In the "things I am not reporting on and couldn't care less about" department: UnPresident Elect Donald Trump's inauguration. I'm going to do other things and put up a few open threads until its over. After that, I will do my best to ignore him for the next four years, except for anything non-defamatory that could lead to his impeachment or resignation. You can discuss him in open threads, of which this is one. Insults and name calling will be deleted and violators put it time out.

A person I'm not finding sympathetic these days is Julian Assange. He and WikiLeaks are about as welcome on my computer screen as James Comey. (He's in the news because he's offering to allow himself to be extradited to the U.S. if Obama grants clemency to the former soldier Chelsea Manning. (As if he'll have a choice once the worm turns at DOJ.) I do support clemency for Chelsea Manning, I'm just not buying an altruistic motive by Assange. [More...]

It's a jail day for me, which means an open thread for you.

All topics welcome.

The TL Kid's fiance (and yes, Nic and Kaitlin officially got engaged over Xmas) said these are the greatest chocolate cookie: No gmo, no wheat, no butter,granulated sugar and they taste delicious.They do have carob powder (fair trade) and some organic chocolate chips. Here's the recipe if you want to try them.

The recipe is from fellow Denver-ite Julie Baer's cookbook, PaleOMG!

No pots to clean, just one bowl, they take 5 minutes to make and 10 minutes to bake. I'll be curious to hear what you think if any of you make them. The Recipe is below.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome. [more]

I've been in court hearings this week so I'm behind on the news. Mr. UnPresident Elect is asking Congress to pay for his border wall (claiming he'll get the money back from Mexico.)

He gets his Russia intelligence briefing today but prefers to tweet about Arnold's lower ratings for Celebrity Apprentice. (The reason the ratings are lower in my view is not that he's more popular than Arnold -- just the opposite-- fewer people are watching now as people are boycotting the show because of Trump, knowing he remains on the credits. (Also it faces much stiffer competition from the Bachelor. Was Trump's Apprentice ever on the same night as the Bachelor? )

The U.S. has added Osama bin Laden's son, Hamza bin Laden to the designated terror list.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

A very happy New Year to all of you, with our very best wishes for a year filled with good health, justice and peace!

Who's cooking? Is anyone staying in and watching TV?

Showtime has begun airing the first episode of Homeland Season 6 two weeks early -- Carrie is living in Brooklyn and Quinn is there too, although he's not in very good shape. The President is a woman, but supposedly a composite of candidates, not a Hillary clone. [More...]

Carrie Fisher has died. George Michael died on Christmas day in London. Both deaths are heart-related.

News that makes you want to take another shower: The UnPresident Elect has named his family's lawyer of 20 years to the position of "special representative for international negotiations." He is expected to focus on Israel and Palestine.

As the president’s special representative, Mr. Greenblatt is likely to focus on peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, renegotiating trade agreements and the relationship between the United States and Cuba, among other international issues.

His experience for the position:

“He has a history of negotiating substantial, complex transactions on my behalf, as well as the expertise to bring parties together and build consensus on difficult and sensitive topics,” Mr. Trump said.

This is probably the most Un-Merry Christmas I can recall in 14 years of blogging. I'm studiously avoiding news of the UnPresident-Elect and his family so he can't rob us of any more joy than necessary over this supposed holiday season.

I am not going to report on the UnPresident Elect over the holidays, he's not the President yet, nothing he does has any significance, and the only thing I feel like doing after I read or hear his name is taking a shower. [More...]

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

From SNL last night. I liked it better than the Alec Baldwin/Vladimir Putin cold open skit which you can see here.

More drama over the Colorado electors who want to vote for someone other than Hillary or Trump. The 10th Circuit denied their Emergency Motion for Injunction Pending Appeal yesterday. Some are taking hope from a footnote about the 12th Amendment. The case is Baca v Hickenlooper, Tenth Circuit, Case No. 16-1482. [More...]

I made these cookies last night, they were seriously very good. And they only took 10 minutes to put together. They looked just like the pictures.

Very busy today, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Critics Choice Awards are on A&E tonight. Why you should watch? T.J. Miller is hosting. I love TJ -- I carpooled him to school from the second grade until high school.

TJ got arrested early Friday a.m. in LA after his Uber driver claimed he swatted him in the back of the head after they disagreed about Donald Trump. T.J. said on Twitter today he'll discuss "the elephant in the room" during tonight's show. He really didn't, but he did talk about how movies and TV can bring us together.

We are one television, one couch, one potato.

"Trolls did well this year. Not the movie. The ones on the internet. One got elected president."

He'll be on James Corden Tuesday night with Jennifer Lawrence. His latest movie, Office Christmas Party, with Jennifer Anniston, opened Friday.

Congrats to James Corden and the Late Late Show which won best talk show.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome, TV related or not.

Congratulations to Mick Jagger on the birth of his 8th child.

I don't get why so many people are trashing him for having a child at age 73. He's got more energy than most people half his age and will probably live long enough to see his son go to college or start a band. More power to him. It's so Rock n' Roll.

Madonna is also getting a lot of criticism for her "twerking" during last night's Carpool Karaoke with James Corden. I liked it. She's 58 and enough of a philanthropist that people should just get off her case and let her do what she wants. At least she's not sucking up to Donald Trump like Leonardo di Caprio who met with Trump and the other Mrs. Trump (Ivanka) and gave him a copy of his foundation's plan for the economy and climate control -- along with a copy of his new film about it.

Time for El Chema, episode 3 (Telemundo.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.