DL Open Thread: Sat., Dec. 28, 2019

Federal Reserve: Trump’s Trade War Backfired.  When you think about it, that’s a dog-bites-man story if ever there was one.

Some Cracks In The White Evangelical Community?  Yes, question is, will the movement grow?  Worth reading. Still a drop in the bucket, though…

‘Freaking Evil’.  The war criminal pardoned by, and now campaigning with, Trump, is not, even by the lowest standards imaginable, your everyday war criminal. If you can, read the entire article. If you can’t:

“The guy is freaking evil,” Special Operator Miller told investigators. “The guy was toxic,” Special Operator First Class Joshua Vriens, a sniper, said in a separate interview. “You could tell he was perfectly O.K. with killing anybody that was moving,” Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, a medic in the platoon, told the investigators.

Such dire descriptions of Chief Gallagher, who had eight combat deployments and sometimes went by the nickname Blade, are in marked contrast to Mr. Trump’s portrayal of him at a recent political rally in Florida as one of “our great fighters.”

Though combat in Iraq barely fazed the SEALs, sitting down to tell Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents about what they had seen their platoon chief do during a 2017 deployment in Iraq was excruciating for them.

Platoon members said they saw Chief Gallagher shoot civilians and fatally stab a wounded captive with a hunting knife. Chief Gallagher was acquitted by a military jury in July of all but a single relatively minor charge, and was cleared of all punishment in November by Mr. Trump.

Buttigieg Claim Of ‘Helping To Turn Around Major Companies’ No Longer Operative.  Oopsies. He reminds me of Jack Markell. What first attracted me to Pete is what first attracted me to Markell. What repulses me about Pete is what ultimately repulsed me about Markell. He is a corporadem, and unapologetic about it.

What do you want to talk about?