Update: These tweets by the Office of Government Ethics today are really funny. No one knows who posted them, but they are legit. When did Trump say he would totally divest himself of his businesses? He called it a "separation." The NY Times has more.

Donald Trump dropped a cliffhanger on Twitter this morning, reminding me of a reality show preview. He announced he would separate from his companies. How? He'll tell us in two weeks at a press conference.

Does anyone believe him? I think the only way for him to eliminate conflicts of interest is to sell his businesses to people outside his family, and put the proceeds in a blind trust. He'll never do that. [More..]

Mitt Romney took a seat at the devil's table last night and not only dined with Donald Trump but lavishly praised him afterwards. (No link needed, it's on every news site.)

What a horrible menu. I would have thrown up during appetizers: "Young garlic soup" and scallops with "carmelized cauliflower" and a "caper raisin emulsion."

The restaurant is not in Trump Tower but another Trump Hotel nearby, on Central Park West. (It's two blocks north of Trump Tower and just west of the Plaza Hotel, which means Trump was driven there. It's one of the busiest intersections, if not the busiest, in Manhattan. I wonder how long traffic was shut down so he could ride rather than walk a few blocks to dinner.

For such a pricey restaurant, you would think they could afford to update their website and provide a newer menu than the one for 2015. They don't. [More...]

UnPresident-Elect Donald Trump has named the wife of Republican Majority Leader and Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, Elaine Chao, to head up the Department of Transportation. She was Labor Secretary under GW Bush.

For Health and Human Services, he picked a a six-term Republican congressman from Georgia, Tom Price.

Just more shuffling the deck chairs -- nothing change-y about it.

In another predictable trend, Trump reaffirmed his disregard for Supreme Court precedent in a tweet suggesting anyone who burns the flag, which is an act protected by the First Amendment, be subject to loss of citizenship or jail. Since he is powerless to enact any law, or change any court precedent, I assume this is an Apprentice-style grab for attention and deflection from the vote recounts. [More...]

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Earlier news reports of a shooter at Ohio State have been corrected. The assailant drove over the curb, intentionally hitting people with his car, and then got out and started stabbing people with a butcher knife. 8 or 9 people are hospitalized. The only gun used was the gun a police officer used to kill the suspect.

The dead suspect is a Somali-born student at Ohio State named Abdul Razak Ali Artan. He is a legal permanent resident who came to the U.S. in 2014 after living in Pakistan since 2007. In an interview in August, he said he was afraid for Muslims. [More...]

UnPresident-Elect Donald Cheeto claimed today he would have won the popular vote if voters hadn't cheated.

[More...]

Fidel Castro died Friday, November 25, 2016. He was 90 years old.

Raul Castro has pledged to step down in 2018. What then? The New York Times reports on how the power likely will pass -- to a lot of Raul's children. [More....]

Clinton Campaign finance guy Mark Elias has issued a statement saying the campaign will participate in a vote audit and recount of Wisconsin, and of Michigan and PA if Jill Stein files the requests.

Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides. If Jill Stein follows through as she has promised and pursues recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan, we will take the same approach in those states as well.

[More...]

Protecting Donald Trump and his entourage grows more expensive daily.

Take his jaunt to his Palm Beach resort for Thanksgiving. NBC News reports it cost taxpayers $7 million:

As the soon-to-be first family sat down in Florida for their Thanksgiving feast, they were watched over by the core part of their new extended family — a contingent of at least 150 Secret Service personnel.

His and his wife's selfish insistence on maintaining two residences with Trump flying to New York on weekends will up the secret service contingent and related personnel to 950 and cause the expense to skyrocket.

Also complicating security arrangements is Melania Trump's decision to stay in Manhattan until Barron is done with school in June. Donald Trump has told his team that he intends to make regular weekend trips home to Trump Tower until his wife moves into the White House. So millions of dollars worth of infrastructure will have to be installed in Trump Tower to turn it into a White House North

Right now the cost to the Feds (funded by taxpayers of course) is already $2 million a day (just the federal cost): [More...]

It's Thanksgiving! Progressive radio stations around the country will be playing Arlo Guthrie's 18 minute version of Alice's Restaurant, about his trip down to White Hall St. in lower Manhattan to sit on the Group W bench and wait until he was told if he was fit for induction into the Army to go fight in Vietnam.

KBCO in Boulder is commercial free all day, and will play Alice's Restaurant at noon and again at 6 p.m.

Does anyone besides me still have a hardcover edition of her 1969 Alice's Restaurant cookbook in their kitchen? It's filled with tasty recipes and very easy instructions. [More...]

Are any of you cooking tomorrow? I am -- and I have lots to finish up today.

I plan to have a totally Trump-free holiday. I'm sure I'll binge watch something, I'm just not sure what yet. And check out the Black Friday online sales.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Wishing you all a happy pre-Holiday eve.

The era of the Inglorious Donald Trump is upon us. This will be the most dreary Thanksgiving ever. Here's what we learned about Unpresident Donald Trump today:

The security cost for protecting Trump and his family in New York is $1 million a day. As I wrote this morning, the Mayor plans to ask the feds to help out. If he's successful, that's our tax dollars being spent.

The Chicago Tribune tells Trump to suck it up and take his family to live in D.C. I agree.

Even if he personally repays the state and local governments for the massive cost of protecting his wife and 10 year old son after the inauguration in New York so he can indulge his 10 year old's desire to finish the 5th grade with his chums, which I suspect he won't because he's too miserly, he can't repay New Yorkers for the inconvenience and time lost in traffic jams. Tourism will fall quickly. Who would book a holiday trip to New York now, knowing they can't get up or down 5th Avenue and everyone will be in a Grinch mood over the delays (if it doesn't cause an unprecedented rise in violent road rage incidents?) [More...]