What's up? News of the world....

[Fake Messiah]

Iraq officially declares Christmas Day a national holiday
https://www.foxnews.com/world/iraq-offic...al-holiday

Finally the plan worked!

[Angrboda]

Trump’s Tax Cut One Year Later: What Happened?

There was a point in early 2018 when big American companies couldn’t stop talking about the Trump tax cuts. Flush with the projected savings from a $1.5 trillion law, they promised to raise wages, hand out bonuses to workers and invest in big projects. They scored headlines, along with applause from President Trump.

The fawning faded quickly. Analysts noted that the handouts to workers amounted to a relatively small share of the roughly $200 billion in federal income taxes that corporations avoided thanks to the cuts. Wages across the economy ticked up, but not by nearly as much as some Republicans had promised when they voted for the law. Capital investment surged at the start of the year, but the rate of growth fell sharply in the third quarter.

Stock buybacks by publicly traded companies continue to set records. They neared $200 billion in the third quarter for S&P 500 companies. Goldman Sachs analysts have predicted that the total amount of buybacks across the economy could top $1 trillion for the full year.

Some workers did reap rewards from the law, as many companies followed through on — and even exceeded — their promises to raise wages and pay bonuses. Yet other firms have announced layoffs, despite reporting higher profits and billions of dollars in tax savings.

While the long-term effects remain to be seen, the evidence so far does not suggest the sustained investment and productivity growth boosts that Republicans and supply-side economists predicted. Many economists, including those at the Federal Reserve, are cutting their growth forecasts for 2019, in part because of the waning effect of the tax cuts.

Here’s a look at what companies promised and what has come to pass as we head into Year Two of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

[Angrboda]

[Cod]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-he...r-46709412

Trust a yank to beat him to it

[unfogged]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-he...r-46709412

Trust a yank to beat him to it

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Can we be done with this whack-a-loon now?

Louis CK Mocks Parkland Survivors

"Testify in front of Congress, these kids, what the f***? What are you doing?'' asks the man in the audio clip. "Cause you went to a high school where kids got shot, why does that mean I have to listen to you? Why does that make you interesting? You didn't get shot. You pushed some fat kid in the way and now I gotta listen to you talking?"

Apparently, having a wank in front of women who didn't ask for it didn't make people despise him enough.

Boru

[Angrboda]

Protests in India after women defy ancient ban on visiting Hindu temple

Two women defied a centuries-old ban on entering a Hindu temple in the Indian state of Kerala on Wednesday, sparking protests and calls for a strike by conservative Hindu groups outraged by their visit.

Police fired teargas and used water cannons to disperse a large crowd of protesters in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, television news channels showed.

There were protests in several other cities in the state, media reported.

India’s Supreme Court in September ordered the lifting of the ban on women or girls of menstruating age from entering the Sabarimala temple, which draws millions of worshippers a year.

But the temple refused to abide by the ruling and subsequent attempts by women to visit it had been blocked by thousands of devotees.

The Kerala state government is run by left-wing parties and it has sought to allow women into the temple - a position that has drawn the criticism of both of India’s main political parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The uproar has put the issue of religion, which can be highly contentious in India, squarely on the political agenda months before a general election, which is due by May.

The possibility of more confrontations was raised by a call from an umbrella group of right-wing Hindu groups in Kerala, the Sabarimala Karma Samithi, which is supported by the BJP, for a state-wide protest strike on Thursday.

The BJP called for protesters to be peaceful.

COMMUNISTS BLAMED

Earlier, the Kerala state president of the BJP described the women’s visit as “a conspiracy by the atheist rulers to destroy the Hindu temples”.

The party’s state president, P.S Sreedharan Pillai, told TV channels the BJP would “support the struggles against the destruction of faith by the Communists”.

---

On Tuesday, the state government backed a protest by thousands of women, who formed a 620 km (385 mile) human chain, termed the “women’s wall”, in support of “gender equality” and access to the temple.

Modi, in an interview with ANI on Tuesday, indicated he felt that the temple issue was more about a religious tradition than gender equality.

Modi said there were temples where men were barred from entering.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Clearly, this is the harbinger of the downfall of Western civilization:

Ocasio-Cortez...Um...Dances

An anonymous Twitter user’s bid to discredit Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a video of her dancing appears to have backfired after the US congresswoman received an outpouring of support.

It was filmed while the politician was a student at Boston University and is part a longer video where Ms Ocasio-Cortez and other students perform a dance from The Breakfast Club to the song Lisztomania by Phoenix...“Here is America’s favourite commie know-it-all acting like the clueless nitwit she is,” @AnonymousQ1776 wrote in a tweet accompanying the video.

I strongly urge all Americans to take to the streets with torches and pitchforks to show your disdain for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez's crimes, which include:

1.  Having fun.

2.  Having fun while at university.

3.  Having actual friends with whom to have the above mentioned fun.

4.  Being adorable.

Boru

[unfogged]

I strongly urge all Americans to take to the streets with torches and pitchforks to show your disdain for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez's crimes, which include:

1.  Having fun.

2.  Having fun while at university.

3.  Having actual friends with whom to have the above mentioned fun.

4.  Being adorable.

Boru

The horror.