Lipstick on pigs.

Today's Tids Issue 4,008

For Shedding Light On Truth:

Golf is a game that keeps me quite healthy,

The tension eases away from daily hustles,

But the morning brings me aching muscles,

And the greens fees make me not so wealthy.

Life is about balancing give and take.

The more you look at Elizbeth Warren’s crowning achievement, CFPB, the weirder it gets. This is a quazi-government agency that can bring the power of big Gov against anybody it choses, without any Congressional oversight, and from what I have read, offering little recourse to those alleged to have done us wrong. It looks like an agency of the left, especially when you understand that of the 594 agency employees who donated to political campaigns, 593 gave to Democrats. While I believe we need somebody looking closely at some rascals on Wall Street, this does not look like the fair and balanced agency that can do it for the good of all. It needs a change.

BTW, this morn we see again another substantial accusation against Wells-Fargo for screwing some customer or consumer group out of something. There is a tumor in the belly of that company that just can’t die fast enough.

The inventor of the throat lozenge just died. There will be no coffin at his funeral

The Question:

Name 7 Mark Twain characters. Bonus: Who was Tom Sawyer’s first love?

The Headlines:

--All Markets Up Sharply; Dow Crosses 24,000; Q3 GDP Up 3.3%, Housing Starts Up, Jobless Claims Down; Kroger’s And Costco Report Higher Revenue, Earnings; Techs Rebound.

--Senate Repubs Clear First Hurdle On Tax Bill.

--US Officials Agree That NK’s Missile Launch Is Scary New Development; Haley Calls For Harsh Action Against Kim; Russia Agrees.

--Group Of Chinese Investors Suing Va Gov Terry McAuliffe and Hillery Bro Tony Rodham In What Is Called $120 Million Political, Electric Car Scam; “Green Tech” Failed miserably And Will be Next Complicated Mess I+For Te Immediate Future.

--Trump’s Senseless Tweet Goes Out To The Wrong Theresa May

--All eyes are On Golf Channel As Tiger Woods Attempts Big Comeback Against The Best In The World.

--SUV;’s Steal In The Spotlight At LA Auto Show; New Jeep Wrangler Biggest Treat To Most; Subaru’s Ascent Also Thrills.

You would think that these days the PR firms of America would be actively putting out fires started by clients with hot hands. But, it appears that perhaps the public has figured out that you can’t hide something as obvious as an unwanted hand on a thigh.

Tech stocks may be in play for a while. This year, investors have made a lot of money with them, and some are looking got take profits and move into other sectors with serious upside like Financial companies. While it may pain tech stock holders, it is not a sign that tech is dead, just breathing slowly for a month or two..

Well, The Tids NFL pickers got it mainly right last week with 14-2 record bring the year to 124-52 (70.5%). But…this week will be another story with 8-10 games that are capable of going either way – Panthers-Saints, Skins-Cowboys, Pats-Bills, Texans-Titans, Chiefs-Jets, Lions-Ravens, Rams-Cards, Philly-Seahawks and yes, Steelers Bennies. I think the Saints are showing weaknesses and the Panthers are getting better. Carolina. Dallas looks woeful, and Washington is playing like it can win every Sunday. Atlanta is hot and at home. But I like what Minn is doing. The Pats are injured in key areas and Buffalo is fighting for a playoff spot. This is a tough one, But I’m a homer going with Pats. Tenn is atop the division but not runaway strong. Houston still has some players, but I’ll take Tenn’s QB. The Chiefs look bad and the Jets are playing win a little heart. I go with the NY Green. Two teams still in it for a wild card -- Baltimore has put it together and the Lions are better than a lot. I’ll take the home team Balt. Arizona has given teams fits, but LA Rams are the golden boys right now and should win. Now, Philadelphia is everybody’s pick for the Super Bowl, but the Seahawks still have a little left in their nest by the Puget sound. But not enough to beat the soaring Eagles. Now, Th Steelers should beat Cinncy easy, right? But Cin is at home a beating the Steelers is their favorite thing. But not this Sunday. For the rest I have SF over Chi, GB over TB, Miami over Denver, Jax over Indy, Chargers over Browns and Oakland over the Manning-less Giants.

One of my most common typos is typing the word Jets as Jest. Actually, it works either way for me.

Did you see where Garrison Keillor, the latest celeb accused of improper behavior with women, wrote a column a couple of days ago that ridiculed the idea that fellow Democrat Al Franken should resign. He also said what he did was nothing.

The Top 8 favorite cars at the LA Auto Show in order are Corvette ZR1 Convertible, Wrangler, BMW i8 Roadster, Lincoln Nautilus, Subaru Ascent, Mercedes CLS, Lexus RX L, Infinite QX 50

And, down in Alabama, Moore has retaken the lead, according to the RCP average. They are giving him a +2 advantage. The polling analyzer have four polls showing Moore +5 in three of them and -5 in one.

I’m noticing that in this state that teacher’s unions are drawing hard lines in the sand against doing much of the things that they have done so nicely in the past. I used to have this idea that everything would work better if all policies began at the local level and worked their way up to the national umbrella. But, from what I have been seeing about people lately not even getting along in small communities, I’m not so sure. (Of course, that could be because we have national operations dictating local actions.) I have even had some of my somewhat left leaning friends agree that if we could settle everything at the local level to the relative satisfaction of all, rich or poor, then we would not have to go into debt at the state and federal levels simply to give back to locals something they already had.

Christmas dinner is a time when you can really talk turkey. Unless of course the funny uncle is really a big ham. Regardless, vegetarians will beef about it all.

Have you noticed that the President has not tweeted out his golf score for his recent T-Day match playing with Woods, Dustin Johnson and Brad Faxon.

A lot of people are wondering why companies are acting so fast to get rid of their sexual predators while the government just lets them survive. It’s probably because nowadays advertisers are scared to death of bad vibes that may bias potential buyers against them. And, of course the morale of other employees. So, the company rids itself of the symptomatic disease that may erupt into lost revenue. In the government, there isn’t any money at stake in a place where ethics have been suspect for years. And then of course, the people own the government, and they can get rid of all the miscreants at the polls, if they want to.

BTW, there are democrats, and then there is the Left, just as there are Repubs and there is the right.

A chiropractor is a lumbar jack.

Most of the celebs apologizing after being exposed for unwanted assaults of varying degrees are probably saying they are sorry…they got caught.

The Answer:

Well, the most popular is either Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn. Then we have Jim and Becky Thatcher. You may like Sally and Silas Phipps or perhaps Aunt Polly. But, probably not the whiny Sid Sawyer. Joe Harper is Hucks’ pal. But Injun Joe and the Ragged man are not. Bonus: Amy Lawrence was Tom’s first love, until Becky came along. Amy became Beck’s rival and basically hated her.

Read between the lines, look beneath the glitter.