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4 Things That Were Supposed To Happen By 2015 Because Obama Was Reelected
It’s now 2015, nearly two years after Obama took the oath of office for the second time. A few years ago, prognosticators were very confident about what would happen to America by now because of Obama’s reelection. Let’s check in and see how their predictions turned out:
1. Gas was supposed to cost $5.45 per gallon.




2015, finally! Now that the GOP controls Congress, they can get stuff done. Well, right after 50 more Obamacare votes and Benghazi hearings.- Top Conservative Cat

The World Is A Safer Place Without Saddam

• Egypt court orders retrial of jailed Jazeera reporters
• Palestinians join war crimes court, angering Israel, U.S.
• UN rejects Palestinian resolution to end Israel's occupation
• 'A living hell' for slaves on remote South Korean islands

"Obama's approval ratings are below 50%" cried the Congress whose approval rating was below 10%.- John Fugelsang

ISIS Has Ebola?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), members of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq are reportedly arriving in hospitals suffering with symptoms of the hemorrhagic fever Ebola.




Republican Shenanigans

• ‘Listen up ladies’: Fox News kicks off New Year with absurdly sexist advice for ‘catering to your man’
• Republicans Try to Fix Damage Scalise's 2002 Speech Could Do in 2016
• GOP leadership stands by Scalise after white supremacist speech
• With eye on a presidential bid, Carly Fiorina hires Republican Party spokeswoman
• ESPN Suspends Commentator After Suggesting Obama Was A Dictator 

The biggest recent mistake by the left? Letting a billion+ dollars in Stimulus/ACA smears go almost unanswered. - LOLGOP

Florida Told To Start Marrying People!
 A federal judge in north Florida on Thursday ordered the start of gay marriages in all parts of the state after Jan. 5, when a stay expires on his earlier ruling that found the state's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.




David Duke is no different than Robert Byrd, except for Byrd recanting and Duke remaining a white supremacist even now. But still the same!- Top Conservative Cat

Rock The Voter News

• Obama to face new Republican Congress upon return from Hawaii vacation
• President Obama, Clintons and Others Hail Mario Cuomo

OUCH!
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid broke several ribs and facial bones when a piece of exercise equipment snapped at his Nevada home Thursday, causing the lawmaker to fall.

If Jeb Bush resigns from the Bush family and the GOP, I think he has a chance of becoming president.- LOLGOP

10 million Americans gained health insurance in 2014 as we had the best job growth of the century. And people act like that was a bad thing.- LOLGOP

Business/Tech News

• Oil hits new five-year low below $56 as supply glut persists
• Saudi's 'taken by surprise' with oil price drop: Pro
• Oil storage tanks in North Dakota catch fire; no injuries
• Legal weed brings tax boost, but it's modest

1984 - if libs say Reaganomics will destroy the middle class, call 'em commies.
2014 - if the middle class has been destroyed, blame libs.
- John Fugelsang

Meanwhile, China Broke The World Record For....
China's Three Gorges dam has broken the world record for annual hydroelectric power production, more than a decade after it became the world's largest power plant, its operator said.

The Yangtze river power station generated 98.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2014...





The Camouflage Snuggie - for the man in your life who enjoys both militarism and sloth.- John Fugelsang

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Odd News

• Hasbro to replace penis-shaped Play-Doh toy
• 51 years after wreck, 7-inch car part found in arm
• At med school, 'Seinfeld' about more than nothing
• Woman suspected of posing as lawyer arrested
• Dumb Videos We Loved In 2014

Time To Deflate Photo

When visiting Dubai, photographer Alexander Remnev took this dizzying self-portrait from the top of the Princess Tower, the tallest residential building in the world. The Princess Tower is 101-stories and stands 414 meters (1,358 ft) tall.

Peace.

2015

Happy New Year!

The year 2015 sounds like a police call, "Hey, we've got a twenty fifteen here, send in the fire trucks." My thinking is influenced knowing Republicans are in charge now.



Please drop by tomorrow for a full edition of All Hat No Cattle.

Peace for 2015.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Only 9% of people keep New Year's Resolutions. So if you want to do something -- like not get Ebola -- don't make it a resolution.- LOLGOP

If you were an uninsured gay adult with an undocumented grandmother, 2014 was probably a great year for you.- LOLGOP

Happy New Year to all!

Peace in 2015.

Don't, "dance like no one is watching." Someone is watching.

NYPD cop throws man to the ground after spotting him doing Ellen Degeneres’ ‘dance dare’
An online “prankster” was berated and thrown to the ground by New York City police while participating in one of talk show host Ellen Degeneres’ “dance dares,” the Free Thought Project reported.

Why is it that some in the NYPD, act more like goombahs for Tony Soprano?

The World Is A Safer Place Without Saddam

• Iraq: 21 dead after attack on funeral
• U.S. to station 150 armored vehicles in Europe
• U.S. names more Iran targets for sanctions
• Britain says cannot support new Palestinian U.N. draft resolution
• Israeli court orders state to raze West Bank outpost
• Mexico calls for larger, more diverse U.N. Security Council

Two missing planes, one now tragically located, dominated the news in the safest year for air travel ever.- LOLGOP

TV Shows Gore To Family Members
Family members of those aboard AirAsia Flight 8501 collapsed in agony Tuesday as images of debris and a bloated body flashed across Indonesian television screens, proof that the plane crashed into the sea two days earlier with 162 people on board.




Women in combat, free abortions, gun control, gay rights, universal hc - at least the GOP doesn't mind when Israel does it.- John Fugelsang

Next up on Fox News: How to answer your child's question about Santa not being real by blaming it on Obama.- Top Conservative Cat

Fox & Friends: Obama's Gonna Ban Sprinkles!
Fox & Friends segment warned on Tuesday that President Barack Obama’s administration was set to enact a ban on doughnut sprinkles, which meant that the government could take control of where you live and work next.





Republican Shenanigans

• Ralph Peters Uses End Of Combat Mission In Afghanistan To Compare Obama To A Child
• John Boehner: Michael Grimm Made 'Honorable' Decision By Resigning
• Fox News Trolls Mayor De Blasio To Apologize To NYPD
• Beheading believers in the name of sodomy? A look back at the craziest Christians of 2014

The Koch brothers are worth $100 billion, which means Jesus must love them 100 billion times more than all you minimum wage nobodies. - Top Conservative Cat

Aside from resigning from firms that defraud Medicare, Jeb Bush is also practicing saying "George who?" as he prepares to run in 2016.- Top Conservative Cat

Steve Scalise’s Denials Are Not Believable
Faced with an exploding crisis sparked by the revelation that the No. 3 Republican in the House gave a speech to a well-known group of white supremacists and neo-Nazis a dozen years ago, the GOP in Rep. Steve Scalise’s home state of Louisiana is doubling down, calling the entire episode a mere “manufactured blogger story.”




PARTY TIP: Skip the White Supremacist conference, Republicans.- LOLGOP

Rock The Voter News

• Here's Why Obama Said The US Is 'Less Racially Divided'
• Soldiers Relocate Wedding to Accommodate Obama's Golf Game

If white people had been systematically oppressed by the government the way black people have, the conservative movement would make sense.- LOLGOP




Most Admired People: Obama, Hillary and PUTIN? PUTIN?
President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton remain the most admired man and woman in America, according to Gallup's annual survey, but Russian President Vladimir Putin also has his admirers — he crashed Monday's list, too.

Republicans are totally held to a higher standard. That's why every GOP candidate for president is more anti-science than THE POPE.- LOLGOP



Business/Tech News

• Oil & Gas Stock Roundup: Now Gas Prices Collapse, Southwestern Continues Marcellus Push - Analyst Blog
• Texas energy company slashes jobs as stock plummets 50%
• China to step up free trade talks with Middle East
• Wealthy Russians aren't buying U.S. homes anymore

When it comes to ratings, missing planes are the new missing blondes.- John Fugelsang




Solyndra Success
At the RV Park he owns in a remote corner of southwestern Kansas, Jan Leonard is seeing the benefits of one of the federal government's most contentious programs.

Conservatives will admit that systemic racism exists. It's just something only white people and Christmas can experience.- LOLGOP

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Odd News

• Record for largest paper wad set in Minnesota
• L.A. man charged with leaving baby outside on Christmas
• Resident defies Ohio township on 'Zombie Nativity'
• 5 Insane (but Convincing) Theories About Dead Celebrities
• Las Vegas betting on chance of New Year's Eve snow

Time To Deflate Photo

The Stairway to the Devil's Cauldron in Equador. If I ever go, bringing a parachute would be high on my list.

Peace.

Tensions with New York City police go beyond racial issues: commissioner

Tensions with New York City police go beyond racial issues: commissioner
 Tensions between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the police are rooted in issues that go beyond racial relations, the police commissioner said on Sunday, a day after the funeral of one of the two officers slain a week ago in their patrol car.



You have to sympathize with the NYPD. Believing that you are being aggressively and unfairly policed is a horrible feeling.- LOLGOP

The World Is A Safer Place Without Saddam

• Taliban claims NATO 'defeat' as 13-year Afghan war draws to a close
• Bomber kills 11 Shi'ite pilgrims north of Baghdad: police
• Iran tests suicide drone in military drill
• International journalist deaths soar in 2014: press watchdog
• Palestinians to submit resolution for U.N. statehood bid
• North Korea Calls Obama ‘A Monkey’ Over ‘The Interview’

Few things are funnier than when Americans who despise America's government take time out to defend the Confederate flag.- John Fugelsang

NSA Response To FOI
Responding to a Freedom of Information lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Security Agency has reported instances when it violated individual privacy. The NSA says ‘the vast majority involve unintentional technical or human error.’



Republican Shenanigans

• 5 creepy Merry Christmas messages from the Right Wing
• GOP learns lessons from Sam Brownback's tax scare
• Republicans see diversity in their 2016 hopefuls
• O’Reilly: New York Mayor de Blasio ‘should resign’

The Pope is more pro-science than any Republican candidate for president. He'd be a heretic in today's GOP.- LOLGOP

Obviously, Fox Noise Is Not Strong In The Area Of Math
Fox News host Anna Kooiman speculated on Sunday that an AirAsia flight could have gone missing because international pilots were trained using the metric system.




Conservatives firmly back police union they firmly believe should not exist.- LOLGOP

Rock The Voter News

• Obama marks end of combat in Afghanistan
• Obama warns GOP he plans to use veto pen in 2015

Having to pay slightly higher taxes because you're rich is pretty much a sign you've already won.- John Fugelsang

Meanwhile, Back To Ebola
Roche Holding AG said U.S. health regulators have approved its Ebola test for emergency use in response to the world's worst outbreak of the disease in West Africa.

NYPD Commish Told Boys In Blue Not To Dis The Boss
The commissioner of the New York Police Department, Bill Bratton, has given strong backing to Bill de Blasio, denouncing the protest of rank-and-file officers who turned their back on the mayor at a weekend funeral as politicised and inappropriate.




Woman shoots up neighborhood, aims at police, but still alive thanks to the ultimate body armor-- white skin. - Top Conservative Cat

A Quick Look Back At 2014
From the rise of the Islamic State group to the truculence of Vladimir Putin, new tensions surfaced that may presage global shifts in power and prosperity in 2015.
Lots happened in 2014. The news was a daily parade of discrete events. Here are some, picked (almost) at random: Afghan opium production hit a record high, calling into question government control outside Kabul. More investment cash flowed out of China than in...






80's pop music + TV ads for life insurance = Demographic Harassment. - John Fugelsang

GOP: WE WARNED YOU THAT IF YOU RE-ELECTED OBAMA WE'D BE FORCED TO TAKE CREDIT FOR HIS ECONOMY- LOLGOP

Business/Tech News

• Oil rises to $60 per barrel, Libya fire supports
• OPEC will not cut output even at $20 a barrel: Saudi
• Saudi: Salaries will not be cut to curb spending
• Oil markets face uncertain future as OPEC targets competitors
• Russian Banks Warm to Shariah

"The U.S. is re-establishing relations with Cuba. But before President Obama can lift the embargo, it will need approval from the Republican-controlled Congress – or as Republicans who called Obama said, 'Close, but no cigar.'" –Jimmy Fallon

SONY Makes Money, Thanks North Korea.
In a landmark moment for digital movie distribution, "The Interview" has earned more than $15 million through online sales in its first four days of release.




"President Obama announced yesterday that he's pardoning 12 convicted felons. Political experts say the move could have huge implications for your fantasy football teams." –Seth Meyers

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Odd News

• What did ‘Back to the Future II’ get right about 2015?
• To ring in New Year, town will drop a giant nail
• Farmers say Christmas trees make great goat snacks
• Kayaker rescued on pond with Charlie Brown cutout
• Transit cops deliver baby on Philadelphia train

Time To Deflate Photo

I would love to fly over the Alatna River Valley, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska.


Peace.

Food is my favorite part of Christmas

Christmas Dinner - Costa Rica Style

Here's what I did at a 5 star Christmas dinner prepared by Angele.

It was dusk and about 80°. Our appetizer: Creamed Tuna filled pastries on a bed of lettuce and baby tomatoes. Oooh la la!

The star of the Christmas dinner. The paella. Magnifique!

As you can see, hands were swooping in for the paella.

I bought a Christmas gift for Amalia, who is 11, a bracelet making kit on ebay. She was engrossed in her project.

Our Christmas dessert was a fresh baked yellow cake with a crunchy sugar crust, still warm, accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Selfishly, I forgot to take a picture because I devoured it immediately.

But the evening ended with a twist, after Jose lighted the Christmas candle luminaries, they soon caught on fire because of the 40mph gusts of wind that came out of nowhere! I missed that pic too!

It was a lovely Christmas celebration.

Now, we all can look forward to the New Year.

Peace, Costa Rica style.