, whether you have mandatory classes in sexual harassment, how much of you paper is recyclable, etc.

[Extraneus]

Fascinating summary of the moves that led to Mark Twain's bankruptcy.

(As with the 2nd half of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, there's no need to read on after the author switches gears.)

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-02/simple-wisdom-one-most-famous-people-ever-go-broke

[Jim Eagle]

Clarice,

I call BS on that Daily Mail story. When I served jury duty we were told to not wear anything that projected ideolougies or messages or profanity or any written statements. Especially a Grand Jury? What's your opinion on that?

[henry]

Thanks Clarice. Anyone think that jury pool convicts a single deep state drone for anything?

[Old Lurker]

Jack, at the mega business level like your company, savings on insurance and wComp alone were enough to make safety a profit center.

At the other end of the scale (mine), the accident injury would be insurable, but long term exposures, and environmental risks are either not insurable, were defaults in loan papers, or so limited in coverage such that a claim with enough zeros would bankrupt us as would the legal fees of defending against it. So we are super careful too but out of pure survival instinct. Happiest sub I have is my environmental screening engineer, who plays my fear like a violin.

No OSHA or EPA required to get me to behave either. Self Interest works every time it's tried.

[Marlene]

Sorry to go OT,but the daughter is freaking out. They are supposed to fly out of Ft. Myers tonight. Their plane is delayed,it is arriving from Chicago later. They are still here and think they will be stranded if they don't leave tonight. I just saw that the FSU campus in Tallahassee will be closed tomorrow. Jack,aren't you glad you stayed in Florida? :)
An ice storm in Jax!?! They are thinking of keeping their rental car and driving to DC tonight. :(

[narcisoyea]

They were doing repairs at home, including fixing a clicking sound on my furnace and other matters, nothing came of it.

[henry]

Marlene, more "too many planes for ATC" delays (aka planes flying through to Gitmo w/o id)? That slowed every departure at Ft Myers last week.

[exdemocrat]

LOL, OL ;-)

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
18m18 minutes ago

Congratulations to Senator Orrin Hatch on an absolutely incredible career. He has been a tremendous supporter, and I will never forget the (beyond kind) statements he has made about me as President. He is my friend and he will be greatly missed in the U.S. Senate!

[Marlene]

Henry,we think the flight out of Chicago is probably being de-iced. The son-in-law is Mr. Calm,the daughter needs another glass of wine. :)