The Frankish Reich

McCarthy peeved that Dems didn't rush in to save him. I get it. He thought he'd earned some good will. But really: when your opponent is busy committing suicide, you get the hell out of the way. Even Uncle Newt recognizes how idiotic this whole thing is. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/03/newt-gingrich-matt-gaetz-remove/ Gaetz obviously hates House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — and that’s fine. If Gaetz were simply a loudmouthed junior member who attacked McCarthy every day, that would be fine, too. He would just be isolated with a small group of lawmakers who can’t figure out how to get things done. They’d huddle together seeking warmth and reassurance from their fellow incompetents. But Gaetz has gone beyond regular drama. He is destroying the House GOP’s ability to govern and draw a sharp contrast with the policy disasters of the Biden administration. Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), a liberal Democrat with whom I disagree on almost everything, perfectly captured Gaetz’s childish behavior in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. Gaetz “has no sway” or influence in Congress, Pelosi said, “except to get on TV and to raise money on the internet.” Pelosi told Tapper he was “wasting [his] time on that guy.”

WWII

Well there's a coherent comment for you.

Let me explain this .... slowly. In the markets, they talk about the Greed vs. Fear index. Right now in people's personal lives, Greed - we deserve this vacation! we deserve these $1600 concert tickets! - is winning. Fear? Fear means putting money under the mattress for when disaster (layoffs, etc.) strikes. The millions of individual economic decisions that make up "the economy."

Watching Kevin McCarthy's presser now. I kind of like this new version! Straight talking, calling out all the creeps and turncoats (including not just Gaetz, but also Nancy!) who left him twisting in the wind. Specifically mentions how Gaetz is sending out fundraising emails to try to cash in on the turmoil he's caused. What a mess.

It used to be that conservatives were the ones with basic economic knowledge. Now? Umm, no. Here it's taken on a Yogi Berra form: I can't buy a house because everybody else wants to buy a house too! It's so crowded now, nobody goes there. And I heard a gem from our "businessman" Vivek at the last debate: "we've got to strengthen the dollar." https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/08/investing/us-dollar-value/index.html Nice talking point from, what, several years ago? If there's a problem in foreign currency values now, it is that the dollar is overvalued, which damages exports. Q. Does a guy like Vivek know this? Or is this Vivek thinking his potential voters are stupid (and being proved correct) because it sounds all scary to say the U.S. dollar is weak?

Let us never underestimate the utter childishness and stupidity of this man. If you can make it through this rambling statement, you'll notice he's saying two different things: 1. I'm even richer than you thought I was, and I'm way richer than you! 2. Even if I'm not richer because my numbers are cooked, it doesn't matter since I had a disclaimer saying "don't trust my numbers"

Happy Hour = Always Good. Early Bird Dinner = Same Thing with Embarrassing Name I'll let you know when I graduate into calling it an Early Bird

The Republican House is imploding now.

Then you need to get out more, buddy, instead of hanging out in the cranky old man early bird dinner club.

Exactly. Can't believe I actually clicked on it. The story seems to be that her boyfriend has worked on her campaigns and may have been compensated for it. Ooh, sexy!!!

In my workaday world, I'm kind of the old guy (wrong side of 55). And my screen name does honor a player from 30 years ago. Then I see the posters here: JD Hill Fan (74 years old). Al Bundy fan. Alf fan. Chris Farley (what, that wasn't enough of an honor?) now "Tommy Callahan" (RIP, but almost 60 if he'd lived) Kemp It pays to keep in mind that all the grumbling old man "this country is going to hell in a handbasket" commentary is exactly that.

I thought I saw on the, umm, football portion of this, umm, football fan forum that Ol' Tarheel is in London for the Bills game. What marvelous company for those other Bills fans. Not to mention the fine people of Ol' England, hosting our favorite misanthrope, spending his time in what just might be the greatest city in the world by posting nonsense here. Keep calm and carry on the idiocy across the pond!

Good Lord. In what way is this "fake news?" A couple years ago we had an off the record comment, presumably from Kelly, that Trump had said this. Kelly now confirms it: Yes. He said it. He really did say that the men and women who served this country in combat were suckers and losers for doing so. If that's not a big deal for you, well, perhaps you need to take a step back and examine your own commitment to this country.

Gaetz is overplaying his hand. McCarthy? He has no political future. He is a California representative. A Republican cannot win any state-wide office in California. So no Governor, no Senator, no nothing. Speaker of the House is the best he can ever do. Lobbyist after that. He's a man with nothing to lose. So will he cut a deal with Democrats? Yeah, he did it once, he may do it again, just to actually govern a bit and to stick it to the Gaetz-MTG-Boebert idiots. Really, if McCarthy is pushed out, what alternative Speaker candidate could be elected by a majority of the House - a House with a 4 seat Republican majority? Hakim Jeffries?

I realize the article is paywalled. Quick summary: some of the people interviewed adopt this view. "Hey, I'm not gonna ever be able to afford a down payment on a million dollar house (e.g., living in an expensive city), so why not eat, drink, and be merry now?" (They're about 30 years old) Others? More of the "we deserved this $10,000 family vacation to Maui even though it'll make it that much harder to accumulate the savings we want for the future." So it's both. But the general point: if you are afraid of not having a job, not being able to support yourself or even more so, your family, I think you don't do these types of things. Conclusion: a lot, lot, lot of people aren't scared of that scenario. Maybe they should be. Maybe we won't really have spending-driven inflation under control until they do.

If not asking for a jury trial really was on account of his lawyers simply forgetting to do so ... wow. Those are some lawyers. Since it's not a criminal case, the remedy (should the Trump Org be assessed big damages) is really just to sue the lawyers, not to get a do-over. I'm not sold on that "simple error" theory though. I haven't seen that the Trump lawyers have filed a late motion for a jury trial. Did they do that? You'd at least want to preserve that for appeal although the judge clearly isn't having it.

Oh, I think we are headed for a recession (not depression). But it seems like most people disagree. You're not familiar with the "nest egg" principle?

That was the old London. If you're willing to try foods from all over the world it's fantastic now!

Revealed preferences. If you are scared about losing your job, about not being able to make ends meet, you don't splurge on vacations and Taylor Swift tickets. Watch what people do, not what they say. https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/americans-are-still-spending-like-theres-no-tomorrow-6a1d307?mod=hp_lead_pos2 Interest rates are up. Inflation remains high. Pandemic savings have shrunk. And the labor market is cooling. Yet household spending, the primary driver of the nation’s economic growth, remains robust. Americans spent 5.8% more in August than a year earlier, well outstripping less than 4% inflation. And the experience economy boomed this summer, with Delta Air Lines reporting record revenue in the second quarter and Ticketmaster selling over 295 million event tickets in the first six months of 2023, up nearly 18% year-over-year. Economists and financial advisers say consumers putting short-term needs and goals above long-term ones is normal. Still, this moment is different, they say. A tough housing market has more consumers writing off something they’d historically save for, while the pandemic showed the instability of any long-term plans related to health, work or day-to-day life. So, they are spending on once-in-a-lifetime experiences because they worry they may not be able to do them later.

The all-time stupid, ignorant comment. Has Trump ever been in a forest in the West? I mean, other than flying over it? Water, water, it's everywhere! It's free!!! Water the forest floor, no fires!!! Why didn't we think of that before? And this is the guy who says his opponent is senile. Very interesting, the Thomas recusal!

Welcome back, to that same old place that you laughed about. ***t hole country deserves the clown shows it continues to vote for. I can no longer take part in the blatantly obvious distractions and low info discussions about ***t no one cares about as you continue to leave this country worse off to the kids we’re only going to have significantly less of because we can’t afford anything and, you aren’t allowed to say anything sane. Like there are 2 genders and grooming trans kids being pushed by Ds is evil. Good luck y’all. Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. Just four days ago you were so depressed about Ronnie's failure to get any traction whatsoever that you symbolically excited the arena, only to return to carry on a conversation with yourself. Welcome back, Blitzie.

Depends what the foreign country is! Thankfully London has some world class distractions. Jags, get out there tonight and every night until the wee hours to experience all of it!

😁 An artful CB getting burned is still so much better than a clumsy CB falling down.

I thought this was an unnecessary detail. But no, it was "getting a late night slice of pizza" from his fridge. A cautionary tale. Seriously though, I think I was in the minority here I thinking that Tre had finally made in at all the way back. He took some flak here for supposedly taking his time in recover, but in retrospect he probably pushed it a little too hard last year. This season? I thought he was excellent. He obviously has the dedication to do it again if that's what he wants to do.