I may not care for football but I will be watching this afternoon to see Bad Bunny's half time show, which he'll sing in Spanish. He is probably the biggest global performer in the world right now.

Close behind is Shakira, who just began her weeklong residency in El Salvador where she had her first concert last night. Tens of thousands of her fans crossed El Salvador's borders (legally) to be able to see her in person. Every hotel room in the country is reserved and she's expected to bring many millions to the local economy. El Salvador's gang-crushing President, Nayib Bukele, said he was determined to make sure everyone was safe and thus has deployed 3,000 military and civil guards to the venue. Here's a photo of what they look like.

Bad Bunny brought $400 plus million to Puerto Rico's economy during his music residency which just ended.

At the Grammy's last week, Bad Bunny began one of his acceptance speeches with:

A Minnesota judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security prohibiting it from destroying evidence pertaining to the killing of Alex Pretti.

U.S. District Court Judge Eric Tostrud granted a temporary restraining order against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Saturday, barring the department from altering or destroying evidence connected to Pretti's killing.

How about a restraining order banning ICE from conducting enforcement operations in Minnesota?

The Wall St. Journal (free link here) says the videos don't support the claims of law enforcement. I'm not surprised, are you?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Donald Trump went to Davos and came out guns blazing, saying the U.S. would take over Greenland. If any country disapproved, he said, he'd slap new tariffs on them. He even mocked Europe's leaders on social media:

He trolled European leaders with a social media post that showed him planting an American flag on Greenland territory, near a sign that read, “Greenland, US Territory, Est. 2026.”

Turns out, he didn't get the reaction he expected. In fact, he ended up capitulating and saying ok, we won't take over Greenland, and ok, we won't impose new tariffs. In other words, Trump caved.

Trump’s reassurance that America’s military won’t seize Greenland at gunpoint settled the financial markets, as did his pledge to forgo tariffs on Europe as a prod to relinquish Greenland.

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There's a lot to break down, from the Golden Globes to Venezuela and its Oil to Minnesota, ICE, Iran, Colombia, Greenland, and the Trump family's unstoppable (so far) greed, sticking its dirty, small fingers in every pie it can get a slice of.

And all the Trump aider and abettors.

Have at it, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

P.S. "Dead Flowers" is from the Stones album "Sticky Fingers". One of my top three favorite Rolling Stones song ever.

Happy New Year to all! Photos of the celebrations around the world are pretty awesome.

Still, the world is not a happy place today. America has watched in disbelief as Donald Trump has chipped away bit by bit at the very core of our democracy. Even prominent hard-core MAGA supporters are scratching their heads at his latest actions, and refusing to stay silent.

Trump's primary game plan has always been deflection. Change the subject, provide false facts, promote conspiracy theories and juxtapose the victim and aggressor.

Since it worked for him the first time around, he's been back at it every day during his second term. How do we encourage more of his MAGA supporters to jump ship, and also remain engaged and vote for Democrats in the mid-term elections?

How do we turn Trump's deflection game on its head? Democrats Abroad has some ideas. I'll just quote one section: [More...]

Christmas Eve is the single, quietest night of the year. The world seems to shut down, from stores to movie theaters to restaurants and even food delivery services.

I've tuned out Trump and the Epstein files drama and already started cooking tomorrow's lasagna.

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas Eve, this is an open thread for everyone, celebrating or not.

Live-Blogging of Donald Trump's Economic Speech: Tales from the Crypt

Donald inherited a mess and he's fixing it.

He blames life being unaffordable due to the Democratic Biden Administration.

25 million people, many of whom were criminals, drug dealers with no border control.

[Comment: He is batsh*t crazy, he really believes what he is saying]

Biden crushed the dreams of the American people: Flooded your cities with crime, preying on the innocent.

He brought peace to the middle east for the first time in 3,000 years. Lets look at the facts:

After one year, he has achieved more than anyone can even imagine. He stopped people coming over the border. In a few short months, we went from the worst to the best. DC is

We busted the drug cartels, drugs coming in by sea are down 94%.

I am having serious computer issues. Every browser is limiting what I can access, and when I write a post and hit "save", it disappears down the rabbit hole.

So instead of reading my thoughts on Alina Habba's (temporary) resignation from the NJ US Attorney's office, or Juan Orlando Hernandez's sudden pardon, only to now face an arrest warrant issued in Honduras, you get another open thread.

Have at it, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Donald Trump was not invited to Dick Cheney's funeral.

He did, however, sign the Epstein bill.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Donald Trump has pardoned 65 people, including his cronies who helped him try to overturn the 2020 election. Many of these people were not even charged in federal court. How is Trump pardoning people charged or convicted in state court?

Pardon Secretary Ed Martin made the announcement. and published the list. His comment, according to the article linked above: "No Maga Left Behind".

Better Slogan: "It's time to scrape that sh*t right off your shoes." (Hat tip for the line to the Rolling Stones, "Sweet Virginia", which although not about Trump or Maga, fits perfectly in my mind).

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back today. Daylight Savings Time ended at 2:00 a.m.

If we really could turn back time, what year would you go back to? While you are thinking, I'll give my answer: Anytime before January 20, 2025, when our country began its downward spiral away from democracy and into authoritarian madness with a Manichaeistic despot at the helm, who appears more often than not to me to either be loony-tunes batsh*t delusional, or so narcissistic that he thinks he owns the world.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Hurricane Melissa is one for the history books.

Melissa is leaving Jamaica and headed to Cuba. As if Cuba doesn't have enough problems right now, 900,000 Cubans living on the eastern side of the island have been ordered to evacuate. [More...]