Meanwhile, Back In Iraq...

Trump travels to Iraq as a Christmas surprise. Media coverage is not surprising.

Comments

[sbwaters]

Whoa! Look at what just arrived!

Oneth!

[henry]

Soledad OBrien seems particularly (typically?) dense on that topic:

https://twitter.com/SebGorka/status/1078115277370548224

[sbwaters]

AP’s DARLENE SUPERVILLE couldn’t find a lede if she had two hands and a compass. Plus she is snarky if you suggest the same.

Had to rewrite:

AL-ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq (AP) — In an unannounced trip to Iraq on Wednesday, President Donald Trump staunchly defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from neighboring Syria despite a drumbeat of criticism from military officials and allies who don't think the job fighting Islamic State militants there is over.

to be:

AL-ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq — In an unannounced trip to Iraq on Wednesday, President Donald Trump defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from neighboring Syria.

Trump, making his first presidential visit to troops in a troubled region, said it's because the U.S. military had all but eliminated IS-controlled territory in both Iraq and Syria that he decided to withdraw 2,000 forces from Syria. The militant group, also known as ISIS, has lost nearly all its territory in Iraq and Syria but is still seen as a threat.

Many in the national media, including the Associated Press, are reporting ​that critics of the U.S. exit from Syria suggest Trump's increasingly isolationist-style foreign policy would provide an opening for IS to regroup. Many are not reporting how Trump has negotiated with other Middle East players closer to the scene to step up their support.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Do jerks like Podhoretz and Kristol not understand that their comments and behavior breed contempt in everyone except the very few nevertrump cucks like them?
The Dems who support them do so with a not even mildly disguised contempt.
Perhaps Trump pays them to make him look like Prince Valiant on his steed by comparison.

[Extraneus]

-425

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

You can't fight the Fed.

The Fed is raising interest rates and will do so again.

Any questions?

[pagar]

Why?

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Does that mean why can't you fight the Fed, why is the Fed not done or just a general why are we here kind of thing?

[Narciso79]

Werent these the same people talking up Jerome Powell, except for crudele.

[henry]

narciso, their only consistency is in the outstreched palms and the sign saying "more$."

[Old Lurker]

I never assume nuthin regarding market moves in the last couple of weeks of any year.

And anybody who thought ZIRP would last forever never heard of "what cannot continue won't".

And anybody who thought ZIRP should continue failed Eco 3 if they ever took it.

[Captain Hate]

Do jerks like Podhoretz and Kristol not understand that their comments and behavior breed contempt in everyone except the very few nevertrump cucks like them?

Their tiny brains can't process why the magazine went out of business.

[Neo]

Now Russia warns Turkey to stay OUT of Syria and let Assad take back areas vacated by Trump's withdrawal of US troops as Erdogan's forces prepare attack

- Pictures show Turkish armoured vehicles being sent to the border with Syria
- Turkey 'determined' to clear US-allied Kurdish fighters from Manbij in Syria
- US president Donald Trump announced a pullout of troops from Syria last week
- Russia says it expects Syrian forces to take back areas vacated by US troops

[Jim Eagle]

OL,

You can't spell ZIRP without the Z, like in Zippy. That is why I continue to ask, where is his big mouth now taking credit for our current economy? It was all on his watch. He probably copied the Japanese because he heard they are always one step ahead of us:)

[Account Deleted]

keen-say :D

[Old Lurker]

Jack "It was all on his watch."

Tru Dat, but it was also very much on the final watch overseen by the truly derelict Congressional Oversight from both parties.

The truly lasting damage will be if, like future POTUSs who reflect on what Obama was able to do with the Intel Machinery and the DoJ, future POTUSs decide they too want to create phony money with phony values out of thin air just for their own political gain.

Jury is out on both fronts.

[Catsmeat]

Ah, caught up! I join rich in hoping everyone had a good Christmas--and Boxing Day! I thought all the videos and photos of the Trumps in Iraq were just lovely--you wonder how the naysayers find the material to say nay (from "ether"? from the inside of their diseased bowels? from Plumpy's lair on the Candyland game board?)

[Old Lurker]

I should also add that the "other" Check & Balance, the Judiciary Branch, is as culpable as the blind Congress in letting Obama get away with his crimes and abuses. O'care, Kelo, a FISA court holding a rubber stamp, Lower Courts intervening as if they are legislatures, and courts at all levels allowing blatant abuses to go unpunished have wreaked havoc on the system the Founders handed us.

[pagar]

It means why the Feds raising interest?

[Narciso79]

You mean the way JFK and lbj used them as their plaything?

[Jim Eagle]

The Fed raises interest rates, because they can, pagar. Its a power thing. And Ron Paul, and Old Hickory are idiots for even thinking about abolishing them.

[Jane]

The thing that blows my mind constantly is that the left doesn't care about how corrupt their leaders and press are. I'm sure many don't pay close enough attention, but enough do, and encourage it, that we have to be worried.

[Account Deleted]

them?

[Old Lurker]

"JFK and lbj used them as their plaything?"

What could be done with paper files in the age of carbon paper and onion skin paper bears no similarity to what can and is able to be abused these days.

[Narciso79]

IRS bureau company, (they had hunt survey goldwater)

[Old Lurker]

Orders of Magnitude, Narc.

[Narciso79]

As long as we have a possum Congress in one instance and honey badgers in the other.

[Narciso79]

I suppose, look at the UK was Tony Blair really that popular or did labour pull some levers of state.

[clarice]

https://lidblog.com/antisemitism-womens-march/
More about the Womens March

[jimmyk]

“Their tiny brains can't process why the magazine went out of business”

But the NYT and WaPo are feeding the ravenous appetites of their lefty readers. They don’t care how they look to the rest of the country. Their base is eating it up.

[Narciso79]

We know fusions predecessor was used to keep one emirate prince off the throne, much the way Mullen and Co (hunts paper employer operated) in south anerica.

[sbwaters]

Just threw another log on the fire and stirred the embers.

The JOMFires are still burning.

[Catsmeat]

Good idea, sbw--I'll go make a fire myself. Checked the weather and the rain that was here all night is to change to ice shortly. I've got lots of wood already in, luckily.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

It's 2.5% people! That is better than most other countries and will keep investment in U.S. Treasuries up. Not a bad thing for our govt. Not as good for other avenues of investment.

We have a growing economy and the best Xmas retail sales and on line sales in years. Now let's look at savings rates an investment, which until recently were on an upwards trend.

But at some point there is a need for stabilization. We are at that point. RE sales are cooling as is capital equipment.

China is both threatening and talking reducing barriers, so that one is complicated. New NAFTA will benefit our economy.

The TPP seems to be a lot of BS regardless so am not sure how that would benefit the US economy.

All in all, I think we are okay for now. The Fed talk really is, I think diversionary. Sort of like what Trump just did on his Xmas troop visit. Set them up and knock them down. Rope a dope.

[MissMarple2]

Rain has started here. I am supposed to go get older granddaughter shortly.

[Jim Eagle]

We have an angry sea at The Hammock. Going to go up to St. John Town Center, then stop in St. Augustine for the lights. Over a million lights around the town - Christmas special.

Read a Twitchy thread between Brit Hume, Alyssa Milano, and Montel Williams. When did Montel enter the insane asylum as permanent resident?

[JimNorCal]

Deplorable Don details Brit Hume piling on to Soledad O'Brien's lack of intelligence.
https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2018/12/brit-hume-owns-soledad-obrien.html

[Narciso79]

Around 1997, when he took up the Gary webb narrative, this was before teitter I think.

[Jim Eagle]

Words to live by:)

Gunfight Rules

"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading."

In a gunfight, the most important rule is ... HAVE A GUN!!!

These are shooting tips from various Concealed Carry Instructors. If you own a gun, you will appreciate these rules... If not, you should get one, learn how to use it and learn the rules.

RULES

A Guns have only two enemies: Rust and Politicians. Rust can be prevented, Politicians cannot.

B It's always better to be judged by 12 than carried out by 6.

C Cops carry guns to protect themselves, not you.

D Never let someone or something that threatens you get inside arm's length.

E Never say "I've got a gun." If you need to use deadly force, the first sound they should hear is the safety clicking off, or the hammer cocking.

F The average response time of a 911 call is 23 minutes; the response time of a .357 is 1,400 feet per second.

G The most important rule in a gunfight is: Always Win - there is no such thing as a fair fight. Always Win - cheat if necessary. Always Win - 2nd place doesn't count.

H Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets ... you may get killed with your own gun, but they'll have to beat you to death with it because it will be empty.

I If you're in a gun fight:

(a) If you're not shooting, you should be loading.

(b) If you're not loading, you should be moving.

(c) If you're not moving, you're dead.

J In a life and death situation, do something ... it may be wrong, but do something!

K If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. Nonsense! If you have a gun, what do you have to be paranoid about?

L Never fire a "warning shot", that is just one wasted bullet, which could be needed within moments.

M You can say "stop" or any other word, but a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much a universal language; and, you won't have to press 1 for Spanish/Mexican, or 2 for Chinese, or 3 for Arabic.

N Never leave a wounded enemy behind. If you have to shoot, shoot to kill. In court, yours will be the only testimony.

O You cannot save the planet, but you may be able to save yourself and your family.

If you believe in the 2nd Amendment, forward to others you know who also believe.

[MissMarple2]

https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/23/trump-brand-of-diplomacy

By Tomy Shaffer.

Now off to get granddaughter!

[Narciso79]

The irony here:

http://www.danielpipes.org/18644/tectonic-shifts-in-attitudes-toward-israel?fbclid=IwAR034wNt8YJL4qEX3j5Rt8HP0vU-R8UEN1CnlTRkqJ6Zy2SRPr8r02QuTDg

[jimmyk]

Brit Hume piling on to Soledad O'Brien's lack of intelligence.

I guess Brit was able to take a break from his pontificating about Trump's "low character."

https://twitter.com/jilevin/status/1078285010581549056

[JimNorCal]

I want to re-post ManTran's link to Bright Insight and add a couple comments. It's about 30 min and very well presented. Pitched at a correct level for an interested layman such as, well, many of us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMTTFLiOwX0

In such a tight schedule and with needed repetitions to help make the data stick, there are inevitably corners of the presentation that are not fully fleshed out. For example, the presenter notes the existence of large pyramids across the world (Central America, Cambodia, iow not just Egypt). Implication is that perhaps a common civilization or at least a common technology was used. But of course that would need lots more to make it plausible. Those pyramids look pretty different in shape and layout. Are the best-guess dating within some sort of similar range? And other questions, on and on. It's a throw-away observation, not a rigorously defended hypothesis. Similarly, the presenter claims that in all the known Egyptian papyri, there is no written discussion of the pyramids. This is support for the possibility that Egyptians did NOT build the Pyramids, instead, a prior culture did the work. This is well enough, but although I have no background on the topics discussed by the surviving Egyptian documents and wall paintings, one assumes that Egyptians would at least notice the existence of pyramids. Even if not built by them, the massive structures are pretty noteworthy.

All in all:
1) Lots of cool info
2) Well presented as an example of confirmation bias in the scientific community

If you google "bright insight" in YouTube you'll see that other presentations are on topics like Atlantis and other more "out there" topics. There are also some "bright insight debunked" presentations that are probably worth looking at if you find the topics of interest, so that you can see the quality of the "anti" arguments.

[Buckeye]

I guess Brit was able to take a break from his pontificating about Trump's "low character."

Most of my buddies fall in the "deplorable" camp and have exhibited "low character" behavior, like Trump, at one time or another.

They also would be very capable of adding P, Q, R ....etc. to JiB's "Gunfight Rules".

When the shit hits the fan, I know who I would want covering my 6.

Just sayin'

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--It means why the Feds raising interest?--

The problem with doing the wrong thing for a long time is it begins to feel normal.
ZIRP is not normal. It's artificial and it has caused great harm and greatly reduced wealth building.
In place of wealth creation and productive investment it fosters speculative asset bubbles.
Until the Fed stops artificially lowering the price of money it will never flow where it should and would were the Fed not interfering with the free market.

[MissMarple2]

Granddaughter here, so will post intermittently. We got her first load of laundry in.

Brit can stuff it with his low character observations. I seem to remember he himself has been divorced and remarried, and he aligns with the Bush camp, which are people who are very good at putting on a respectable front while covering who knows what.

[jimmyk]

ZIRP is not normal. It's artificial and it has caused great harm and greatly reduced wealth building.

As Japan found out the hard way. You'd think we'd have learned the right lesson from their experience, but it's amazing how people can tie themselves into knots to read success into failure. They did it here with QE123, which the Fed people are convinced really helped.

[Old Lurker]

Iggy, it is not just the cost of money the Fed has screwed up, it is the supply of it too. Flooding the zone with buckets and buckets of cash AND at zero interest rates as a house warming gift to Obama beginning in 2008 is a present that will take years and years to pay off. The market dislocations have been enormous.

[Old Lurker]

Jimmy "You'd think we'd have learned the right lesson from their experience,"

We are like the Bourbons who "forget nothing and learn nothing", except we forget everything.

[MissMarple2]

Big Arms Scandal: ICYMI: docs uncovered by @JudicialWatchW
show the Obama Admin was aware that arms were going to Syria through Benghazi, that they were warned about the rise of ISIS, and that they were supporting terrorists in Syria. https://t.co/2L30dJSmpn pic.twitter.com/3s3UeagbXk

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) December 27, 2018

Video at link.

[MissMarple2]

Then I ran across this thread, with a series of screen caps of Mahmoud Ahmandinejad, the former President of Iran, which is sounding like be's become a Deplorable or something:

https://twitter.com/GeorgeMNasif/status/1078022116639891456

The news is certainly strange.

[Pinandpuller]

You folks talking about the Fed should also remember:

Once is happenstance

Twice is coincide

Thrice is enemy action

[Pinandpuller]

Anybody object to turning some Jesuit auditors loose on the Fed? If they're not too busy getting back to IIG Huber that is.

[clarice]

Brennan is still at it:https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/investigations/article219016820.html

[Neo]

Bloomberg, who said he has yet to make his decision on a 2020 run, has appeared in Iowa, where he also focused on climate change and going up against the coal industry.

"I can tell you one thing, I don't know whether I'm going to run or not, but I will be out there demanding that anybody that's running has a plan," he said in the "Meet the Press" interview. "And I want to hear the plan, and I want everybody to look at it and say whether it's doable."

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/27/bloomberg-2020-climate-change-1076362

[Neo]

I believe I once saw Cohen with Sasquatch

[Narciso79]

Or manbearpig.

[Old Lurker]

"Brennan is still at it"

Brennan should be so up to his eyeballs in Depositions, Grand Juries, Discoveries, Motions, Hearings, Trials, and Sentencing Hearings et al that he would be washing dishes in his spare time to pay his lawyers' paralegal bills rather than continuing to undermine Trump.

[D]

Just saw Mary Poppins-delightful movie!
Highly recommend it.
Cameos by Angels Landsbury, and Dick Van Dyke.
I don’t ascribe to the doom and gloom assigned to our young people.
They are not all ultra liberals.
I have taught recently and my original group will graduate this year.
Lovely girls and are now becoming mature young women.
Also don’t think President Trump has been marginalized.
He is going forward like a heat seeking middle.
They will not bring him down.
I don’t listen to negative news or read nasty people on Twitter.
The talking point was chaos for all prog news stations.
When it is the same word and message you know it is manufactured and fake.
Just watch the Apprentice and you will learn when it is time for Trump to fire someone.
They are not doing the job he needs them to do.He will fire them when that time arrives.It is no big deal and I ignore the fake media and their false spin on it.
Having a great Christmas season.
Remember joy can be found each day in the wonderful people who enrich our lives.
Thank you MM and Pagar for heartwarming posts and messages of hope.

[D]

Middle should be missile.

[Pinandpuller]

What do you tip the Attorney General of New York when he totes your Russian hooker upstairs? That's at least a twenty.

[D]

OL:
Totally agree wrt Brennan.
Karma is going to catch-up with him soon.
I can practice patience.
I find it fascinating that Tom Fitton and Judicial Watch appears to be the only group that can get to the truth.
Rand Paul questioned Hillary about missiles and Syria and Benghazi back when she made her heartless “.
What Difference At This Point Does it Make?”That is the moment ( I saw it live) whenI thought I have to pray and move heavenand earth to make sure this witch is never President.
Agree with JamesD:
We are blessed in the stupidity of our opponents.

[D]

Over 40 Dems considering running for President.
These people delusional.
Bloomberg will never be President.
Who is he kidding?

[Neo]

For helping ensure Brett Kavanaugh's ascension to the Supreme Court, Michael Avenatti is hereby named a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year!

[D]

Neo:
That is so ironic.Kavanaugh and his family suffered so much abuse.
I am grateful he remained strong as did the faith President Trump had for him.
It was the first time I saw some members of the Senate as truly awful people with no principles or moral conscience.
How sad that they still represent us.

[Pinandpuller]

I want one know more about the teacher in Milwaukee who doesn't know you can't get your naked Snapchat pics back.

[henry]

Pin... a Milwaukee teacher is:

1. Union
2. Certified by the DPI (until next week run by Gov Elect Evers)
3. A dismal failure a preparing students for anything beyond SNAP and jail.

[D]

Henry:
What a shame.
I just remember them getting phony doctor notes so that they could skip school and their students to rally against Walker in the Capitol.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Flooding the zone with buckets and buckets of cash AND at zero interest rates as a house warming gift to Obama beginning in 2008 is a present that will take years and years to pay off.--

OK, but let's not forget they did it in response to a catastrophe they created under Bush.
Wall Street, Fannie and Freddie and the CRA plus blinkered buyers all had their part in the run up to 09 but it would have been a minor event absent the original sin of the Fed providing a credit bubble to begin with.

The one problem we supposedly got a central bank to mitigate is now the one problem is just keeps making bigger.

[henry]

Ig, step back and note the bubble followed Clinton’s dot com fun (and bust) then 9/11 before the W bubble kicked off.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
56m56 minutes ago

The Democrats OBSTRUCTION of the desperately needed Wall, where they almost all recently agreed it should be built, is exceeded only by their OBSTRUCTION of 350 great people wanting & expecting to come into Government after being delayed for more than two years, a U.S. record!

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
53m53 minutes ago

The reason the DACA for Wall deal didn’t get done was that a ridiculous court decision from the 9th Circuit allowed DACA to remain, thereby setting up a Supreme Court case. After ruling, Dems dropped deal - and that’s where we are today, Democrat obstruction of the needed Wall.

[Another Bob]

Re. the Milwaukee teacher, he’s male going after females. Book will be thrown at him.

Female going after males? No biggie. Slap on the wrist.

[Old Lurker]

Happy to include GOPe in all of our macro-financial sins in the last two + decades, Iggy. All the R Presidents including so far Trump for the spending too.

[Old Lurker]

+250

[Captain Hate]

Market's closing UP again.
-----
Every time PDT tells a child Santa doesn't exist, the market rises a thousand points!

Posted by: andycanuck at December 27, 2018 04:02 PM (Evws/)

[D]

OL and CH:
Yes the market is on a roll.
Hope you both had a wonderful Christmas!

[D]

Endthe shutdown.
Tell the Dems no back pay for furloughed workers.

[Old Lurker]

Would not call it a roll, Maryrose.

Just messin with the little people.

[Neo]

BOSTON — Attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told a federal appeals court Thursday that his convictions or death sentence should be tossed because the judge refused to move the case out of the city where the bombs exploded, making it impossible for him to get a fair trial.

[clarice]

Market shivs the shoe clerks.

[Extraneus]

The Washington Examiner's RSS feed is apparently broken. This has been the top headline since Monday:

Michelle Obama's boots: the unabashedly feminine decadence that fashion needed

[Old Lurker]

So Andrew Malcolm at Hot Air thinks the Fed should keep rates low because the US Government has a lot of debt.

Cry me a river.

"President Trump has harshly criticized the Federal Reserve in recent weeks for inching up the standard interest rate to guard against rising inflation and threatening the four percent economic growth rate the billionaire likes to brag about.

Here’s another reason: The higher interest rates on your credit card balances and car loans also apply to the federal government’s borrowing. That federal borrowing is huge, no, HUGE –about one million dollars every single minute of every single day."

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Ig, step back and note the bubble followed Clinton’s dot com fun (and bust) then 9/11 before the W bubble kicked off.--

Yes indeed, henry.
I well remember doofus Greenspan flooding the economy with liquidity which was supposed to somehow make the catastrophe of Y2K more bearable.
It certainly made it more bearable for pea and thimble men like Mark Cuban who cashed out on all the chumps they could find.

The ludicrously insipid idea that the Fed should be charged with a second mandate to maximize employment has morphed predictably into the even more ludicrous idea the Fed has the sense to manage the business cycle.

[James D.]

Wow, Ext.

I just don't even know where to start with that article.

[Old Lurker]

Via Daily Wire:

https://www.dailywire.com/news/39725/explosive-report-says-wapo-reporter-killed-saudi-hank-berrien

A new report asserts that Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, may have been a foreign agent working for the government of Qatar in order to change U.S. policy against Saudi Arabia and in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Writing in The Federalist, Jim Hanson, president of Security Studies Group and a former member of U.S. Special Forces, notes that the Post admitted in an article on December 21 that an executive at Qatar Foundation International worked with Khashoggi to influence Khashoggi’s columns so they aggressively targeted the Saudi government. The Post wrote, “Text messages between Khashoggi and an executive at Qatar Foundation International show that the executive, Maggie Mitchell Salem, at times shaped the columns he submitted to The Washington Post, proposing topics, drafting material and prodding him to take a harder line against the Saudi government.” Hanson notes, “The Qatar Foundation denies they were paying him to produce the anti-Saudi material.”

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
1h1 hour ago

“Border Patrol Agents want the Wall.” Democrat’s say they don’t want the Wall (even though they know it is really needed), and they don’t want ICE. They don’t have much to campaign on, do they? An Open Southern Border and the large scale crime that comes with such stupidity!

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
41m41 minutes ago

There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!

[Extraneus]

Yes, James, it was a tour de force from beginning to end.

[Old Lurker]

"The ludicrously insipid idea that the Fed should be charged with a second mandate to maximize employment has morphed predictably into the even more ludicrous idea the Fed has the sense to manage the business cycle."

Look what magic the Federal Government worked with but two words in the Constitution: "General Welfare".

Shazammmm

[MissMarple2]

I totally agree! https://t.co/KO8E3bfWfn

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2018

Link goes to a re=tweet of an Obama quote from his SOTU speech. HA!

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
36m36 minutes ago

Brad Blakeman: “The American people understand that we have been played by foreign actors who would rather have us fight their battles for them. The Pesident says look, this is your neighborhood, you’ve got to stand up to protect yourselves. Don’t always look to America.”

============================
I am pleasantly surprised this came from Brad Blakeman.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
25m25 minutes ago

Brad Blakeman: “The American people understand that we have been played by foreign actors who would rather have us fight their battles for them. The President says look, this is your neighborhood, you’ve got to stand up to protect yourselves. Don’t always look to America.”
==============================
Corrected tweet because he misspelled "President."

[Old Lurker]

MM, just so you know, I am beginning to think Trump's incessant tweets all saying the same thing about Dems and the wall are not helping what people think of him and his management style. Tell me something new...like how you are going to deal with that reality which we all knew months ago.

[jimmyk]

The one problem we supposedly got a central bank to mitigate is now the one problem is just keeps making bigger.

Nothing new under the sun. The Fed was chartered in 1913 after the panic of 1907. A mere 16 years later it failed at exactly what it was formed to do.

[Old Lurker]

...waiting for my knuckles to be cracked with a ruler.

[jimmyk]

End the shutdown.

Geez, maryrose, you want to stop the rally in its tracks?

[Another Bob]

Interesting thread on Mattis.

Why do we not hear this stuff sooner?

And did anyone else hear about the deal between Mattis, Tillerson and Mnuchin?

https://twitter.com/stuinsd/status/1078301103547129857?s=21

[Jim Eagle]

Here is the Wine Spectator's No. 1 out of 100 wine of the year:

Thenuta San Guido Bolgheri-Sassicaia Sassicaia -
Rich and concentrated, this red features black currant, blackberry, violet, mineral and spice flavors. Dense yet lively, structured yet impeccably balanced, with vibrant acidity driving the long, fruit-filled aftertaste. The oak is beautifully integrated. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2023 through 2042. 17,200 cases made. —BS
2015 97 $245

I want you to envision taking a small dram of this wine, swirl it around in your mouth and come to a literary conclusion like the above. First of all what does violet taste like? And have you ever seen or tasted an "integrated oak".

This is why, you must buy and drink wines you appreciate without all the platitudes that are made up like that guy from Der Spiegel.

[Old Lurker]

"End the shutdown"? I think every single day Trump should lay off another 5,000 Fed employees. And tell them all that wages not paid will only be funded out of any surplus that might exist when the current fiscal year ends next October.