The Market, Energy, Political Page, Part 4, T+46 -- December 21, 2018

Government shutdown? My wife is worried about the possibility of a government shutdown. How many of these have we been through? Well, not at Christmas! LOL.

Government workers get paid either once monthly (the last day of the month/first day of the following month; or, twice a month (including the last day of the month/first day of the following month). If the "government" shuts down tonight, those checks are already in the mail -- if not, it's going to be one heck of a mess. But I assume the full checks will be in the mail next week even for those furloughed. Then, two weeks later, pay will be taken out if there is/was a government shutdown.

Meanwhile, the paperwork is already on government employees' desk to complete for unemployment insurance. The first insurance check will arrive before the first government check mid-month, and well before the end-of-month government check.

And, the government employees all get their back pay when they come back to work. It's not automatic; Congress has to approve it, but it has for all previous shutdowns; this one won't be any different.

What is this called? A paid vacation. Over the biggest holiday of the year for US workers.

Celebrated a bit too soon. I remember very clearly the exchange in the Oval Office among President Trump, Senator Schumer, and Ms Pelosi. Ms Pelosi clearly said -- multiple times -- that the house did not have the votes for funding the wall (wrong). Schumer smirked, and President Trump clearly made it clear that he "would wear a government shutdown on his mantel" or something to that effect. He clearly said he "owned" it. Of course, now Trump says the Democrats own the shutdown. That's fine.

SecDef: it looks like folks are lining up at the door to get this job.

Khashoggi: we know how SecState Pompeo felt about this event; did Mattis ever speak publicly about it? I don't know.

Departing Syria: my wife is furious that the US is pulling out of Syria. Did you support Trump when he sent US troops into Syria in the first place? Of course not. Welcome to my world.

Dems worst nightmare: RBG in hospital; lung cancer surgery.

Health fine: one week ago, the mainstream media was writing that RBG's health was "fine." Now, the US House is going to have to act quickly to impeach President Trump, hoping that the US Senate will find him guilty, before he can "pack the court" with yet another -- his third -- supreme court justice.

Beto--mania: didn't play in rural Texas. Why Beto flopped in Texas. From the Statesman.

“All you have to do is get in the presence of him and it’s contagious, especially if you’re a woman because he’s so danged good looking,” said Randall, who is 79 and has lived in the county for 25 years. “The charisma just emits.”

When O’Rourke came to McCulloch County, population 7,957, and neighboring San Saba County, population 5,959, for well-attended town halls on April 6, Randall was his guide.

They were stops 231 and 232 of O’Rourke’s tour of all 254 counties, and, Randall wrote at the time, “It was one of the most exciting, enlightening and hopeful days of my life.”
Seven months later, O’Rourke won just 400 votes in McCulloch County, or 15 percent of the vote.

That was half a percentage point less than Hillary Clinton received in 2016, 3 points less than Barack Obama’s total in 2012 and 9 points less than Obama’s tally in 2008.
O’Rourke’s 11.9 percent of the vote in San Saba County told the same story.

Rural Texas, it seems, was immune to Betomania, or, more accurately, it had symptoms of both the phenomenon and the antibodies creating a rural firewall that saved U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, from defeat.

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The Book Page

Somewhere along the line I picked up Remembering America: A Voice from the Sixties, Richard N. Goodwin, c. 1988, with a new introduction dated, 2014, which will extend the copyright.

I must have thought it would be a great book, looking back on the 60s. Unfortunately Remembering America was written by a JFK apologist. That alone tells me the author and I would be watching different movies. That's okay. But then to see the frequent citations from the Washington Post -- those folks were definitely watching a different movie.

I checked the index: Marilyn Monroe was not in the index (but "Monroe Doctrine" was). "Mafia" was not in the index. But "PT-109" was.

Richard Godowin would have had a great story to tell. Unfortunately he wasn't able to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth at least based on the first 100 pages.