Personal intro: I took the plunge and offered to take a shot at the Saturday water coolers. The doubling in pay vs being a commenter was a yuuge enticement. I knew I hadn’t created any diaries in a while, but I didn’t realize how long it had been. I published 410 of them between mid 2008 and 1/1/2016, so I’m an old-timer.

I was born and raised in the New Orleans suburbs and have lived and worked for many years just outside the People’s Republic of Austin, with a three-year grad school stint in IL in between. Enough about me, let’s get to some of what I hope is fun stuff…. (PS Many thanks to earhartam for helping me get through this and cleaning it up!)

Tax cuts: I happened across this article from Missoula, MT about an early version of the tax cut bill. It fits well with the “it will kill millions of people” meme. What cracked me up was the line-up of local “experts” who provided the “analysis”. They accidentally gave it away in the picture caption by noting this was the “Missoula Rises Federal Tax Scheme Press Conference”, though the headline made you think it would be balanced.

Impeachment: It seems to me that this flew under the radar, but the Democrats’ replacement for Conyers is a sure sign that retaking the House in 2018 means impeachment will be the #1 agenda item starting January 2019. Nadler quit looking like Jabba the Hutt after getting stomach surgery 15 years ago. With his health restored, he can go all in on his determination to exact revenge for Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

Walmart: I’ve noticed my local Walmart is trying to force everyone to use the self-checkout line. They typically have only one regular semi-hidden cashier for everything other than the annoying self-service machines. Not surprisingly, they are looking at taking it a step further that actually sounds like an improvement.

We’ll see more of this as pay goes to $15/hour. BTW we’ve all heard liberal whining about Walmart needing to pay a “living” wage. When’s the last time you heard lib harping over lefty Jeff Bezos, who doesn’t pay $15/hour either and treats Amazon folks 100x worse than Walmart does? Hmmm.

Hillary: We read at RedState recently that Hillary is even more hated than Trump, which seems impossible. Here’s yet more reason to love her: She allegedly “laundered” $84M from the DNC through state offices to waste on her losing campaign.

You may recall that 15 years ago, Democrats spent millions of dollars and called eight grand juries before finding one that would indict Tom Delay under a law that did not exist at the time. It ruined his career and of course it was all eventually thrown out. The amount involved was a pittance. Interesting.

Teddy Kennedy: Are we really going to see a movie about Chappaquiddick? Is Kate Mara going to make a career out of getting murdered by politicians?

A Christmas Story: No not the movie nor the pathetic live version – something personal. My local Knights of Columbus Council has organized a Christmas parade for over 20 years; I’ve been the main organizer for the past several years.

Four years ago, a dad sent us a heartbreaking letter telling us about the passing of his 4yo son who had always enjoyed the parade. He started participating in the parade himself after that, and this year I learned more of the details.

It’s amazing what this couple has done. I thanked them for sharing it because it made me realize that I had focused so much on the sadness of their son’s death that I had failed to appreciate the miracle and beauty of his life. Grab some tissue!

If you’re still awake, I hope you found a few of these pieces interesting. I’ll try not to dump so many items into my next water cooler if I’m not fired after this one. Feel free to share any odds and ends that caught your eye this week in the Open Thread below.

Merry Christmas to everyone! Well unless that triggers you….