Dec 122016
 

Last night I slept very poorly.  City street cleaning equipment was scraping the asphalt6 and making such a terrible racket that it awakened me shortly after midnight, and I could not get back to sleep.  OGIM!!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:44 (average 7:51).  To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The AP has a story about a Trump voter that lost her property due to foreclosure by Mnuchin.  As I predicted yesterday.  Those foreclosures screwed a lot of people including many Trump voters.  Perhaps they will learn not to vote against their own interests.  Will this be the first of many such stories?  I can hope.  How might one get a list of people foreclosed by OneWest, reportedly thousands, to find more examples of this buyers remorse?

When Donald Trump named his Treasury secretary, Teena Colebrook felt her heart sink.

She had voted for the president-elect on the belief that he would knock the moneyed elites from their perch in Washington, D.C. And she knew Trump’s pick for Treasury—Steven Mnuchin—all too well.

OneWest, a bank formerly owned by a group of investors headed by Mnuchin, had foreclosed on her Los Angeles-area home in the aftermath of the Great Recession, stripping her of the two units she rented as a primary source of income.

The buyers’ remorse is just starting, but don’t feel sorry for Colebrook. Feel sorry for the millions her stupidity is helping to destroy.

From NY Times: President-elect Donald Trump refused to release his tax returns during the campaign and there is no sign that he will, ever. He broke longstanding tradition and set a terrible precedent for future presidential candidates.

Good government groups have been wringing their hands about what to do. Now comes an excellent idea from a New York State senator, Brad Hoylman, a Democrat from Manhattan, that would could force candidates to disclose their tax returns by making it a requirement for getting on the ballot.

Mr. Hoylman says that he plans to introduce a bill that would require presidential and vice-presidential candidates to disclose up to five years of their tax returns 50 days before the general election. The state’s Board of Elections would publish the returns on its website.

Candidates who fail to provide the documents would not appear on the state ballot and the state’s Electoral College electors could not vote for them. This is a smart proposal not just for New York but for other states as well. Even if a handful of states imposed the requirement, all major party nominees would have to disclose their tax returns.

This is an excellent idea and I fully support it. I could certainly prove useful, if the US has elections in the future.

From Washington Post: Donald Trump is talking about Taiwan again — and so is China in angry and mocking comments Monday that questioned whether the president-elect grasps a core element of relations between the world’s top economic powers.

In an interview broadcast Sunday, Trump said the United States would not necessarily be bound by the One China policy — the diplomatic understanding that underpins ties between Washington and Beijing, and leaves China’s rival Taiwan on the diplomatic sidelines with the United States.

Trump suggested the policy could be revisited unless America could “make a deal,” potentially on trade between the two countries.

The remark elicited an sharp response from Beijing, with the Foreign Ministry expressing “serious concern” and a party-controlled newspaper calling the president-elect “as ignorant as a child.” By appearing to treat Taiwan as just a bargaining chip for trade deals, he may also have irked Taipei, experts said.

If I start selling NBC suits, I could make a fortune from this Republican deplorable diplomacy.

Cartoon:

1212Cartoon

Now we know what Teabag Thomas and co-Fuhrer Putin have in common.

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  8 Responses to “Open Thread – 12/12/2016”

  1. 5:21  To catch the snail you must BE the snail.

    DK – Sadly, she is probably the only Trump voter who has paid the tiniest scrap of attention to what Trump is actually doing in contrast to what I guess he promised.  (I say what I guess he promised, because I never heard him promise anything but disaster myself.)  I'm not sure the people who voted for him even ever wanted to have nice things (like democracy.)  I think they will feel just as vindicated that no one else, especially no one who voted for Hillary, can have them either.  This story is getting a lot of publicity, but have you heard anyone else but her express any remorse?  Neither have I.

    NYTimes – Yes, since it would never get through Congress, it has to be done by states.  And clearly it has to start in blue states, and preferably big blue states.  California, are you listening?  Oregon?  Washington?

    WaPo – The story says it all.  What if anything can we do about it?  I'm torn between suggesting we all check out this, or whether, if we do, all that work will just be wasted anyway, and end up in ashes.

    Cartoon – They are all just like each other.  I don't know how anyone can see a pennyworth of difference among them.

  2. DK: Buyer's remorse. Well, it's started, and it's happening. He said what the people (voters) wanted to hear about national issues, but is reneging on about all of them, and so, it begins. Reminds me of the song: "One way ticket to Hell and Back …by the appropriately named band, The Darkness.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJiLuH9YUA

    NYT: Excellent! Shame that it's not in effect for the present times. But…good idea!

    WP: Oh boy. This is getting scary. He has no concept/experience with Foreign Affairs. He doesn't care, either.     http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3048766

    Cartoon: Yep!

    Hopefully, you'll get some much needed rest! Take care, and Thanks, Tom.

  3. Daily Kos:  I am sorry for the lady who lost her home, but she and others like her will suffer for their foolishness in voting for Trump.  Unfortunately, the rest of us have to suffer with them.

    NY Times:  I fully support this idea and would like to see it the law of the land.  I have said repeatedly that Trump is hiding something by not disclosing his tax returns. He seems to get by with whatever he decides to do, though, not a good sign for us for the next four years.

    Washington Post:  Yet another example of how poorly qualified Trump is to be President. Will he start a war with China?

    Cartoon:  Yes they did, and I am still angry over it.

    I hope you get some sleep tonight.

     

  4. Puzzle — 3:37  Escargot anyone?

    Daily Kos — I saw a vid with Colebrook talking about Mnuchin.  She blamed him specifically for her foreclosure and the poor way (predatory way) it was handled.  However, asked if she would change her vote now that she sees the people, like Mnuchin, that Drumpf is tapping she replied "No."  It's hard to have feel sorry for people like Colebrook. Buyer's remorse?

    NY Times — Excellent idea!  No ticket, no laundry!

    Washington Post — Drumpf made a point all through the campaign that he is a tough negotiator, and a good one.  What Drumpf does not understand is that diplomacy is not the same kind of negotiating.  He negotiates with money being the focus while others negotiate with other focii.  This is not going to go well.  He is a petulant child that wants his own way all the time which has the potential to lead the world to the brink.

    Cartoon — Ain't that the truth!

  5. Hope your streets are clean for the holliday season, TomCat, and that you get to sleep undesturbed each night until New year's eve. I'm baffled that street cleaners are allowed to work in the middle of the night, though. That could happen here under very exceptional circumstances only, but perhaps there was an urgency to the work in your street too?

    • I see street clearners at work during the day, but I live in a quiet suburban area, little traffic, and there never is a time that no cars are parked in the street.  I think TC lives more downtown.  I suspect they have hours when no cars are allowed to be parked on the street, and that would be the middle of the night, so that is when they are allowed to work.  Of course I could be wrong; I often am.

    • JD is right.  I'm so downtown that the traffic on my street is heavy and continuous during the day.

  6. Thanks all!  Hugs!!

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