(From Lillyhammer, with Steve Van Zandt)

With his comments on Haiti, El Salvador and Africa, Donald Trump exposed himself Thursday as the vulgar, insensitive man we all knew he was.

More reports on Trump's alleged sexcapades appeared today.

Trump says things just to push people's buttons. It's how he deflects attention from his failings and how he sneaks atrocious policies in the back door while everyone's too busy clucking about his latest outrageous comments to focus on his actions.

He has single-handedly ruined the image of America around the globe in the last year. How many generations will it take to recover, assuming America is still here?

The news is that despite getting both vaccines a year apart as recommended, I have somehow gotten pneumonia. I was expecting a cold after spending 5 hours in a tiny jail visiting room after Xmas with my client who blew through wads of tissues the entire time, but pneumonia?

I haven't seen any news since Monday because all my time has been spent writing motions to continue in all my cases. The antibiotics are so strong it's hard to concentrate and type for long periods.

Happily it's "atypical" pneumonia which means the antibiotics should do their job in about ten days, and I don't have to stay in bed, just take it easy (no jails or trips to court.) I'm also considered contagious for 10 days.

So that's my news. In TV news: [More...]

Donald Trump held a meeting of some members of from Congress on immigration and DACA and allowed it to be televised. He played the role of deal maker. Of course, no deals were made.

Several media reports I've read on the meeting make it appear he actually conceded something. He didn't. He took every position under the sun, oblivious to inherent contradictions. And of course, promises from Donald Trump aren't worth the time spent typing them.

By the time the president finally kicked reporters out of the meeting, he had said yes to everyone while clarifying virtually nothing. And what was undeniably a victory for government transparency had turned into another frustrating experience for Republicans, who repeatedly implored Trump to tell them exactly what he would accept in a DACA bill.

As I was reading, the phrase that came to mind repeatedly was "Eloquent profanity, it rolls right off my tongue. Roll 'um easy" (Linda Ronstadt, video here.) His promises are nothing but dressed-up dirty lies,

There was something for everyone. Except those with their eyes open.

My final two briefs are due today. Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Remember what Oprah told people just before the 2016 election when all of a sudden there was a flurry of people saying they didn't like Hillary? She said, you don't have to like her, she's not coming over to your house for dinner, just vote for her.

Now people are chanting Oprah, 2020.
I'm not sure I can think of a person, male or female, that could beat Oprah.

Axios reports Donald Trump is spending less time in the Oval Office and at meetings. He's spending more time in his private residence, watching TV, tweeting and making phone calls.

The schedules shown to me are different than the sanitized ones released to the media and public. The schedule says Trump has "Executive Time" in the Oval Office every day from 8am to 11am, but the reality is he spends that time in his residence, watching TV, making phone calls and tweeting. Trump comes down for his first meeting of the day, which is often an intelligence briefing, at 11am.

As compared to G.W. Bush and Obama:[More...]

The Golden Globes are on. There is not much point in a red carpet when everyone is wearing black, so the show dyed the carpet black.

I felt sorry for some of the foreign male winners who had to give a speech and had no stories of mistreatment to share. It sounds oddly out of place when someone simply says "I'd like to thank my wife and kids."

Is anyone watching the show?

I think "The Post" is going to win. Hollywood may be changing, but power is power and Spielberg and Streep are a tough duo to beat.

I am not too concerned about Jefferson Sessions rolling back the Cole/Ogden Memos.

First, medical marijuana is pretty safe. Since 2014, Congress has banned the feds from spending funds on federal enforcement actions against medical marijuana users and businesses who are in compliance with their state marijuana laws. (Section 538 of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015, Pub. L. 113-235 (Dec.16, 2014).) [More...]

Donald Trump wants $18 billion for his border wall.

Guess Mexico told the truth when they said they wouldn't pay for it.

Trump supporters get snookered again. They will now have to pay for the wall if Republicans go along with this stupid wall. And maybe face a government shutdown if their infantile leader throws a tantrum when Dems say no.

I've also seen some moronic articles telling people not to waste their time hating Trump in 2018, he's been at his desk for a year and we're still here. As if that's the test. I will continue to bemoan this country's lack of a leader until the media stops making everything about him. Ignore him or criticize him, those are the only two choices. I go for days with the first option, but then there's one headline too many and I'm done with staying quiet. He's ruining our way of life, why should we not complain?

If your Congressperson even hints at voting to fund this wall using the government shutdown as an excuse, call them out on it. Better a shutdown than our money goes to a stupid wall.

More than a year after Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in the popular vote for President, he still can't move past her. I think it's because he knows he didn't win the popular vote and his entire presence in the oval office is a fraud on the country. There's really no other explanation. Unless it's that he's turned his tweeting device over to Bannon or Scaramucci (yes, that one, who told some paper Donald and Princess Ivanka want him back.)

Welcome to 2018. It's going to be just as awful as 2017. Maybe instead of watching and taking advice from Fox News, Donald should listen to music more. Like the Rolling Stones, "You Better Move On."

Update 1/1/ 3:15 pm MT: The Douglas County Sheriffs Office provides this official timeline. It omits one critical time element: When the officers entered the apartment and how long they interacted with suspect Riehl before he began shooting.

According to the timeline, the officers were shot at 5:56 a.m. The timeline says they got the key and permission from the roommate, who had left the scene but returned, prior to the last officer's arrival at 5:35 a.m. So it was sometime between 5:17 a.m, when the first officer arrived, and 5:35 a.m. when the 4th officer arrived, that they got the key and permission. Did they enter the apartment as soon as the fourth officer arrived? If so, and assuming it took them a minute to open the door and announce their presence, that means they engaged with the suspect inside his apartment for 20 minutes (5:36 a.m. until 5:56 a.m., when they were shot. That would mean they weren't shot as soon as they arrived, and that something may have set him off during the engagement.

Deputies cleared the scene at 3:44 a.m., no crime had been committed at that time. Deputies were called back to the scene at 5:14 a.m. and the first officer arrived on scene at 5:17a.m. Three additional officers also arrived on scene, the last one arriving at 5:35am. One male had left the scene prior to officer’s arrival. The male returned to the scene and gave officers a key and permission to enter the apartment, but then left the scene prior to the shooting. At 5:56 a.m., four officers were hit by rifle rounds from the suspect’s bedroom. Three of the deputies were able to get to safety, however, the fourth officer, Deputy Parrish, was not able to retreat.

Update 9 pm MT: The dead suspect is Matthew Riehl, 37, an Iraq vet with a law degree from the University of Wyoming. [More...]

Happy New Year's Eve Everyone!

I took the week off from blogging because I was so busy at work -- and I can't stand to write about Donald Trump. This has been the worst year to be an American. There is good news: Only 1,116 days left until the 2020 election.

It's a sunny morning here in Denver, but according to to Accuweather, in 50 minutes, at 10:53 a.m., the snow will start falling.

It's crazy that people would venture out to Times Square. They are probably mostly young tourists, but where is their common sense? No bathrooms, no backpacks, no food vendors....what for? To see the same thing you can see inside your warm and toasty home or at any bar? (Which reminds me, the DUI cops will be out in force, so for those of you venturing out, don't drink and drive.)

Does anyone here have any fun plans tonight? I am staying in, writing two sentencing briefs due Tuesday and cooking a big steamy pot of chicken soup with matzoh balls.

Happy New Year Everyone! This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

As Donald Trump golfs in Florida, claiming credit for defeating ISIS, ISIS is gaining ground in Afghanistan and increasing media communications to its supporters urging them to make lone attacks in their home countries.

Their English spelling skills aren't as good as those who created older posters, but they get the point across.

A few other messages posted today by ISIS' official news agency Nashir News (hat tip to ISIS researcher Pieter in Belgium):

ISIS claimed responsibility for today's suicide attack in Kabul outside an intelligence agency. Only civilian passersby were killed.

The blast comes a week after the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a training facility of the same agency, the National Directorate for Security, in Kabul that ended when the attackers were killed before causing significant casualties.

It was an attack by ISIS' newly formed Wilayat Kashmir. The group announced its presence with a 13 minute video. The version I saw was on a Russian website and had English translation at the bottom. [More...]

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm spending the day at Ms. TL kids' parents, with the TL kids and my new grandaughter Karter (now 6 weeks old, she sends her best regards)[More...]