Author: craigcrawford
Trail Mix Host. Lapsed journalist, author & retired pundit happily promoting nothing but the truth for Social Security checks. View all posts by craigcrawford
85 thoughts on ““Merry Christmas” Didn’t Need Defending”
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there was no “war on Christmas” as the trump kept repeating just as he had about birtherism but there was and is his war on the truth and he is the commander in chief. this must be his favorite motto:
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels
FAKE NEWS!!!!
LYING LIBERAL MEDIA!!!!
If I write it in caps with lots of !!!! I am angry & yelling at you & my voice is the loudest in the room & therefore I WIN!!!!
You are small & insignificant. I AM THE PRESIDENT. WINNING!!!!
covfefe shoebedobedo woowoowoowoowoo nyuk nyuk nyuk
First Lady Melania looking more feline in a Val Lewton-ish way. This could be interesting.
Breaking the rules a bit but goodness Meghan Markle is lovely; appears sane & intelligent. Diana’s boys did good.
I really miss the Obamas.
Jack… wishing you and the Mrs. a speedy recovery…. then party like hell… 🙂
Boxing Day is now being appropriated by American stores. It had to happen.
It appears SFB is getting into deep panic mode. I am more sure he will be “gone” shortly after his January “medical” review. His slurring is worse than last month. He is making little sense when he tries to talk, the world salad is more like sausage, you cannot tell exactly what is in it. We are able to watch a low intelligence, blithering idiot and massive bully succumb to a very bad brain issue. Now that the greedy old perverts have their tax cut for billionaires they may decide it is time to get rid of the fruitcake (lots of nuts in there) before he kills them in 2018.
If they (GOP) cut him loose, they will lose the base, and will not gain many independents or any democrats.
I don’t think gaining pres pence will offset the rage over deposing trump.
is it democrat party or Democratic Party……
Well said, SJ
Dear Vice President Pence,
During the past year what have you done to prepare yourself to assume the presidency should that eventuality become reality?
Yours truly,
Flatus
Flatus – I think the guy has been polishing his “I’m not a crook” speech and practicing on using his toes to pick up soap bars. He and the guy freaking out are going to enjoy Florence.
Which is more worrisome: a person who uses his/her faith as a guide for their actions or a person who uses faith to achieve what they want?
Vice President Pence has always been upfront about his religion; states regularly that he is a Christian first. I read a piece about how while SNL was mocking him for avoiding being alone with a woman (other than his wife) he may have made the wisest choice of all, considering.
As to answer your question, Flatus, I am sure he has been doing one thing. Praying. I say that not derisively but with a hunch that it is a fact. Also his experience as a Governor can’t be overlooked.
SFB shows contempt for his voters by lying to them.
Will note the handsome fella in my avatar is my paternal Great-Grandmother’s cousin. He was Hans Hansen, a portrait painter to the Danish Royal Court during the early 19th century. His wife was the personal maid of Constanze Mozart, widow of Wolfgang (Hi Jace!) I’ve been lucky to see some of Hans’ pencil drawings & sketches. He treated both the high & low born with equal respect & artistry.
Good time to celebrate life & family. Would love for anyone here to share.
I think steve bannon is next. That might take a gust out of the ripoff leadership’s sails.
Then comes ross, and that should take the hurricane out of the blowhard & his sails.
HO HO HO ! I’ve gotta be right wunna these times !
Mr Cracker has more interesting relatives
Katherine Graham Cracker,
Very neat! What a gem to have a remembrance in their own words.
I think Hans looks like Bill Hudson of the Hudson Brothers, whom Trail friend Dave B interviewed a few years back. That was a very interesting talk.
Dave B, write a Post periodically about entertainment news! You are great at this. We need a break from political humbug once in awhile. Not denigrating politics, but there is more to life. Just saying … 😉
Fair
10°F
-12°C
Humidity
55%
Wind Speed
N 7 mph
Barometer
30.71 in (1041.6 mb)
Dewpoint
-3°F (-19°C)
Visibility
10.00 mi
Wind Chill
-1°F (-18°C)
Last update
26 Dec 8:54 pm CST
SJ, how much snow your way, I heard on the news Erie PA got hit hard 4+ ft?
Talking about ancestors. I did a quick google and found this about the NY side of the family. I knew we had a connection back to the Revolutionary war but didn’t know how till now.
BTW, my paternal heritage is all back woods hillbilly from the MO ozarks but unlike the stereotype it was the prim and proper Middle class NYers that had cousin marrying cousins. My great Gmother married her first cousin as did her brother. the cousins they married were also brother and sister. What can I say, that side of the family has always believed in close family ties.
Jack
-6F & 2mph.
It’s worse in that upstart town west of here. Milwaukee ? Mandan ? Indianapolis ?
4 ft of snow is obscene. I’m glad I’m here in dry Minnesota.
The days are getting longer and the repugs have a war on HAPPY New Year, it not about Christmas anymore. Wrecking another year under the trumpence junta. Wall street and the 1% are the only ones celebrating and wait until we get the bill for Christmas. Any tax breaks? Will be eaten-up by the highest gas prices since 2015. What happens if a health care disaster or crisis occurs?
This caught my eye…NM at the bottom of the list for health disasters. The repug gov, the gov of NO (more vetoes than gary johnson) has stripped our programs during the last two years. trump is doing the same to federal government.
A study places New Mexico among the least prepared states for epidemics or other types of public health emergencies due to low public health funding and gaps in staffing.
flynn’s bro tweets trump to pardon mike. The not so secret tweet deleted. I am glad to see the family so delusional about their treasonous crime that they would show their hand? They must be relaxing because of the new repug push to discredit the fbi, deep state shenanigans. In reality, PA, NY and VA, have enough laws to trap flynn and junior, so trump’s federal pardon? A fake pardon full of hot air. Neutralizing trump.
If Moscow Mueller can protect Americans from the trumpence junta, what will happen to guiliani and his son who works in the WH? Surrogate guiliani, another man protecting his family while throwing America under the bus. His election antics should be under Mueller’s scrutiny. Rudy must be fueling the attack on the fbi by trump and repugs.
the guardian:
Barack Obama tells Prince Harry: leaders must stop corroding civil discourse
Politicians, and others in positions of power, should stop corroding civil discourse and seek to unify society, the former US president Barack Obama said in a rare interview conducted by Prince Harry for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Obama did not mention his successor, Donald Trump, by name, but said social media could lead to facts being discarded and prejudices being reinforced, making public conversation harder. “All of us in leadership have to find ways to recreate a common space on the internet,” he said.
[….]
He said his first thought on leaving office was that he had been thankful that Michelle “had been my partner through that whole process. She is a spectacular, funny and warm person. She is not someone who is naturally inclined to politics, so in some ways though she was as good a first lady as ever been, she did this largely in support of my decision to run.
“For us to be able to come out of that intact – our marriage strong, we are still each other’s best friends, our daughters turning into amazing young women – there was a sense of completion, and that we had done the work in a way that maintained our integrity and left us whole and fundamentally unchanged.”
[….continues…]
Whskyjack, the wind is our friend.
Snow to north of us (Lake Ontario)
Snow to the south (Lake Erie)
And Buffalo’s stuck in the middle with blue (skies)
*******
Though a few miles shifting one way or the other can mean nasty business. So far, so good, just really cold.
ny times via msn:
Tied Virginia Race That Was Headed for Name-Drawing Gets Another Twist
RICHMOND — A race that would tip control of Virginia’s House of Delegates, whose constant and nearly comic pendulums between candidates has attracted national attention, took one more twist on Tuesday when a drawing to break a tie was unexpectedly postponed.
The Virginia State Board of Elections announced it would delay a drawing of lots after receiving a letter from lawyers for the Democratic candidate, Shelly Simonds, that she was legally fighting the ruling of a recount court last week.
The election board’s one-line announcement, on Twitter, came just hours after an announcement that there would be a live video stream of the drawing, which was to be held adjacent to the State Capitol, in response to the huge interest in the race beyond Virginia.
[…continues…]
A number of white settlers to Western New York were Revolutionary veterans from Connecticut, Vermont & Rhode Island. I know that area of Cattaraugus County the Stricklands settled, Whskyjack – beautiful area. Allegany County (where I grew up) had a lot of Vermont settlers. The land is very hilly & rocky; a number of the vets’ descendants went west to Wisconsin in the 1850s.
sj… I am a first generation American. Both my parents were from New Brunswick, Canada. Some mistakenly call me “French Canadian”… but that is not correct. French Canadians are from Quebec. My heritage is Acadian. I share a common ancestry with the Cajuns in Louisiana. The French people there are related to the Acadians shipped there from Nova Scotia by the English in the 1700s.
Yeah… it was -6 this morning. We did get 8 inches of fresh snow Xmas day. It’s so dry and fluffy it’s impossible to make snowballs or snowmen with it…. but it sure is clean and beautiful!
RebelliousRenee,
Were your ancestors from the Madawaska Valley? I read an article about the Madawaskan French back during the bicentennial … the buckwheat crepes, a memory from old France & how the churches were built like the hulls of ships, as many were seafarers.
Over at WaPo, crediting Ben Beach, Robert Samuelson has an interesting piece on ten top stats from 2017 – it’s not his original work, but it’s a fun little read.
BTW, is it 2018 yet? I’m done with 2017.
sj… I had to google Madawaska Valley… according to Wiki it’s in Ontario. So no, my heritage is from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. And all I know is back to my grandparents. Genealogy has never interested me. I’ve been told by relatives in Canada that all the birth records were kept in village churches. I’d have to start there to learn anything more. But first… I’d have to renew my passport.
Yeah… yeah… I know about the new enhanced licenses. But mine isn’t up for renewal for 2 yrs. Plus I have a ton of cousins that would want me to eat at each of their houses and bless their kids… and so on and so forth first… 🙂
This is my grandfather
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Semels
It must be fun to see a movie with your Grandfather in it, Katherine Graham Cracker 🙂 Cool.
This is my aunt
This is my aunt from a different side
Louise Roberts, who directed the Clark Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan, died on Jan. 17 at Bellevue Hospital. She was 85 and lived in Manhattan.
In her nearly three decades of presenting dance, Ms. Roberts helped shape the careers of many fledgling avant-garde and black choreographers who later became major modern dance artists, among them Kei Takei, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Bill T. Jones. A small, rotund woman with an earthy sense of humor, Ms. Roberts also served as a patient yet eminently practical ”great mother figure,” as Alvin Ailey put it, to several generations of modern dancers.
A central tenet of her career as a dance producer was that no one should be excluded from dance because of imperfect bodies or the color of their skin. She also believed that dance ought to be available to everyone, whether through the low-cost classes at Clark Center or affordable concerts. She wanted, she said in a 1986 interview, to ”offer people the opportunity to take chances.”
Born in Boston, Ms. Roberts attended Hunter College in Manhattan, graduating in 1931 with a degree in political science. It was during her college years that Ms. Roberts began to study dance seriously, performing with Blanche Evan. When her husband, Paul Ziporkis, died in 1953, Ms. Roberts was left with a daughter to bring up alone. She worked as a magazine caption writer, an administrator at the Downtown Community School and as the director of the June Taylor School before moving on to Clark Center in 1970.
A friendship with Donald McKayle, a young choreographer, led to her first experience producing dance when Mr. McKayle asked her for help in putting on a concert at the 92d Street Y. Ms. Roberts continued to present dance regularly at Clark Center, where Alvin Ailey had started his company in the 1960’s. The center is also where Wendy Wasserstein had the first staged reading of one of her plays.
From 1975 to 1978, Ms. Roberts produced a summer dance festival in the mall at the City College Graduate Center on West 42d Street. Her dreams of moving Clark Center from small, dingy studios on Eighth Avenue to a new theater and studio complex on the West 42d Street Theater Row in the mid-80’s were dashed after the city reneged on promised support. Ms. Roberts rebounded with an ambitious eight-week series at the Douglas Fairbanks Theater on Theater Row in 1986, the year she resigned from Clark Center. ”We’re going to be dancing on 42d Street,” she told a reporter. ”I may cry a lot, but that’s what we’re going to do.” The Clark Center closed in 1988.
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Ms. Roberts was a Capezio Award honoree in 1991 and won a Bessie Award in 1986.
things have definitely petered out in the next few generations –just kidding the ones after my generation are very cool
https://acadian.org/downeast.html
This is a great article from National Geographic about Acadians.
Renee
Either join ancestry free for a month or just ask me for anyone you want to find. The Mormons have indexed all those Canadian records.
SJ
It is fun especially because he died in March of the year I was born so I never met him
forecast tweetstorms, firings, fury and dark clouds overcasting winter white house after twit sees this:
Gallup: Obama, Hillary Clinton remain most admired
Former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remain the most admired man and woman in the United States — a 10-year trend for Obama and 16 years running for Clinton.
Gallup’s December poll found 17% of respondents named Obama the man they admired most, a dip from 22% of respondents saying the same last year. President Donald Trump took second place with 14% of respondents citing him when asked, open-ended, to name the man they admired most.
Gallup said about one-quarter of respondents could not name a man or woman they admire most, roughly similar to last year’s share who offered no opinion in response to the question.
The two presidents were the only ones to garner double digit support. Pope Francis took third place with 3% of respondents, and the rest of the top dozen men included politicians, religious figures and billionaires.
Clinton’s 16th consecutive year topping the most admired women’s poll showed her support dip this time from 12% to 9% of respondents. Former first lady Michelle Obama came in second with 7% of respondents, and the third place finisher at 4% support was Oprah Winfrey. The rest of the list included political figures, British royalty and Beyoncé Knowles. One percent of those surveyed named first lady Melania Trump their most admired woman, bringing her name into the top tier for the first time.
Clinton has topped the list 16 years running and taken the top spot 22 times total, which Gallup said was more than anyone else — man or woman. Obama’s 10th year as most admired man makes him second only to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Gallup said sitting presidents usually win the most admired spot, and that Obama was the first former president to top the list since Eisenhower.
The two Democrats’ continued chart topping comes amid heightened polarization in US politics, where deep divisions in polls like these are the norm. A Gallup poll released earlier this month showed the share of US adults holding a favorable opinion of Clinton had dropped to 36%, a new low. Nevertheless, Clinton retained enough support among the public to top every other woman on the list.
At the same time, second-place finisher Trump’s favorable rating was down to 41% of respondents in the Gallup poll, and he has continued to earn the lowest approval ratings of any president at this point in the job since the beginning of modern polling.
Gallup’s poll of 1,049 US adults was taken from December 4-11, 2017, with a margin of error of ±4% points.
just in case you missed this re Hillary (you know that person who’s been twitter trashed for the last year and more) from above
Clinton has topped the list 16 years running and taken the top spot 22 times total, which Gallup said was more than anyone else — man or woman.
SJWNY – Thanks for the positive feedback re: Bill Hudson – in retrospect I started to worry I was too hard on poor Kate. On the lookout for entertainment news to share now! Happy 2018…
patd, bless you and Gallup. The “Most Admired” list made my day. Consider that SFB, the sitting POTUS, gets about 40% of his “approval” numbers when asked about “admired” people.
LOLOLOLOL.
Ms cracker got some game in the lineage department…….
KGC…..I have inordinately enjoyed your grandfather during my million views of “Disorder in the Court”. There was a time when that one was one of the mainstays of our intellectual development…..and not talking about childhood ova heah…….we knew all the characters, all the lines……it was a glorious time …..
A TARANTULA!
I always figgered you had to be pretty good to hang with the Stooges…….
Which came first, the dancing or the wine?
i guess dancing was first….out in front of the cave roasting a wooly mammoth or something…….
Meanwhile Thag, being an introvert, just stays inside the cave and draws pictures……
They murdered Thag shortly after the mammoths ran out……
The Great Depression of Negative Ought-Ought-Ought…..
They only murdered drummers if they were dragging down the beat during Shee-ra’s dance of the seven bear skins……
Nothing sadder than an old log beater trying to keep up…..and then one night, Shee-ra’s manager snaps, and wham…..
Went and saw “Molly’s Game”…….. That Molly Bloom is one plenty smart little girl……
All that was before Ugh invented the wheel, and the economy picked up, as everybody wanted one. Then Blapf made a better wheel by knocking the corners off. Ugh told people that Blapf was taking shortcut that made his wheels dangerous. And so, advertising was invented.
And not a Republican in the lot. Some very far left.
Sturg
The Stooges had been vaudevillians and when they started making movies they hired their friends.
My grandfather frequently didn’t have an agent. He thought they were parasites.
Los stooges ……..love those guys…….they got their act from Ted Healy and once they left him and Moe took over the Healy spot
the act never changed.
From the sub lime to the radicalous . . .
I’ve been puzzling over what is behind the ripper attacks on the FBI. I can understand their panic to undermine Mueller’s investigation after the first 3 convictions, but that investigation has almost nothing to do with the FBI. According to repubclowns, the FBI favors HRC, as if she is still a political rival. This is the same FBI that made loud investigative noises all through her run for the nomination, and later for the presidency – down to 2 days before the vote. At the same time, it kept silent about the investigations of Manafort and Flynn.
It looked to almost the entire country that the FBI weighed in to help the trump ripoffs.
Well, here’s an idea. What if the attacks on the FBI are meant to aid russian spies, the mafia, and Latin American drug lords. trump/bannonov/putin may figure that if these three groups begin to raise serious hell in the country before 2020, trump and the russkies’ election apparatus can paint the pussypinching golf goof as the only one who can save us from the crime wave. Or, maybe he’s just getting dark money and campaign work from the mob and kremlin.
I think it’s a reasonable solution to the conundrum of trump’s animus against the chief arm of federal law enforcement.
Their whole lives were the act.
Trump gotta animus?
X…I read the first few words and thought….attacks on FBI …..
I’m thinking…….
Words get slap in the way of what I’m thinking about the FBI……weird, ain’t it…….
God, I love that typewriter…….there’s not a machine on earth which can compare……..
Onliest thing close would be a singer sewing machine………yeah, I got one of them too…….
You know……if time and toil should take their toll and that typewriter should fall prey to rust and corosian……the on,y thing left of it would be that picture….
the hill: Giant Trump dog statue placed outside Chinese mall
The dog corresponds with 2018 being the year of the dog in the Chinese zodiac. Trump, 71, was born in the year of the dog, which occurs every 12 years.A giant rooster statue styled to look like Trump was placed outside the mall at the end of 2016 to ring in the year of the rooster.
too bad they raised the wrong finger. woulda looked more like him.
Roy Moore is a little man who has no idea what integrity means.
Xrepub, the motive behind the attacks on FBI might not go as far as you speculate — “What if the attacks on the FBI are meant to aid russian spies, the mafia, and Latin American drug lords.” — but you might be on to something.
A good theory of the case for a counterattack: Trump is protecting the Russians from his own Justice Department.
inspired by xrepub, trying to kick up a little tweet dust counter offensive. Tweet something like this if you have an account:
Latest @isikoff makes me wonder: Is Trump’s “witch hunt” crusade really about protecting Russians from his own FBI? https://t.co/Mc2lXj5cRC
also…
Wonder why @FoxNews seems so eager to protect Russians from the FBI? #FoxNews
and…
Wonder why Rep @Jim_Jordan seems so eager to protect the Russians from the FBI?
So ole Roy has sued to delay seating Doug Jones in the Senate.
Uhhh, no. 1. – The quoted language is temporary injunction language (OK, in fairness SFB’s boy is seeking one). 2. State court? Really? 3. Last I heard polygraphs are per se unreliable and inadmissible in court for any reason. Of course the (twice) ex Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court might not be aware of that.
Oh, and BTW, I’d like to see where the funds for the election lawsuit came from. His “charity” or a PAC?
Fatuous ass.
waay 31 abc: Roy Moore Files Lawsuit, John Merrill says Complaint Won’t Change Certification Process
Alabama’s Secretary of State John Merrill says despite the lawsuit filed by Roy Moore, the election results will still be certified Thursday afternoon.
“Doug Jones will be certified today at 2 pm eastern time, 1 pm central time.. The Governor, Kay Ivey, our Attorney General Steve Marshall and I will meet in the office of the secretary of state and the executive office and we will sign the documents certifying him as the Senator for the State of Alabama. He will be sworn in by Vice President Pence on the 3rd of January when the Senate returns,” Merrill said on CNN.
Sam Coleman, a spokesman for the Doug Jones campaign, released a comment to WAAY 31 about the lawsuit.
“This desperate attempt by Roy Moore to subvert the will of the people will not succeed. The election is over, it’s time to move on,” said Coleman.
[….continues…]
Things are getting frisky in DC. Mr P and First Lady have just about finished the Arboretum nestoration. Now time for re-bonding and egg production in January.
Add to the conspiracy. Why is Ken Starr who tried just about everything to destroy Bill Clinton and who praised Mueller to the skies has suddenly turned on both Mueller and the FBI?
BTW, Moore’s suit failed, Jones was certified the winner of the special election for AL Senator
nyah,nyah.
Here’s a handy dandy summary of the tax bill changes for 2017 & 2018 – from your friends at Turbo Tax.
Roy Moore made an impassioned plea to white Christian Alabamians to save their way of life.
What about their Jewish employee?
re al:
Half of Minnesota voters surveyed in a recent poll don’t think Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) should go through with his planned resignation.
A new Public Policy Polling survey found 50 percent of voters in Minnesota don’t think the Minnesota Democrat should resign in the face of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
Forty-two percent of Minnesotans think Franken should resign.
Among Democrats, 71 percent don’t think Franken should resign.
The poll also finds that 53 percent of voters approve of the job Franken is doing in office, compared to 42 percent who don’t approve. His approval rating is slightly higher among women, with 57 percent of women saying they approve of his job performance, compared with 37 percent who don’t.
The poll was conducted from Dec. 26 – 27 among 671 Minnesota voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
[…continues…]
One thing that SFB is doing is creating a lot of stink, with some of it believed by a few people. As long as the clip of him and his media person spouting that “if you are attacking the FBI you are guilty” keeps playing things will be okay.
If you follow John Schindler you will have hints of how serious the Russian invasion is into the Congress. It will be a very interesting year if Mueller and other agents bring down the bastards. Follow the money. The Russian (Putin) money has flowed straight to a lot of congress critters, on both sides of the aisle, but mainly on the greedy old perverts side.
The weather sucks. This old body needs summer, not winter.
BB, goddam right you are. On all counts. Btw, if I haven’t said it today, f_ ck SFB. (There, that’s better.)
And as to the weather, hell yeah. It was 5 above (Fahrenheit) this morning, got up to 20. Headed back down. And I’m achy as hell. Goddammit.
I feel like the commie Chinese army has marched all over me. I can’t wait for summer. At least gimme May – quick !
BB, XR, beware the fwu. It’s fwu season.
XR
We can both be overjoyed about May. My Christmas gift from son was Asilomar for a week. If you are ever in a situation where you are going to Monterey CA and don’t know where to stay then what you want is Asilomar in Pacific Grove and I get an ocean view.
We once tried to do a group get together there once but fearless leader’s book tour fell through or something.
Anyway if anyone is going to be in the area between May 18 and May 24, let me know and we can do dinner or aquarium or something.
Wrote this back in 2011. It would seem that I was being a bit prescient: Let America Be America Again, Langston Hughes
http://jdurward.blogspot.com/2011/03/let-america-be-america-again.html
Just arrived in DC. It’s 20 degrees. That’s a 55 degree drop in just 2 hours flying from Orlando. Ready to go back.
Oh, Jamie, you must have been a VERY good girl in 2017 ! (-8>D))<
Tell your son that I’m thinking of adopting him.
The deadbeat knows more about the tax bill than the greatest CPA. He also knows more about accuracy than the greatest bovine proctologist.
XR
I really did luck out. Both children did a marvelous job of raising themselves while I was busy working. About ten years ago they sent me to Scotland. Can’t wait to see what they come up with for my 80th B’day. but I’ve hinted at kangaroos and koalas …. LOL
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