President Donald Trump might not be ruining Christmas, but he’s making it more expensive. American families are expected to spend $1 trillion on gifts and other goods this November and December, roughly 4 percent more than they spent last year. But they’re paying more for everything—artificial trees, ornaments, toys, novelty sweaters. They have fewer options to choose from when they log on to Etsy and browse upscale boutiques. Some retailers have stopped shipping to the United States, and some have gone out of business—all thanks to Trump’s globe-engulfing and pointless trade war.
Holiday shoppers might not notice that things are a little less merry and bright than they would have been otherwise. The average family is expected to spend $132 more this year because of tariffs—not nothing, but not enough to break the bank, either. But wage growth has been cooling. The unemployment rate has been rising. Consumer confidence has been falling sharply. Rent, co-pays, mortgages, car payments, and utilities remain brutal for average families to afford—and health insurance is about to get radically more expensive. In recent weeks, customers have started shopping at cheaper outlets, buying fewer items, and putting off major expenses.
[…]
Big companies have managed to dodge and shuffle in response: pressing their suppliers for discounts, stocking up and storing products to get ahead of the tariffs, rerouting their supply lines, buying merchandise from lightly tariffed countries. Retailers including Walmart have managed to keep their sales figures up and hold costs down, for the most part. Yet many companies have run out of warehoused items, leaving them no choice but to raise sticker prices or cut into their profits.
Small companies have had fewer options. Many small-scale businesses lack the time, bandwidth, or travel budget to find new overseas suppliers—especially when big importers are doing so too. Boutiques don’t have the bargaining power to press manufacturers and shipping companies for discounts. Single-person firms cannot take out loans to buy up stock and move it to the United States before a trade levy hits. Many small firms cannot change their product lines, either.
As a result, the trade war has helped large companies squeeze out their smaller competitors. Many small firms have closed down, fired workers, watched their sales fall apart, or worse. In a new survey, 71 percent of small-business owners said they expect the trade war to depress their revenue this holiday season. Only 5 percent said they were hiring and expanding their business.
[…]
Struggling firms aren’t the economy’s only problem. The government shutdown has depressed the Washington, D.C., metro economy. Concerns about artificial intelligence and the growth outlook have led businesses of all sizes to quit hiring, and some have started firing workers too. Households have noticed those changes and are limiting their spending. Yet companies don’t have much room to win back customers by cutting prices, in many cases—because of the tariffs, which are at their highest effective rate in close to a century. The country is in a stagflationary, queasy state as the year comes to a close, and it’s not doing much for anyone’s holiday spirit.
“Are they literally trying to make it impossible to run a business?” MacDonald asked me. Because “that’s how it feels.”
published over seven (7) years ago but still applicable unfortunately
TRUTH BOMB #1:
Trump vomited out another bargain-bin fascist brain fart yesterday — declaring he wants to pause immigration from “poor countries.” That’s it. That’s the whole fuckbrained policy. Not dangerous countries. Not unstable countries. Just poor. The man basically announced:
“If you can’t afford a Cheesecake Factory, go fuck yourself.”
This is coming from a guy whose understanding of economics could be scribbled on a cocktail napkin soaked in ketchup and Adderall sweat. The “plan” is xenophobia shoved into a cheap suit and sold as national security to people who think windmills give you cancer. More at link.
Here is full livestream (42 min) from our Burlington MA ICE protest yesterday…
“Kill them all”: Hegseth ordered strike on survivors of US attack
A bombshell Washington Post investigation revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally ordered U.S. forces to “kill them all” during a September 2 maritime strike off the coast of Trinidad, an unprecedented escalation in America’s counter-drug operations and one that legal experts say may violate international law.
According to officials with direct knowledge of the mission, U.S. special operations forces targeted a small vessel suspected of transporting narcotics. After the first missile strike destroyed the boat and killed most of the crew, observers reported seeing at least two survivors clinging to debris. Hegseth allegedly directed forces to launch a second strike to eliminate the remaining survivors, a move experts describe as potentially unlawful under long-standing rules of armed conflict, which prohibit killing combatants who are “hors de combat,” or out of the fight.
Human rights groups and former military lawyers warn the decision could set a precedent for unchecked lethal force far beyond U.S. borders.
“If this stands, the U.S. is claiming the right to kill anyone, anywhere, based on secret intelligence and no transparency,” one legal expert told the Post.
*It’s time to impeach, convict and remove Orange Adolf for treason, which rids us of the entire administration.
Rubio has hands all over these illegal strikes, too.
Is Leaky Pete just ‘roided up or is he on something more? He’s a sloppy drunk, based on reports, so what’s he on?
Vice President JD Vance told service members that they were “full of s—” if they said they enjoy eating turkey in a speech where he spoke adamantly against the Thanksgiving staple.
While speaking to troops at Ford Campbell, Ky., on Nov. 26, Vance, 41, railed against the bird, asking the troops, “Who really likes — be honest with yourself — who really likes turkey?”
To the service members who raised their hands, Vance replied, “You’re all full of s—, everybody who raised your hand.”
“Here’s how I know every single one of you who raised your hand is lying to me,” he continued. “How many times do you roast an 18-lbs. turkey, just randomly? Just, you know, a nice summer afternoon, we’re gonna go get an 18-lbs. turkey. Nobody does it, ‘cause turkey doesn’t actually taste that good.”
He said that “on Thanksgiving, the most American holiday,” people decide that “we’re gonna cook a turkey, by God, because that’s what Americans do.”
“We cook this gigantic American bird, and we do all kinds of crazy things to make it taste good,” said Vance, who was on hand, along with his wife, Usha Vance, to serve a Thanksgiving meal to the troops that included the offending meat.
Vance then referenced a previous conversation with a soldier, who told him that she’s planning to deep-fry her turkey. “I’m actually going to deep fry a turkey myself,” he shared of his Thanksgiving plans. “Here’s the thing: If you’ve got to deep fry something to make it taste good, it probably isn’t that good. That’s a pretty good rule of thumb when it comes to food.”
“Chicken is good all the time,” he said. “Chicken is good when you deep fry it, but it’s also good outside of it.”
Republican Sen. Mike Bohacek is speaking out against President Donald Trump after he called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz “seriously r——-.”
“Many of you have asked my position on redistricting,” Bohacek began. “I have been an unapologetic advocate for people with intellectual disabilities since the birth of my second daughter.”
His message included a screenshot of a Newsweek article published Friday morning.
“Tim Walz Responds to Donald Trump Calling Him ‘Seriously R——-,’” was the headline of the article
Bohacek said his “consequences” for Trump would include “voting NO on redistricting,” referring to an ongoing battle in the state’s legislature over the redrawing of congressional district maps.
“Perhaps he can use the next 10 months to convince voters that his policies and behavior deserve a congressional majority,” he concluded.
An interesting conversation with my 30yr old niece. After teenage rebellion, then a bad marriage that wreaked her credit rating, she has her life back together, good enough credit that she and her new husband can buy a new car. Most of her life she has worked in call centers and she realized that her job was going the way of the buggy whip factory. She is currently enrolled in a professional architecture program at a local private college. One of 2 in the state which have certified programs that will lead to a professional architecture license/certification. Both btw are private schools. None of the cheaper public universities have certified programs.
Her problem is the Department of Education decided architecture is not a profession. Therefor she is not eligible for the higher loan amounts that other professional degrees can access. Which means she has to come up with $10,000 to stay in Missouri.
A number of midwest states have reciprocal agreements, so she was able to find a public university in Milwaukee. Good for her but bad for Springfield. Once she leaves she won’t be back. It is a sad trend for rural/small cities. Any HS graduate “with get up and go, has got up and went ” It is persistent problem for rural areas.
You want a political ad that will hit rural voters? The ads write themselves. Time after time, story after story, people caught in the bind my niece is in. They can’t afford healthcare and can’t get the tools that will lead to a job that pays for healthcare.
Jack
BiD
As JD knows “ain’t nothin’ like a good baked possum. Now that’s Thanksgivin'”
Jack
BTW
The Department of Education does list a religion degree as a professional degree program.
Sigh, idiots.
Jack
MBA is not a profession?
Most of the jobs now considered to not be “professional” are those held by women; nursing, teaching, social work.
Some aspects of architecture will be taken over by AI, too. Maybe not getting too wrapped up with student loans isn’t the worst thing.
Had a great-aunt from the Ozarks who was known to make squirrel and dumplings.
So, based on Leaky Pete’s illegal and inhumane give “no quarter” command, and troops being illegally deployed around the states, it’s no wonder military Dems felt the need to make that video.
If the tRUMPsky administration didn’t plan on issuing illegal orders, or not caring if they were legal or not, they wouldn’t have reacted so strongly to the video.
The Education Department is defining the following fields as professional programs: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry and theology.
Left out are nursing, physical therapy, dental hygiene, occupational therapy and social work as well as fields outside of health care such as architecture, education and accounting.
*They really want to make sure the upper crust of society stays crusty. It will be nearly impossible to lift yourself above where you were born.
“Starting July 1, 2026, all federal undergraduate student loans will be classified as “unsubsidized,” meaning that interest will begin accruing immediately, even while the student is still in school. This change marks a significant shift from previous policies where some loans could be subsidized, allowing students to avoid interest charges during their studies.”
I am consolidating my muskrat recipes. Have several from the eighteen hundreds.
More than 150 anti-ICE protestors descended on a lower Manhattan government building Saturday and clashed with police after reports that federal agents are planning to round up illegal migrants in the area later this weekend.
Mayor Eric Adams may be on a visit to Israel, but Monday he left Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a headache. He increased the budget for city government spending in the current fiscal year by about $2 billion to $118 billion, bequeathing a projected $4.7 billion deficit to be closed before the 2027 budget is adopted next summer. And he offered no plans to deal with federal aid cuts that could reach billions of dollars.
The mayor’s added spending included new commitments Adams has been touting in recent weeks including money to start adding 5,000 additional police officers — while Mamdani has said he wants to keep the police force at its current level of about 34,000 officers.
The Citizens Budget Commission responds that the administration is underestimating costs by as much as $4 billion, including at least $1 billion for city-funded housing vouchers and $600 million for homeless shelters. And police overtime is almost always higher than projected in the budget.
“This plan simply reaffirms that Mayor-elect Mamdani’s first budget proposal will have to close a $5 billion to $8 billion budget gap, prepare for federal hits, and fund progress on his priorities,” CBC President Andrew Rein said.
*Smearing the walls of City Hall with poo on his way out the door.
Eric Adams has spent his final weeks as New York City’s mayor flying around the world on the taxpayers’ dime — as he admits he’s hunting for a jet-setting new gig with first-class benefits.
Speculation over his future job prospects comes as Hizzoner bolted to Uzbekistan in Central Asia on Tuesday, after wrapping up a high-profile, five-day jaunt in Israel.
“Countries are calling me and asking me to come and do what I did in New York City,” he told reporters on Election Day.
Adams traveled to Albania — a Balkan nation where his raunchy rapper son Jordan Coleman famously competed in an “American Idol” knockoff.
He then traveled to Washington, DC, on Nov. 6 for a business roundtable — and prelude to his upcoming trip this week — with Uzbek President Shavkat Miriziyoyev.
The Uzbekistan flight Tuesday coincided with Adams’ former aide Mohamed Bahi, 41, dodging prison time for allegedly telling a Uzbek businessman in Brooklyn to lie about illegal straw donations to the mayor’s 2021 campaign.
Adams administration officials adamantly refused to release the costs of the mayor’s many trips.
united states of russia
thanks trumpers 🖕
it’s funny the trump regime is as bad as everyone predicted
and somehow we are supposed to dismiss our trumpers’ fecklessness
no thanks
let’s have a Very Schadenfreude Christmas 🎄
supporting your troops means not putting them in positions they’re going to regret the rest of their lives, and not enabling their exploitative bosses
There’s no more facts…..just a gaggle of slogans. It’s all slogans now. They just LOVE a snappy slogan.
Fascism……Like everything else, if it had worked, they’d have done it a long time ago.
Over and over.
Or you know…….the Dude abides.
They just LOVE a snappy slogan.
it’s ‘cuz they’re dumb
During the 2 September operation, led by the elite counterterrorist group Seal Team 6, a first missile strike left two survivors clinging on to the wreck, the Post reported. Adm Frank M “Mitch” Bradley, head of Special Operations Command, reportedly ordered a second strike to kill the two survivors to comply with Hegseth’s orders
I thought I had avoided the dreaded green bean casserole but a neighbor stopped by and shared some of their Thanksgiving with their elderly neighbor. I smiled and said thank you.
Jack
so now, in entertainment media, when a character is a journalist of a “hard-hitting news outlet”, the entity that drama writers use is the Guardian, not the New York Times, not the Washington Post
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blasted President Donald Trump’s overseas strikes on alleged drug boats “insane” and not something “civilized people” do.
The problem with this, and one of the most damning statistics, is that when the Coast Guard boards ships or boats off of Miami or off the California coast, about 25% of the boats that are suspected of having drugs don’t. So if you have a 25% error rate, people have to decide, well, do you think killing people with a 25% error rate is okay? So we have never done it this way,” Paul said.
“It’s this circular argument. Who are terrorists? Well, the people I tell you who are terrorists. And what are terrorists? They’re people who kill people in a terroristic way, and they’re terrorists because I tell you they do this. It’s like a it’s a circular argument with no proof presented,” he said.
“I guess what gets me about my colleagues is they seem to think that these people are less than human. They’re not even deserving of the respect of animals. Just kill them. And it’s sort of this laughing, sort of ha ha ha, you know, these were really bad people. What gets to me is that, well, what if you’re wrong? Or what if it turns out this fisherman’s, you know, sister or wife has been kidnapped and they’re being tortured at the hands of the cartel or whatever and he’s told to make a drug run or they’re gonna kill his sister. That is a very possible scenario. Or what if he’s just dirt poor, down on his luck, has failed making his rent for five months, he’s getting ready to be homeless, or he takes his last-ditch job, which pays very well but has some danger to it, is that deserving of death?”
President Trump said Friday that he will be pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who in 2024 was convicted for cocaine trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in U.S. prison.
A jury in U.S. federal court in New York last year found that Hernandez had conspired with drug traffickers and used his military and national police force to enable tons of cocaine to make it unhindered into the United States. In handing down the 45-year sentence, the judge in the case had called Hernandez a “two-faced politician hungry for power” who protected a select group of traffickers.
President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, who had been serving two life sentences plus 40 years for enabling the illegal trade of drugs and other illicit goods. People using his site traded in bitcoin to avoid detection.
pick out the green beans, rinse, broil with red wine, bacon, and brown sugar
👌
oh and garlic, which is a joke actually but also a delicious recipe if you start with fresh green beans
A video of you trying to up-cycle green bean casserole would probably go viral just saying
U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls won’t seek reelection, becoming sixth Texas Republican to announce exit from Congress
Nehls’ announcement comes nine days before the Dec. 8 deadline for candidates to file for a place on the 2026 primary ballot, leaving a short window for potential successors to jump into the race. It also comes as the makeup of Texas’ 38 congressional districts remains in limbo, after a panel of federal judges blocked the state from using a new map gerrymandered to give Republicans up to five additional seats.
*The splash of another rat jumping ship.
I wonder if a new Republican, one who didn’t vote for the big, ugly bill, might do better against a Dem, or if folks are just not going to show up for either party since Dems also left folks in the medical lurch?
Did he “scuttle” toward the exit?
I’ve heard that a lot of Texans scuttle when they have to slink away.
“if she doesn’t find you handsome, make sure she at least finds you handy” -Red Green (90s Canadian TV character)
-all the wisdom the incels need
Green bean casserole has become a standard mainly because of the inlaws. The same for sweet potatoes with marshmallows.
I’m a hillbilly so it is greenbeans with bacon or ham bits, maybe fancy it up with onions. Also it is candied sweet potatoes. We had both those on the table too.
I upcycled the green beans by scraping them into a bag along with the sweet potatoes, store bought apple pie and pecan pie. and put them outside in the garbage.
I didn’t know you could make bad pecan pie. Even store bought.
Jack
lol thats another way to do it
kind of wish i got a spoon of that pecan pie before you tossed it 😭
NEW THREAD by our trail friend Jack
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a real tour de force by the boss
Dec 20, 2007
Bruce Springsteen y la E Street Band interpretando este clásico de Navidad.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/donald-trump-s-war-on-christmas/
published over seven (7) years ago but still applicable unfortunately
My favorite sign from yesterday’s protest.
https://open.substack.com/pub/theunredactedbastard/p/the-poverty-ban-trumps-new-plan-is?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
TRUTH BOMB #1:
Trump vomited out another bargain-bin fascist brain fart yesterday — declaring he wants to pause immigration from “poor countries.” That’s it. That’s the whole fuckbrained policy. Not dangerous countries. Not unstable countries. Just poor. The man basically announced:
“If you can’t afford a Cheesecake Factory, go fuck yourself.”
This is coming from a guy whose understanding of economics could be scribbled on a cocktail napkin soaked in ketchup and Adderall sweat. The “plan” is xenophobia shoved into a cheap suit and sold as national security to people who think windmills give you cancer. More at link.
Here is full livestream (42 min) from our Burlington MA ICE protest yesterday…
today’s meme…
https://www.salon.com/2025/11/29/kill-them-all-hegseth-ordered-strike-on-survivors-of-us-attack/
“Kill them all”: Hegseth ordered strike on survivors of US attack
A bombshell Washington Post investigation revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally ordered U.S. forces to “kill them all” during a September 2 maritime strike off the coast of Trinidad, an unprecedented escalation in America’s counter-drug operations and one that legal experts say may violate international law.
According to officials with direct knowledge of the mission, U.S. special operations forces targeted a small vessel suspected of transporting narcotics. After the first missile strike destroyed the boat and killed most of the crew, observers reported seeing at least two survivors clinging to debris. Hegseth allegedly directed forces to launch a second strike to eliminate the remaining survivors, a move experts describe as potentially unlawful under long-standing rules of armed conflict, which prohibit killing combatants who are “hors de combat,” or out of the fight.
Human rights groups and former military lawyers warn the decision could set a precedent for unchecked lethal force far beyond U.S. borders.
“If this stands, the U.S. is claiming the right to kill anyone, anywhere, based on secret intelligence and no transparency,” one legal expert told the Post.
*It’s time to impeach, convict and remove Orange Adolf for treason, which rids us of the entire administration.
Rubio has hands all over these illegal strikes, too.
Is Leaky Pete just ‘roided up or is he on something more? He’s a sloppy drunk, based on reports, so what’s he on?
https://people.com/jd-vance-calls-service-members-full-of-s-for-saying-they-like-turkey-11858651
Vice President JD Vance told service members that they were “full of s—” if they said they enjoy eating turkey in a speech where he spoke adamantly against the Thanksgiving staple.
While speaking to troops at Ford Campbell, Ky., on Nov. 26, Vance, 41, railed against the bird, asking the troops, “Who really likes — be honest with yourself — who really likes turkey?”
To the service members who raised their hands, Vance replied, “You’re all full of s—, everybody who raised your hand.”
“Here’s how I know every single one of you who raised your hand is lying to me,” he continued. “How many times do you roast an 18-lbs. turkey, just randomly? Just, you know, a nice summer afternoon, we’re gonna go get an 18-lbs. turkey. Nobody does it, ‘cause turkey doesn’t actually taste that good.”
He said that “on Thanksgiving, the most American holiday,” people decide that “we’re gonna cook a turkey, by God, because that’s what Americans do.”
“We cook this gigantic American bird, and we do all kinds of crazy things to make it taste good,” said Vance, who was on hand, along with his wife, Usha Vance, to serve a Thanksgiving meal to the troops that included the offending meat.
Vance then referenced a previous conversation with a soldier, who told him that she’s planning to deep-fry her turkey. “I’m actually going to deep fry a turkey myself,” he shared of his Thanksgiving plans. “Here’s the thing: If you’ve got to deep fry something to make it taste good, it probably isn’t that good. That’s a pretty good rule of thumb when it comes to food.”
“Chicken is good all the time,” he said. “Chicken is good when you deep fry it, but it’s also good outside of it.”
*What a weird, weird hill to die on.
https://people.com/republican-lawmaker-mike-bohacek-whose-daughter-has-down-syndrome-condemns-trump-use-of-the-r-word-11858822
Republican Sen. Mike Bohacek is speaking out against President Donald Trump after he called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz “seriously r——-.”
“Many of you have asked my position on redistricting,” Bohacek began. “I have been an unapologetic advocate for people with intellectual disabilities since the birth of my second daughter.”
His message included a screenshot of a Newsweek article published Friday morning.
“Tim Walz Responds to Donald Trump Calling Him ‘Seriously R——-,’” was the headline of the article
Bohacek said his “consequences” for Trump would include “voting NO on redistricting,” referring to an ongoing battle in the state’s legislature over the redrawing of congressional district maps.
“Perhaps he can use the next 10 months to convince voters that his policies and behavior deserve a congressional majority,” he concluded.
An interesting conversation with my 30yr old niece. After teenage rebellion, then a bad marriage that wreaked her credit rating, she has her life back together, good enough credit that she and her new husband can buy a new car. Most of her life she has worked in call centers and she realized that her job was going the way of the buggy whip factory. She is currently enrolled in a professional architecture program at a local private college. One of 2 in the state which have certified programs that will lead to a professional architecture license/certification. Both btw are private schools. None of the cheaper public universities have certified programs.
Her problem is the Department of Education decided architecture is not a profession. Therefor she is not eligible for the higher loan amounts that other professional degrees can access. Which means she has to come up with $10,000 to stay in Missouri.
A number of midwest states have reciprocal agreements, so she was able to find a public university in Milwaukee. Good for her but bad for Springfield. Once she leaves she won’t be back. It is a sad trend for rural/small cities. Any HS graduate “with get up and go, has got up and went ” It is persistent problem for rural areas.
You want a political ad that will hit rural voters? The ads write themselves. Time after time, story after story, people caught in the bind my niece is in. They can’t afford healthcare and can’t get the tools that will lead to a job that pays for healthcare.
Jack
BiD
As JD knows “ain’t nothin’ like a good baked possum. Now that’s Thanksgivin'”
Jack
BTW
The Department of Education does list a religion degree as a professional degree program.
Sigh, idiots.
Jack
MBA is not a profession?
Most of the jobs now considered to not be “professional” are those held by women; nursing, teaching, social work.
Some aspects of architecture will be taken over by AI, too. Maybe not getting too wrapped up with student loans isn’t the worst thing.
Had a great-aunt from the Ozarks who was known to make squirrel and dumplings.
So, based on Leaky Pete’s illegal and inhumane give “no quarter” command, and troops being illegally deployed around the states, it’s no wonder military Dems felt the need to make that video.
If the tRUMPsky administration didn’t plan on issuing illegal orders, or not caring if they were legal or not, they wouldn’t have reacted so strongly to the video.
JD as CIC? JFC, no.
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/trump-administration-professional-degree-list-student-loan-limits/4020475/
The Education Department is defining the following fields as professional programs: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry and theology.
Left out are nursing, physical therapy, dental hygiene, occupational therapy and social work as well as fields outside of health care such as architecture, education and accounting.
*They really want to make sure the upper crust of society stays crusty. It will be nearly impossible to lift yourself above where you were born.
https://www.suzeorman.com/blog/Federal-Student-Loans-What-You-Need-to-Know
“Starting July 1, 2026, all federal undergraduate student loans will be classified as “unsubsidized,” meaning that interest will begin accruing immediately, even while the student is still in school. This change marks a significant shift from previous policies where some loans could be subsidized, allowing students to avoid interest charges during their studies.”
I am consolidating my muskrat recipes. Have several from the eighteen hundreds.
https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/life/food/2016/03/03/muskrat-doesnt-taste-like-chicken/80865360/
“It’s definitely unique,” he said. “It doesn’t taste like chicken. It doesn’t taste like beef.”
“It’s muskrat. It’s got its own flavor.”
Coverdale eats the swamp rat once a week with his best friend Rudy Hitchens at the Southern Grill restaurant in Ellendale, Delaware.
https://nypost.com/2025/11/29/us-news/150-ice-protesters-flock-to-lower-manhattan-government-building-after-reports-of-agents-round-up-illegal-migrants/
More than 150 anti-ICE protestors descended on a lower Manhattan government building Saturday and clashed with police after reports that federal agents are planning to round up illegal migrants in the area later this weekend.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/eric-adams-federal-bribery-case-timeline/story?id=118824842
Timeline of how Eric Adams’ bribery case led to resignations of federal prosecutors
***
Mayor Eric Adams may be on a visit to Israel, but Monday he left Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a headache. He increased the budget for city government spending in the current fiscal year by about $2 billion to $118 billion, bequeathing a projected $4.7 billion deficit to be closed before the 2027 budget is adopted next summer. And he offered no plans to deal with federal aid cuts that could reach billions of dollars.
The mayor’s added spending included new commitments Adams has been touting in recent weeks including money to start adding 5,000 additional police officers — while Mamdani has said he wants to keep the police force at its current level of about 34,000 officers.
The Citizens Budget Commission responds that the administration is underestimating costs by as much as $4 billion, including at least $1 billion for city-funded housing vouchers and $600 million for homeless shelters. And police overtime is almost always higher than projected in the budget.
“This plan simply reaffirms that Mayor-elect Mamdani’s first budget proposal will have to close a $5 billion to $8 billion budget gap, prepare for federal hits, and fund progress on his priorities,” CBC President Andrew Rein said.
*Smearing the walls of City Hall with poo on his way out the door.
***
https://nypost.com/2025/11/18/us-news/outgoing-nyc-mayor-eric-adams-jetting-around-on-taxpayers-dime-hunting-for-his-next-job/
Eric Adams has spent his final weeks as New York City’s mayor flying around the world on the taxpayers’ dime — as he admits he’s hunting for a jet-setting new gig with first-class benefits.
Speculation over his future job prospects comes as Hizzoner bolted to Uzbekistan in Central Asia on Tuesday, after wrapping up a high-profile, five-day jaunt in Israel.
“Countries are calling me and asking me to come and do what I did in New York City,” he told reporters on Election Day.
Adams traveled to Albania — a Balkan nation where his raunchy rapper son Jordan Coleman famously competed in an “American Idol” knockoff.
He then traveled to Washington, DC, on Nov. 6 for a business roundtable — and prelude to his upcoming trip this week — with Uzbek President Shavkat Miriziyoyev.
The Uzbekistan flight Tuesday coincided with Adams’ former aide Mohamed Bahi, 41, dodging prison time for allegedly telling a Uzbek businessman in Brooklyn to lie about illegal straw donations to the mayor’s 2021 campaign.
Adams administration officials adamantly refused to release the costs of the mayor’s many trips.
united states of russia
thanks trumpers 🖕
it’s funny the trump regime is as bad as everyone predicted
and somehow we are supposed to dismiss our trumpers’ fecklessness
no thanks
let’s have a Very Schadenfreude Christmas 🎄
supporting your troops means not putting them in positions they’re going to regret the rest of their lives, and not enabling their exploitative bosses
There’s no more facts…..just a gaggle of slogans. It’s all slogans now. They just LOVE a snappy slogan.
Fascism……Like everything else, if it had worked, they’d have done it a long time ago.
Over and over.
Or you know…….the Dude abides.
it’s ‘cuz they’re dumb
elite terrorist group Seal Team 6, more like
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/29/pete-hegseth-denies-ordering-deaths-narco-boat
I thought I had avoided the dreaded green bean casserole but a neighbor stopped by and shared some of their Thanksgiving with their elderly neighbor. I smiled and said thank you.
Jack
so now, in entertainment media, when a character is a journalist of a “hard-hitting news outlet”, the entity that drama writers use is the Guardian, not the New York Times, not the Washington Post
good job Guardian 🏆
bad job NYT & WaPo 🥚
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blasted President Donald Trump’s overseas strikes on alleged drug boats “insane” and not something “civilized people” do.
The problem with this, and one of the most damning statistics, is that when the Coast Guard boards ships or boats off of Miami or off the California coast, about 25% of the boats that are suspected of having drugs don’t. So if you have a 25% error rate, people have to decide, well, do you think killing people with a 25% error rate is okay? So we have never done it this way,” Paul said.
“It’s this circular argument. Who are terrorists? Well, the people I tell you who are terrorists. And what are terrorists? They’re people who kill people in a terroristic way, and they’re terrorists because I tell you they do this. It’s like a it’s a circular argument with no proof presented,” he said.
“I guess what gets me about my colleagues is they seem to think that these people are less than human. They’re not even deserving of the respect of animals. Just kill them. And it’s sort of this laughing, sort of ha ha ha, you know, these were really bad people. What gets to me is that, well, what if you’re wrong? Or what if it turns out this fisherman’s, you know, sister or wife has been kidnapped and they’re being tortured at the hands of the cartel or whatever and he’s told to make a drug run or they’re gonna kill his sister. That is a very possible scenario. Or what if he’s just dirt poor, down on his luck, has failed making his rent for five months, he’s getting ready to be homeless, or he takes his last-ditch job, which pays very well but has some danger to it, is that deserving of death?”
*It’s about Venezuela’s oil reserves.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-11-28/trump-to-pardon-former-honduran-president-hernandez-convicted-of-drug-trafficking
President Trump said Friday that he will be pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who in 2024 was convicted for cocaine trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in U.S. prison.
A jury in U.S. federal court in New York last year found that Hernandez had conspired with drug traffickers and used his military and national police force to enable tons of cocaine to make it unhindered into the United States. In handing down the 45-year sentence, the judge in the case had called Hernandez a “two-faced politician hungry for power” who protected a select group of traffickers.
https://www.newsweek.com/president-donald-trump-pardon-silk-road-founder-ross-ulbricht-drugs-libertarian-2018764
President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, who had been serving two life sentences plus 40 years for enabling the illegal trade of drugs and other illicit goods. People using his site traded in bitcoin to avoid detection.
pick out the green beans, rinse, broil with red wine, bacon, and brown sugar
👌
oh and garlic, which is a joke actually but also a delicious recipe if you start with fresh green beans
A video of you trying to up-cycle green bean casserole would probably go viral just saying
U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls won’t seek reelection, becoming sixth Texas Republican to announce exit from Congress
Nehls’ announcement comes nine days before the Dec. 8 deadline for candidates to file for a place on the 2026 primary ballot, leaving a short window for potential successors to jump into the race. It also comes as the makeup of Texas’ 38 congressional districts remains in limbo, after a panel of federal judges blocked the state from using a new map gerrymandered to give Republicans up to five additional seats.
*The splash of another rat jumping ship.
I wonder if a new Republican, one who didn’t vote for the big, ugly bill, might do better against a Dem, or if folks are just not going to show up for either party since Dems also left folks in the medical lurch?
Did he “scuttle” toward the exit?
I’ve heard that a lot of Texans scuttle when they have to slink away.
“if she doesn’t find you handsome, make sure she at least finds you handy” -Red Green (90s Canadian TV character)
-all the wisdom the incels need
Green bean casserole has become a standard mainly because of the inlaws. The same for sweet potatoes with marshmallows.
I’m a hillbilly so it is greenbeans with bacon or ham bits, maybe fancy it up with onions. Also it is candied sweet potatoes. We had both those on the table too.
I upcycled the green beans by scraping them into a bag along with the sweet potatoes, store bought apple pie and pecan pie. and put them outside in the garbage.
I didn’t know you could make bad pecan pie. Even store bought.
Jack
lol thats another way to do it
kind of wish i got a spoon of that pecan pie before you tossed it 😭
NEW THREAD by our trail friend Jack