German AfD comes in a strong third, Social Democrats crash, Merkel forced to form coalition with FDP and Greens

The UK Telegraph reports here:

The SPD’s decision to return to opposition has limited her options, with a three-way coalition with the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens the only obvious option.

However, the FDP is unlikely to countenance the EU reform objectives of France's Macron, and the Greens want to shut down the coal plants Merkel relies on after she shut down the nuclear plants in the wake of Fukushima, which the FDP opposes, making life very difficult indeed for Frau Merkel.

Meanwhile the anti-Islamist AfD is set to take seats in the parliament, the first time the right has been represented there since 1961.

Laugh of the Day: Trump's chief of staff patrols White House perimeter to keep Trump IN

Jack Lew, who presided over an 87% increase in the national debt as Treasury Secretary, is suddenly worried about the debt implications of tax reform

From the election of Obama in 2008 until the election of Trump in 2016, $9.2 trillion were added to the total public debt. We've gone from $10.6 trillion in the hole to $19.8 trillion over the period.

Yet now we hear from Jack Lew in The New York Times here that

"digging a deep hole of debt by cutting taxes will make it harder to pay for other priorities. And when that debt makes deficits skyrocket in the future, policy makers would have to choose between raising taxes and cutting investments and vital benefits. ... Some Republican policy makers suggest they may reject mainstream approaches and assume positive economic effects that go far beyond those normally projected by the budget office and the tax committee. ... Such a reckless move would almost surely produce an explosion of debt."

Actually, the Obama Administration dug a deep hole of debt right off the bat by spending money it didn't have, tacking on $600 billion of spending to Bush's last fiscal year, and then regularizing the increase by avoiding the budget process in favor of continuing resolutions, the Congress' new bipartisan method of fleecing the American people. Deficits skyrocketed contemporaneously, and then Democrat policy makers recklessly passed Obamacare with its spendthrift Medicaid expansion. They didn't have to choose between anything.

The only people more full of horseshit than the Republicans are the Democrat engineers of the Obama economic catastrophe.

Back on the 10th or so we were being told Trump was brillantly clearing the deck for tax reform

Unfortunately the empty deck got filled right back up by DACA blowback and the Graham-Cassidy Senate healthcare reform bill which is now already in trouble.

Raising the debt ceiling and signing a continuing spending resolution were mistakes. You only get just so many opportunities in four years to shape affairs as president.

Trump still doesn't understand how this works.

Come on Germany, do the right thing

Real earnings of men are still lower than in 1973: Was feminism worth it, darling, seeing that you are up ten grand but spend it on daycare?

The average cost of daycare is $11,666.

Progress: Obama's enthusiasm for community organizing is flagging

Here:

And it’s certainly frustrating to have to mobilize every couple months to keep our leaders from inflicting real human suffering on our constituents.

International Howler of the Day: Britain voted for Brexit yet Theresa May criticizes those who fail to respect international agreements

Having it every which way to Sunday she was.

From the story here:

Leaders who fail to respect international agreements risk jeopardising faith in institutions, she warned. Delivering a thinly-veiled rebuke to the US President, she said climate change “is depleting and degrading the planet we leave to our children”. And the PM hit out at countries which try to stifle global trade, after Mr Trump's “America first” inauguration speech in January. She warned against moves which “undermine support for the forces of liberalism and free trade that have done so much to propel global growth”. ... But Mrs May threatened to split cash from UN programmes that fail to produce results.

Laugh of the Day: Ann Coulter don't need no more stinkin' vowels

Ann Coulter: The GOP's new official motto is "NEXT TIME!"

Since Luther Strange supports DACA, ya'll in Alabama know you need to vote for Judge Moore

Two kinds of Trump supporters

CNN: US investigators "wiretapped" Paul Manafort from 2014, pausing and restarting in 2016

Story here.

The libertarian Charles Murray is in the news advocating the crackpot idea of handing out free money

Here.

Antifa plans for Nov. 4 will fizzle because the goals are wildly unrealistic

The plan is to demonstrate 24/7 starting on November 4 until Trump is removed from office. No one is able to protest 24/7, and Trump isn't going anywhere.

Remember the 10-day march against white supremacy from Charlottesville to DC? Yeah, me neither.

The march was supposed to go from August 27 to September 5 and cover 118 miles.

Apparently walking the 118 miles was something of an impediment to turnout, as was rain. The march even had a police escort to protect participants from supposed threats of violence. No one has suggested that turnout was so low because the march organizers pointedly eschewed violence.

On Saturday the 2nd there were only 80 people still participating.

A person can only sacrifice so much to prevent something so horrible as white supremacy.

Striking electrical workers suspected in cable vandalism leading to 80,000 New Yorkers losing cable, internet and phone

I felt a great disturbance in The Farce.

From the story here:

Spectrum crews spent the day fixing cables on Henry and Sackett Streets, blaming vandalism and pointing to the rise in outages since its electric workers went on strike. ... Over the summer, charges were dropped against a striking worker blamed in similar sabotage pending further investigation.

Trump's Christian cucks in Arizona still support him

Which explains why they have John McCain and Jeff Flake for senators, both of whom are happy about the developments.

From the story here:

“If you were to deport them, where would they go?” Hagstrom, 60, a car-warranty manager, asked on his way to a Bible-study dinner at an upscale shopping mall. “To send them across the border would be inhumane almost. There’s no life for them there.”

Yeah, and no life for the lawful immigrant waiting patiently in line, either.

Everyone must come to America, you see, because life "across the border would be inhumane almost".

The death of America, right there.

Kim Strassel ably summarizes Hillary's larger role in The Revulsion Election

Here:

The parties gave the country a choice between two unpopular people, and the country disliked her more. 

Is Rush Limbaugh the last person to know illegal border crossings are up almost 100% since April?

Data discussed here.