ProudLib72
ProudLib72's JournalJust a Reminder: 38, 40, 41 Are Gone, But You Know Who Isn't?
39
May he live to be 120!
What Is Your Spending Like This Season?
I just finished buying holiday presents today. I would say that I spent about the same as in previous years. However, I do believe that there is a lot of uncertainty this year. The DOW lost all of its gains, then rose slightly. Unemployment is down, but thousands are getting laid off by GM and farmers are barely scraping by. So I'm unsure whether the market is still being driven by the last quarter, or if people really do have a bright outlook overall. What say ye?
According to the nooze, consumer spending is up (although this is based on 3rd quarter spending):
Americans’ spending rose by more than forecast in October, giving the biggest part of the economy a solid start to the quarter, while a measure of underlying inflation cooled to the slowest since February.
Americans’ spending is poised to keep driving growth this quarter, supported by a strong job market, lower taxes and improving finances that’ll likely also boost holiday spending. Even with the weaker inflation readings, the Fed is widely anticipated to move ahead with an interest-rate hike in December, though the pace of moves beyond that is less certain.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, had been projected to moderate this quarter after rising in the prior three months at a 3.6 percent annualized pace that was revised down from 4 percent. The economy also is forecast to cool, after the best back-to-back quarters of growth since 2014.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-29/u-s-consumer-spending-picks-up-while-inflation-below-forecast
If I weren't such a cheap bastard and actually bought a star so I could conduct a poll, I think my choices would be:
1. Lots of confidence
2. Meh, sort of confident that the market will hold for at least awhile
3. Not confident at all but what the hell, I'm going to spend my savings this season
4. I've put my money in a shoe box and am currently holding onto it tightly as I cower under my bed
Fitting Punishments for the Rump Gang
So I've been contemplating what would constitute fitting punishments for the Rump and his conspiratorial imps. So far, I have come up with a few:
Rump = rot in a Siberian gulag. Hey, at least he will be in his beloved Russia, right?
Ivanka = spend the rest of her life working in a Chinese sweat shop making knock offs of designer brands.
Don Jr. = game warden in Kenya. The penalty for allowing any animal to be poached on his watch TBD (it ain't gonna be good, though).
Please feel free to add your own "fitting punishment" for whomever you would like.
A Lot of High Ranking Nazis Escaped After WWII and Fled to Argentina
Lines of escape were called "Ratlines":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II_aftermath)
I know of one YUGE rat who is in Argentina already. Could it be possible that we won't be seeing him again?
Jewish professor finds swastikas spray-painted on her office walls at Columbia's Teachers College
Professor Elizabeth Midlarsky, who is Jewish and has published various articles related to the Holocaust, told CNN, "I opened the outer door and almost passed out," when she saw the two swastikas spray-painted in red.
Midlarsky, who has worked at the university's Teachers College for 28 years, reported the incident to security and received support from staff before being brought home by a van.
Midlarsky told CNN that she had begun to receive hate mail both by letter and email in 2007, which she believed was connected to her lifetime of work as a Jewish activist. She then received a call from Teachers College not to come in as her office had been vandalized.
At the time, then Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman joined Midlarsky at a student-organized protest, saying, "We stand with our students, who have said 'enough' to hate crimes, and in this particular case, to a vicious swastika."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/29/us/swastika-vandalism-columbia-university/index.html
Viewers Noticed Some Very Disturbing Details In 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer'
Sorry if this has already been posted. Some of the comments are pretty funny.
And what a moment it was.
Some people joked that they noticed a few things in the Christmas classic that they didn’t always spot ― or simply ignored ― when they saw it years ago.
Here are some of those humorous observations:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer-disturbing-details_us_5bfe058fe4b0f43bf2661c7f
Here is one example from the article:
https://twitter.com/TrivWorks/status/1067591284355825664
One GM Plant Closing in the US Means Very Little to the Company
Here is a list of other GM plants that are currently open and running around the world:
6th of October City, Egypt
Batilly, France
Bogotá, Colombia
CAMI Automotive, Canada
Changwon, Gyeongsang, S. Korea
Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, S. Korea
Fujisawa, Japan
Gravatai Automotive Industrial Complex, Brazil
Talegaon, India
Iwata, Japan
Kosai Assembly, Japan
Kawasaki, Japan
Magyar Suzuki Corporation, Hungary
GM-OBB, Ecuador
Oshawa Car Assembly, Canada
Oshawa Metal, Canada
Ramos Arizpe Assembly, Mexico
Rayong, Thailand
Rosario, Argentina
San Luis Potosí Assembly, Mexico
São Caetano do Sul, Brazil
São José dos Campos, Brazil
Silao Assembly, Mexico
Silao Engine, Mexico
Silao Transmission, Mexico
St. Catharines Powertrain, Canada
GM Strasbourg, France
GM-AvtoVAZ, Russia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_General_Motors_factories
Double that list to see just how many GM plants have been closed worldwide since the company's inception. Can we please stop pretending that GM operates solely in America? As much as Rump would love for GM to be a nationalist corporation, that is simply a lie.
Edit: No, I am not saying that workers losing their jobs is of no concern. What I am saying is that the GM brand is so diversified and global they are not in "trouble". This does not spell disaster for an "American" company.
When It Gets To Be Too Much, Watch These Kids. You'll Feel Better
Yeah, it's nearly half an hour of clips. I dare you to stop watching!
Delicious Trump Stuffing Recipe! (For All Your Conservative Friends)
Ingredients:6 stale buns leftover from Nothing Burgers (cut into 1" cubes)
20 Tablespoons Heinz Ketchup
12 Shredded Sealed Indictments
4 Cups Republican Tears (gathered after mid term elections)
1 Cup Russian Hooker pee (substitute Worcestershire sauce if no pee is available or is too expensive)
1 Small Grape Diced (see here if you forgot the reason: https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/russian-hooker-who-had-sex-with-donald-trump-mocks-his-tiny-penis/ )
One Small Mushroom
Preparation:
Combine ingredients in 5 quart mixing bowl
Place in 6 quart casserole dish
Cook in Mueller oven set to "broil" for 2 hours
Let cool for at least an hour before serving
Serves: 10 (at least)
Recommend dessert of beautiful chocolate cake and champagne popsicles.
I'm not opposed to having a new speaker, but this smacks of misogyny or ageism or...
I know this has been the topic of the last two weeks, but I was just listening to it on NPR and thinking 
The Five White Guys don't have a viable alternate. No one wants to take the gavel. No one wants to challenge Pelosi. They are all chickenshits, too afraid to do it themselves but ready to start a fight with anyone who thinks Pelosi should be speaker again.
The excuse I heard was that a lot of these people won the mid term by running on a "replace Pelosi" ticket. For the life of me I cannot understand why so many people would only vote Dem if their candidate promised not to vote for Pelosi (without any good alternative in sight). Is this the cost of appealing to the independents or middle of the road Dems?
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Member since: Sun Jan 1, 2017, 06:42 PMNumber of posts: 17,984