Remember the days heading into 2017? We were wondering if the elevation of Donald Trump to the presidency would bring chaos, cataclysm or just bizarre comedy.
Well, welcome to 2025.
If it seems as if we’ve been here before, that is because we have. So far, we’ve already experienced comedy with the weird choices Trump has made for his cabinet, plus a little chaos with the glitch thrown into the congressional budget process when Trump and his buddy, Elon Musk, persuaded a bunch of Republican representatives to vote against a deal that was intended to keep the government from shutting down right before Christmas.
Cataclysm? We will have to see what the days ahead bring us. Just remember, we survived 2017 and the three following years, so our New Year’s wish may be that we come out all right this time, too, even as the déjà vu kicks in.
Happy New Year!
mr. Horsey seems to forget that sequels usually are worse than the original productions.
Santayana stated it another way: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
however there might be a silver lining, a sliver of silver though, in this quote from Teahouse of the August Moon: Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable
Not good news for the Washington Post, which appears to be crumbling before our eyes. Also, top people leaving Politico. Journalism already taking a hit. But thanks for The Atlantic gearing up, they’ve been as rough on Trump as it gets.
The Atlantic is preparing to hire roughly a dozen new reporters and editors to beef up its politics coverage, a spokeswoman said. The magazine is recruiting from a crosstown rival, The Washington Post, to bolster its political staff.
CSPAN last night Q: “Do you plan to go to President Carter’s funeral?” Trump: “I do. I’ll be there. We were invited.” Q: “Have you spoken to any Carter family members?” Trump: “I’d rather not say.”
May have to pay for the Atlantic subscription again. The front page of WashPo for the quite a while seems to have the editorial hazing of a magat backer. Something subtle has been going during the last month, articles have a feeling of less rah-rah sfb, more of a cha-cha-cha billionaires.
Good point. Oftentimes, sequels are just lame. You know they’re milking it for the money and the actors are just going through the motions. Not to mention, the production value goes down as they inevitably cut corners. I’m expecting all of that from Clown Show: The Sequel.
I actually dropped my subscription to the Atlantic, if I want Mother Jones, I’ll read Mother Jones. In the last few years I’ve noticed a MAGA effect on national media. There seem to only be two sides. Pro Trump or Anti Trump. It seems to be all anybody talks about. The Atlantic has caught the disease. They are advocates of a particular version of wingnuttery and since multiple examples of their pov are available for free. Why waste money on the well written mundane. BTW most of their good writers are also on substack, if I really miss them.
Jack
US Stocks Fall to Close Out Best Two-Year Stretch Since 1998
I loaned my niece the money to buy her house. A good investment. I’m getting more interest money than if I had it in bonds and she is getting a break on the going mortgage rate. It is a fairly secure loan in that I told her that if she defaults I’m moving in with her instead of the old folks home and she gets the joy of changing my dirty diapers.
It has been such a good year that my stock portfolio grew enough I could easily do it again. I have quietly become the family banker.
Jack
New Years resolutions
1. get my kitchen finished. It is a galley kitchen with limited space. I’m putting counters both front and back. due to space constraints the back counter is only 18 inches wide. I had to build those in my shop. I was thinking about buying the front cabinets but I couldn’t find what I wanted and those I did find at home depot and others were so cheaply made that I decided to build my own. So far they are looking good. The good thing is I get to have a kitchen that fits my 6’3 body. The counters will be 40 inches high instead of the standard 36. I hope to have it all done before spring.
Jack
I have a December birthday and it seemed to blend into Christmas. Part of the reason may have been the poverty I was raised in. There wasn’t room for both. As a result I never celebrated birthdays until Mrs Jack and I got married. She insisted.
Jack
Jack – yesterday’s mail, yes I do make compaines send physical stuff, had one of the funds report for 2024. Normally I do not read that stuff, not worth decyphering a bunch of language I had forgotten years ago. This time it was the graph that caught my eye. Line went up a distance from normal. Forty-two percent increase over last year. I do prefer to take the RMD when it is high and the determination of RMD is when it is low. I hate RMD. I also hate paying income tax on Social Security, although I suspect sfb oligarchs are working that.
BB
On RMD, They have changed the tax law so much since they started the IRA. When I do the required minimum distribution, I pay taxes on anything over about 17000. On my non IRA account, when I sell, the stock has been owned for over a year, so is long term capital gains. I don’t pay taxes until I have over $40,000 in cap gains. Also, in that account I sell it when I need it. IRAs looked really good 40 years ago now not as much.
Same old same old, they give the middle class a break then give the rich folks two,
Jack
To be honest I don’t have any real gripes. I have more than enough to take care of me and enough to help some of the folks around me.
Life is good.
Back to work, 2hrs on 2 hr break. Start at 10am quit at 4
Jack
Bid
It is why I’m not a chiefs fan anymore. The local channel that carries them put their antenna 30 miles east to cover the rural areas believing most folks in town would have cable. Digital broadcast is spotty in town and I don’t get CBS or ABC. So I don’t get the Chiefs. don’t miss them either.
Jack
jack – We bought a cheap, digital antenna (looks like a flat piece of plastic), and we get a lot of channels. Sometimes we switch it out with the antenna up in the attic, depending on the weather. Got to see my Pinstripe bowl, which is what I cared about most.
Missing the Peach Bowl now.
Doubtful they will pull off the Sugar Bowl tonight. Sad way to start the new year. Even more security probably needed for President Carter’s services.
A person told me they never heard of Ken Burns. Never heard of Ken Burns?!, I said. A wave of sadness rolled over me, as if they’d told a Christian they never heard of Jesus.
The discussion was about how to teach history to kids who know nothing about history these days and couldn’t care less. My response was run the Ken Burns films for history class.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/01/business/ukraine-russia-gas-eu-halted-hnk-intl/index.html
“Ukraine has made good on its promise to halt the transport of Russian gas to Europe through its territory after a key deal with Moscow expired on Wednesday.
We have stopped the transit of Russian gas. This is a historic event,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that its gas transportation infrastructure had been prepared in advance of the expiration.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the move “one of Moscow’s greatest defeats.” In a Telegram post Wednesday, he accused Moscow of “turning energy into a weapon and engaging in cynical energy blackmail against its partners” and expressed hope that the United States would increase its supply of gas to Europe.”
bID – I try to avoid Senator “I’m a phony hick” Kennedy. He mumbles so much horse apples in his mouth at once you know all you are going to get is a face full of stuff.
I like the Ken Burns approach to things. Something special is the way he zooms in or out of a subject. It has his name on the technique, just a little love from those who appreciate the behind the scenes world.
1 Dead After a Cybertruck Explodes Outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas
At least seven people were injured, the authorities said. Videos posted to social media appeared to show a vehicle engulfed in flames outside the lobby’s entrance.
The resident tRUMPer thinks the Tesla thing was someone on the right & thinks we’ll do what they did in 2020. “Nah, that was all on dumbass for calling followers to DC to attack the Capitol.” They didn’t like me calling Adolf “dumbass.” I also said that I think it’s more likely that a MAGAt didn’t like Elon and the HB1 visas and wanted to send a message…or that cyber trucks are absolutely crap and the battery ‘sploded of a MAGAt holidaying at a tRUMPsky property.
All I can say about the Tesla trucks is they ain’t made for people who need to drive a truck. Plus they are butt ugly.
We had a southern New Years Day dinner. Black eyed peas (hoppin’ John style), Mustard greens and roast pork with cornbread. Best I’ve made in years, and enough peas left over to freeze for next year or whatever pea emergency arises between now and then.
“The News” broke free of its restraints and took me by surprise today…..I was calmly watching The Rose Parade……the parade was over and I was about to watch the highlights in review when “The News” broke thru the 4th wall like that super Kool-Aid pitcher.
BREAKING NEWS: New Orleans !
And so it was that I witnessed that entire Press Conference. The FBI lady caught my attention as I absorbed what she was saying. I at the time didn’t know which entity she represented so I watched attentively the rest of the show to find out who she was. She was pitch perfect. Kennedy……it’s just hard to believe we have people like that in positions of power and more coming, grinning like pure fools. it was all worth watching, though, if just to see the FBI lady. As for the press conference Keith relates it pretty well.
thanks to trail friend Ivy for sharing the above ‘toon last thread. here’s the op ed that went with it:
David Horsey’s 2025: It’s déjà vu all over again | The Seattle Times
mr. Horsey seems to forget that sequels usually are worse than the original productions.
Santayana stated it another way: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
however there might be a silver lining, a sliver of silver though, in this quote from Teahouse of the August Moon:
Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable
look at his 2nd act as taking a hair of the dog that bit us cure for trumpitis
more like a huuuge hairball this time to be coughed-up for good I hope
Patd, I don’t think Horsey forgot the sequel rule of thumb. Look at the first political ‘toon here.
Not good news for the Washington Post, which appears to be crumbling before our eyes. Also, top people leaving Politico. Journalism already taking a hit. But thanks for The Atlantic gearing up, they’ve been as rough on Trump as it gets.
The Atlantic is preparing to hire roughly a dozen new reporters and editors to beef up its politics coverage, a spokeswoman said. The magazine is recruiting from a crosstown rival, The Washington Post, to bolster its political staff.
CSPAN last night
Q: “Do you plan to go to President Carter’s funeral?”
Trump: “I do. I’ll be there. We were invited.”
Q: “Have you spoken to any Carter family members?”
Trump: “I’d rather not say.”
May have to pay for the Atlantic subscription again. The front page of WashPo for the quite a while seems to have the editorial hazing of a magat backer. Something subtle has been going during the last month, articles have a feeling of less rah-rah sfb, more of a cha-cha-cha billionaires.
Yeah… I guess I too need to get another Atlantic subscription. We let our subscription lapse because we got too many magazines. Now we only get 2.
Pogo… Rick’s bday is 12/24…. I always get him a good bottle of scotch.
Thanks, Pat, for amplifying the ‘toon.
Good point. Oftentimes, sequels are just lame. You know they’re milking it for the money and the actors are just going through the motions. Not to mention, the production value goes down as they inevitably cut corners. I’m expecting all of that from Clown Show: The Sequel.
Anybody else with mid-September birthday who wonders what the hell happened at their parents’ New Year’s Eve party?
I actually dropped my subscription to the Atlantic, if I want Mother Jones, I’ll read Mother Jones. In the last few years I’ve noticed a MAGA effect on national media. There seem to only be two sides. Pro Trump or Anti Trump. It seems to be all anybody talks about. The Atlantic has caught the disease. They are advocates of a particular version of wingnuttery and since multiple examples of their pov are available for free. Why waste money on the well written mundane. BTW most of their good writers are also on substack, if I really miss them.
Jack
I signed back up for Mother Jones.
A Bloomberg headline
I loaned my niece the money to buy her house. A good investment. I’m getting more interest money than if I had it in bonds and she is getting a break on the going mortgage rate. It is a fairly secure loan in that I told her that if she defaults I’m moving in with her instead of the old folks home and she gets the joy of changing my dirty diapers.
It has been such a good year that my stock portfolio grew enough I could easily do it again. I have quietly become the family banker.
Jack
today’s meme…
Our family has one New Year’s Eve eve birthday and two New Year’s Day birthdays. I do feel bad for them, everybody’s plum exhausted.
New Years resolutions
1. get my kitchen finished. It is a galley kitchen with limited space. I’m putting counters both front and back. due to space constraints the back counter is only 18 inches wide. I had to build those in my shop. I was thinking about buying the front cabinets but I couldn’t find what I wanted and those I did find at home depot and others were so cheaply made that I decided to build my own. So far they are looking good. The good thing is I get to have a kitchen that fits my 6’3 body. The counters will be 40 inches high instead of the standard 36. I hope to have it all done before spring.
Jack
I have a December birthday and it seemed to blend into Christmas. Part of the reason may have been the poverty I was raised in. There wasn’t room for both. As a result I never celebrated birthdays until Mrs Jack and I got married. She insisted.
Jack
Jack – yesterday’s mail, yes I do make compaines send physical stuff, had one of the funds report for 2024. Normally I do not read that stuff, not worth decyphering a bunch of language I had forgotten years ago. This time it was the graph that caught my eye. Line went up a distance from normal. Forty-two percent increase over last year. I do prefer to take the RMD when it is high and the determination of RMD is when it is low. I hate RMD. I also hate paying income tax on Social Security, although I suspect sfb oligarchs are working that.
BB
On RMD, They have changed the tax law so much since they started the IRA. When I do the required minimum distribution, I pay taxes on anything over about 17000. On my non IRA account, when I sell, the stock has been owned for over a year, so is long term capital gains. I don’t pay taxes until I have over $40,000 in cap gains. Also, in that account I sell it when I need it. IRAs looked really good 40 years ago now not as much.
Same old same old, they give the middle class a break then give the rich folks two,
Jack
There don’t seem to be any bowl games on ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox.
To be honest I don’t have any real gripes. I have more than enough to take care of me and enough to help some of the folks around me.
Life is good.
Back to work, 2hrs on 2 hr break. Start at 10am quit at 4
Jack
Bid
It is why I’m not a chiefs fan anymore. The local channel that carries them put their antenna 30 miles east to cover the rural areas believing most folks in town would have cable. Digital broadcast is spotty in town and I don’t get CBS or ABC. So I don’t get the Chiefs. don’t miss them either.
Jack
jack – We bought a cheap, digital antenna (looks like a flat piece of plastic), and we get a lot of channels. Sometimes we switch it out with the antenna up in the attic, depending on the weather. Got to see my Pinstripe bowl, which is what I cared about most.
Missing the Peach Bowl now.
Doubtful they will pull off the Sugar Bowl tonight. Sad way to start the new year. Even more security probably needed for President Carter’s services.
A person told me they never heard of Ken Burns. Never heard of Ken Burns?!, I said. A wave of sadness rolled over me, as if they’d told a Christian they never heard of Jesus.
The discussion was about how to teach history to kids who know nothing about history these days and couldn’t care less. My response was run the Ken Burns films for history class.
This person lived their entire early life in the town that was formative to Ken Burns.
Did anyone find Senator Kennedy’s comments at the presser in New Orleans weird?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/01/business/ukraine-russia-gas-eu-halted-hnk-intl/index.html
“Ukraine has made good on its promise to halt the transport of Russian gas to Europe through its territory after a key deal with Moscow expired on Wednesday.
We have stopped the transit of Russian gas. This is a historic event,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that its gas transportation infrastructure had been prepared in advance of the expiration.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the move “one of Moscow’s greatest defeats.” In a Telegram post Wednesday, he accused Moscow of “turning energy into a weapon and engaging in cynical energy blackmail against its partners” and expressed hope that the United States would increase its supply of gas to Europe.”
When does Senator Kennedy not say something weird? He has an Oxford degree in Weird Studies and has translated it into the Cajun language.
fodder for late night comics and SNL
Telsa cybertruck appears to burst into flames outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas
bID – I try to avoid Senator “I’m a phony hick” Kennedy. He mumbles so much horse apples in his mouth at once you know all you are going to get is a face full of stuff.
I like the Ken Burns approach to things. Something special is the way he zooms in or out of a subject. It has his name on the technique, just a little love from those who appreciate the behind the scenes world.
Now, a cyber truck in front of a tRUMPsky property in Vegas. Was it just in automated-driver mode? I’ve heard those things are crap.
BID, they look like rolling dumpsters. I try to get as far as possible away from any I see on the roadways.
Not funny anymore. Really.
For real.
meme #2…
…and maggots love it.
The resident tRUMPer thinks the Tesla thing was someone on the right & thinks we’ll do what they did in 2020. “Nah, that was all on dumbass for calling followers to DC to attack the Capitol.” They didn’t like me calling Adolf “dumbass.” I also said that I think it’s more likely that a MAGAt didn’t like Elon and the HB1 visas and wanted to send a message…or that cyber trucks are absolutely crap and the battery ‘sploded of a MAGAt holidaying at a tRUMPsky property.
All I can say about the Tesla trucks is they ain’t made for people who need to drive a truck. Plus they are butt ugly.
We had a southern New Years Day dinner. Black eyed peas (hoppin’ John style), Mustard greens and roast pork with cornbread. Best I’ve made in years, and enough peas left over to freeze for next year or whatever pea emergency arises between now and then.
What he meant to say:
Pogo – Cybertrucks are also allergic to water.
“The News” broke free of its restraints and took me by surprise today…..I was calmly watching The Rose Parade……the parade was over and I was about to watch the highlights in review when “The News” broke thru the 4th wall like that super Kool-Aid pitcher.
BREAKING NEWS: New Orleans !
And so it was that I witnessed that entire Press Conference. The FBI lady caught my attention as I absorbed what she was saying. I at the time didn’t know which entity she represented so I watched attentively the rest of the show to find out who she was. She was pitch perfect. Kennedy……it’s just hard to believe we have people like that in positions of power and more coming, grinning like pure fools. it was all worth watching, though, if just to see the FBI lady. As for the press conference Keith relates it pretty well.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/countdown-with-keith-olbermann/id1633301179?i=1000682350577
The final lighting tonight
NEW THREAD