FRANCE - WINDOWS - FIREFOX.

Google's recently redesigned Blogger dashboard has an "Audience" sidebar feature, e.g., a screen capture from Crabgrass explaining the headline:

click to read

FRANCE?

France has an election, in the spring, of next year; this websearch, this link.

Paycheck Pursuit. Spoils/Spoils hunters, open season at Trump Tower where THE MAN is holding court.

The potentate distributes largess; and do Scott Brown and/or Pete Hegseth presently have real jobs, or are they being carried in some way, FOX commentator, whatever? Seekers of their fortune, each, eager, interchangeable.

Brown/Hegseth. Or, Hegseth/Brown?? Interchangeable, as are their empty suits.
image: this link.

And, Mitch McConnell's wife? Possibly in line for a cabinet level paycheck, as during Bushco?

Mitch McConnell, one look at him, he should be wearing a coon skin cap, carrying a musket, visiting Dogpatch with promises and cliche. As during Al Capp's heyday.


It's Pre-inaugaration jobs program-and-policy time, THE MAN's way. Try to finagle an invite. THE MAN may have a job for you. However good or bad THE MAN actually is at making deals, he still has yet to figure how to acquire The Ring of the Fisherman, while remaining in Trump Tower. If he can do that, then I will be a believer too along with my Republican friends. Also believing as they do that leaving THE MAN's empire in THE CHILDRENS' hands would obviate all conflicting interest worry, now and onward.

AND - Where in all this is friend Pence? Issuing invitations? A one-man steering committee? Or in FRANCE? There, preaching "Stronger Together?"

_____________UPDATE______________
Politico's  showing a sense of humor? At least not a Hegseth/Brown headlined clone . . .

__________FURTHER UPDATE________
Once Trump is inaugurated he and Mitch and the Ryan guy can cook up a new cabinet post; "Secretary of Pork, Spoils, and Retribution;" thereby creating a place and paycheck for Chris Christie. There'd be no sense of urgency. Gov. Bridgegate still has New Jersey for now.

__________FURTHER UPDATE________
Heidi Cruz with her CFR ties, Secretary of State; Mitt Romney, what else really, Ambassador to Israel. Lots of face-time with Bibi. Remember, you read it here first, should it happen.

Jeb, Ambassador to Paulau? Out of harm's way, that way.

Or Ambassador to Mexico where he speaks the language and could be suitably tasked with getting Mexico to make wall payments. ("Wall? What Wall? Yesterday's Wall having morphed post-election into today's "fence in places.")

All for now.

___________FURTHER UPDATE___________
We wait to see how conventional a Republican insider Trump really is. It will be shown by what, if anything, the Trump Administration has to give to Virginia Thomas. The Bushes treated her okay, during the Gore v. Bush progression, and earlier, (having liked John Danforth's suggestion about filling the Thurgood Marshall seat vacancy).

Last, how many Trump University "graduates" do you figure to find a Trump Administration paycheck (either as a reward for past payments, or because of exceptional sagacity and merit)? Only the best need apply now, as at Trump University, where we can guess many applied but few were accepted, (the cream rising to the top at Trump U.  being the entire truth there, despite shabby contentions in court pleadings and some possible implications of the $25 mil buyout of the lawsuit which small-minded people might prejudicially infer from an adjudication bought out before it could be.

Jill Stein - Green Party - Swing State Election Recount?

This Guardian item, stating in part:

Amanda Holpuch in New York -- Friday 25 November 2016 16.57 EST
Jill Stein, the Green party’s candidate in the US presidential election, has formally filed a motion for a recount in Wisconsin on Friday as her funding effort for counting the votes again in three states passed $5m.

As more money flooded in for her effort – which aims to fund recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all states where Donald Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton – she admitted she had no hard evidence of fraud but said the systems were vulnerable.

Her campaign team said it would formally file in Wisconsin before the 5pm ET deadline to do so; the recount motion deadlines for the other two states are next week. Less than half an hour before the deadline, the Wisconsin elections commission confirmed it had received the recount petition.

Her move has split opinions, with some energized by the thought it has potential to show defeated Democrat Clinton is the rightful election winner, and those who see Stein’s intervention as an expensive gimmick to promote the Green party.

The party's efforts to regain lost ground with blue-collar voters could be a factor in next week's election for Democratic leader in the House of Representatives. Tim Ryan, whose northeast Ohio district encompasses blue-collar Youngstown, is challenging veteran leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco. Ryan has emphasized his ability to talk to working class voters and said in announcing his leadership run that people "need to know we understand that they elected us to fight for economic opportunity for all."

The headline of this post is a combined two paragraphs, online at Reuters, here.

STRONGER TOGETHER did not cut it.

No STRONGER.

Moreover, no TOGETHER.

Alienate folks including the young who shall suffer long-term consequences, and you're apart from them, not TOGETHER with them. Especially with superdelegate and "HILLARY VICTORY FUND" crap in place before a FAIR primary season; and you've un-TOGETHERED a whole hell of a lot of the electorate, who see slogan TOGETHER as an insulting lie. As in, "Know your place and vote it; we be the lesser evil so cave in per usual, accordingly, and silently would be better than with any noise."

Well.

Gee.

Together was Podesta, the Clintons (foundation and spouses and offspring), Debbie Wasserman Schultz, billionaires, and current DNC stooges in lockstep with Madeline Albright or otherwise. Add Goldman/Wall Street and it is - RAPACIOUS TOGETHER.

BELTWAY TOGETHER is a phony route to attracting progressives or rust-belt suffering families.

There is no TOGETHER of me with that nasty crowd, so what about you?

In thrall to big money and liking that; or having a different and better dream?

------

Bernie and Ellison did line up and salute the flagpole, but were they together with anyone really besides each other, Tulsi Gabbard, and those inspired to attend the massive Sanders rallies? Was there much Beltway entrenchment Bernie or Ellison could identify with as of value to them or their supporting crowds?

Should either have felt TOGETHER with entrenched ignorant hubris more allied with Wall Street and Huma scenarios for Muslims than with suffering voters being screwed by banks and business and the uber-wealthy, still, and as usual? If so, why?

Ellison has race TOGETHER with Obama, but little else. Middle of the road do-nothing corporatism was uninspiring as shown in Obamacare passage - a grossly uninspired sop to the health insurance industrial complex, instead of resembling actual healthcare reform.

If single payer; a fifteen buck minimum wage; debt relief for students hosed via tuition abuse while legislated to be without a bankruptcy out as accorded Trump casinos; tax reform against corporations, banks and 1%'ers; and better services and assistance levels for ordinary folk had been part of TOGETHER, then TOGETHER might not have been so unpopular as to lose an election, top to bottom of the ticket.

Clearly, Hillary/Podesta hurt everybody besides Republicans, and retooling ought to start with a strong populist/progressive person heading DNC. Then add like minded DNC board members, and Trump might be held to a single term.

We know, spoils being at stake, that the Dems hope Trump will not succeed enough to earn a second term. How will they work with Trump in the upcoming term, with that in mind?

Can you say, GRIDLOCK TOGETHER?

And, back to the headline, is it time for Pelosi, (not anyone's progressive by any measure), to go further into the background and turn over House leadership to a progressive? If not to a progressive, then at least to a blue-collar lunch-bucket district Rep. such as this Tim Ryan candidate poses himself to be?

Think about it -- THEY WHO WILL NOT BE NAMED could have the crappy Ryan in their leadership post; Dems could have the better one
.

Rothschild Investments

image: The Economist

Trump appoints a Commerce Secretary nominee, Wilbur Ross, a fact more widely reported than this Wikipedia extended fact version of the Wilbur Ross background:

In the late seventies, Ross began twenty-four years at the New York office of Rothschild Inc., where he ran the bankruptcy-restructuring advisory practice. In the eighties, after quickly expanding the reach of Resorts International to Atlantic City, Donald Trump found himself in financial trouble as the real estate market in New York City bottomed-out. His three casinos in Atlantic City were under threat from lenders. It was with the assistance and assurance of Ross, then senior managing director of Rothschild Inc., that Trump was allowed to keep the casinos and rebuild his businesses ultimately engineering one of the greatest turnaround in US business history.[7] In the late nineties, Ross started a $200 million fund at Rothschild to invest in distressed assets. As the U.S. bubble began to burst, he decided he wanted to invest more and advise less. On April Fools’ Day 2000, the 62-year-old banker raised $450 million to plunge into fallen companies.[8]

So, when Trump branding began as an outgrowth of the casino bankruptcy scene the branch to a drowning man was reached out by a Rotchschild/Ross hand. This link.

‘Middle-of-the-road thinking has overstayed its welcome’ ‘The Democratic party can’t win if it smells like corporate influence.’ Two sub-headlines, Guardian; as part of navel gazing by election losers.

The headline does not include all Guardian item sub-headlines, while identifying each pundit/politico taking a try at tea leaf reading. One of those headlines is attributed to Ilya Sheyman, the executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, with this "rings-true" part of the statement from Sheyman (of the Soros faction):

In February 2016, the Democratic National Committee ended its ban on donations from federal lobbyists and political action committees – a policy put in place by then-candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

At last, corporate money could flow in unchecked. The Democratic party would have the resources to win up and down the ballot. Right? Wrong.

In fact, the rule change symbolized a deeper disconnect between the Democratic party and the voters it relies upon. Millions of those voters made known their outrage at business as usual via the Bernie Sanders insurgency, to no avail. In November, millions of once-Democratic voters stayed home. The result: a catastrophic electoral rout – despite a hideously despised Republican nominee.

Voters don’t want a Democratic party that smells like corporate influence. For the Democratic party to reclaim its greatness, it must be its best self: the party of the people.

The first step is to clean house. It’s time for a leader like Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Keith Ellison, and for a return to Howard Dean’s winning 50-State Strategy. The inclusive, progressive and populist agenda that emerged from last summer’s Democratic convention was a great one. It’s time to pair it with a surge of investment in on-the-ground organizing and an embrace of candidates who can bring new voters and energy to the party.

That item bore a terse sidebar summary, " Millions of voters made known their outrage at business as usual via the the Bernie Sanders insurgency, to no avail."

It is easy in the abstract to opine, "All that money was no help," where the next cycle the difficulty will be turning it, and its hooks, down. The Clintons found no such difficulty, THEY SIMPLY TOOK THE MONEY, ALL THEY COULD, HAND OVER FIST; but they splattered things big time, so the Inner elitists face the problem, "Don't change, grub the cash with all ties it implies but project the image you are above that," which is the DWS-DNC-Billary ploy (which Bill got away with in the '90s), but which proved a roadmap to major failure this go-round.

The money quote within the larger quote above is:

In fact, the rule change symbolized a deeper disconnect between the Democratic party and the voters it relies upon. Millions of those voters made known their outrage at business as usual via the the Bernie Sanders insurgency, to no avail. In November, millions of once-Democratic voters stayed home. The result: a catastrophic electoral rout – despite a hideously despised Republican nominee.

Note the "Ellison" reference in the final paragraph of the extended quote. "The first step is to clean house. It’s time for a leader like Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Keith Ellison, and for a return to Howard Dean’s winning 50-State Strategy."

If the regulars stymie Ellison's bid, it will be hell to pay. Expect instead Ellison possibly taking top spot, surrounded by stooge-regulars to hold him in check; i.e., more of the same. Unless a real lesson was learned, which is unlikely given human nature with money being the sick political influence drug of choice that oils the gears of grinding erosion of anything like a good life for all but the monied, then without that lesson greed will remain the key motivation of powers behind the throne. And public virtue will remain priced to buy.

CHANGE was a cracker-jack slogan. Now what? The real thing? Get serious. There is still a DWS-like remainder of Dems. There is Joe Biden waiting. The Trump cabinet appointments bode ill, but so far they have been met by all talk and no action from the Dem establishment. Hand wringing without reform will be seen as being as phony as a Trump promise.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz defeating Tim Canova in the one Florida House primary was a decided blow to reform. She did her acts; she's reelected; what message do you think her henchpersons will try to have us infer from that?

INSTEAD: DO IT.

CHANGE.

REPLACE SLOGAN CHANGE WITH HONEST CHANGE.

TRY IT AND LIKE IT, ELLISON INVITES. But can you envision Amy K. honestly and wholly aboard that train? I cannot.


In closing, again, the money quote from the above extended quote is:

In fact, the rule change [of accepting lobbyist money] symbolized a deeper disconnect between the Democratic party and the voters it relies upon. Millions of those voters made known their outrage at business as usual via the the Bernie Sanders insurgency, to no avail. In November, millions of once-Democratic voters stayed home. The result: a catastrophic electoral rout – despite a hideously despised Republican nominee.

If staying home with Trump capturing the spoils which he now is dispensing crassly out of Trump Tower did not register on the spoils seekers of the DNC; then staying home again and again until they wake up and the message gets through may prove necessary; but when eight years of GOP-lite ushered in with slogans of change gave us nothing but Obama dividing spoils, (and Holder sending nary a single Wall Street crook to the slammer being the prototype of the Obama Whitehouse), delivery on the promise never happened and that did not cut it.

Ellison heading DNC would be merely a start. DNC reform up and down and sideways, i.e., CHANGE around Ellison; now that's a story worth living.

We await the 2018 midterm elections to see what's talk vs. action.

Eight years later, what's the verdict? Is this a lesson-message for Trump boosters in anticipation?

And, however you read those tea leaves, we nonetheless have to trust and place hope in Ellison, for now, for DNC leadership. Then see who, if Ellison succeeds, he is surrounded by, and such.

_____________UPDATE______________
Last image, this link.

Compare.

Nobody's big surprise. It should gall all progressives. Yet more of the DWS mentality at play - top down, after all DWS happened on the Obama watch. Entrenched party recognition factor: They'd rather lose with schlock and compromised mediocrity {love of Goldman included - can you say Geithner) than win with better people - a bothering Obama legacy. Like the half-baked healthcare garbage that came out of Hope, Change, and other postures.

FURTHER: No, please, not Joe from DuPont. Nor his henchmen henchpersons. The NYT item noted:

Mr. Obama’s advisers, some of whom discussed the party leadership race at a White House meeting last week, have talked about whether Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan would be willing to run for the post. Mr. Perez met with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. last week and had lunch Tuesday in the White House Mess with Valerie Jarrett, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, while also visiting with David Simas, Mr. Obama’s political director.

Some in Mr. Obama’s circle were even holding out hope that Mr. Biden himself could be persuaded to step into the chairmanship as a unifying force for a party reeling after losing the presidency and making scant gains in the House and Senate.

But Mr. Biden’s office said Tuesday that he was “not interested in being D.N.C. chair,” though he plans to “remain deeply involved in helping shape the direction of the Democratic Party moving forward.”

Don't these folks have anything like an upward sloping learning curve? Flat liners lost, Trump won, so the flat-line learning curve crowd has seen its best chance be not good enough.

Step aside. Time for, no bullshit this time but actual reactive -

CHANGE

Dumping superdelegate mischief is step one. Those wanting to convene should run to convene. As to who "superdelegates" are -- They, this last cycle, were reactionary problems;, not super in any fashion, even if allowed a free pass to convene as delegates.

Mop the mess.

Let Keith do it. He's equal to the task, and wants responsibility and authority for doing that job.

________________
credit: the three images, each from this pinterest page.