I find it interesting that here in Japan, whenever you have Santa Claus at the shopping mall or wherever for children to take pictures with, Santa is always white. You never see a Japanese Santa Claus; they always hire a Caucasian man to play the part of Santa in anything. I asked why there are no Japanese Santas, and they were incredulous. "What are you talking about? Everybody knows Santa Claus is white. Why would there be a Japanese Santa Claus? It makes no sense."

It's an interesting contrast to my experience growing up in the U.S. My parents always made a point of taking me to get pictures taken with an African American Santa Claus. It was a point of pride for them.

I want to make a joke about how it would be natural for a black Santa Clause to sneak into people's houses at night but I won't.

Does that thought make me a terrible person?

Similar to many in the US thinking Jesus was a white, dirty/blond, blue-eyed middle-eastern guy.

The most interesting thing to me is that Billy Graham is still alive... and I live in South Charlotte!

I've had three close-up encounters with Billy Graham--two in 1998, and one in 2010. If you'd told me after the 2010 meeting that he'd still be alive in 2017, I'd have said you were crazy.

Pic attached for a "fun" memory: about 30 seconds after it was taken, our then-18-month-old daughter threw an epic tantrum right there on the floor at Daddy Bill's feet. :p

Nice picture!

You know, when this thread started, I don't think I'd ever imagined we'd have a picture of Ben with Billy Graham as part of it.

Random, I am. ;)

The backstory is that shortly after my wife and I started dating, my roommate starting dating one of Billy Graham's granddaughters. The girls hit it off with one another pretty well and we ended up getting married 8 weeks apart in '98 and were parts of each others' weddings. Despite moving fairly far away, we've kept in touch pretty well. (It was easy when we lived in Charleston because they vacationed every year quite near us.) The photo above was from a weekend that we spent with them at Montreat. We stayed at the Grahams' former home in the village and went up the mountain one afternoon to his current home.

Random fact #2 about my ex-roommate: not only did he marry Billy Graham's granddaughter, but he also was one of my two roomies who found the body of Sara Tokars.

The Trumpster with a heck of an interview in the NY Times this evening.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/u...-excerpts.html

Maybe the worst interview yet, which is really saying something.

I like to think I'm fairly open minded and not stubborn enough to refuse to change my mind on something if presented with enough evidence to the contrary, but at this point I don't know what to say other than that if any pro-Trump types can read that interview and think this guy has any idea what he's saying, or that he's even remotely qualified to even be considered for the position he is currently in, you are just ... willfully dumb.

he sure does a lot of interviews with that "failing NY Times." He just says the same talking points over and over again because he thinks if he keeps saying it it will come true. I don't think any Democrat has said there is no collusion with Russia. I hope Dems get control of the House or Senate, so they are in a better position than they are now to contain the damage he is doing.

There's an interesting podcast interview with NYT reporter Maggie Haberman in/on the Atlantic this week. She's a bit confounding herself and very defensive about any criticism, but she offers insights into why Trump is the way he is. It's not necessarily novel (he is an NYC developer yada yada yada), but there are a few points that go directly to this interview regarding how he thinks of the New York Times and how he convinces himself of another reality by repeating the same things again and again. There's also a really interesting tidbit on how he views his kids. Worth the half hour listen.

"Jerry, just remember, it is not a lie....if YOU believe it."

Good gracious.

Out of interest what did you find 'worst' in that - I thought it was very vague and uninformed .. but didn't think it really any worse than previous ones I've seen write ups for (I haven't heard the interview itself is it online?) ..

I do realize that part of this, which terrifies me somewhat, is that I have such low expectations for Trump in interview ...

Holy hell that is a tough read. He just rambles aimlessly.

Or:


Because that's exactly what it did - it forced people off of good plans, and into paying for nothing.

South Korea seizes ship that transferred oil to North Korea

I'm sure Kim will be along shortly to throw a temper tantrum over this.

Yeah, his incorrect usage of the word bipartisan really sticks out to me, from everything else in that rambling mess of incoherence. I guess if I had to circle the single worst thing about that interview, that would be it. It's like English isn't his first language.

"Let's move forward so we can get on to infrastructure!"

Trump administration kills Gateway tunnel deal | Crain's New York Business

It just hit me watching a CNN report interviewing Trump supports in Dawsonville, Ga on how Trump is going to win re-election. It's the economy, stupid. If he can with tax's breaks and de-regulation create a economic bubble, he will cruise to victory. If the democrats win back the congress, and the economy busts, he could win re-election and secure a crazy level republican control in congress. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm getting a sinking feeling I'm right.

Don't get caught up in interviews with Trump supporters. Even with basically full employment Trump has an approval rating under 40%. Trump voters will most likely remain Trump supporters, but his win was so improbable and driven by an elderly demographic, that he needs to expand his support to win in 2020. There's no evidence of that as of now.

The President is more likely to get credit/blame for a good/bad economy than Congress. In 2008, voters didn't blame the Dems who took control in 2006 midterms. In 1996, voters didn't credit the GOP who took control in 1994. In 1992 and 1984, the credit/blame went to the party in charge of the White House and not the one in control of Congress.

His entire infrastructure plan was to give tax subsidies to companies looking to privatize public infrastructure so this isn't much of a surprise.

Privatize roads, privatize bridges, privatize anything that moves. Nickle and dime every citizen whenever they move. Put the Trump name on all of it and keep that coin machine running.

I'm not. It just jarred me to really think about things. Really, it was more thinking about the people I know that voted for Trump (I live in Georgia, and you can't throw a cat without hitting one). There were a large number of people I know that voted for him that did not like him or trust him. Some voted based on social issues, and I doubt any democrat that is nominated is going to change their vote. More likely even those who have straight turned against him at this point could easily be motivated to go vote for him again just on abortion alone. Sad but true.

Really, most of the people I know who voted for him even though they did not like him were voting because they were convinced he'd be better for the economy. If the economy is booming, I am very afraid he is going to win.

Btw, why are basing anything on approval ratings? His approval numbers are the same as when he was elected the first time. http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/21/politi...day/index.html

His win was incredibly unlikely and he can't count on threading the needle while losing by three million votes. He could win, but at this point he is't doing the things he needs to to increase his support.

The numbers really don't need to move much there. He won the election by 77k votes combined in those 3 states.

A lot of assumptions need to be made any time you're looking forward 3 years in politics, but Trump has narrowed his base by all measures I've seen.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...in-red-states/

If, and this is a big if, these trends hold then Trump is going to end up fighting in states Republicans shouldn't be spending time fighting for. That's not a recipe to win a national election.

There is also very little chance there will be another game changing FBI announcement one week before the election.

(Unless it concerns Trump.)

edit: I'll also add that presidents tend to get reelected, so Trump will probably go into the election with fundamentals that favor him.

FWIW, here's what some of the Dow 30 says/will do about the tax cut.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/he...ill-2017-12-21

"As we don't have any plans to increase wages or re-invest savings from these tax cuts, our profits will go up and our shareholders will be pleased. 7 figure bonuses all around for the leadership team!".

Well why don't poor people just buy stocks?

From the Independent in the UK

Nikki Haley seemingly tricked by Russian pranksters into commenting on fictional country 'Binomo'

Well why do you think they're poor?



On a more serious note I wish some of my coworkers, especially the younger ones, would think about investing more. I think some are intimidated by the market and others just think it's a scam.

Because they're buying iPhones

So Trump took credit for there being no airline deaths in 2017. Social media set him straight:

Social media users mock Trump for taking credit for air-travel safety record | TheHill

I really hope this guy takes credit for shitty landings, not that I personally need it, but some people need someone to blame.

Hatch announces retirement from Senate | TheHill

Mitt Romney likely to get the seat.

If he wants to take credit from something, he can take credit for my wife (who is a democrat) and I fighting less about politics, since we both think he's an idiot.

LOL Bee

They think this will cause problems since Romney hates Trump but meh I don't think it will change anything since ROmney has no testicles.

I do wonder tho. If ROmney had beaten Obama, would we have this horrible trump/ryan/mcconell problem we have today?

Do we know if Romney has any testicles or not? Just because he flip flops for votes doesn't mean that he won't let personal hatred guide his record.

Do you REALLY think he will do anything? Like, say...vote with Democrats?

I mean McCain did a couple times. His hatred of Trump likely didn't hurt there.

Romney will have more freedom than just about any other Republican. If he gets that seat, the Tea Party will not be able to threaten him. Any primary challenge will be easily laughed off. Will he use that freedom? That's a different story.

Romney may also see himself as a sort of "savior of the Republican Party". The question is whether he is thinking about primarying Trump in 2020.

Replacing an 83year old senator with a 71 year old senator doesn't exactly seem like a youth movement.