SAR #15014

They're going to raffle off the White House again next year; does anybody really care?

The O'Henry: The Slimmest attack on free speech will result in Western governments increasing their monitoring of free speech and otherwise limiting the freedom of their citizens. Remember when we destroyed that village in Viet Nam in order to save it?

Just Wondering: Could it be that the recession has drawn on for seven years not despite Obama & the Dems best efforts but because what we've got is what was wanted? That would be the simplest explanation. It would also cover the long string of Democratic betrayals of their voting public, from NAFTA to Obamacare, the wars and the surveillance state. Could it be that these were not disasters, not unavoidable betrayals of the public trust, but exactly the way things were meant to work out? Sure would explain a lot.

Crystal Balls: Bank America is predicting that US 10-year Treasuries will fall to a 1.6% yield, which is the same as predicting economic stagnation. No growth. No prospects for growth. No demand for capital. But don't worry; the Fed will keep printing money to keep stock prices up even as the companies they represent continue to be hollowed out.

Mississilly: A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the Mississippi state legislature that would make the Bible the 'State Book” because it “provides a good role model on how to treat people.” Like slaughtering those who don't worship your god, killing your children, buring your enemies alive, raping and killing unbelievers, pimping out your daughter-in-law and so on. 
 
Reconstruction: The Republicans have followed up putting the anti-science, global warming denier Jame Inhofe in charge of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee by putting Ted Cruz, who has long sought to gut the NASA, in charge of the subcommittee that controls the NASA budget.
Downhill: The Bloomberg Commodity Index has dropped to a 12-year low, matching declines only seen in 1999 before the stock market crash and in 2008 before the everything crash. Nobody seems to want much in the way of raw materials right now, which might suggest this isn't the best of all possible worlds after all.

Balance: France is still in shock after the deadly shootings in Paris which left 17 people dead. Nigeria has suffered so much at the hands of Boko Haram that the slaughter of 2,000 makes little impact. Of course it's hard to do live 24/7 TV voyeurism from deep in the African forests.

Imagine: Republicans in Virginia have introduced a bill that would require permit discrimination against gays. 
 
Hopes and Whoops: The 'manufacturing Renaissance' in the US is a blend of “Pollyannish optimism and consultant-driven marketing hype.” We've added one new job for every five we lost in the recession. Republicans acknowledge this as a reason to support the Keystone-XL pipeline which will produce about 200 lasting jobs – mostly cleaning up the oil that will invariably spill. And 72% of the “new” manufacturing jobs have been in building cars – which is turning out to be wholly dependent on six-year loans taken out by people who can't possibly make the payments. 
 
Do No Harm: Seismologists say that at least 77 earthquakes in Ohio were caused by fracking. Wonder how much the insurance against that will cost the drillers?

Fee For Service: NYC has lost over $46 million as a result of tickets not issued by NYPD officers who are making a point they didn't intend: NYC runs pretty well without the petty bullshit the cops hand out.