Decorated and ready to share.

Taiwan Voters Back Ruling Party in Referendum, Removing Obstacle to U.S. Trade Deal - WSJ

Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as part of its territory.

A claim that has never been factual in the 76 years since Taiwan was established.

Culinary art in progress.

Investors Balk at Plan to Buy Coal Mines and Close Them - WSJ

Citigroup Inc. and its partners abandoned the creation of a fund that aimed to shorten the life of coal mines after the group struggled to convince investors of the plan’s green-energy merits

Apparently the Market doesn’t like to put money into stupid ideas.

And that’s saying something in a year where GameStop is up 802%, AMC is up 1,349%, and Dogecoin is up 2,980%.

For the record, S&P 500 is +25% for the year, and Citigroup is -0.6%.

Morning garage projects with son:

✔️Replace truck side mirror

✔️Build jellybean dispenser

Army And Navy Both Forfeit Football Game, Leave Billions Worth Of Equipment On The Field - The Babylon Bee

In a press conference later that day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin proudly announced that it was “the greatest football game ever played in history.” 

Vladimir Putin Names His Price - WSJ Opinion

“The line pursued by the United States and NATO over recent years to aggressively escalate the security situation is absolutely unacceptable and extremely dangerous,” a Russian foreign ministry official said, apparently without irony.

118 years of flight.

Southwest Airlines CEO Tests Positive for Covid-19 - WSJ

Stop writing these stories. This is not news.

Hillary Clinton Reportedly Considering Losing Again In 2024 - The Babylon Bee

ITT Tech Political Science Professor Glenn Measure commented, “Again and again, public opinion polls show that vast majorities of people would choose Hillary Clinton as the person they would most want to see the Presidency dangled in front of, only to have it yanked away in the most painful and humiliating way possible.”

Psaki Blames Inflation On Little Elves That Change Prices In The Middle Of The Night - The Babylon Bee

The White House is pushing back at the idea that inflation is related to any of President Biden’s policies.

Meet Steve, The Last Remaining American Who Doesn’t Have A Podcast - The Babylon Bee

UPDATE: At time of publication, Steve had announced a podcast about his experience being the only person without a podcast.

I laughed at the title, before remembering that I have a podcast.

Toyota, in Reversal, Says It Will Shift More Rapidly to EVs - WSJ

Still, it cautioned that many of its customers, especially in the U.S. outside the coasts, weren’t ready yet for a battery-powered car and might not be for some time.

All of these great promises with only one real, semi-proven EV on the road (Tesla) reminds me of New Years Resolutions.

I sincerely hope that these plans work out absolutely perfectly or we are in for a whole new scale of pain.

The Babylon Bee Presents: COVID Christmas Carols - The Babylon Bee

“mRNA In a Manager” - Remember the birth of the savior: mRNA.

An instant classic!

“Ave Moderna” - AAAAAVVVEE MO-DERRRRRR-ERRRRR-NAAAAAA

Just passed a woman FaceTiming while driving. That’s a new one for me.

Building Back Bitter - WSJ Opinion

Inflation turned out be much lower in 1983 than many economists had expected as the economy took flight, thanks to a combination of sound money and the Reagan fiscal and regulatory incentives to work, save and invest. Now Washington seems determined to run the opposite experiment, with easy money and President Joe Biden’s next big slug of inflation fuel, known as the Build Back Better plan, pending in the Congress. It’s a historically massive bundle of subsidies, distortions and disincentives to productive labor. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office says that if one removes the bill’s phony expiration dates Democrats have applied to programs they never intend to allow to expire, the result is an additional $3 trillion in federal deficits over a decade.

Fed Reinforces Plans to Provide Open-Ended Stimulus to Spur Recovery - WSJ

“It’s not going to be easy to have inflation move up,” said Mr. Powell. “We’re honest with ourselves and with you in the [projections] that even with the very high level of accommodation that we’re providing…it will take some time.”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave this quote 12 months ago. He was saying it would be hard to get inflation to a target of 2%. We’re at 7%.

Not sure why we should believe his predictions today that all of this is going to magically evaporate.

Chris Wallace to Depart Fox News, Join CNN+ Streaming Service - WSJ

“After 18 years, I have decided to leave Fox,” Mr. Wallace said. “I want to try something new, to go beyond politics to all the things I’m interested in. I’m ready for a new adventure.”

Understandable given the changes at Fox in the past 5 years.

But, CNN?!

I guess that Wallace fell victim to TINA — there is no alternative. What major TV news organization still has credibility with the public?

Overdraft Fees Enrich Banks, and the Biden Administration Wants Less of That - WSJ

“What I’ve been telling bankers is, ‘Do the right thing,’ because you want your reliance to be on revenues you feel good about,” he said in an interview. “And this is part of the problem with traditional overdrafts. It’s quote-unquote legal but it hurts people.”

This is a direct quote from the Acting Comptroller of the Currency.

Does this dude have any idea how banks generate profit?

It took 59 years, but Daniel Craig did what Blofeld never could: he killed James Bond.

Now I remember why I never go to the movies.

No Time to Die

🍿

I got a Tempest weather station as an early Christmas present.

Looking forward to installing it this afternoon and tying it in to CARROT Weather.

🌪

Joe Manchin’s Inflation Vindication - WSJ Opinion

In any case, prices won’t decline. The rate of increase may moderate, but many business executives this fall said they planned to raise prices more next year to compensate for rising labor and material costs.

This is the enduring problem of runaway inflation: the higher prices are the new normal.

The only question is when we’ll get inflation under control and stop the hand over fist increases.