Trump 2 begins today. Elon Musk is so excited. He spoke to Trump supporters about optimism and how much they are going to accomplish.

Melania is hiding her face with a black hat going for a mysterious look. Either that or she's hiding a black eye.

The White House website has already been scrubbed of Biden. It's all Trump now.

Trump seems to have delegated an enormous amount of power in Stephen Miller. Miller moved his family to Florida, got office space and chose his own group of lawyers to vet the Executive Orders he's been salivating for the past four years. He's keeping them tightly under wrap until the moment Trump wants them to drop. [More...]

On his final day of office, President Biden issued scores of pardons to family members, congresspersons (Liz Cheney), Anthony Faucci, and others who have been threatened or targeted by Donald Trump.

Trump made a slew of threats before the election. He hasn't stopped. Biden today said:

“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end,” Biden said in a statement released as the inauguration ceremony was underway at the US Capitol.

Biden stressed that those receiving pardons had not done anything wrong.

Los Angeles continues to burn. (WSJ, free link). I hope the insurance companies have enough money to pay all the homeowner and commercial claims. The damage is devastating:

Economic losses from the blazes have been estimated at tens of billions of dollars. Tens of thousands of people were displaced, roughly 33,000 acres were aflame and more than 200,000 were without power across the wider Los Angeles area. More than 360,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders, said Robert Fenton, Jr., a regional administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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Donald Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge in Manhattan today, having been convicted of 34 felonies.

He avoids a fine, restitution, probation, home confinement and prison. But the felony convictions stand, unless overturned on appeal.

This is the first time in American history that a man who has been convicted of a felony will occupy a desk in the oval office.

In only ten days, the carnival barker almost half of Americans have come to hate will be back in that office. Remember who put him there -- the people who voted for him. Shorter version: The majority of American voters are off their rocker. They, as well as Trump, are the problem. It will take a generation to reverse the damage he will inflict and the loss of prestige to America.

By a vote of 218 to 215, Republican Mike Johnson beat Democrat Hakim Jeffries for House Speaker. There was some drama as it took a phone call from Donald Trump to get two Republicans to change their vote. (One person voted "other").

I tuned in to hear the end of Jeffries' speech on You Tube.

He gave a flattering welcome to Johnson. Johnson then spoke and was gracious back to Jeffries. . Here's how Johnson described their agenda: [More...]

Starting the New Year off with an inspirational article in the Guardian about Mexico City's mayor, Clara Brugada, and her successful strategy of building spaces called "Utopias" in the poorest and most outskirt neighborhoods in the city.

Not only have the Utopias helped the poor, they have reduced crime, including murder.

At Bloomberg Citylab, a conference on urban innovation in October, she told hundreds of fellow city leaders: “One of the great objectives we have is that the peripheries of Mexico City are no longer synonymous with inequality and abandonment but that the peripheries are the new city centres.”

Mayor Brugada used the Utopia built in Iztapalapa, which is Mexico City's poorest and most populated neighborhood, and her home town, as an example in the presentation. [More...]

Happy New Year to all! It is going to be a rough ride as long as Donald Trump has a desk in the oval office. But he doesn't affect everything.

My interests have moved well beyond Donald Trump. In 2025, I'll be focusing more on news and cultural topics I find interesting or curious from outside the U.S. [More...]

I'm sorry I am so late with this new open thread. I had to get a few stitches in my eyebrow (don't ask!). Anyway, I haven't seen the news other than a headline Joe Biden granted 1,500 pardons. I not only support them, whoever they are, I support Hunter Biden's pardon.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

I have them. I'm sure any rational person does, when considering the possibility, however slight, that Donald Trump, the most unfit person to run for President ever might win. Trump keeps escalating his hate-filled attacks and doom and gloom characterizations of our nation. He is now Mr. Negativity.

Make sure to vote. Your vote counts. Never believe that your vote is so small it wouldn't change a thing. It can and it will.

We get the Government we elect. Don't let Donald Trump bring the nation down, down, and down, until it's run into the ground. Get up and vote. The dry cleaners, bank and grocery store can wait until tomorrow. America can't.

My Prediction: The polls are all wrong and Kamala wins by a large margin in all but a few of the most hard-wired, radical-right states with the most under-informed and bitter voters.

I'll be back tonight to cover the madness.

Reggaeton music artist Nicky Jam has rescinded his endorsement of Donald Trump as a result of the racist and degrading comments delivered by a comedian who performed at a recent Trump campaign event, particularly those targeting Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans.

Nicky Jam was one of the only Reggaeton artists to support Trump. He got a lot of heat from other musicians about it. He attended a Trump rally in Las Vegas in September, where Trump, having no idea who he was, introduced him as a female telling the audience "She's hot." Today, in rescinding his endorsement in this Instagram video in Spanish he said: (rough translation)

"The reason why I supported Donald Trump was because I thought it was the best thing for the economy in the United States, where many Latinos live ... I thought it was the best move. Never in my life did I think that a month later a comedian was going to come to criticize my country and talk bad about my country and therefore, I renounce any support to Donald Trump and That’s why I’m renouncing my support for Donald Trump and stepping away from any political conversation. Puerto Rico deserves respect.” he said.

Puerto Ricans can't vote in the U.S. Presidential election, but they have a lot of weight with relatives and friends who can vote. Nicky Jam has 43 million followers on Instagram. In 3 hours, the post had more than 85,000 likes.

Also today, Arnold Schwarzenegger broke with Republicans and said he's voting for Kamala Harris. [More...]

The Washington Post has killed a planned editorial endorsement of Kamala Harris for President. Why? Because Post owner Jeff Bezos(who founded Amazon to become one of the world's richest persons) opposed it.

An endorsement of Harris had been drafted by Post editorial page staffers but had yet to be published, according to two people who were briefed on the sequence of events and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The decision to no longer publish presidential endorsements was made by The Post’s owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, according to the same two people.

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Please don't forget to vote. In addition to voting for President, there are votes for members of Congress, state officials, including legislators and judges, and local ordinances. All are important. Colorado's ballot was the longest I can remember. If I wasn't sure about a particular issue, I read the booklet the state sent with the pros and cons, and if I still wasn't sure, or I didn't care, I skipped that question. But on the big stuff, I voted.

Good luck Kamala, Good luck Diana DeGette, and good luck to Denver County Court Judge Kelly Cherry. You all deserve much more than votes. You have invested years of your lives to trying to make all of our lives better. You have given your hearts and souls to provide us with the best governance you can.

We get the government we elect. You snooze, you lose. As I say about Donald Trump every year: "It's time to scrape his sh*t right off our shoes". (Sweet Virginia, below) [more...]