First...

"You figured that January wasn't depressing enough already"

Media's Hostility...

To say that the big networks haven't exactly had a love affair with Donald Trump, as they plainly did with President Obama, is an understatement. 

A new survey shows that not only is coverage of Trump overwhelmingly negative, but the president's biggest accomplishment, the roaring economy, gets almost no attention.

What they found was sad: "Over the summer, the broadcast networks have continued to pound Donald Trump and his team with the most hostile coverage of a president in TV news history — 92% negative, vs. just 8% positive."

Moreover, the very focus of what the media cover is highly selective. Some two-thirds of the Trump coverage came from five topics, Russia investigation, immigration, the Brett Kavanaugh nomination, North Korea, and U.S.-Russia relations, and these issues are reported with a twist.

The economy is ignored completely as the third quarter saw 4.2% GDP growth, and Trump's average is now 3%. Wages are rising, and real median household incomes are now at their highest level ever. As for September's overall unemployment rate of 3.7%, it was the lowest in nearly half a century. Meanwhile, unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanics and Asians are at or near all-time lows.

Resolution...

The cartoonists are running out of materials. Nothing exciting any more. No one changed his/her mind. It is not amuzing anymore to no one. Move on.

Disorder...

A study carried out by Board and Fritzon at the University of Surrey in England found that narcissistic personality disorders are actually more common in high-level executives than in mentally disordered criminal offenders at the high-security Broadmoor Hospital.

People with narcissistic personality disorder may be highly ambitious, confident, driven, and able to exploit people and situations to maximum advantage. They may be adept at charming and manipulating others, and thus adept at building and exercising business relationships.  

Board and Fritzon described the executives with a personality disorder as ‘successful psychopaths’ and the criminal offenders as ‘unsuccessful psychopaths,' and it may be that highly successful people and disturbed psychopaths have more in common than first meets the eye. As the psychologist and philosopher William James put it more than a hundred years ago, "When a superior intellect and a psychopathic temperament coalesce… in the same individual, we have the best possible condition for the kind of effective genius that gets into the biographical dictionaries." Or sadly we may get the alternative. Some are inbetin be. Just a thought.

Grandiosity...

The hallmark of narcissistic personality disorder is grandiosity. The narcissist harbors a strong sense of entitlement, self-aggrandizing fantasies, and a craving for admiration. 

In severe cases, he/she may be envious, lacking in empathy, and ready to exploit others in the pursuit of her lofty ambitions. 

Although he/she can be charismatic and charming, she more often seems self-absorbed, controlling, and insensitive. If she feels slighted or ridiculed, she might be provoked into a fit of destructive rage and revenge seeking. 

Such a paroxysmal reaction is sometimes called ‘narcissistic rage’ and can have disastrous consequences for all those involved, including the narcissist herself.

Contrary to popular belief, narcissists can change. They cannot change or heal their narcissism, but they can (and do) change their behavior. ... The problem is that the narcissist is generally unwilling to change. Changing a behavior means that the narcissist must admit that their behavior was wrong.  Just a thought.

Trade...

Trade negotiators are meeting in Beijing this week, and positive comments around those talks have been helping steady markets.

The BofAML economists said in a note. "... the US has tried to minimize the blowback from its tariffs by avoiding consumer products and either avoiding or giving exemptions for products without easy substitutes. 

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday that the tariffs are making it difficult for China to stave off social unrest.

"China is employing its full arsenal of stimulus tools — monetary and credit easing, a weaker currency, spending increases and tax cuts," the BofAML economists noted. 

Cesar Rojas, Citigroup global economist, said he sees an opportunity for a deal now, in part because of the dynamic of weaker Chinese growth, 

Rojas said the U.S. economy is still strong, giving it more leverage against China, where its stimulus has so far failed to stem weakening. 

Congress...

If Congress wants to keep the forever war in the Middle East going, then there’s an easy solution: vote on it!
 But you can bet they won’t do it; they don’t want to be on the hook for when it inevitably turns into a quagmire costing the US billions in blood and treasure, just like every single other war we have been involved in has been for the last decade and a half.

And then there’s the pundit class, everyone considers Trump a know-nothing, unstable maniac,  yet are perfectly okay with him leading the US military into a longterm military engagement with countless complicated geopolitical factors at play.

He has markedly increased the number of drone strikes in the region from the Obama administration despite the rules of engagement have been loosened and more civilians are at risk of a fiery death than ever before.

He has backed an appalling war in Yemen leading to the world’s largest famine. And his military budget has exploded. 

It is mind boggling that we, as a nation, are unable to appreciate that thousands of Americans will now no longer be in harm’s way, fighting a war that Congress never debated and that much of American public never even knew was happening.

They are stationed in too many countries to count, fighting enemies that didn’t exist when the law was passed. 

The entire post-9/11 military strategy has been an abject failure. It has cost trillions of dollars, millions of lives, and there is no indication anyone is better off, whether it’s the American public or innocent civilians in the Middle East.

In the meantime, we’ve engendered hatred from multiple generations of Afghans, Iraqis, Yemenis, Syrians, and many others.   Just a thought.

Exit...

Donald Trump  announced that the US would be pulling its troops out of Syria.

The entire national security establishment exploded in anger that one of our many wars may be ending.

Senators Bob Corker and Lindsey Graham – who have never met a war they didn’t like – are furious that Congress wasn’t consulted.

Members of the media have proclaimed that the “winners” here are Assad and Putin, despite the fact that the stated mission in Syria was never to fight them in the first place.

Pundit after pundit derided that this decision is a win for terrorists, with no thought to whether we are creating just as many terrorists by being there at all.

Lost was any question whether it’s in America’s interests to have thousands of troops fighting and dying in yet another Middle Eastern country.

Does anyone know what the long-term military strategy in Syria would be, or how we would ever exit?

Does anyone care that many legal experts

think sending troops into Syria was illegal, given that Congress never debated or approved sending troops there?

Under Obama, the US military quietly built up its on the ground presence in Syria and often under the veil of official secrecy.

The Washington Post reported that US troops would be stationed in Syria “indefinitely” and now occupy over one third of the country.

The Post referred to it as our “hidden war in Syria”. No one seemed to care about that at the time, but now that troops may be coming home, everyone is upset.

If Congress has not totally abdicate its constitutional responsibility to debate and approve of wars, and were actually up front to the American people about the extreme costs of fighting yet another war, they would have a leg to stand on.

But their stance seems to now be: we only get upset when troops get to come home, not when they are deployed in yet another war zone.

Shut down...

The Government shut down happened repeatedly and Both parties know they are being blamed for it.

This is sn opportunity to appear in front of the Microphone and the Camera and give the people non sense talk. Just a thought.

Difuse...

Egypt's Interior Ministry said a policeman was killed as he was trying to defuse an explosive device near a church in a residential Cairo district.

The ministry said the blast late on Saturday also wounded the commander of the bomb squad and another policeman. The device was in a suitcase concealed on the rooftop of a building close to the church in the Nasr City suburb in eastern Cairo, added the ministry, which oversees the police.

Saturday's incident likely will force authorities to further tighten security around churches ahead of the Coptic Orthodox Christmas. Already, armed policemen guard churches, and security guards check the identity of visitors. Metal detectors have also been set up outside churches.  

This is what Egypt is facing on a daily basis. Just a thought.