The Christmas Song (commonly subtitled “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” or, as it was originally subtitled, “Merry Christmas to You”) is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by Bob Wells and Mel Tormé.
According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer. In an effort to “stay cool by thinking cool”, the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born.[1] “I saw a spiral pad on his (Wells’) piano with four lines written in pencil”, Tormé recalled. “They started, ‘Chestnuts roasting…, Jack Frost nipping…, Yuletide carols…, Folks dressed up like Eskimos.’ Bob didn’t think he was writing a song lyric. He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off. Forty minutes later that song was written. I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics.”
The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song early in 1946. At Cole’s behest – and over the objections of his label, Capitol Records – a second recording was made later the same year utilizing a small string section, this version becoming a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts.
And foreign governments knowing how susceptible he is to flattery…and what a raging egomaniac dum-dum he is, will bait him with phone calls, flattery, false praise and fake ‘sweet’ words..
And he’ll fall for it too..
LOL..
‘Gentle giant’ my b*tt…
Ronald Glasser is just a 54 year old version of Dylann Roof…
White supremacists run amok…
That bloody slimy, crooked Jefferson Parish Sheriff included…
Is Loretta Lynch waiting to be offered a job in the Trump administration …recommended by her good pal Rudy Gulliani…or will she in these waning moments finally find the courage to do her job…or at the very least, get her Justice department to do their job…no point having a big historic first title if all you did was cowardly sneak and hide and play footsie with vile racist oppressors while hoping they’ll think well of you and will recommend you for another top job where a harmless token black person is needed..
Because, God help us, Jeff Sessions isn’t going to be pussy-footing about …he intends to fully exploit and use every last tool of that office to push his hate agenda…
“…Joe McKnight’s relatives were shocked Thursday afternoon when they heard that the football player, a local prep legend and ex-NFL player, had been gunned down on a busy street in Terrytown.
Just as shocked was a close relative of the man accused of killing McKnight, Ronald Gasser.
During a phone interview Thursday night, Gasser’s sister, Sharon Gasser Weileman, called her brother “a gentle giant.”
Weileman said that brother worked in computers and she did not know why he would have been driving on Behrman Highway on Thursday afternoon. By Thursday night, she had not been able to speak to her brother and did not know whether he had retained an attorney.
Gasser has one daughter, his sister said. He is the registered owner of a telecommunications firm and a real estate business, according to state records.
Jefferson Parish court records indicate that he was cited for simple battery in February 2006; the count was later dismissed.
Weileman said she didn’t know what happened when her brother was arrested 10 years ago or why he might have been carrying a gun Thursday.
“I’ve never seen (the gun), so I couldn’t tell you,” she said…”
http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/crime_police/article_5be5cf84-b83d-11e6-91f6-ab803f86fbd4.html?sr_source=lift_amplify
So precious!
https://twitter.com/__tiaria/status/794225010109861888
Man shoots black man during so-called road-rage incident…and shoots the dead man again as he lay dead…
Killer sits around waiting for cops o arrive…confesses to killing young black star…
Killer is taken in for questioning and is released without charge..
Jefferson Sheriff shows up at press conference threatening folks with arrest..warning them they better not exercise their rights by peaceably demonstrating…
Says he will not be giving any details as investigation incomplete and because there are still witnesses out there…
But then same bloody racist Sheriff proceeds to ‘share’ that ‘contrary’ to news stories, that the killer did not stand over and pump bullets into the young man..
No fear that that conveniently disclosing this tidbit he volunteered would in any way affect the stories of the outstanding witnesses he claims he needs to hear from before details of the incident will be released to the public..
Newel Normand, Jefferson Parish Sheriff is the face of racists emboldened anew and the KKK renewed in Trump’s (temporary) America..
Won’t ‘rush’ to judgement about white murderer who shot dead young black man…
But will brazenly threaten would be demonstrators about exercising their rights…
“…It’s “like old times,” Mitt Romney said to a group of reporters on Tuesday night as he emerged from Trump International Hotel, which is in the old Gulf & Western building, at 1 Central Park West. Rubbing his hands together and flashing a smile that stretched all the way from his bottom teeth to his upper lip, he added, “I had a wonderful evening with President-elect Trump. We had another discussion about affairs throughout the world, and these discussions I’ve had with him have been enlightening and interesting and engaging. I’ve enjoyed them very, very much.”
If Romney weren’t so eager to be Secretary of State, and so pious an individual, it might have been assumed that his reference to “affairs throughout the world” was a none-too-subtle jab at his host. But no, we must put away such mischievous thoughts. Back in March, Romney may have called Donald Trump a “phony” and a “fraud” whose “promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.” But on this occasion, for the second time in two weeks, the former Massachusetts governor had come not to bury the President-elect but to kowtow before him, and to discuss their joint plans to further the white-working-class revolution.
O.K., that last bit isn’t quite accurate. Over dinner in a private room at Jean-Georges, a posh restaurant located in the Trump hotel, Romney and Trump, along with Reince Priebus, Trump’s soon-to-be White House chief of staff, ordered appetizers of garlic soup with thyme and sautéed frog legs, and diver scallops with caramelized cauliflower and caper-raisin emulsion. (These details emerged in a subsequent readout from Trump’s press team.) For their main courses, Priebus and Trump had sirloin steak with citrus-glazed carrots; Romney had lamb chops with a mushroom Bolognese sauce.
No vegetarians here, and no weight watchers, either. For dessert, they each had chocolate cake. Romney, though, managed to work off some calories by extending his post-meal grovelling encomium to Trump, which, in the light of the following day, only reflected worse on the man who, during the campaign, had distinguished himself as one of the few prominent Republicans willing to tell truths about the Party’s Presidential candidate. (After the “Access Hollywood” tape emerged, in early October, Romney tweeted, “Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America’s face to the world.”)
During the dinner at Jean-Georges, Drew Angerer, a photographer with Getty Images News, was admitted to the restaurant, where he took a picture of the two erstwhile foes. Trump had a sly-looking grin on his face. Romney appeared to be grimacing. “Donald Trump looks like a cat that caught a mouse and is now batting it around with its paws until it dies,” Taegan Goddard, the publisher of Political Wire, wrote on Twitter. “Romney is the mouse.”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/mitt-romneys-humiliating-trump-reversal
https://mobile.twitter.com/MittRomney/status/784546373525966849?p=p
Mitt’s been down to the crossroads…
Nina Turner…
Trump Issues Support for $3.8 Billion Dakota Access Pipeline
HEADLINES DEC 02, 2016
Donald Trump has expressed his support for the completion of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux, representatives from more than 200 indigenous nations from across the Americas and thousands of non-Native allies. In a communications briefing, Trump’s transition team said his support for the pipeline “has nothing to do with his personal investments.” As of 2015, Trump had between $500,000 and $1 million invested in the pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners, although Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks recently claimed Trump has sold off his shares in the company. This comes as North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple continues to back away from attempts to force water protectors to leave the main resistance camp, now saying authorities will not stop and fine people carrying supplies to the site. The governor says his recent executive order declaring the land an evacuation area sought only to warn people about the cold. In response, the Standing Rock Sioux said, “The Governor of North Dakota and Sheriff of Morton County are relative newcomers [here]. It is understandable they would be concerned about severe winter weather.” The first of a group of as many as 2,000 veterans have begun to arrive at Standing Rock in North Dakota, where they say they’ll serve to form a “human shield” around the water protectors to protect them from the increasingly violent police crackdown.
https://www.democracynow.org/2016/12/2/headlines/trump_issues_support_for_38_billion_dakota_access_pipeline
https://twitter.com/AP/status/804715246384533504
Hmmmm. Well, if Trump won fair and square why would they oppose a recount?
Exactly
This is laughable, while that orange POS roams the country getting HIGH off the raging, smug, racists, DELUSIONAL supporters!
Teacher arrested for attacking seven-year-old and breaking his jaw says he thought the student had a GUN
By HANNAH PARRY FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 23:25 EST, 1 December 2016 | UPDATED: 23:43 EST, 1 December 2016
A Baltimore teacher arrested for breaking a seven-year-old boy’s jaw and knocking out several of his teeth claims he thought that the student had a gun.
Timothy Randall Korr, 25, is charged with child abuse, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment of a minor, after he was accused of throwing his young student against the wall.
His lawyer, Kurt Nachtman, told ABC that Korr had been told by two students at City Springs Elementary and Middle School Trayvon Grayson had been brandishing a gun.
The teacher claims that he found the seven-year-old rolling around on the ground so carried out a pat down. When he felt an object in the boy’s pocket, he asked him to remove it, Nachtman says.
When Trayvon allegedly refused, Korr says he picked him up intending to take him to the principal’s office. He says that Trayvon had been clawing at him when he lost his footing on some stairs and the youngster went flying into the wall.
…
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3992810/Teacher-arrested-attacking-seven-year-old-breaking-jaw-says-thought-student-GUN.html#ixzz4RhDuc14T
Oh come the fuck on, dude. Your black ass is grass. Don’t come with the dumb ISH.
What an a*rse..
A longer version told by Kurt Nactman, Korr’s lawyer…
Lawyer: Tutor Thought Child Had Gun; Injuries Were Accident
By KASEY JONES, ASSOCIATED PRESS BALTIMORE — Dec 1, 2016, 8:57 PM ET
…
Two students at City Springs Elementary/Middle School told Korr the boy was brandishing a gun, Nachtman said. Korr found the boy rolling around on the ground and patted the child down.
The tutor felt a bulge in the child’s pants pocket, Nachtman said, and asked if he could remove the object. The boy refused to cooperate, and Korr picked the child up, intending to take him to the principal’s office.
After the boy was hurt, Korr took him to the nurse’s office, and Korr removed a cap gun or BB gun from the child’s pocket, Nachtman said. Korr left the gun in the nurse’s office.
Monday’s incident at City Springs Elementary/Middle School was recorded on school surveillance video, police said. Nachtman has not seen the video but said he would file a subpoena for it Friday.
The boy was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, his parents said, and his some of injuries, which include bruising, swelling, cuts and missing teeth, with require surgery.
Baltimore Police Department spokesman T.J. Smith, who has seen the video, said in an email Thursday night that he had no information about a gun. “To throw a 7-year-old against the wall, rendering him unconscious, was absolutely unnecessary,” he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/lawyer-tutor-thought-child-gun-injuries-accident-43915988
Um, no MOFO, you don’t seriously think you’re going to pull a George Zimmerman & Po Po ” I thought he had a gun fuckery.
Who Should Head the DNC?
by Martin Longman
December 1, 2016 3:07 PM
I don’t have strong opinions on who should head the Democratic National Committee. From what I’ve seen of him, I like Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota. I believe I even did some work with his staff when I was consulting for Democracy for America. The opposition file dump on him just came out, and it’s substantial. I don’t know if the party wants that kind of headache, but I think it really comes down to whether Ellison would be good at the job.
On that score, my concern is that he’s a full-time congressman, and that doesn’t leave enough time for another full-time job. He could have the greatest ideas in the world, but I’m skeptical that he’d be able to devote enough attention to heading the DNC.
I saw that Markos Moulitsas endorsed NARAL’s Ilyse Hogue. I agreed with a lot of his reasoning, although I don’t really care all that much that she has a background in the Netroots. It’s nice, but her ideas are more important.
Howard Dean is an interesting case because he doesn’t fit neatly into any particular camp. It’s telling that Markos, who actually worked for Dean in 2004, didn’t even devote time to making a case against him. Dean is not a clear favorite of the establishment of the party, and Chuck Schumer endorsed Ellison which tells you that he and Dean are still on the outs. This shows that the old Emanuel/Schumer war with Dean may always have been more personal than ideological, as Ellison is clearly as progressive as anyone under consideration.
Yet, despite Dean lacking support from quarters where you might expect it, it’s widely conceded that he was an effective chairman of the DNC. He did a good job before, so why couldn’t he do a good job again?
No, the Keith Ellison Tape Isn’t Anti-Israel — and Shouldn’t Torpedo His Democratic Run
J.J. Goldberg December 2, 2016
It looks as though opposition is mounting, perhaps approaching a critical mass, against the bid by Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison to become chair of the Democratic National Committee. A small flood of messages and articles is circulating through the Jewish community and precincts of the Republican right, supposedly documenting his hostility to Israel and support for Louis Farrakhan, the notoriously anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam.
It’s a little bit reminiscent of the whisper-and-email campaign that ran through the Jewish community in early 2008, claiming that then-presidential contender Barack Obama was secretly a non-citizen and a Muslim. The big difference being that this time the target, Ellison, really is a Muslim.
It would be unfortunate at this moment if the opposition campaign were to succeed and Ellison be denied the chairmanship. Not that he’s necessarily the best candidate for the job; I’m decidedly agnostic on that. But there’s been a furious effort by Jewish activists in the last week or two to block him on the grounds that he’s anti-Israel, anti-Semitic or both.
If the campaign were to succeed at this point, it would be easy to make the case that “the Jews” had blocked the advance of an African American and a Muslim to a deserved leadership post. That would likely stir resentment and reinforce those old rumors about Jews controlling American politics by bullying and strong-arming whoever we don’t like.
The right couldn’t have done a better job to fan the flames of anti-Semitism among America’s rising minorities if they’d planned it that way.
Of course, if the image of Ellison that’s been laid out for us in the last few days were remotely true, any effort to stop him would be justified. But it isn’t.
If you stand back, it’s been fascinating to watch the anti-Ellison campaign as it’s snowballed over the last few days. It consists almost entirely of some things he said years ago, defending Farrakhan from the charge of anti-Semitism (which is now somehow described in some accounts as “defending Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism”). Also an association of indeterminate length and depth with Farrakhan’s organization. Also a handful of recorded snippets that could be interpreted — if you’re inclined that way — as hostile to Israel.
To make the case work, though, you have to ignore the considerably larger body of evidence showing him to be supportive of Israel and its right to defend itself, and of U.S. support for Israel. To find them, simply go to YouTube and plug in the search words “Keith,” “Ellison” and “Israel.”
Read more…
http://forward.com/opinion/355950/no-the-keith-ellison-tape-isnt-anti-israel-and-shouldnt-torpedo-his-democra/
This was so predictable, just so f’ing predictable.
GIVE THE DEMOCRATS ENOUGH ROPE AND THEY WILL PROCEED TO HANG THEMSELVES EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.
The Democrats right now should be showing contrition for what they just did to this country. They should be welcoming 21st century leaders into the party who have a chance of turning this debacle around before Trump and the lesser devils destroy all the progress that Democrats made throughout the ENTIRE 20th century and the Obama Administration.
Let’s just skip over the part where the “establishment” Democrats forced Hillary’s nomination. Let’s not even consider things like “superdelegates.” Let’s start where Hillary gets the nomination.
What in the blazing hell did Hillary’s campaign do with all that money?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/campaign-finance/
As one of the two major political parties, the Democrats had a responsibility to their supporters and to the country to develop and execute a winning strategy. God knows that Hillary with all of her flaws was still a better choice than Trump, and she should have won the election. However, as the failures of her campaign keep stacking up, the logical conclusion appears to be that systemic incompetence and arrogance prevailed despite their having the monetary advantage to access the best resources available.
It is unforgivable.
But now, they seem to believe the first order of business after their epic fail is to smear Rep Keith Ellison because he is African American / Muslim / Not Like Them and they aren’t quite ready to give up on establishment politics. They’d rather LOSE ELECTIONS.
For example…
Clinton’s data-driven campaign relied heavily on an algorithm named Ada. What didn’t she see?
By John Wagner November 9
…
Clinton made several visits to Michigan during the general election, but it wasn’t until the final days that she, Obama and her husband made such a concerted effort.
As for Wisconsin: Clinton didn’t make any appearances there at all.
…
Read the article…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/09/clintons-data-driven-campaign-relied-heavily-on-an-algorithm-named-ada-what-didnt-she-see/
Rant over, for now at least.
And here my fam, are our fellow Americans..
Crazy…
However did the world ever get the sense that Americans were somehow informed, smarter…more civilized…better educated…
Thanks to technology, world will never look at Americans the same again…Never..
Ha ha, the cat’s outta the bag. Half of this country is dumb as door knobs.
U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in November; unemployment rate drops to 4.6 percent
The U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent from 4.9 percent the previous month, according to new government data released Friday morning.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected U.S. employers to create 180,000 new jobs last month — roughly in line with the average number added in the first 10 months of the year. A survey by payroll processor ADP and Moody’s Analytics released on Tuesday showed that private companies added a net 216,000 positions in November, nearly double the month before.
The data release was the final one to come before the Federal Reserve’s Dec. 13-14 meeting, where the central bank may announce its first rate increase in a year. Many economists view the steady wage gains of recent months as a sign that a tightening labor market is allowing workers to demand more pay, increasing pressure on the Fed to head off inflation by hiking interest rates.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to spend heavily to rebuild America’s infrastructure, plans which may also increase inflationary pressure in coming months.
It was also one of the final economic snapshots to come during President Obama’s administration. While some economists note that America’s labor force participation rate remains low and broader measures of unemployment are still elevated, the data release captured an economy that has undeniably bounced back from Obama’s first months in office, when the private sector was shedding roughly 800,000 jobs a month and the unemployment rate was at 10 percent.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/02/u-s-economy-added-178000-jobs-in-november-unemployment-rate-drops-to-4-6-percent/?utm_term=.d8ced8461f46&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-economy%252Bnation#comments
From Mayhew over at BJ:
Defined Benefits vs. Defined Contribution
by Richard Mayhew
at8:29 am on December 2, 2016
I want to explain my thinking on this.
Right now Medicare is effectively a defined benefit program. The defined benefit is the federal government will make ure that a Medicare beneficiary will get 83% or better actuarial value care. Right now that actuarial value is delivered by either the traditional Medicare Fee for Service System, the CMS controlled FFS derived ACO and advanced payment methodology system or privatized Medicare Advantage plans that have to offer at 83% actuarial value. Drug coverage is provided by privatized Medicare Part D plans. Additional actuarial value can be bought via either private Medicare Supplemental plans or buying up in Medicare Advantage.
If between year 1 and year 2 we see a 20% increase in the cost of providing 83% actuarial value coverage to Medicare beneficiaries, the federal government and thus society picks up the vast majority if not all of the price increase. In the second year, the beneficiary will still be able to get 83% AV coverage.
Are there smart ways of doing this? Are there different ways of doing this that optimize different value functions? Are there more and less confusing ways of doing this? Are there more and less expensive ways of doing this? Are there more and less beneficiary friendly ways of doing this?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, oh my god, yes.
And those discussions and arguments are very well worth having.
That is not the argument in the Ryan plan.
Instead the Ryan plan is switching Medicare from a defined benefit guarantee to a defined contribution. The contribution will be a calculated lump sum that in year one will buy 83% Actuarial value insurance. In normal years of health care cost growth, the lump sum will grow slower than healthcare growth. So in year two, the lump sum buys 82% AV, in year five it buys 76% AV. If there is a shock year where the health care cost growth dramatically jumps up from a trend to a 20% spike, the beneficiaries are now left holding the bag as the federal subsidy might only now buy them 65% actuarial value coverage.
THE RETHUGS ARE IN FULL RAIDING OUR HARD-EARNED SAVINGS MODE
They always have been.
Morning, Everyone 😐😐😐
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone! TGIF
My all time favorite Christmas song and singer Nat King Cole.
Good Morning, Rikrah, Ametia and Everyone :)
http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/christmas/running-reindeer-smiley-emoticon.gif