The Talking Dog "Sure, the dog can talk…but does it say anything interesting?" He ain't The Man's best friend

Festivus is coming

Item: Satan sends his annual Christmas letter. Let’s just say that this holiday season is looking good for the Prince of Darkness. You go, Janet! Item: The latest in the wave of campus protests apparently hits “America’s Most Liberal College [TM]” (that being Oberlin College). Watch out, Jazz Department! Item: While no matter what he does or says, Donald “the Donald” Trump remains “teflon” as his lead expands, Matt Taibbi tells us it’s “too late to turn off Donald Trump,” noting that like most of those who support him, The Donald’s “reality” is… wait for it… only what it he...

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Month from hell

I’ll take a short break from noting the various horrors of the world at large, to take a note of my personal horror. I lost my Dad earlier this month. Although he was no one’s model of health, this was unexpected , and a shock nonetheless. To those of you who knew this, and who were most gracious in your condolences, prayers and wishes (and in a number of cases, food offerings), I am grateful, and I thank you. To the rest of you, let this be a cautionary tale: the people we love have this awful tendency of leaving...

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Flashpoints

We’ll start with the shoot-down of Russian fighter planes supposedly barely over Turkish airspace by NATO member Turkey; the Grey Lady provides a little background, and Zero Hedge has a little more (and a bit more here). Bottom line: Turkey is allied with certain insurgents who are (surprise, surprise) notionally aligned with the Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL against the Assad regime (as is… the United States), and Russia is allied with the Assad regime against all of its opponents. And so, there is a “war of all against all” over there, in which, “our side” can pretend to feign outrage at the...

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Just sayin’

How to reconcile Republican Presidential Aspirant Donald “The Donald” Trump and his recent call for Muslim Americans to be registered [it sounded better in the original German] and the fact that one of the Donald’s largest business enterprises (at least, in terms of having his name on it), the Trump Taj Mahal, is named after, well, the Taj Mahal, to wit, the jewel of Muslim art in India. [I leave it as a thought experiment as to why the media is so keen on oh-so-seriously reporting the blatherings of mental defectives pronouncements of Republican governors that they will prevent Syrian...

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Happy November

First, we start with the amazing news that Shaker Aamer, last British resident of GTMO, has been released; Andy has a triple play on the subject: (1) his story on Shaker’s release, (2) Shaker’s own statement on this release, and (3) Andy’s friend and former Pink Floyder Roger Waters and his statement on Shaker’s release, Candace is on it as well, and she has an update on the GTMO census, now down to 112. TD’s alma mater defeated Mrs. TD’s alma mater 17-7 at football, for alma mater’s first Ivy League win since 2012 (and its first road win since...

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Good times

Beloved alma mater’s much maligned football team snapped its 35 month losing streak, with a win over still-winless-this-season Wagner College of Staten Island, with a 26-3 score. It had a legendary 40-something losing streak right after I (and the President) graduated… and… well… there. Fortunately, the League’s losingest program hiring the great Al Bagnoli, holder of nine outright League titles (a record)… may be just what the program needed. Roar Lion Roar. Meanwhile, the rest of the world still pretty much sucks.

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Human decency delayed…

I’m a little slow on the uptake (nothing unusual there)… Andy reports that Shaker Aamer, the last British resident detained at GTMO, is being released. He had been cleared for release for the last several years, but… well… see above re: “human decency delayed.” In the end, we as a nation seem to prefer our military having “a presence” in the vast majority of the world’s nations, engaging in wars on terror, drugs, and on nations that refuse to abide by American capitalism and foreign policy, even as the cost of maintaining such a vast military infrastructure is the utter...

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