Althouse: Howard Kurtz observes the obvious about the media grudgingly noting the obvious.

December 21, 2017

Howard Kurtz observes the obvious about the media grudgingly noting the obvious.

"Media start admitting that Trump's first year isn't a flop."

203 comments:

1 – 200 of 203 Newer› Newest»

David Begley said...: Here's how 2018 shapes up for the Dems.

Economy grows at 4% plus. Wages increase.

Crime down.

Mueller fully discredited. Point Shaver Strzok and others indicted. McCabe and others out at the FBI.

The new Untouchables go after Hillary on her private email server.

Iran deal investigated by Congress.

Indicted IT worker for DWS rats DWS and others out. Bribes paid. Major spying by Iran via House IT worker revealed. DWS defeated and then indicted.

Chris Hayes or Rachel Maddow break down on air.

Dem party ruined for a generation.

America made great again.; 12/21/17, 8:57 AM
Tank said...: Considering the forces arrayed against him, our President has had a huge year. Yuuuuuge I tell ya.

Really.

He makes me happy.

He won't get nearly the credit he deserves.; 12/21/17, 8:58 AM
rehajm said...: Those of us who saw this coming and didn’t hedge support in face of overwhelming adversity are vindicated.

Bad guys hardest hit.; 12/21/17, 9:04 AM
M Jordan said...: Trump is changing the world. Whether by design, force of personality, luck, the zeitgeist, the people’s will, Obama-recoil ... I know not but Trump is changing the world. Buffalo Springfield said it best: “There’s something happening here ...”. But what it is is very clear ...

Trump.; 12/21/17, 9:08 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: The best Christmas ever would be some firings at the corrupted FBI.

Strozk, McCabe and Ohr - you first.; 12/21/17, 9:10 AM
Unknown said...: Access Denied

You don't have permission to access

"http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/21/hell-freezes-over-media-start-admitting-7that-trumps-first-year-isnt-flop.html" on this server.

Reference #18.9ec2c5ad.1513869265.844f660; 12/21/17, 9:15 AM
Luke Lea said...: I notice Scott Adams predicts that the Democrats will make gains in 2018. If so, Republican control of the Senate is likely to be lost, which means that Trump will find it impossible to get major legislation passed on his signature issues of trade and immigration.

My prediction is that trade and immigration will become the major issues going into the fall and that Trump will campaign heavily in the primaries and general election in behalf of them. It could be 2016 all over again.; 12/21/17, 9:16 AM
alan markus said...: So will the predicted financial Armageddon happen before or after the predicted baking of disenfranchised people in Nazi style ovens or the predicted random pussy grabbing of girls and women by men empowered by Trump? It is hard to keep up with all these "expert" predictions that the left generates.; 12/21/17, 9:20 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: The state level GOP better get their act together. If they keep giving us Roy Moore and Todd Akin, we really will be screwed.
No reason why we cannot beat Claire McCatkill(D) In red state MO.; 12/21/17, 9:22 AM
Bob Boyd said...: The Republicans largely squandered a year of controlling both houses due to the fears and resentments of the NeverTrump crowd. Hopefully this taste of victory will encourage them going forward.; 12/21/17, 9:26 AM
Wince said...: "Howard Kurtz observes the obvious about the media grudgingly noting the obvious..."

That the obnoxious Trump has obviated the obstreperous and obstinate opposition.; 12/21/17, 9:27 AM
tcrosse said...: Please do not immanentize the eschaton.; 12/21/17, 9:31 AM
Nonapod said...: Trump has had a pretty good year considering the unprecedented level of opposition he's faced across the board and despite his ceaselessly provoking of said opposition. He's the weirdest president ever, the most unpresidential, and yet still surprisingly effective.

As for 2018, I'm not going to assume or predict anything other than more weirdness. My tract record is pretty bad on that sort of thing. I'll just say that I don't fully trust a lot of the polls, but voters are notoriously fickle towards incumbent parties when it comes to mid term elections. Even if the economy continues to do very well and a majority of voters see more money in their paychecks with this new tax bill, anything can happen.; 12/21/17, 9:33 AM
Achilles said...: The results of 2018 will depend on the levels of voter fraud the democrats are allowed to get away with.

The recent Alabama election is already looking fishy.; 12/21/17, 9:41 AM
madAsHell said...: Yeah....but Obama had Cash for Clunkers!!; 12/21/17, 9:42 AM
Sebastian said...: Expectations were set so low, Trump was bound to exceed them.

I mean, when Krugman predicted markets would never recover from Trump's election, you knew prog stupidity would play into his hands.

Of course, none of them will learn from what they "grudgingly admit." Besides the economy, it's the one advantage the GOP has as it confronts the coming Dem wave.

Advice to Trump: baiting the MSM and not turning the other cheek on prog BS is all well and good, but consider women's feelings. Nice soccer moms and retirees in heartland suburbs will determine your success.; 12/21/17, 9:43 AM
cubanbob said...: Howard Kurtz admits that the mainstream propagandist have gone online and noticed the realized and unrealized gains in their portfolios.; 12/21/17, 9:47 AM
Gahrie said...: If so, Republican control of the Senate is likely to be lost,

Doubtful, given the seats in play. The fever dreams I've seen predict the House might turn, which is more likely, and historically likely.; 12/21/17, 9:49 AM
cubanbob said...: Obama's first year: Shovel ready stimulus bullshit and cash for clunkers. Trump's first year: tax rate reductions and regulatory rollbacks. Contrast and compare.; 12/21/17, 9:50 AM
Gahrie said...: I predict that Trump starts a fight with the Dems in Congress over immigration next Summer, and the Republicans gain seats in the Senate and keep their majority in the House.; 12/21/17, 9:56 AM
Dude1394 said...: Scott Adams smiles.

And of all the prognosticators out there, I would listen to Mr Adams.; 12/21/17, 9:57 AM
eric said...: I see a media that let Obama blame Bush for every bad thing that happened during his first six years in office.

I see a media that lets Obama take credit for Trump's first year in office.

Y'all are absolutely crazy if you think this is going to last. The media won't let it. It'll take direct divine intervention for Trump to continue making gains in the White House and our country to keep from descending into a deep recession. The media, the Democrats, the bureaucracy, and foreign powers will all be working together to destroy this president. Oh, and #NeverTrump will help too.

Enjoy these victories while they last.; 12/21/17, 9:58 AM
Drago said...: David Begley: "Here's how 2018 shapes up for the Dems."
Careful!

That list of positive outcomes for our nation is likely to severely depress LLR Chuck and send him back to therapy involving continuous re-reading of The Atlantic as well as Jen Rubin columns.; 12/21/17, 9:58 AM
Drago said...: Unknown: "Scott Adams smiles.

And of all the prognosticators out there, I would listen to Mr Adams."

Nonsense! LLR Chuck has dutifully informed us that Adams is a fool and we should read the NYT et al if we are to be truly "informed".; 12/21/17, 10:01 AM
mockturtle said...: I saw a meme yesterday to the effect that, It's easy to be a Progressive. I can just repeat what I hear on MSNBC and CNN and if anyone disagrees, I can call them a racist. ['fascist' would work as well].; 12/21/17, 10:01 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Those who support Trump are gonna have to fight to preserve the GOP edge in the House. It's more of a historical, structural challenge, than something unique to Trump. The tax cuts, though, give him a fighting chance.; 12/21/17, 10:06 AM
tim in vermont said...: The Senate is going to be a tough row to hoe for Democrats given the map this time around. Even if they have a wave, without W’s unpopular war, with the economy humming, with savers getting a real return on their savings, with low unemployment, I just don’t see how Democrats are going to turn his refusal to allow an uncontested flood of illegal aliens into the US, and his Tweeting style, into a wave of those proportions.

This will be a real test for the media to see if they can deliver that wave.; 12/21/17, 10:12 AM
Lyle Smith said...: Trump is going to be the most successful President of our lifetime. Certainly the most sui generis... as the intelligentsia say. Garner you some!; 12/21/17, 10:14 AM
tim in vermont said...: On the other hand, the Democrats will probably be able to pile higher margins in the blue states, which are irrelevant, since they are never in play, which is why Trump was able to do this.; 12/21/17, 10:15 AM
Saint Croix said...: Access Denied

Here's some access denied music for you.; 12/21/17, 10:18 AM
Saint Croix said...: Also there's an access denied movie.

A beautiful computer programmer is framed by her fraudulent lover and sent to prison. When she gets out she agrees to cooperate with a scheme of a fellow-inmate to defraud a bank, in order to have enough money to escape from her (by then) ex-lover. At the bank she falls in love with a co-worker and befriends a female co-worker who sleeps with her boss. Unfortunately when she has activated the program that will embezzle the money her ex-lover finds her…

Access Denied More fun than a Howard Kurtz interview!; 12/21/17, 10:22 AM
Michael K said...: I notice Scott Adams predicts that the Democrats will make gains in 2018. If so, Republican control of the Senate is likely to be lost,

I think the Dims will pick up 20+ seats in the House. but the Senate would take a landslide.

I don't see either flipping. Unless the GOPe kills more legislation,; 12/21/17, 10:23 AM
Rumpletweezer said...: This is a rerun of the Reagan years. Almost all of my friends and acquaintances prospered during the 80s. More than half of them complained about the economy the whole time. I asked some of them why they thought the economy was so bad. They read about it in the papers.; 12/21/17, 10:29 AM
Will said...: C'mon Kurtz is just being silly...

Life is not like baseball or the law where the spectators wait breathlessly to see whether the umpire called a ball or strike..

Life is where each individual calls the balls and strikes.

Kurtz seems to think the world waits breathlessly on a restless media majority afflicted by ADD to make these calls...

Due to technology we no longer need or want nor care to wait for whatever steaming pile of "narrative" the media serves up..

I bet Ann Althoue has as much pull in setting narrative as any journalist today.

Someday the polls and the media will catch on...; 12/21/17, 10:34 AM
buwaya said...: I continue pessimistic.
And this is not re Trump specifically.
Trump is a collective phenomenon, the usual counter-entropic reformist wave that periodically hits polities in long term decline. Study your Gibbon ("Decline and Fall") and you will find quite a few noble Romans, and many Romanized barbarians too, that held back collapse for a while.

But the fundamental illnesses are still there and incurable. You see this stuff displayed right here, cases in point of perverted virtues or perversion of thought and worldview, that no Trump can fix. Trump as a phenomenon is a rallying of ancient virtues that as yet are not completely expunged, but are inexorably weakening. Every rally will be weaker, will have lost some of its points of strength (as Trump has lost many traditional ideas of personal morality), and each subsequent depth will be lower.

And on these matters material prosperity is an illusion.

It is frustrating that one can lead horses to water - to read Gibbon, say - even among what should be intelligent people they cannot be persuaded to drink. One can even address them directly, personally, and there is no way through the blank wall. You cannot persuade against the zeitgeist. It will have to collapse first.; 12/21/17, 10:35 AM
Kevin said...: I notice Scott Adams predicts that the Democrats will make gains in 2018. If so, Republican control of the Senate is likely to be lost,

I agree this is a long shot, but let's address the elephant in the room. People think this would somehow hamper Trump, leaving him wandering around the White House with nothing to do.

That's just fever dreams of the left. If they can't get him impeached, they want him cut off and isolated where he can't do anything. Like Obama, they picture.

But Obama was an ideologue, and as pointed out time and again on this very blog, Trump isn't. Give the Dems both Houses and Trump would still get things done. Infrastructure spending? Yes. Help for the inner cities? Yes. Trade deals the unions like? Of course.

He looks like a Conservative hardliner right now only because the Dems refuse to deal, so he's working down his Conservative list of stuff to do. Should the Dems find a way to take over, he has a Liberal list of things to do as well.

He's a dealmaker, not an ideologue.; 12/21/17, 10:36 AM
Saint Croix said...: What Althouse calls the Reckoning is really just

Access Denied; 12/21/17, 10:37 AM
Saint Croix said...: oh shit it's working now

never mind

back to normal!; 12/21/17, 10:39 AM
mockturtle said...: Rumpletweezer reports: This is a rerun of the Reagan years. Almost all of my friends and acquaintances prospered during the 80s.

Up until October 17, 1987, at least. We lost $50K overnight when $50K was not to be sneezed at.; 12/21/17, 10:41 AM
Jersey Fled said...: I don't know whether Trump is brilliant or just the luckiest SOB on earth, but I sense a sea change here.

It started with a full frontal attack on the MSM. Now nobody believes a thing they say, and their reaction has been to double down on stupid and become more and more unhinged. Call it battlefield prep.

Then add in concrete accomplishments like the Gorsuch nomination, regulatory reform, a substantial reduction in illegal immigration, and more recent things like tax reform. And the Democrats respond with a phoney investigation into Russian collusion.

Step by step by step. This is a guy who knows what needs to get done and is doing it. Under the cover of a tweet storm that has the Democrats reenforcing Calais instead of Normandy.

I need more popcorn.; 12/21/17, 10:43 AM
Saint Croix said...: boy that link is really working now

quick!

and it won't say no to anybody; 12/21/17, 10:45 AM
Diogenes of Sinope said...: I voted for Trump hoping for better judicial appointments than what I expected with Clinton. He has far exceeded this low bar.; 12/21/17, 10:47 AM
tim in vermont said...: I used to work doing stoop labor on a truck farm, as they used to be called. I was pretty young, and one time the boss gave us all hoes and assigned us each a row to hoe. Mine didn’t have very many weeds (mostly grass) compared to the others and I actually said something about it to the boss. I didn’t want to take his money under false pretenses. He said: “Be happy!” After that, I knew what an easy row to hoe was, and by extrapolation, understood the root of the saying.

Little poaching on Laslo’s territory there, sorry.; 12/21/17, 10:50 AM
Random Onlooker said...: Heh. Over at Bloomberg Jonathan Bernstein is trying to convince readers that the "Trump has accomplished little" narrative is correct, because DJT didn't pen the tax bill himself, he lucked into a bunch of judicial vacancies, and his even his executive orders are written by others. You can't make this stuff up!

Meanwhile, my inbox is overflowing with dire missives from The New Republic and HuffPo announcing "Sadly, Trump is Winning" and "The Tax Bill Spells the End of the Obama Era".

Hmmmmmm.....; 12/21/17, 10:50 AM
Owen said...: It is a 2000 meter crew race to reach 2020. The first 500 is done; a high rate and unsustainable but it has created a half-boat-length lead. Now the GOP has to settle the pace and lengthen the stroke: fewer tactical failures like Moore, more structural and long-cycle effort like the tax reform. Get out into the communities and listen, explain, innovate, translate political will into action.; 12/21/17, 10:53 AM
tim in vermont said...: I don’t know whether Trump is brilliant or just the luckiest SOB on earth, but I sense a sea change here.

I can’t figure it out either, he is either the luckiest SOB on the planet, like you said, or so much smarter than me that all I can do is sit back and watch. Logically, it’s sort of impossible for me to know which it is.

Up until October 17, 1987, at least. We lost $50K overnight when $50K was not to be sneezed at.

You only lost it if you sold into the maw of the panic. My in-laws took all of their money out of the stock market the day that Trump was elected, on account of “We are doomed!” Too bad, because they have always been lousy planners, and they sure could have used the bump in their 401Ks.; 12/21/17, 10:54 AM
Owen said...: Jersey Fled: bingo.; 12/21/17, 10:56 AM
MaxedOutMama said...: But what about all the bodies in the streets?

This sort of thing can get your car keyed in many areas.; 12/21/17, 10:57 AM
tim in vermont said...: The Dems have built most of their confidence on Charlottesville, which affected the VA race, even though the governor didn’t really get that higher of a margin than Hillary did in that state, still, they shouted from the rafters that it was a wave, and Lolitagate in Alabama.

Those are two one-offs, where the Democrats were able to focus national resources on local races. We will see what happens in this election, although, given historic precedents, the Dems flipping the House is probable, but not a certainty whatsoever.; 12/21/17, 10:58 AM
Humperdink said...: "I don't know whether Trump is brilliant or just the luckiest SOB on earth."

Interesting comment.

My take:
> Trump has the right enemies (Pelosi, Schemer).
> Trump does not look at things through the DC lens.
> Trump doesn't care what the press thinks of him and responds in kind.
> Trumps knows how to play his hand, even if it's weak.
> Trump does follow Obambi's advice: "you bring knife, we bring a gun" (except Trump brings a howitzer). His supporters love that.; 12/21/17, 11:04 AM
buwaya said...: The Moore thing on the part of the GOPe was not a tactical failure but a strategic success. You just have to look at where their interests lie.

The point is to keep Trump from taking away the powers and privileges of the system. The tax bill had to go through this year because the fallout of Alabama and other matters would prevent it later, and the tax bill was the only populist thing with enough elitist support to get through. With enough Democrat support, even, to keep opposition pro-forma.

What, you think all of this whining is in earnest? I pointed out, months ago, statements by Citybanks CEO urging this on, and complaining about wasting time. The Democrats are owned by these people.; 12/21/17, 11:05 AM
William said...: The only downside is that Obama's disastrous environmental policies culminated in those hurricanes and the fires in California.; 12/21/17, 11:06 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: I don't know whether Trump is brilliant or just the luckiest SOB on earth.....

It's a lotta luck, not such much brilliance, but more relentless doggedness, I'd say. He's like Arnold in The Terminator - he just keeps coming. Doesn't care about low poll numbers, doesn't care about outlandish tweets, just keeps coming.

The 3rd debate with Hillary, when he apologized for the "Grab 'em by the pussy" video, and attacked Hillary as an enabler of Bill, shows you his tenacity.; 12/21/17, 11:06 AM
James K said...: He won't get nearly the credit he deserves.

He will with the voters, which is what matters, no matter what the polls say.

Pollster: "You don't approve of that maniac Trump's performance in office, right?"

Voter: "Yes, in fact..."

Pollster: "I'll take that as agreement, thank you for your time."

Voter: "But..." [click]; 12/21/17, 11:10 AM
Witness said...: Unexpectedly.; 12/21/17, 11:11 AM
Unknown said...: The progressives have nothing to say since the economy is expanding and ISIS decimated in Syria and Iraq. SO they engage in personal attacks. THat may prevail in some instances, see Moore, Roy, and in other instances can gin up a false narrative, see collusion, Russia, but not much more than that. Staking a campaign on "I hate him" feels good but goes nowhere. The problem is they have nothing else to say.; 12/21/17, 11:11 AM
mockturtle said...: Bay Area Guy: I used to play a computer game called Wild Metal Country. While there were defensive weapons available, I never used them. I attacked. Rather than hiding from and eluding the enemy, I sought them out and destroyed them. My scores were phenomenal. :-); 12/21/17, 11:12 AM
William said...: I don't think Trump's or, for that matter, Reagan's success was due to some unique brilliance. To paraphrase Napoleon, it's better to be right than smart.......On the other hand, it takes a certain amount of intelligence and persuasive ability to convince the American public that this new tax plan is Phase One of the Apocalypse.; 12/21/17, 11:13 AM
John henry said...: Even Inga seems to be softening her opposition.

I predict that in 6 months she will be fully onboard.

Can a picture of her in a maga hat be far behind?

John Henry; 12/21/17, 11:14 AM
tim in vermont said...: I am not comparing Trump to Einstein IQ-wise here, or anything, but there is one thing they have in common. They trusted their findings, no matter what the rest of the world thought. “Space is curved? Your shitting me!”,“Time dilates? Shut! Up!”; 12/21/17, 11:23 AM
rehajm said...: I don't know whether Trump is brilliant or just the luckiest SOB on earth.

All he had to do is locate the low hanging fruit and pick it.; 12/21/17, 11:24 AM
gadfly said...: "Media start admitting that Trump's first year isn't a flop," says Howie Kurtz. But when you get into the dirty details, even Howie notes ongoing criticisms not withdrawn and then he cites only Mike Allen and Jim VandelHei over at Axios as his single source. A quick tune-in to CNN or MSNBC will quickly disabuse Kurtz's oversimplified, easy-to-write-about-to-meet-a-deadline article and accompanying video.; 12/21/17, 11:34 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: rehajm said...
I don't know whether Trump is brilliant or just the luckiest SOB on earth."

I saw a tweet featuring a headline from 1986 about "Reagan's luck."

When things go right for Democrat presidents, the media hails them as "brilliant."

When things go right for GOP presidents, the media hails them as "lucky."; 12/21/17, 11:35 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: I don't know whether Trump is brilliant or just the luckiest SOB on earth.

Also, Trump is lucky in his opponents:

1. In the primaries: he had the feeble Jeb Bush! -- who had millions of dollars, all the institutional support, all the name recognition, but no guts or principles.

2. NeverTrumpers: Theoretical conservatives like George Will and William Kristol, who read and write (but not much else), and insist that Trump really isn't a true "Conservative"

3. The Left: Overreaching, hysterical, pussy-hat wearin' folks, who still - a full year later - cannot accept the electoral results, because the NY Times, the polls and Nate Silver ASSURED them that Hillary would win. Between cappucinos at Starbucks, they go around mutterin', "Putin!"

So, Trump is lucky in the sheer insanity and incompetence of his opposition.; 12/21/17, 11:36 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Opps, should be “the media hail them.”; 12/21/17, 11:37 AM
n.n said...: This was the year of the media flop-flip-and-flop some more. The bullhorn prosecutions, the wild speculation and prevarication, the random acts of diversity (e.g. racism, sexism, congruence), have rendered journolists of the fourth estate virtually nonviable, but they persist.; 12/21/17, 11:39 AM
buwaya said...: I believe the tax bill was by far the easiest legislative measure the Republicans could have worked on, as even the Democrats own backers are largely on board, even the critics. Its certainly not unwelcome to the real owners of Silicon Valley.

Its telling that this was permitted to go through at the very last minute, after blocking everything else.

I suspect this was to help the all-out hate-campaign through the year.

Paranoid thinking only seems that way to those not truly paying attention.; 12/21/17, 11:43 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Not seen on Drudge or the hack-D-MSM

AT&T is giving $1,000 bonuses to 200,000 employees after tax bill.

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg unveils $300M in initiatives in response to tax bill.

No way!

And: Wells Fargo, Fifth Third Bancorp unveil minimum wage hikes after tax bill passage.

Five American Businesses Announce Major Bonuses For Employees Because Of Trump Tax Reform. “Five American businesses announced on Wednesday that they would both be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in their employees because of Republican tax reform bill that the Senate passed on Tuesday night.”

***Corruptocrat heads explode.***; 12/21/17, 11:50 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Death Threats from the corruption party.

You keeping a drop more of your money enrages the left.; 12/21/17, 11:53 AM
n.n said...: tax bill... even the Democrats own backers are largely on board, even the critics. Its certainly not unwelcome to the real owners of Silicon Valley

The inertial frame of reference. This is where the overlapping and convergent interests become clear.; 12/21/17, 12:03 PM
gadfly said...: @Kevin said... He's a dealmaker, not an ideologue.

Just ask Donald and he will refer to you to "The Art of a Deal" which Tony Schwartz wrote for Trump and which we find out (from Mr. Schwartz) is mostly made-up stuff. Schwartz called the book a "nonfiction work of fiction".

Kevin,perhaps you want to cite Trump's infamous Carrier deal where he "saved" Indiana jobs. That worked out really well and you notice that Trump tells us about his win every day - NOT!; 12/21/17, 12:04 PM
Anonymous said...: @mockTurtle Obviously you were cut out to be a Marine. From Chesty Puller, commander of the First Marines, on being surrounded by 8 Chinese Divisions at the Chosin Reservoir: "
We're surrounded.
That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them.
Now we can fire in any direction,
those bastards won't get away this time!"

or O. P. Smith Commander of the 1stMarDiv:
"Retreat, hell!
We're attacking in a different direction!"; 12/21/17, 12:05 PM
Kevin said...: Over at Bloomberg Jonathan Bernstein is trying to convince readers that the "Trump has accomplished little" narrative is correct, because DJT didn't pen the tax bill himself, he lucked into a bunch of judicial vacancies, and his even his executive orders are written by others. You can't make this stuff up!

You don't need to go to Bloomberg to get that viewpoint. You can read the same stuff here.; 12/21/17, 12:22 PM
Clark said...: Access denied for me.

This link worked:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/21/hell-freezes-over-media-start-admitting-that-trumps-first-year-isnt-flop.html; 12/21/17, 12:24 PM
Scott M said...: Under the cover of a tweet storm that has the Democrats reenforcing Calais instead of Normandy.

Well-crafted.; 12/21/17, 12:26 PM
Drago said...: BAG: "So, Trump is lucky in the sheer insanity and incompetence of his opposition."

Indeed. Witness our very own gadfly, the Poor Man's LLR Chuck.; 12/21/17, 12:27 PM
Clark said...: And now the original link works too. Internet gremlins . . .; 12/21/17, 12:27 PM
Kevin said...: O. P. Smith Commander of the 1stMarDiv:
"Retreat, hell!
We're attacking in a different direction!"

Time Reporter: What's the most important lesson the Marines have learned in Korea so far?
Chesty Puller: Never serve under X Corps.; 12/21/17, 12:29 PM
MikeR said...: I like Kevin's comment. Maybe deals with the Democrats wouldn't be such a bad thing - once we've gotten our four Supreme Court Justice nominees through.; 12/21/17, 12:29 PM
Drago said...: Rehajm: "All he had to do is locate the low hanging fruit and pick it."

Correct. Neither Trump nor his critics are geniuses. Trump just looked around and said that 3 or 4 key policy things made sense and he would fight tooth and nail for them and the entire dem/rep went crazy.

Mostly becayse the dems dont supprt thise policies and many republicans ad been lying about supporting them.

Oh sure, these establishment dems/reps clothed their complaints in Trump character and fake collusion issues, but the reality is they were all exposed politically and they didnt want their rice bowls knocked over.; 12/21/17, 12:31 PM
Roughcoat said...: Relying on Gibbon as an authority for understanding the demise of the Roman West is akin to using astrological charts to understand the processes of the universe. The big takeaway from Gibbon is that Christianity caused Rome’s decline and fall, and Gibbon was relentless and single-minded in arguing this point. The fact that the Byzantine Empire survived for another 1,000 years after Rome’s fall effectively invalidates this theory and Gibbon never forgave the Byzantines for it. His deterministic cultural-declinist approach to the history of Rome with Christianity playing the role as the villain of the piece does not hold water, as many modern and vastly more perceptive historians have recognized. “Decline and Fall” is a Masterpiece Theater rendering of history, enjoyable to read but really quite useless as a learning tool. See instead Peter Brown’s “Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, The Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350–550 AD.”; 12/21/17, 12:34 PM
buwaya said...: As on too many things, Roughcoat, we disagree.

Gibbon gives the history as the history in one piece, compiled from a tremendous number of sources. His value is telling the story extremely well. Maybe you dont like his villains, but his facts are facts.

The Byzantines were a declining rump of the empire, slowly evaporating while the rest crashed long before.; 12/21/17, 12:38 PM
buwaya said...: And my point remains - a degenerating empire has moments of recovery, usually embodied in some strong character, an Aetius or Stilicho or Justinian.; 12/21/17, 12:41 PM
wwww said...: It depends on what one means by success. Trump is excellent at capturing news attention and he captures the attention of many through his twitter feed. The Congress and Trump passed a major tax bill.

He has changed the Republican party and is changing the popular definition of conservatism. Jennifer Rubin, John Podhoretz and others are no longer Republicans in good standing.

To date he's not capturing the love of millennials or people under 40. What that might mean is not clear. I imagine 2018 and 2020 will be clarifying as to the success of 2017.; 12/21/17, 12:42 PM
Roughcoat said...: A declining rump that endures for a thousand years. Some decline; some rump.

And it wasn't Christianity that brought it down.; 12/21/17, 12:45 PM
Roughcoat said...: "but his facts are facts"

Come on. You're better than that.; 12/21/17, 12:52 PM
Lyle Smith said...: buwaya,

The problem with these historical analogies, is that nobody is passing the United States by. Everyone is still beneath us. China? They're an authoritarian state that props up the totalitarian state of North Korea. Russia? Too stupid and always need a strongman. ISIS? They're dead and being killed. Latin America? Hahaha! Europe? Hahahaha! Africa? Nuff said.

Western Europe was passing Byzantium or the eastern Romans by. The Byzantines didn't have the religious fervor of the Arab Muslims or dynamism of the Turks. Byzantium couldn't even keep Venice from taking of Constantinople from the sea.

America isn't close to becoming Rome... not yet anyway.; 12/21/17, 12:53 PM
Susan said...: Yesterday I saw the news that a North Korean soldier walked across the border and defected. Not a shot was fired at him. A couple of weeks ago a soldier ran across the border and was peppered with shots.

The iron curtain fell when people just started streaming across and no one stopped them. If North Korea falls the same way without the nuclear Armageddon that's predicted, maybe someone would give Trump credit for foreign policy? Women can drive in Saudi Arabia now.; 12/21/17, 12:55 PM
mockturtle said...: Lyle Smith says: China? They're an authoritarian state that props up the totalitarian state of North Korea.

But they are, after the Federal Reserve, our biggest debt holder.; 12/21/17, 12:59 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Someone else is having the same thoughts I had about Christopher Steele being a front for the creation of the Trump Dossier:

Link; 12/21/17, 1:01 PM
mockturtle said...: Susan reports: Yesterday I saw the news that a North Korean soldier walked across the border and defected. Not a shot was fired at him. A couple of weeks ago a soldier ran across the border and was peppered with shots.

The iron curtain fell when people just started streaming across and no one stopped them. If North Korea falls the same way without the nuclear Armageddon that's predicted, maybe someone would give Trump credit for foreign policy? Women can drive in Saudi Arabia now.

Yes!!! Wouldn't that be great??? These genuine refugees should be encouraged.; 12/21/17, 1:02 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: "To date he's not capturing the love of millennials or people under 40"

Perhaps that might change if their job prospects improve. And college radicals can suddenly find themselves becoming more conservative when they examine their paycheck stubs.

Conservatism has always been a tough sell to young people. At age 20, I was a textbook lib. At age 30, I was not.

You are assuming that people's political stances are set in stone. If that were the case, Trump would not be in the WH, because those union Dems in Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania who voted for Obama in 2012 would have continued to vote D.; 12/21/17, 1:04 PM
Humperdink said...: "Yes!!! Wouldn't that be great??? These genuine refugees should be encouraged."

They would work in gardens just so they could eat.; 12/21/17, 1:07 PM
Clyde said...: Unknown said...
Access Denied

You don't have permission to access ...

Same thing happened to me, and once the other day on a Fox Business News link. I just copied the link and did a Paste and Go in a new tab. Worked like a charm.; 12/21/17, 1:08 PM
Yancey Ward said...: The most important part of Smith's piece is at the end when he ties the FaceBook post of Mr. Simpson's wife to the WaPo article about the super secret piece of information John Brennan withheld from Obama's daily briefing- so super secret that it ended up in WaPo in June of this year. Smith's point is that Ms. Jacoby- Glenn Simpson's wife- seems to have known the information came from FusionGPS, not a CIA source.; 12/21/17, 1:08 PM
Lyle Smith said...: mockturtle,

And China needs us to buy their stuff to keep their economy going. China, for that matter, can't feed itself, and relies on grain imports from the U.S. China is bossing nobody.

I wouldn't be surprised if Trump officially recognizes the Republic of China. What would China (or what would Xi their strongman do?) do? Invade Taiwan? Stop importing food from the U.S.? Stop selling stuff to the U.S.?; 12/21/17, 1:10 PM
Yancey Ward said...: One of the things that was going on in the last few months of the election were the letters Harry Reid wrote about Comey sitting on "proof of Russian election meddling"- Reid wrote these letters in August and again at the end of October 2016. The implication being that this was info the Joint Oversight Committee had been briefed on by Brennan or his associates. After the WaPo article this past June was published, many had simply assumed this "proof" that Reid had spoke of was from some CIA intelligence, but Jacoby's lauding of her husband's input being overlooked does strongly suggest she knows this came from the Dossier, or those who peddled it to the Obama Administration.; 12/21/17, 1:13 PM
wwww said...: You are assuming that people's political stances are set in stone.

Political alliances aren't set in stone, but there are studies that show long-term influence. Gen X and the early Boomers have been strong Republicans, partly because of the influence of Reagan during formative years.

I don't know what's going to happen. I only know what the polls say now about voters under 40 & response to Trump.

Polls are a snapshot. They, and the younger generation can change drastically.; 12/21/17, 1:16 PM
mockturtle said...: Exiled comments: Conservatism has always been a tough sell to young people. At age 20, I was a textbook lib. At age 30, I was not.

Churchill notably said, "If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain."; 12/21/17, 1:20 PM
mockturtle said...: Lyle responds: And China needs us to buy their stuff to keep their economy going. China, for that matter, can't feed itself, and relies on grain imports from the U.S. China is bossing nobody.

I agree with you and was making no case for China being dominant. But our ability to borrow from them is tied to their economic health.; 12/21/17, 1:22 PM
Susan said...: There is a reason Trumpet met with- and brought to his own home at Mara Lago - the Chinese leader.

The press was very stupid about what it meant and what would happen because of it. But it was the beginning of a true change in US and Chinese relations. The impressive welcome the Trump's received in China was proof.

If China lets North Korea fall, and I believe they may mean to, it will be because of this new arrangement.; 12/21/17, 1:25 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: All the Republican ass kissing of Trump won’t change what is happening on the ground across the US.

The Democratic advantage on the generic ballot is even greater in other public polls this month. A CNN poll out this week gave the party a stunning, 18-point lead. Surveys from Monmouth and Quinnipiac universities showed Democrats ahead by 15 points. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed voters prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress to a Republican one by an 11-point margin. And even a poll conducted by a conservative nonprofit with ties to Trump’s political operation found Democrats ahead by 12 points on the generic ballot, the Washington Examiner reported.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/21/polls-show-democrats-with-sizeable-advantage-for-2018-midterms-310146; 12/21/17, 1:30 PM
Kevin said...: I love when Inga starts posting fake poll numbers from the same people who assured us Trump could never beat Hillary.

It was over, remember?

When she's down to fake polls about an election a year away, you know for sure the current situation is too brutal to discuss.; 12/21/17, 1:35 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Well, Inga, let's see how the polls go after February, after Americans see their take home pay increase. Perhaps they'll figure out they are being lied to by the Dems and their flunkies in the media.

Of course, like Pelosi and Schumer, you'll be praying to Moloch that the tax reform doesn't work because it's better for Americans suffer so Trump and the GOP can lose.

I am enjoying the butthurt Dem caterwauling so much.; 12/21/17, 1:36 PM
mockturtle said...: Susan asserts: If China lets North Korea fall, and I believe they may mean to, it will be because of this new arrangement.

China has been ready for some time to throw Nork under the bus. They've been waiting for the right deal to be struck.; 12/21/17, 1:41 PM
Drago said...: Inga takes time out from regaling us with tales of derring do from her long list of "new leaders of the free world" (macron/merkel/may/trudeau(!)) to tell us that all is lost for next year for the republicans.

Well.

I'm convinced.

LOL; 12/21/17, 1:42 PM
American Liberal Elite said...: It could have been so much worse.; 12/21/17, 1:44 PM
Drago said...: Hey, remember when the Russians hacked our democracy and it was as bad as Pearl Harbor?

It seems like only yesterday our courageous antifa warriors were taking to the streets in a near re-enactment of the courage of our Normandy-Invasion-Troops circa 1944.

Good times, good times.; 12/21/17, 1:45 PM
Susan said...: China has been ready for some time to throw Nork under the bus. They've been waiting for the right deal to be struck.
_______
Exactly!; 12/21/17, 1:47 PM
MrCharlie2 said...: Not a flop? How about that war with the Norks he keeps promising?; 12/21/17, 1:47 PM
tcrosse said...: Voters might prefer the Generic Democrat, but that person does not exist. The Democrats suffer from a lack of a leader and issues around which to coalesce, much as Hillary makes strange noises from under the bus. At this point all they have is Trump-Hatred.; 12/21/17, 1:58 PM
buwaya said...: "Western Europe was passing Byzantium or the eastern Romans by."

Not in say @200AD
Then there was no-one else, really, within the reach of contemporary technology for power projection
But the rot was in Rome.

History also tends to go faster these days.; 12/21/17, 1:59 PM
buwaya said...: "A declining rump that endures for a thousand years. Some decline; some rump."

Byzantine history, with one exceptional period, is a series of defensive wars that slowed down the collapse. The highlights of the history of Byzantium are the loss of one bit of the empire after another.

An extremely conservative and un-dynamic thing. There were no real Caesars or Alexanders, no Scipios or any of the dozens of Republican Roman conquistadors.; 12/21/17, 2:06 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Slightly off-topic, but the UN voted 128 to 9 to "nullify" US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

This is good.

It gives Trump fuel to stop funding these crazy, Marxist fuck-ups; 12/21/17, 2:07 PM
buwaya said...: The one highlight of Byzantine history is the reign of Justinian, when it managed to take back, for a time, the province of Africa and most of Italy, under Belisarius and Narses. But that was, for Byzantium, a back-breaking, finance-straining struggle, ultimately doomed.

Byzantium could never raise the overwhelming, enthusiastic armies of the Republic and early Empire.; 12/21/17, 2:10 PM
Anonymous said...: @ Kevin Truer words were never spoken. If Smith and the 1stMarDiv had not disobeyed orders and made a slow movement north while securing their logistical base as they went they would never have been able to pull off the miracle that they did.; 12/21/17, 2:12 PM
Big Mike said...: At this point all they have is Trump-Hatred.

It was enough to drive Democrat turnout in the Virginia elections last November. Will it be enough to drive turnout next November, and will reaction to TDS drive Republican turnout?; 12/21/17, 2:13 PM
brylun said...: Lyle Smith, I have been to China, and their strength impresses me. New infrastructure, education, modern cities. I have also been to Russia recently, and of the 2 countries, I think we have much more to fear from China than Russia.; 12/21/17, 2:13 PM
buwaya said...: And Inga has a point above - that is indeed a marker of cultural degeneracy.
She does not intend it that way, but it is.
The problem here is not your politics but your people.

Its not easy, but important, to understand whats in the brains of the kids leaving your high schools. That is your real problem. They are being educated by Inga-equivalents; it is the mental analogue of having ice-picks inserted in their skulls.

They know nothing, and few can, after that, learn anything.; 12/21/17, 2:14 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Trump’s biggest accomplishments in 2017.

1.Sparking the women's movement and a conversation about decency
2. Killing apathy
3. Raising the question: What really makes America great?
4. Reinvigorating journalism
5. Giving satire a shot in the arm; 12/21/17, 2:14 PM
Jim at said...: Trump's biggest and best accomplishment?
Driving the left absolutely batshit insane.

It is truly a joy to watch.; 12/21/17, 2:16 PM
Drago said...: We can only pray that the dems continue to execute the Inga/LLR Chuck/Chelsea Handler strategy for the 2018 elections.

We shouldn't be so lucky of course, but perhaps we will be.; 12/21/17, 2:16 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “The problem here is not your politics but your people.”

Since you hate the people of America so much, I’d suggest going back to your own country.; 12/21/17, 2:17 PM
Drago said...: The funniest thing about Inga's post is, once again, that she had to cut and paste it.

Like a voice-actuated automaton. LOL; 12/21/17, 2:18 PM
John Nowak said...: >The Democratic advantage on the generic ballot is even greater in other public polls this month.

I'll bet that Yoda the Jedi Master would poll better than Generic Democrat, and is about as likely to exist.; 12/21/17, 2:19 PM
Drago said...: Inga indicts islamists: "Since you hate the people of America so much, I’d suggest going back to your own country"

Welcome to MAGA Inga!; 12/21/17, 2:19 PM
narciso said...: She'll be here all week, tip the waitress,

Who wee decent again lauer rose spacey halperin; 12/21/17, 2:20 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “The funniest thing about Inga's post is, once again, that she had to cut and paste it.”

Well at least what I copy and paste isn’t the same old idiotic Drago shtick. It may even make some people here think outside their self imposed box. You Drago, being the most severely afflicted.; 12/21/17, 2:22 PM
buwaya said...: "Since you hate the people of America so much,"

I feel very, very sorry for them.

Both the old population and the new, because they are beginning to suffer the curses of the zeitgeist. Its like knowing the future, being the Princess Cassandra, say, seeing that glorious city full of all ones friends and family, knowing that it will be erased, smashed, burned, and massacred.

Part of the curse, of course, is being able to speak to some of those putting it in the way of this ultimate fate, like Inga. They know not what they do. They CANT KNOW what they do. That's another part of the curse.; 12/21/17, 2:26 PM
Original Mike said...: "Up until October 17, 1987, at least. We lost $50K overnight when $50K was not to be sneezed at."

As Tim said, only if you sold. Paper losses are not losses. I made money off the 1987 drop. I made a lot of money in the 2008 drop, converting my IRA to a Roth.; 12/21/17, 2:27 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “...and will reaction to TDS drive Republican turnout?”

Doubtful.; 12/21/17, 2:27 PM
traditionalguy said...: The boggest flip flop of 2017 was Saudi Prince Alaweed and his political arm George Soros and Hillary that have gone from ruler of the World to hard time in Federal custody.; 12/21/17, 2:28 PM
Matt Sablan said...: Trump's victories don't even require him to run guns to South American cartels or serve as the enforcers for Hezbollah's drug trade.; 12/21/17, 2:28 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “They know not what they do. They CANT KNOW what they do.”

You’re no Jesus. You’re nothing more than a pot stirrer. And the Trumpists here are being deceived by you every single day.; 12/21/17, 2:31 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Yancey Ward at 1:01 PM

Someone else is having the same thoughts I had about Christopher Steele being a front for the creation of the Trump Dossier

THANKS FOR THAT LINK !!!

... to a superb article by Lee Smith and titled "Did President Obama Read the ‘Steele Dossier’ in the White House Last August?"

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/251897/obama-steele-dossier-russiagate; 12/21/17, 2:34 PM
Original Mike said...: "And the Trumpists here are being deceived by you every single day."

Says the "Mueller is closing in!" woman.; 12/21/17, 2:35 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Gee, Inga sure seems crabby today. I wonder why....

Oh, well, she can take comfort in predicting the outcome of an election that takes place in November 2018. After all, her predictions about what would happen in November 2016 were so accurate!; 12/21/17, 2:38 PM
buwaya said...: "You’re no Jesus. You’re nothing more than a pot stirrer."

No, I'm no Jesus, I am just a sinner like all of us.
Yes I am a pot stirrer - because THATS WHAT TEACHERS DO.
Jesus was a pot-stirrer. The greatest pot-stirrer that's ever been.

Pot-stirring is GOOD.

It makes brains work. It jumps thoughts off the track.
If you pray, and if you are lucky, your pot will be stirred, and you will figure out how to learn.; 12/21/17, 2:38 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Pot-stirring is GOOD.”

Not if it’s a pot full of shit.; 12/21/17, 2:40 PM
buwaya said...: Modern American teachers hate, hate, hate pot-stirring.
That's why they cannot teach. They don't inspire.
Part of that is because they were, themselves, nullified by their own teachers.; 12/21/17, 2:40 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Not if it’s a pot full of shit.

12/21/17, 2:40 PM

An apt description of what is between Inga's ears.; 12/21/17, 2:43 PM
buwaya said...: "Not if it’s a pot full of shit."

But you can't tell shit from anything else.

That's why you you absolutely require an education.
This is job one, for you. It is such a dreadful waste.
You had potential, and then it seems its gotten locked up in an iron prison.
Your mind cannot go places to which you are not directed, to find something no-one else has though of yet.
This is very common, very frustrating.; 12/21/17, 2:44 PM
buwaya said...: I suggest this -
It is extremely traditional, a way to start minds off right.
Thats why I read this to all my kids when each was very young -

Read the Iliad.

It is a complex thing that takes thoughts in every direction, that wanders through many points of view and systems of values. You can spend a life exploring it.

Do that, Inga.; 12/21/17, 2:48 PM
FullMoon said...: John said...

Even Inga seems to be softening her opposition.

I predict that in 6 months she will be fully onboard.

Can a picture of her in a maga hat be far behind?

John Henry

12/21/17, 11:14 AM

Haha!, Good one.; 12/21/17, 2:49 PM
Drago said...: Inga: "Not if it’s a pot full of s***."

LOL

Inga thinks she's at a Occupy campsite or a lefty rally at Ajit Pai's house!

You know, where the lefties crap on the lawn, the police cars, in their own tents, etc.

That is, when they aren't raping people.

Hey, maybe that's why Inga's so charged up to import unvetted islamist sex slave traders!; 12/21/17, 2:55 PM
Drago said...: buwaya: "Do that, Inga."

Inga is no more willing to read the works of Dead White European Males than any other leftist.

She and her pals have been too busy for the last 4 decades getting rid of those works from the canon.

We apparently need the lies of that fraud Rigoberta Menchu instead.; 12/21/17, 2:57 PM
Drago said...: Every leftist: Hey hey ho ho Western Civ has got to go!; 12/21/17, 2:58 PM
mockturtle said...: Read the Iliad.

We read it in high school and I was captivated. Read Odyssey on my own and was even further captivated. Schools need to go back to classical literature. What educators call 'critical thinking' today is nothing more than a questioning of all traditional values with no values to replace them, leaving an intellectual and moral vacuum. Education is best built on a sound foundation of historical experience and wisdom.; 12/21/17, 2:58 PM
buwaya said...: "She and her pals have been too busy for the last 4 decades getting rid of those works from the canon."

Indeed, they have.
Goes back decades, and you all are now dealing with the results.
"The Closing of the American Mind", Alan Bloom, 1987 (!)
And it had been going on for a long time even when Bloom described it.
Its not as if you all weren't warned, and often.

But the US has suffered the curse of Cassandra.

The result of what Bloom was warning about is two generations of Ingas.
And all further generations of Ingas.
Who were not educated.; 12/21/17, 3:02 PM
Drago said...: Buwaya: "The result of what Bloom was warning about is two generations of Ingas.
And all further generations of Ingas.
Who were not educated."

And when the society collapses under the weight of the Inga's, that will be due to "bad luck".

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as "bad luck.”

--Heinlein; 12/21/17, 3:05 PM
buwaya said...: "Every leftist: Hey hey ho ho Western Civ has got to go!"

This was always false.
The real meaning was "All Civ has got to go"
Because it would have made some sort of sense to replace "Western Civ" with some other Civ.

But the result was not, say, the teaching of Chinese classics.
Nobody started widespread teaching of the Four Classic Novels, the Analects and the Mencius.; 12/21/17, 3:08 PM
Drago said...: Inga and the lefties are just pissed off that their gravy train money laundering operations thru Title II for communications and shakedowns of the financial industry (CFPB) are being wiped away.

That's billions taken directly from taxpayers and funneled into the coffers of the permanently aggrieved lefty groups.

When you cut off the thugs cash, the thugs get upset. Some get so upset they are willing to collude with Russians to generate fake dossiers to create a false rationale for warrants to spy on domestic political opponents.; 12/21/17, 3:08 PM
jaydub said...: "Kevin,perhaps you want to cite Trump's infamous Carrier deal where he "saved" Indiana jobs. That worked out really well and you notice that Trump tells us about his win every day - NOT!"

This is a different ball game. You should have been in Europe with me today listening to the dire European growth projections by the European financial pundits as a result of the corporate tax cuts. Reportedly, Germany alone expects to see a 39 billion euro capital outflow to the US because of the lower corporate tax rate. Overall, the predictions range up to hundreds of billions euro outflow from Europe in 2018/19. The tax cut is not the whole reason for capital investment being shifted to the US, but when combined with the Trump energy initiatives, manufacturing rebound and other deregulation initiatives it presents a compelling advantage as compared to European labor inflexibility, high energy costs, high taxes and onerous regulation. And that's before a couple of trillion in offshore profits start to be repatriated to the US. This should make you lefties happy as it will apply significant pressure to increase US immigration in order to meet the added labor demands, particularly with the current tight unemployment situation. If done properly (more skilled workers, fewer no-skill laborers) it will be a win-win for everyone, including entitlement programs that need additional workers contributing to the pot in order to remain solvent. Of course, it would also mean Trump would win the series instead of just the first game, and none of you lefties can let that happen. So, it's probably going to have to be done over a few bodies, but it's almost certainly going to get done one way or another. In the mean time you should do what I'm doing and start to short non-international European company stocks. Cheers!; 12/21/17, 3:10 PM
walter said...: Man..Drago..give it a fucking rest once in a while.
Althouse has called you out on this..just try a little.; 12/21/17, 3:10 PM
jaydub said...: Buwaya, for God's sake lighten up.; 12/21/17, 3:12 PM
buwaya said...: "What educators call 'critical thinking' today is nothing more than a questioning of all traditional values with no values to replace them, leaving an intellectual and moral vacuum. "

As it happens I have a great deal of experience with "critical thinking" as a concept in public schools. Nobody can even define it. Some ideological teachers do call that questioning of tradition "critical thinking", but, well, its sort of like a batter swinging without a ball being pitched. The kids have no "traditional values" to question. Because they know nothing.; 12/21/17, 3:14 PM
Michael McNeil said...: I don’t know whether Trump is brilliant or just the luckiest SOB on earth, but I sense a sea change here.

David P. Goldman — who for long has written perceptive political treatises under the pen-name “Spengler” — put it thus in a recent assessment:

On the contrary, Trump evinces a shrewdness about American voters better than that of any politician of his generation. Even more importantly, he has the nerve to take risks in order to draw his opponents into battles that he thinks he can win. I can think of no politician with his combination of courage and cunning since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to whom I compared the then president-elect in a December 2016 essay for Standpoint.

In the past week alone:

• The White House shepherded its tax cut bill through the Senate and probably will have reconciled legislation from the House and Senate on the President’s desk before year-end;

• The mainstream media’s efforts to tar Trump with the charge of collusion with Russian interference in the 2016 elections flamed out in some of the most embarrassing blunders in television history;

• Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Trump collusion ran into land mines as evidence of political conflicts of interest surfaced; and

• Most impressively of all, Trump appears to have inflicted punishing losses on the National Football League, which suffered a sharp drop in viewers after the president attacked team owners for allowing players to refuse to stand for the national anthem.

It’s one thing to take on the Senate Republicans or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, quite another to persuade Americans to turn off football.

(/unQuote); 12/21/17, 3:14 PM
walter said...: (to clarify, referring to to the now preemptive Chuck baiting..at least wait till he posts); 12/21/17, 3:15 PM
Humperdink said...: Inga said: "Trumps biggest accomplishments 2017

4. Reinvigorating journalism"

I nearly cracked up when I read this. They (journalists) are crawling into a hole right now. If it isn't Trump mocking them, it's Sarah the Magnificent drawing and quartering them. They are being ridiculed daily. It is hilarious to watch.; 12/21/17, 3:17 PM
Drago said...: walter: "(to clarify, referring to to the now preemptive Chuck baiting..at least wait till he posts)"

I'd like to argue back at you, but your recommendation is so darned reasonable I can't bring myself to do it!; 12/21/17, 3:21 PM
n.n said...: The kids have no "traditional values" to question. Because they know nothing.

They like tattoos. The logic is if, for example, makeup is good, then whole body tattoos must be progressive. And they are. Monotonic change, attributable to generational rebellion, influenced, presumably, by people hostile to their parents and ancestors' culture.; 12/21/17, 3:25 PM
mockturtle said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/21/17, 3:27 PM
mockturtle said...: But the result was not, say, the teaching of Chinese classics.

It would be enriching to include Sun Tzu's The Art of War, as it applies to much more than just war. It would make for great class discussions and maybe even applications.; 12/21/17, 3:28 PM
buwaya said...: "Monotonic change, attributable to generational rebellion, influenced, presumably, by people hostile to their parents and ancestors' culture."

You could say this about the kids of the 1960's.
They had something to rebel against.
But there is nothing to rebel against today.
They have empty vessels at home.; 12/21/17, 3:30 PM
roesch/voltaire said...: The rather narrow ad hominem attacks often seen on this blog combined with the exaggerations of Trump tax and the lies that accompanied it, along with other exaggerated claims leaves me wondering what the celebration is about, but like Paul Ryan said "the proof is in the pudding," and as a middle class citizen I shall wait and see.; 12/21/17, 3:32 PM
buwaya said...: "Sun Tzu's The Art of War"

You used to find this in Business Schools quite a lot.
And on some HS reading lists (The Palo Alto School district IIRC)
But it would be anathema in any current California school.; 12/21/17, 3:33 PM
mockturtle said...: "the proof is in the pudding,"

No, no, no! It's, The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Americans always get this wrong and it makes no sense.; 12/21/17, 3:37 PM
tcrosse said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/21/17, 3:43 PM
n.n said...: But there is nothing to rebel against today. They have empty vessels at home.

There you go, a cause: fill the empty vessels.

To repeat my example, their parents' skin is "white" and bland. So, they get tattoos, expressions of their will, and now their lives are colorful and rich... and, as frosting on this cake, they have upstaged their parents, yesterday's "liberals". It's a rite of passage. Something similar happens to people who lose their parent's religion, only to replace it with their own, which in modern "progressive" fashion is characterized by a conflation of logical domains (a post-normal science, a departure from a limited frame of reference - the near domain).; 12/21/17, 3:49 PM
Original Mike said...: Yep, interesting reading: Did President Obama Read the ‘Steele Dossier’ in the White House Last August?

I think Rand Paul is right. This may end up being bigger than Watergate.; 12/21/17, 3:49 PM
Gk1 said...: Time to pivot from "Trumps is incompetent" to "I don't like what Trump's doing" just as that sage Scott Adam's predicted. This is all gravy to me as every day without hillary as president is a blessing.; 12/21/17, 3:55 PM
Drago said...: "Sun Tzu's The Art of War"

You used to find this in Business Schools quite a lot."
The Art Of War is the "McKinsey" of strategy...lots of guidance on desired outcomes but little on strategy execution and methods of implementation.; 12/21/17, 3:57 PM
Humperdink said...: r/v said: "The rather narrow ad hominem attacks often seen on this blog combined with the exaggerations of Trump tax and the lies that accompanied it.."

I am curious as to what the lies are regarding the new tax cut. I looked at the rates, the new brackets and see nothing but a tax reduction for most filers. Its $2500 for me. Help me here.; 12/21/17, 4:00 PM
FullMoon said...: Inga said...

It was so important to cut taxes for corporations that CHIP was not renewed. This should tell you all you need to know about the priorities of Republicans.
12/20/17, 6:08 PM

Remewed today. Winning !; 12/21/17, 4:10 PM
Roughcoat said...: "I feel very, very sorry for them."

Likewise, I feel sorry for you. Not least because it seems to me that you are the one who is cursed.; 12/21/17, 4:33 PM
Sebastian said...: We should enjoy the winning, of course, and the grudging admissions, and the gnashing of Dem teeth.

But the Revenge of the Ingas is coming. They can't wait to raise taxes, to expand entitlements, to cut energy production, to open the border once and for all, and to empower companies and universities to conduct proper witch hunts. Better get ready.; 12/21/17, 4:37 PM
buwaya said...: "Not least because it seems to me that you are the one who is cursed."

It was in fact Cassandra that was cursed, true.; 12/21/17, 4:59 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: "isn't a flop?"

Based on what? No new 9/11s while in office? Is that the new Republican benchmark?

Let's see how well he crashes the economy, poisons the countryside or takes us to war in 3 to 7 years. That's basically how long it takes for the kind of damage only Republicans can do to show up. Everything else is an assessment of his politics, which only matters if you're a cheerleader for him or his stupid team. Which Koward Furtz definitely is.; 12/21/17, 5:19 PM
wildswan said...: The young people don't want learn history or read literature because they think it means absorbing bad traditions. They get away with it because so many of them are in IT where tradition as such means little or nothing, all races are welcome if they can code and hard work counts. The IT people set the agenda because they always can get jobs unlike all the others in their age group. That's because IT is an expanding field. Anyhow that's what I observe in my younger relatives who vote Democratic. So all this adds up to that fact that they are utterly impervious to discussion. They regard my campaign against the post-Nazi eugenicists and their branding of blacks as genetically deficient in IQ as vaguely racist in that I present arguments instead of dismissing the whole thing. Then, of course I support Trump. Well! No need to even talk about how racist that is (they think).

It seems to me that they've gone right back to the attitudes of the Pilgrims and Puritans who simply turned their backs on a corrupt Church and went about founding a new one in a new place. As if the Internet and the rise of IT in some strange way created an empty space for them. Right now they are resting on an "O my America, my new found land" attitude. But the Pilgrims and the Puritans very shortly felt the need for education. Harvard was founded to do education the right way. Harvard is pretty much over as anything but a destroyer. And so pretty soon these IT-Pilgrims will be looking for an education done the right way, if history is any guide. So we need to develop the new classical curriculum. The Iliad for IT Coders. The Missing Manual on Dante. Debugging the Past: History Without the Kludge. Wikihow on Reading a Very Old Book by a Dead White Male.; 12/21/17, 5:31 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Matthew S said..

"Trump's victories don't even require him to run guns to South American cartels or serve as the enforcers for Hezbollah's drug trade. "

No doubt.; 12/21/17, 6:01 PM
FullMoon said...: Let's see how well he crashes the economy, poisons the countryside or takes us to war in 3 to 7 years.

Keep hope alive !

Everything else is an assessment of his politics, which only matters if you're a cheerleader for him or his stupid team. Which Koward Furtz definitely is.

Koward Furtz? LOL! How clever -(yawn); 12/21/17, 6:25 PM
mockturtle said...: It seems to me that they've gone right back to the attitudes of the Pilgrims and Puritans who simply turned their backs on a corrupt Church and went about founding a new one in a new place.

The Puritans hardly formed a church out of thin air. They used the Bible as their source. Unlike the church from which they fled.; 12/21/17, 6:29 PM
wildswan said...: The Pilgrims were Separatists who in England were stripping away from the Protestant Episcopal church elements they felt were not Biblical including bishops. So they separated and then separated again by going to America. The Puritans were calling for reform, purification, of existing elements. But both groups went to America to form the church the right way because they couldn't do it in England. Too corrupt. And the way the snowflakes refuse to know history and read literature because they think "learning tradition" means "absorbing on evil traditions" reminds of those two groups but especially the Pilgrims. (As you might guess I'm reading Plimoth Plantation by William Bradford.); 12/21/17, 7:47 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Lyle,

"I wouldn't be surprised if Trump officially recognizes the Republic of China. "

I certainly would be! For one thing, I think the RoC doesn't want us to.; 12/21/17, 8:36 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Read the Iliad”.

Read it in high school.; 12/21/17, 8:37 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Is it possible that the country was so ready to move on after Obama, that even Hillary could have done an ok job?

Don't answer that ;); 12/21/17, 8:40 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/21/17, 8:41 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/21/17, 8:48 PM
iowan2 said...: I have spent the last 2 hours cleaning the house and doing KP I am switching between MSNBC and FOX, the Difference is stunning.
Fox is upbeat and forward looking, celebrating the holiday and exited about a future of this nation that is nothing but positve. MSNBC, by contrast, is nothing but doom and gloom. They have not brought up a single positive agenda item, that would separate the Dems from the R's.
The leftist media is a real Debbie Downer, its no wonder the left is so depressing.; 12/21/17, 8:59 PM
Michael K said...: "What educators call 'critical thinking' today is nothing more than a questioning of all traditional values with no values to replace them, leaving an intellectual and moral vacuum. "

That is the purpose of this Gramscian strategy.

Orthodox Marxism had predicted that socialist revolution was inevitable in capitalist societies. By the early 20th century, no such revolution had occurred in the most advanced nations. Capitalism, it seemed, was more entrenched than ever. Capitalism, Gramsci suggested, maintained control not just through violence and political and economic coercion, but also through ideology. The bourgeoisie developed a hegemonic culture, which propagated its own values and norms so that they became the "common sense" values of all. People in the working-class (and other classes) identified their own good with the good of the bourgeoisie, and helped to maintain the status quo rather than revolting.

It is a war on common sense.; 12/21/17, 9:07 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/21/17, 9:13 PM
Roughcoat said...: Fílous kai máches ton Achaión
Na eíste ándres tóra, agapitoí fíloi, na thymáste tin exagrioméni sas andreía....
To fos tis sotirías eínai sti douleiá ton cherión mas, óchi sto éleos tis máchis.

-- The Iliad 15:733-734, 741; 12/21/17, 10:09 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: "I don't know whether Trump is brilliant or just the luckiest SOB on earth."

Trump was smart enough to realize the press would attack him no matter what, so there was no point in trying to treat them with any measure of respect. People who've been gritting their teeth for decades every time Terry Gross has yet another "Why are Republicans so stupid and evil" guest courtesy of their tax dollars eat it up.

The judicial appointments have exceeded expectations, and the tax bill is probably a good thing, on average.

I'm not sure what it all means for Republicans, though. Trump's approval ratings are the lowest of any president in my lifetime at this point in his term, and his support of downticket Republicans does't seem to sway even Republican voters much. The party apparatus hates him for displacing their preferred candidates.

The market does what it does, but it can't keep going up like this. There will be a reckoning before he leaves office, so people pinning their hopes on the DOW to swell Trump's popularity are bound to be disappointed.

And he seems to be willing to give in on amnesty, which is the issue that got him through the primaries. If he does that he's dead, politically.; 12/21/17, 10:10 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: Michael K,

I can't even hold the laughter in out of politeness any more when some earnest academic defends a $60/yr layout for his discipline with "we teach students how to think".; 12/21/17, 10:14 PM
Quaestor said...: Abby Someone wrote: Read it in high school.

Obviously unremembered and unappreciated.; 12/21/17, 10:18 PM
chickelit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/21/17, 11:42 PM
chickelit said...: Which Koward Furtz definitely is.

That's a nice triple,* R&B. My hat's off to you.
___________________
*Though it's bilingual.; 12/21/17, 11:44 PM
chickelit said...: Can "entendes" be "home run" entendres -- i.e., quadruple entendres?

It's nice challenge. I suspect that only Althouse, rhhardin, vbspurs, or Ruth Anne would be qualified to comment.; 12/21/17, 11:47 PM
chickelit said...: Lem asked: Is it possible that the country was so ready to move on after Obama, that even Hillary could have done an ok job?

Don't answer that ;)

You're racist for even asking. :); 12/21/17, 11:50 PM
chickelit said...: Can "entendes" be "home run" entendres -- i.e., quadruple entendres?
It's nice challenge. I suspect that only Althouse, rhhardin, vbspurs, or Ruth Anne would be qualified to comment.

It's like the challenge singers face when asked to sing a range of octaves. Rare is what it is.; 12/21/17, 11:52 PM