Wow - another Terry Pratchett fan - I started reading him in the mid 1980's when I lived in London. I used to wait for his new book every year until he had to stop writing.

So glad you are one of US now, mate. You rank right up their with Elon Musk, in my book. Thanks for all your investment advice. People use it and truly appreciate it; I know because I'm one of them. :)

Very sad, and my condolences to all of you who have had to struggle with dementia in your families.

I second that. My heartfelt condolences. I've had the pleasure of meeting so many veterans, who though not related, I do consider my family, and I am their memory. Speaking of which... it appears our largest organization in the world is going on shut down again. Bollocks.
__________

Favorite Terry Pratchett quote? Too many to list, of course, but here's a relevant one:

"Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind. ~ Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-31859675

Very sad, and my condolences to all of you who have had to struggle with dementia in your families.

Fed speak for: We have a bloody idiot in the White House who will sign anything the three ring circus in the House and Senate send him. We tried to tell them, but they think the Laffer curve is a viable model for Pete's sake.

;)

So sorry to hear about your mother. My mom passed away at the age of 65 after suffering from dementia for years. The last three years she was no longer able to communicate with us and dad had to get help 24/7/365 to care for her at home. It’s been 5 years since she passed away, but she is at peace now.

R

“Some participants that I’ve talked to have said, look, you know, they’re suddenly realizing that Treasury is going to be doubling the amount of debt issuance,” Patrick Harker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, told reporters Thursday. “I think that was not fully baked into some people’s thinking.”

A Treasury auction on Thursday underscored the concerns. The $16 billion 30-year U.S. bond sale drew a yield of 3.121 percent, higher than indicated before the offering. Indirect bidders, a class of investors that includes pensions and mutual funds, purchased 61.2 percent, the least since September.

Thanks for posting. This is what the smarter market watchers have been talking about.

There are two factors coming into play. Both were downplayed by the Republicans:

1. Increasing the deficit will increase the amount of monthly borrowing (via treasuries) and supply and demand dictate that the cost of borrowing will go up

2. The tax receipts (if the pattern from Kansas when they also introduced some very irresponsible tax policies is a guide) will decrease more than the loudly touted cuts as businesses who were taxed at the individual rate reclassify as small businesses to take advantage of the new business rate

Both of these will put upward pressure on the bond market, just as the capital markets are buoyed up by cheap money and high asset prices across the board.

This could just me the market letting off some steam - adjustments of 10-30% in the stock market are far more common historically than we've seen over the last 8 years or so, or it could be a systemic grind that many are predicting where returns in the U.S. stock markets level off as fundamentals catch up to current asset prices.

The only thing I can predict about the markets is that anybody who predicts the markets over a time frame of less than a couple of decades is probably trying to rob you. Nobody knows nothing.

Mark Zandi (name drop alert: I presented with him once at an event in the NYSE) was quoted describing the conventional wisdon:

That is “exactly the opposite of what the economic textbooks say lawmakers should be doing,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics Inc., said in an email. “Deficit financed tax cuts and spending increases in a full-employment economy will result in more Fed tightening and higher interest rates.”

As I said earlier, watch the 10 year treasury.

I actually assumed it wasn't snark. :)

I'm a caregiver.

And Blotus himself is spilling to Russkies:

Just last week we learned that what the President disclosed to Foreign Minister Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak was far, far more sensitive than had been previously reported.

BERGMAN: Most of it, we don’t yet know. And there were conflicting reports. I cannot – in order not to be part of disclosing secret information and jeopardizing Israeli and the U.S. ability to track down terrorists and proliferate, I prefer not to go into the details of that.

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/02/08/what-the-rob-porter-mess-really-tells-us/

Very funny, Paula.

I'm sure the NRA approves this message, I mean it uses their own words.

OMG. That's hilarious and sort of blows that ignorant "liberals don't have guns" bullshit all to pieces, don't it? *LOL*

Neil wins the "Internets" two days in a row. :)

Wow. The market "finished up" down 1000+ points.

FIFM

Fixed it for me. :)

Thanks, Drumpf!

The world is viewed as a Hobbesian contest among nations. If we take their best people, we weaken them and strengthen ourselves. Besides, we've got a melting pot here, and whatever melts becomes part of us. So we don't want any wretched refuse defiling it.

But beyond the traditional "nuclear family," at some point one has to draw a line.

Why? Nations are bogus. They're fiction. Americans aren't tied together by some mystical bond of blood, requiring a suitably weighty blood ritual if ever its circle is to be widened. We're just subject to the jurisdiction of the same government. That's it.

You don't need a bureaucratic hazing ceremony to move from Michigan to Massachusetts. Why should you need one if you're only moving from El Paso to Juarez?

Why should high-skills immigrants be prioritized over low-skills immigrants?

Simple: we live in a system with a heavy dose of plutocracy, so driving wages down (and dividends / interest / capital gains up by comparison, even if there's an absolute loss of efficiency) is always on the to-do list. If someone is already getting paid less than it really costs in the long term to keep body and soul together, then there's not a whole lot of room to drive their wages down any further.

If Republicans had a magic wand they could wave to eliminate all illegal immigrant workers tomorrow, would they really use it?

Sure, why not? There's plenty more where they came from. Removing a few million undesirables from the world is always good fun, if you live in a particular worldview. At least it's something that a lot of very fine people can be counted on to support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJqfNroFp8U

I'm sure the NRA approves this message, I mean it uses their own words.

And Neil doesn't have anything but childish name-calling..

Yer very disappointing, Neil...

Very few post-Conquest kings of England married Englishwomen. Most Queen Consorts were European royalty and European royalty intermarried right across the continent. (Foreign-born queens often being a focus of hostility and suspicion.) Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II, was Portuguese, for example, although they had no living children.

Sad really.

Although CW has bouts of clarity now and again.. :D

Heh

Trooo dat....

http://www.chrisweigant.com/2017/10/17/nailing-scalps-to-the-newsroom-wall/#comment-109771

As far as the ancestors of Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Duchy located in today's Northern Germany, believe what you wish... you will anyway, but the Royal Household itself referred to Queen Elizabeth II's Asian and African bloodlines in an apologia released before her coronation in 1953.

Crack some books. ;)

Yeah, history can be "fun", but it can also be phony. I don't care enough to research it, but any king of England being descended from Portuguese ancestors sounds bogus to me. The English were basically of Germanic origin, right? Which explains why English is basically a 'dialect' of German, with a lot of French grafted onto it from the Normans.

Those are the kinds of "facts" you have...

I would "face" facts, Neil..

It's just you never *HAVE* any facts...

All you have... All you EVER have is hysterical and bigoted spin....

Can you watch the following video and tell us exactly why you state:

The Republican support for the FBI is strong.. It's the Republican support for FBI Leadership that has dropped..

The FBI leadership that has proven it was in the tank for the Dumbocrats...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cYrb_yFYeY

Also, can you tell us why you feel the same way about David Bowdich?

Let's face facts, you hate the fact that the FBI are investigating your orange idol because you are scared of the potential result.

If you truly thought the orange king was completely innocent then you'd be cheering the FBI in their quest.

Also, it wasn't only Pelosi that said the Nunes memo should not be released, but, yet again, the FBI.

Who'd've believed that the person on the board who would be leading the trashing of the FBI would be old knee jerk "Law Enforcement Can Do No Wrong" Michale?

You see what happens when you get into the sewer with 45 Michale - you come out covered in foul smelling detritus. Dump him before he drags you to worse places.

Chris Long is Howie Long's son. He played college ball for the Virginia Cavaliers... Charlottesville. One of his home-town residents was murdered by a white supremacist recently.

He's won back-to-back Super Bowl rings now because last year he played for New England. *bling, bling* He didn't go to the White House then either.

Fun Fact: Charlottesville is named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III who descended from a branch of a Portuguese royal family who traced their ancestry to a 13th-century ruler named Alfonso III and his lover Madragana, a Moor of African descent. Queen Charlotte's granddaughter, Queen Victoria, was of mixed race, as are her descendants Queen Elizabeth II, Charles Prince of Wales and his two sons William and Henry. Henry a.k.a. Harry will soon marry a mixed-race American actress.

Ain't history fun?

This is why thick paper sacks were invented....

https://youtu.be/yTiW4yOrWNQ?t=1m40s

This is why Darth Vader had the good sense to wear a helmet. ~ Jimmy Kimmel

WOw..

3 whole players (out of hundreds) aren't visiting the White House..

Cop hating lusers who don't deserve the honor of visiting the White House..

Good...

I've had some personal experience observing dementia (in a parent who lived to age 99, and did not recognize me or my two sisters for the last several years of her life.) Admittedly, that's a narrow exposure, but I don't see dementia in trump.

I've had some personal experience too, 500+ cases and counting more every day. There are multiple types of dementia that present multiple ways: Alzheimer's (the most common), Lewy Body dementia, Multi-Infarct/Post-Stroke dementia, PD - Parkinson's, Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and more that are less common. If I were forced to "diagnose" Hair Furor based on the hundreds of cases I've seen, I'd have to go with FTD.

I would offer my own diagnosis more along the lines of him being an excessively verbose, narcissistic, scatter-brained, self-centered, ass hole.

Yep, yep, yep, yep, total.

See there, we can agree on some things. :)

USA Today noted that Long is joined by teammates Malcolm Jenkins and Torrey Smith, the latter of which told CNN that his decision to abstain from the traditional White House visit for Super Bowl winners goes beyond politics.

“For me, it’s not just about politics,” Smith said. “This isn’t something that I personally feel inclined to be involved with…I respect the office, but often times we hold our athletes and entertainers to higher standards than we hold the President of the United States. To me it’s about doing the right thing, it’s not about choosing sides or anything, it’s simply about right and wrong.”

There have been dozens of episodes of dementia-like symptoms...

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=VYt8WsnjH83uzgKs66C4Bw&q=%22Nancy+Pelosi%22+dementia+symptoms&oq=%22Nancy+Pelosi%22+dementia+symptoms&gs_l=psy-ab.3...1209.9334.0.9581.33.32.0.0.0.0.164.2323.31j1.32.0..2..0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.24.1825.0..0j46j35i39k1j0i131k1j0i20i264k1j0i46k1j0i131i20i264k1j0i22i30k1j33i21k1.0.45ywJCziyLk

But it could be the hyperliberalnuttyness exacerbating the symptoms.. Troo.. :D

I don't see dementia in Pellosi, just insanity (medical diagnosis, hyperliberalnuttyness).

Exactly....

Curious as to your take on Pelosi's symptoms of dementia....

I would offer my own diagnosis more along the lines of him being an excessively verbose, narcissistic, scatter-brained, self-centered, ass hole.

NONE of which is impeachable...

I would offer my own diagnosis more along the lines of him being an excessively verbose, narcissistic, scatter-brained, self-centered, ass hole.

The more we talk about the actual reality of U.S. immigration policy, the more we win.

While I personally favor a policy much tougher than the one espoused by the president, there is little doubt that Trump is correct when he notes that “the Republican position on immigration is the center mainstream view of the American people.”
-NRO

By all means, Democrats.. Continue to be on the side of illegal immigrant criminals..

The House and the Senate will remain in GOP hands...

Kudos to Nancy Pelosi. :)

The Hill first reported late Wednesday that informant Douglas Campbell gave a 10-page statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, House Intelligence Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and was interviewed for several hours behind closed doors by committee staff.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/08/informant-says-moscow-paid-millions-in-bid-to-influence-clinton.html

You HAVE to believe this informant, Neil..

If you don't, that means you HATE all law enforcement..

Do you see how utterly moronic you sound, Neil???

I am betting you don't, which is all the more sad and pathetic...

See what I mean??? :D

Are you REALLY that stoopid, Neil??

Or are you, as you usually admit, just pushing buttons??

* Melania really wanted to be with us. [She's standing right next to him].

* Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you're a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it's true! — but when you're a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that's why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we're a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it's not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right — who would have thought?), but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it's four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven't figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it's gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us; this is horrible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blT8mQHUUT4

Career prior to the FBI

Before joining the FBI, Bowdich attended New Mexico State and Georgetown Universities, where he received a bachelor's of science degree in criminal justice and a master’s in leadership, respectively.

Bowdich then worked as a police officer and detective in Albuquerque, N.M., for the city's police force. Bowdich's father, Joe, was a sheriff in Bernalillo County.

His career with the FBI

Bowdich joined the FBI in 1995 as a special agent in the San Diego field office, according to the FBI's website. In that role, he investigated violent crimes and gangs. He also worked as a SWAT team operator and sniper.

It was during this time that Bowdich had one of his first significant successes as a FBI agent: After he led a yearlong wiretapping investigation, federal racketeering convictions were brought against gang members in Southern California for the first time.

In 2003, Bowdich was promoted and served in the Safe Streets and Gang Unit at the FBI headquarters in Washington. But he returned to San Diego two years later to lead a task force that investigated drug and racketeering cases against some of the nation’s most infamous gangs, such as the Bloods, Crips and Hells Angels, the Washington Post reported.

A few years later, in 2009, he oversaw non-white-collar crime investigations in San Diego. At that time, he created the first FBI squad to help spot kidnapping threats on either side of the U.S-Mexico border.

Bowdich next served as special agent in charge of the counterterrorism division at the Los Angeles field office before he became the assistant director in charge of the same office in 2014.

After the San Bernardino shooting in December 2015, Bowdich gained national attention when he led the FBI’s response to the attack. Before the shooting, Bowdich suspected that Southern California could be a potential target for a terror attack, according to an interview he gave to the Los Angeles Times.

Before becoming acting deputy director, Bowdich was named the bureau's associate deputy director in 2016 -- managing the FBI’s personnel, budget, administration and more.

To me, it looks like former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, former FBI counterespionage section chief Peter Strzok, former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr and perhaps others were anticipating a Clinton presidency. But they guessed wrong, and they got caught trying to impress Team Clinton. I’ve been in the swamp for more than 30 years. I know selfish career maneuvering when I see it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/02/06/the-so-called-gop-fbi-split-is-a-democratic-fantasy/?utm_term=.821235f98e35

That's all you got, Neil...

Spin and bullshit.. :D

Says the guy who is creating his own reality that the discussion is about anything but corrupt FBI personnel..

Aren't you the one that's always raging about corrupt cops??

NOW that it suits your hysterical anti-Trump agenda, NOW you want people to SUPPORT the corrupt cops..

They weren't asked about the FBI leadership - they were asked about he FBI. And Republicans are getting a nightly "minute of hate" on the FBI on their state news channel, and it is working.

You see, you demand unconditional support for bad cops who shoot unarmed Americans, but then turn around and vomit on cops who are investigating you.

You have lost all credibility as our resident "law enforcement expert" (even though you didn't have any after blindly supporting bad cops even when it meant tainting good cops).

Oh wait.. The FBI *DID* push the racist Democrat Party agenda..

No wonder you support the FBI....

That is nothing but spin...

The Republican support for the FBI is strong.. It's the Republican support for FBI Leadership that has dropped..

The FBI leadership that has proven it was in the tank for the Dumbocrats...

So, once again, you lie..

Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of our top law enforcement agency Michale? Are you standing up for law enforcement when they really need it, or are you just a political fanboy who follows the needs of your orange king?

Only an ignorant moron or a stoopid partisan would equate FBI political leadership with "law enforcement"..

Which are you, Neil?? :D

On the other hand, a garden slug would be a better POTUS than Hillary..

So I guess that really isn't a huge virtue...

You mean the change in support from Republicans for the FBI?

Easy.

https://www.axios.com/gop-turns-on-fbi-survey-78c4f486-8755-4c9e-be99-a1567bd3a625.html

The Republican support for the FBI has not only dropped below that of the Democrats, but it is net negative because the orange king's subjects are on a hate-along.

Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of our top law enforcement agency Michale? Are you standing up for law enforcement when they really need it, or are you just a political fanboy who follows the needs of your orange king?

Can't be fun. How do you rationalize your way out of this one? You tried to claim that the FBI were all lawyers and not cops, but that sort of fell through because of reality.

hehehehehehehe

And what a *HUGE* virtue it is.. :D

Yeah, I MUST be "a Trumper", as you put it. I've said from day-1, his single virtue is, he ain't Hillary!!

Do you have FACTS to support the accusation??

Nope.. Not a single one.

That's your tell when you get scared and defensive..

You out and out lie...

:D

Don't worry Michale, 45 will keep disappointing you for a few more years.

Now he is attacking law enforcement, you know, the only thing you said you cared about when asked why you preferred 45 over the rest of the field, there can't be much consolation while you hear the rest of the World and most of America laugh at you and your orange king.

Whatever you have to tell yerself to make it thru your Trump-centric existence.. :D

Yea.. 2018 is going to be GREAT for the Dumbocrats... :D

{/sarcasm}

:D

Obama's economy is still running strong on Main St. even while we see the first signs of concern from Wall St. ... 45 hasn't managed to screw Main St. up yet, even though Wall St. is starting to get jittery as the bond market (the one market that rules them all) starts to respond to the irresponsible actions of the Republicans.

So, how many more of these hail marys is 45's clown show going to throw before he just fires Mueller and damn the consequences?

Ignoring for the moment that it's completely OFF TOPIC....

That's a remarkable amount of spin and bullshit in a single comment, Neil..

I hope you didn't hurt yerself..

Just looking out for ya, buddy.. :D

Remember the Uranium One "real Russian scandal" that was laughed out of the park?

They tried to convince everybody that (Republican) Comey and (Republican) Mueller were bias.

We've had the Nunes memo which turned out to be so stupid even Nunes won't take questions about it.

So, how many more of these hail marys is 45's clown show going to throw before he just fires Mueller and damn the consequences?

Perhaps..

On the other hand, ya'all, either by commission or omission, hysterically screamed **DEMENTIA!!!** when President Trump slurred a single sentence in a single speech..

Pelosi has a track record of slurring words, staring off into space, forgetting what she was saying and forgetting who is President, etc etc etc...

All classic signs of dementia.....

Jobless claims drop 9,000 to 221,000, remain near 45-year low
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-drop-9000-to-221000-remain-near-45-year-low-2018-02-08

Making America GREAT Again...

My heartfelt compassion for you dealing with those issues...

But the facts CLEARLY show that Pelosi is also dealing with those issues personally...

Actually, no. One does not have to wonder about that. I am dealing with those issues 24/7 and Nancy Pelosi is not.

I believe yet another of the "best people" that Trump chose to serve the American people is leaving the White House soon because he too committed a crime. This was of course discovered during his security clearance and has been known for many months by multiple people in the White House, but the criminal was granted a temporary security clearance (not unlike Kushner).

The list of people who've left the administration because they committed a crime grows ever longer... and more to come. :)

That's the problem with ya'all..

You think that American support for illegal immigrant criminals is much more than it is...

And you simply cannot have any sort of reasonable or rational discussions so you have to resort to immature name-calling and childish personal attacks..

Grow up or shut up... :^/

(1) Their undisguised faith that Donald Trump and his campaign colluded with Vladimir Putin’s Russia to steal the 2016 election. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think this happened or that it has or will come anywhere close to being proven.

(4) Their arguments that release of the Nunes memo would endanger national security, when it was obvious to anyone who read the memo that it wouldn’t. And then there's their ludicrous supporting argument that you should never harm the image of the FBI. Democrats have long been willing to criticize the FBI and other law enforcement agencies when they think it will help them politically, or when they think there has genuine abuse; the first is understandable and the second often commendable. How is this different?

Ignore.

And yet, YOU can't ignore CRS...

Funny how that is.. :D

Typical woman, that Nancy - she gabbed for 8 hrs and never said anything worth hearing.

hehehehehehehehehehehe

Now THAT was funny!!! :D

I suspect Paul Ryan would prefer to stand up... if only he could find his spine.

https://twitter.com/StopTheSpeaker/status/825391745512898560

Dang, some guys just like to take all the fun out of this game. PPKJWB

(In case you have trouble with my acronyms, like I do with you guys', that's 'PartyPooperKillJoyWetBlanket').

Historians scurrying to comb through House archives? "Out of my way, I'm a famous historian!" Maybe the untenured ones scurry, but established historians know how to pace themselves...they mostly saunter or mosey through the stacks...or just send a grad student in.

Ignore.

However, the majority of the public doesn't favor this so we'll see. They booted the batterer out of the WH, so it appears there are elements in this administration that pay some attention to the public and to decent standards of behavior.

The child-molester-rule is a good one!