WallStreetJackass

and it's the weekend!

Every house has dragons.

Watching the confirmation hearing today, while I was distinctly aware that the GOP stole Gorlick's seat and that Kavanaugh was a Republican hitman on Clinton, I have to say it was not the Democratic Party's finest hour. In fact it was pretty disgusting.

And then watching 11 men having a woman speak on their behalf and not even  having the balls to ask their own questions.

It's a tie; we are ruled by idiots.

solid

Tough week for PwC.

“The individual defendants, aided by PwC, knowingly cause Caterpillar to engage in an improper, illegal and possibly criminal course of conduct spanning more than a dozen years.”   According to the complaint, one PwC employee discussing the alleged scheme over email with a manager said they would need to “do some dancing” to defend the transaction to tax authorities, but the manager replied that they would both “be retired” before the IRS would conduct an audit.

Lots of training needed all around. 

well, yes.

In his prepared remarks, Trump mentioned jobs 14 times, immigration 9 times and safety 8 times.

The overall theme was big solutions to big problems. The problem is that most of the problems Trump described aren’t real. By any measure, the economy has been growing for years, net illegal immigration is low, violent crime is down significantly and terrorism kills almost no one. Political Wire

All the best problems to solve are those ones that have already been fixed. 

The Little Trump Hypothesis

Most of America thinks Trump is fairly entertaining, but none more than Wall Streeters. If we're honest it's because most of his bile is directed elsewhere now and we're used to obnoxious New Yorkers (shit, just look in the mirror). 

To be fair though, a lot of Trump policies are just better than the alternative. Case in point - Clinton wanted to put a no-fly zone over Syria, essentially starting a war with Russia. I'm no fan of Russia and think Trump's embrace of Putin is weird, but I also don't think you should go around poking bears either. That's because I'm not an idiot. 

On the domestic side, I do think US companies should do more to help American workers. I don't think they should incorporate elsewhere, nor ship jobs overseas. They've become what they are because of a myriad of US support over the years and should reflect that in their hiring and strategic decisions. 

The biggest case against Trump is simply that he believes strange things and that could get the country into trouble. An elegant way of describing how we rationalize this is as follows: 

The Big Trump hypothesis: The president is a vindictive demagogue and a unique threat to Americans norms and institutions, with the potential to wreak havoc on the country’s politics, economics, and culture.

The Little Trump hypothesis regards these fears and declares: “meh." Instead, it posits that the president will be a loud yet minor figure, sound and fury signifying nothing; a wannabe superhero hemmed in by the limited powers of the executive branch. Rather than rule like a populist demagogue, he will mostly sign bills written by his pro-business staffers and approved by a pro-business Congress. 

We believe in The Little Trump. 

Parts of the Internet believe it too... 

what not to Tweet when your company is a fraud

 

Reefer madness in NY

Nice line on dogs from the paper of record, 

“Dogs put some really dumb things in their mouths,” Dr. Levitzke said. “We have dogs come in that have mouth and esophageal burns from drinking bleach. You never see a cat do that because they’re smart. Dogs will try anything once, sometimes twice.”

I don't believe the "my dog ate a joint in Central Park" story at all, although I can definitely empathize with this, 

“He was just really body stoned and completely jelly,” said the woman, who produces fashion shoots and spoke on the condition that her name not be used. “His tongue was hanging out of his mouth, his head was lolled over, but any kind of movement in his peripheral vision would just scare the crap out of him.”

Also known as Sunday morning. 

And Justice for All.

Wrap this woman in bacon and put her in front of the firing squad. 

The F.B.I. arrested the wife of the man who carried out a deadly terrorist attack in Orlando, Fla., and charged her with obstructing the investigation of the mass shooting, law enforcement officials said on Monday. CNN

getting hammered in the animal kingdom

the urge to transcend our everyday minds is a fourth drive in humans, followed only by the drives for drink, food, and sex, and that this fourth drive is shared by all creatures. Certain butterflies get drunk by sipping on the alcohol produced by fermented fruits on vines or trees; cats get sexually charged by catnip; coffee beans drive goats into ecstatic states that frequently end with them temporarily abandoning their guard against predators and tumbling down hills.