Come Heller high water …
- Sorry, Trump doesn’t get to get away with the same sleight-of-tongue tricks he did during the election. He’s going to be president in a few days. The bar is higher now. That means he doesn’t get to call news he doesn’t like “fake news.” (The truth is we don’t know yet whether the startling intelligence dossier on him regarding Russia is fake or real. But I do know this: If it was deemed credible enough by our intelligence services to share it with both Trump and Obama,
that’s damn well news, unsubstantiated or not.) He also doesn’t get to compare U.S. intelligence to the propaganda efforts of Nazi, Germany, and accuse them – without any evidence – of leaking the dossier. We have to rely on these people to keep the country safe, and he insults them at every turn. Not smart. The Trump style, I think we’ve all noticed, is to say whatever pops into his head then walk it back if necessary. That’s fine for a candidate, dangerous when you’re president of the United States - Trump doesn’t take office for another week but it seems like we’ve already had four years’ worth of weirdness and controversy, doesn’t it? It’s like his administration is aging in dog years. I think I am, too, lately.
- Well, this is a whole bunch of “Your State Government in Action” fun. According to a Free Press report, a screwed up unemployment fraud detection computer program used by the state has falsely accused and fined as many as 50,000 Michiganders since 2007. AND many of those people might not get their money back because of the statute of limitations. AND it took the state a year to “reassign” the head of the agency responsible for the error (that zippy, proactive pace will sound familiar to Flintoids). AND this week the Legislature passed a law taking $10 million from a fund to repay the falsely accused to help balance the state budget. BUT they now say future “auto-adjudications” will require human verification, which is nice. UNLESS, of course, you’re guilty, at which the computer sends a guy named Vinny over to your house to auto-adjust your kneecaps until you pay up. (I’m joking about that, of course. I think.)
- It is my contention that if you showed me photos of 100 U.S. senators or representatives, I could tell you with 75 percent accuracy which party they’re from. They just have a different look, you know? Maybe you don’t. Maybe it’s just me. But let me give you an example: Mike Pence. See what I mean? He just looks … Republican, right? Here’s another: Nancy Pelosi. She simply looks Democrat. I can’t define either look, but I know ’em when I see them.
- At the auto show this week, Volkswagen hinted it may bring back the 1960s hippie microbus. And if that’s successful, you know what’s next, right: 1970s bell bottoms and disco, which is all by this former dude. Wooo!
- Last Sunday was No Pants Subway Ride day across the globe. Honest. It was. (What, you didn’t notice the photo up there?) So there’s one reason to be grateful Michigan doesn’t have a true mass transit system. (Plus, in our climate? Yikes. Talk about shrinkage.)
- C’mon, you didn’t really think the Lions were going to win a playoff game, did you? That would upset the normal order of the universe.
- “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Image credit: Atomic Taco
TRUTH! I watched that ‘press conference’ in HORROR- CNN is fake news and then he calls on Breitbart ?? And how was it ok for HIM to spread all over the place that Pres Obama wasn’t born in the US- and he went on plenty of news outlets to do so-but information regarding a US Intelligence briefing is ‘Nazi propaganda’? I can’t even… what are we going to do???
That truly was hideous. When are people going to start calling him on his nonsense. We wouldn’t put up with this from a teenage kid.
Oddly, I can’t can’t help but wonder where your feigned consternation was 8 years ago when the inept ass we have for a president now blew so much smoke up America’s collective butt?
Odd indeed that you don’t cover Barry’s failures.
So much for unbiased journalism.
Let’s see, Obama helped save the auto industry, fix the economy, stock market at all-time high, health insurance for 20 million more people, killed Osama and restored some dignity to the White House. He failed on foreign policy in my view (Afghanistan, Syria and Libya). And by the way, I’m an opinion columnist. Meaning I have an opinion. Meaning it’s not supposed to be unbiased. Are you equating everything written online as unbiased journalism? That would explain a lot, actually.
This is getting scary. The man suffers from mental illness. He’s nothing but a narcisstic egotistic blowhard. I worry for this country and what it is going to become.
You heard it here first. I have posted this before: Mr. Trump will resign before the end of his first term. He will not like being President. He dishes it out, but he can’t take it. Please mark my words.
I hope your are absolutely right Tom. I can only pray!!!
But that leaves us with Pence….
Prepare for President Pence! President Number 46! (Hail to the Chief, bahm bahm bah-bahm bahm, bahm-bah-bahm-bah-bahmp…)
Two things:
1. Trump is sharing his intelligence reports with way too many “outsiders.”
2. If Trump resigns we get Pence and you know what a mess he created in Indiana…it is a lose-lose situation….unless………then we get Paul Ryan…..
Indiana was one of the few states to remain solvent during the financial crisis of 2008 2009 brought on by the Clinton administration’s forced toxic loans.
Pence brought in thousands of jobs with Honda and Toyota building new factories there, among others.
That’s much more than Barry did in 8 years and trillions wasted.
What in blue blazes are you talking about? Bush was president when the economy cratered. And blame for the Great Recession is shared by many. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Great_Recession
Regulation and deregulation[edit]
Further information: Government policies and the subprime mortgage crisis
Critics have argued that the regulatory framework did not keep pace with financial innovation, such as the increasing importance of the shadow banking system, derivatives and off-balance sheet financing. In other cases, laws were changed or enforcement weakened in parts of the financial system. Several critics have argued that the most critical role for regulation is to make sure that financial institutions have the ability or capital to deliver on their commitments.[67][181] Critics have also noted de facto deregulation through a shift in market share toward the least regulated portions of the mortgage market.[40]
Key examples of regulatory failures include:
In 1999, the Republican controlled 106th Congress U.S. Congress under the Clinton administration passed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed part of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933.[182] This repeal has been criticized for reducing the separation between commercial banks (which traditionally had a conservative culture) and investment banks (which had a more risk-taking culture).[183][184]
In 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission relaxed the net capital rule, which enabled investment banks to substantially increase the level of debt they were taking on, fueling the growth in mortgage-backed securities supporting subprime mortgages. The SEC has conceded that self-regulation of investment banks contributed to the crisis.[185][186]
Financial institutions in the shadow banking system are not subject to the same regulation as depository banks, allowing them to assume additional debt obligations relative to their financial cushion or capital base.[135] This was the case despite the Long-Term Capital Management debacle in 1998, where a highly leveraged shadow institution failed with systemic implications.
Regulators and accounting standard-setters allowed depository banks such as Citigroup to move significant amounts of assets and liabilities off-balance sheet into complex legal entities called structured investment vehicles, masking the weakness of the capital base of the firm or degree of leverage or risk taken. One news agency estimated that the top four U.S. banks will have to return between $500 billion and $1 trillion to their balance sheets during 2009.[187] This increased uncertainty during the crisis regarding the financial position of the major banks.[188] Off-balance sheet entities were also used by Enron as part of the scandal that brought down that company in 2001.[189]
The U.S. Congress allowed the self-regulation of the derivatives market when it passed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Derivatives such as credit default swaps (CDS) can be used to hedge or speculate against particular credit risks. The volume of CDS outstanding increased 100-fold from 1998 to 2008, with estimates of the debt covered by CDS contracts, as of November 2008, ranging from US$33 to $47 trillion. Total over-the-counter (OTC) derivative notional value rose to $683 trillion by June 2008.[190] Warren Buffett famously referred to derivatives as “financial weapons of mass destruction” in early 2003.[191][192]
Trump has over 19+ million followers which gives just gives him a little more of having more twitter followers as cbs (8.1 million) nbc(4.2 million) abc .2 million), for a total of 18.5 million viewers for those 3 networks.
Recent numbers indicate that he picked up about 400,000 more followers recently.
The top ten newspapers ( among them the new york times) have a combined circulation of about 8.29 million readers.
The hatred of the left leaning media and their liberal followers is just astonding.
Michael moore calling for liberals to march in Washington and disrupt the in the swearing in of Donald Trump shows a lot of hatred and bigotry. If a Republican had called for the same thing during the reign of obamma, he/she would have been destroyed by the democrats.
As for these supposed leaks by Russian hackers having some sort of effect on the election results, I say that is a whole lot of wind with no real substance.
Those of us who did not voter hilliary did so because we looked at her past record.
The supposed Russian hacking did not influence this voter at all.
From the days when she was fired, expelled and removed from the Watergate hearings in the 1970’s for trying to inject false information as evidence during the hearings to other things that she has done over the years that were not quite right.
I am not a real fan of Donald Trump.
I do believe that someone called me a troll on one of the earlier posts. I am not a troll ( except in the case that I live below the bridge).
Here are a few facts:
1. Abraham Lincoln was a republican.
2. Jefferson Davis was a democrat.
3. A lot of free slaves voter republican after the Civil War.
4. Some were elected to congress after the Civil War.
5. The kkk was created by democratic party members in the south to suppress the black vote.
6. In latter years you had to be a registered democratic voter in order to join the kkk.
7. During the 1960’s the democrats in the south (George Wallace, Strum Thurmond (who a grand wizard or some such title in the kkk) among others who fought against segregation.
8. Martin Luther king was a registered republican voter and he voted republican.
9. The Jim Crow laws of the south were written by democrats.
Jim, that Hillary/Watergate thing is yet another myth passed about in conservative-land. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/09/06/the-zombie-claim-that-hillary-clinton-was-fired-during-the-watergate-inquiry/?utm_term=.0869a491de4b
How about the whole truth for a change:
https://www.cato.org/blog/was-hillary-clinton-fired-nixon-impeachment-inquiry
And you’re not getting away with fake news posts on this site. Snopes says false on that claim: http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/zeifman.asp
Besides all of that, whether one of her bosses when she was in her 20s liked her or not means nothing. Nothing about her matters now. She lost. She’s got strengths (running for president isn’t one of them, clearly). She’s got weaknesses. Not sure I get your Hillary obsession? Basically, I get the sense your doing the demonizing thing that has become the rule for conservatives – Bill, Hillary, Obama – all the while ignoring flaws in your own candidates.
Rude and crude. I’m ashamed he will be this country’s president.
Trump wants the U.S. taxpayer to pay for the Mexican wall. The only wall that will be built is the one between East Germany and West Germany, paid for by Russia and condoned by Trump.
The next 4 years will be the greatest test our democracy has ever faced —if it can survive the Trump gang, it can survive anything —–
Mortiying yet again- rude, crude, and completely unpresidential. DT has mental illness/ a personality disorder at the very least. You do wonder what is will take for him to get called out. (and why not yet- can you imagine if Barack O. acted this way?!) So hope you are correct, Tom. Pence is scary as well, yet not as volitle & unstable. Ugh all – around.
All I can say about anyone still a Trump follower is they must be blind and deaf.